On Awakening

Collection of Quotes about Awakening






"I wish to become a teacher of the Truth."
"Are you prepared to be ridiculed, ignored and starving till you are forty-five?"
"I am. But tell me: What will happen after I am forty-five?"
"You will have grown accustomed to it." Wellsprings : A Book of Spiritual Exercises (1985), p. 19




Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence. You know — all mystics — Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion — are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare. As quoted in Approaching God : How to Pray (1995) by Steve Brown, p. 94




The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body. Awakening : Conversations with the Masters (2003), p. 24




"What, concretely, is Enlightenment?"
"Seeing Reality as it is," said the Master.
"Doesn't everyone see Reality as it is?"
"Oh, no! Most people see it as they think it is."
"What's the difference?"
"The difference between thinking you are drowning in a stormy sea and knowing you cannot drown because there isn't any water in sight for miles around." Awakening : Conversations with the Masters (2003), p. 221

One Minute Wisdom (1989)


Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts?

Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose? This is what Wisdom means: To be changed without the slightest effort on your part, to be transformed, believe it or not, merely by waking to the reality that is not words, that lies beyond the reach of words. If you are fortunate enough to be Awakened thus, you will know why the finest language is the one that is not spoken, the finest action is the one that is not done and the finest change is the one that is not willed. Introduction

To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, "If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth." Transformation

To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, "You may live with me, but don't become my follower."

"Whom, then, shall I follow?"

"No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth." Discipleship

"Why is everyone here so happy except me?"

"Because they have learned to see goodness and beauty everywhere," said the Master.

"Why don't I see goodness and beauty everywhere?"

"Because you cannot see outside of you what you fail to see inside." Projection


There were rules in the monastery, but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law.
"Obedience keeps the rules," he would say. "Love knows when to break them." Revolution


"You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone."
"What then is a Master for?"
"To make you see the uselessness of having one." Blindness




The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song — not one. Not two. Identity
"Help us to find God."
"No one can help you there."
"Why not?"

"For the same reason that no one can help the fish to find the ocean." Discovery

To a visitor who described himself as a seeker after Truth the Master said, "If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else."
"I know. An overwhelming passion for it."
"No. An unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong." Humility




When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself. Violence

Is there life before death? — that is the question! Irrelevance

Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance. Wisdom

When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today. Wisdom

Whatever is truly alive must die. Look at the flowers; only plastic flowers never die. Flow

The Master was exceedingly gracious to university dons who visited him, but he would never reply to their questions or be drawn into their theological speculations. To his disciples, who marveled at this, he said, "Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts?" Restriction

People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favour progress, provided they can have it without change. Healing

A disciple said to him, "I am ready, in the quest for God, to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?"

The Master calmly replied, "One's beliefs about God." Belief

Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description. Comprehension

The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu's dictum: Those who know do not say; Those who say do not know.

When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant.

Said the master, "Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?"

All of them indicated that they knew.

Then he said, "put it into words."

All of them were silent. Words


When I speak, you must not listen to the words, my dear. Listen to the Silence. Comprehension


Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self. Emptiness

The Master is not concerned with what we believe — only with what we see. Non-Instruction

The Master would frequently assert that holiness was less a matter of what one did than of what one allowed to happen. Trust

Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it. Thought

A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality. Thought

Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone you must say to yourself: I am dying and this person too is dying, attempting the while to experience the truth of the words you are saying. If every one of you agrees to practise this, bitterness will die out, harmony will arise. Revelation

The Master would insist that the final barrier to our attaining God was the word and concept "God." Incompetence

A disciple was one day recalling how Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed were branded as rebels and heretics by their contemporaries.

Said the Master, Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy. Persecution

The Master never ceased to attack the notions about God that people entertain. Prayer

A good teacher offers practice, a bad one offers theories. Cultivation

The feigning sleeper can delude others — he cannot delude himself. The false mystic, unfortunately, can delude both others and himself. Deception

If you never condemned you would never need to forgive. Judgement

A zealous disciple expressed a desire to teach others the Truth and asked the Master what he thought about this. The Master said, "Wait."

Each year the disciple would return with the same request and each time the Master would give him the same reply: "Wait."

One day he said to the Master, "When will I be ready to teach?"

Said the Master, "When your excessive eagerness to teach has left you." Aggression




"What is love?"

"The total absence of fear," said the Master.

"What is it we fear?"

"Love," said the Master. Fearlessness




The Master insisted that what he taught was nothing, what he did was nothing.

His disciples gradually discovered that Wisdom comes to those who learn nothing, unlearn everything.

That transformation is the consequence not of something done, but of something dropped. Purification




A writer arrived at the monastery to write a book about the Master.

"People say you are a genius. Are you?" he asked.

"You might say so." said the Master, none too modestly.

"And what makes one a genius?" "The ability to recognize." "Recognize what?"

"The butterfly in a caterpillar: the eagle in an egg; the saint in a selfish human being." Genius




Much advance publicity was made for the address the Master would deliver on The Destruction of the World and a large crowd gathered at the monastery grounds to hear him.

The address was over in less than a minute. All he said was:

"These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness." Humanity




"What kind of a person does Enlightenment produce?"

Said the Master:

"To be public-spirited and belong to no party,

to move without being bound to any given course,

to take things as they come,

have no remorse for the past,

no anxiety for the future,

to move when pushed,

to come when dragged,

to be like a mighty gale,

like a feather in the wind,

like weeds floating on a river,

like a mill-stone meekly grinding,

to love all creation equally

as heaven and earth are equal to all

— such is the product of Enlightenment."

On hearing these words one of the younger disciples cried, "This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead," and walked away, never to return. "