Buddhas have a strength which is not of this world. Their strength is totally of love... Like a rose flower or a dewdrop. Their strength is very fragile, vulnerable. Their strength is the strength of life not of death. Their power is not of that which kills; their power is of that which creates. Their power is not of violence, aggression; their power is that of compassion.

Knowledge is also borrowed. It is not a flower that grows in your soul, it is something plastic that has been imposed upon you.

The heart is like a flower. Unless it is open, it cannot release its fragrance into the world.

When Zen masters say `effortlessness` they are referring to the state when your enlightenment is well rooted. Now there is no need of any effort; now you can be relaxed and at ease, it will grow on its own accord. It will bring much foliage, and many flowers, and many blessings.

God is the very creative energy of existence - creativity rather than a creator. He is not the poet but the poetry, not the dancer but the dance, not the flower but the fragrance.

The dance of the flower in the wind, in the sun, in the rain, cannot be understood by the head; the heart has to be open for it.