zao wang

“You want worship for what? For what you give? For how you treat us? For what you allow to happen? For the hatred that exists that you don’t stop? For the violence that you don’t stop? For the death that you don’t stop? Man killing man killing women killing children that you don’t stop. And you want worship? You want us on our knees? You want devotion? You want exaltation? You want faith? A crown of thorns pressed into the skull bleeding at the tips.”
― James Frey, Bright Shiny Morning

“THE NATURE OF CRAVING AND HAPPINESS Much of our suffering depends on our perceptions and desire. Whenever we don’t get what we want, we suffer. But the truth is that sometimes we do get what we want and yet we suffer even more. Maybe it’s not what we thought it was, it doesn’t have the desired effect, or it changes something else in our lives for the worse. Sometimes, after we get the thing we thought we wanted, we don’t treasure it anymore, and we want something else instead. People tend to think of happiness in terms of having plenty of fame, power, wealth, and sensual pleasures. But we know that craving these objects can bring a lot of suffering. So we need to have a very different understanding of happiness. If we cultivate peace in ourselves, then clarity, compassion, and courage will arise. We have to look deeply in order to see the true nature of the object of our craving. When we recognize it clearly, it will lose its appeal, and we will be free.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, How to See

“But here, in the midst of our orgy of being lords of creation, texting as we drive, it’s hard to put down the smartphone and stop looking for the next technofix. Changing our minds is going to be a big change. To use the world well, to be able to stop wasting it and our time in it, we need to relearn our being in it.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, Late in the Day: Poems 2010–2014

“The Earth is not just the environment. The Earth is us. Everything depends on whether we have this insight or not.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Love Letter to the Earth