Tao

The Tao has ever been nameless - an uncarved block.
-Lao Tzu

The Tao that cannot be named

is the intelligence of the universe:

whatever is happening right now.

-Stephen Mitchell

The Way is immediate presence;

if you are unaware of the immediate presence,

then your mind races, your intellect runs,

and you go on thinking compulsively.

-The Secret of the Golden Flower

A disciple asked Hsiang-yen, "What is Tao?"

Hsiang-yen replied,

"In the dry woods the dragon is singing."

-Zen Mondo

Departing from the Tao
can happen only in the mind;
it's an illusion that becomes our reality.
-Stephen Mitchell

The Tao is the way things are,
which you can't depart from
even for one instant.
-Chuang-tzu

Man follows the way of the Earth,
the Earth follows the way of Heaven,
Heaven follows the way of the Tao,
Tao follows its own ways.
-Lao Tzu

The Doctrine is the doctrine of non-doctrine,
The Practice is the practice of non-practice,
The Method is meditation by non-meditation,
And Cultivation which is cultivation by non-cultivation.
This is the Mind of non-mind, which is wu hsin,
The Thought of non-thought, which is wu nien,
The Action of non-action, which is wu wei,
The Presence of the absence of volition,
Which is Tao.
-Wei Wu Wei

Three things hinder Tao:
to see the good to be done and to neglect it;
to hesitate when the occasion presents itself;
and to know evil and follow it.
On the other hand, four things make Tao prosper:
perfect calm and gentleness;
respect with diligence in duty;
humility with inner force;
firmness and endurance.
-Tze Ya Tze

People may sit till the cushion is worn through,
But never quite know the real Truth:
Let me tell about the ultimate Tao:
It is here, enshrined within us.
-Lu Tung Pin

I did not find but suddenly realized that I had never lost the Way.
Those crimson dawn clouds, that shining noonday light,
the procession of the seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon -
these are not majestic functions or auspicious symbols of what lies behind.
They are the Tao.
To be born, to breathe, to eat, to drink, to walk, to sit,
to wake, to sleep, to live, to die -
to do this is to tread the Way.
When you know how to take what comes along,
not bothering with thoughts of joy and sorrow,
wearing a quilted or unlined robe not because it is in fashion
but because nature prompts the change,
gathering pine seeds or mushrooms not for the taste
but because hunger must be stayed,
never sitting hand or foot to do more than the passing need requires,
letting yourself be borne along without a thought
or wishing something to be other than it is  -
then you are one with the valley mists, the floating clouds.
You have attained the Way,
taking birth as an immortal.
Wasting years on seeking what was never lost is a joke.
-Fan (a scholar, a native of I Ping
who lived in the reign of Emperor Shen Tsung (1573-1620))