Each man had only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself....His task was to discover his own destiny - not an arbitrary one - and to live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was only a would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one's own inwardness.

I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.

بودا برخاست و رفت و نگاه او و نیمه تبسمش در خاطره سیذارتا برای همیشه نقش بست. وی فکر گرد که من دیگر هیچگاه مردی را بدینگونه تبسم و نگاه کند و این طور بنشیند نخواهم دید. من هم می خواهم که بدان شکل باشم. بدانگونه تبسم کنم و بدانگونه بنشینم، آن قدر آزاد، وارسته، صاف، ساده، کودک وار و مرموز باشم. شخص در صورتی می تواند بدین شکل در آید و یا بدینگونه راه برود که خود را مسخر کرده باشد، من نیز خود را تسخیر خواهم کرد.

But every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again.

That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of every consideration. In each individual, the spirit has become flesh, in each man the creation suffers, within each one a redeemer is nailed to the cross.

I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?

Gaze into the fire, into the clouds, and as soon as the inner voices begin to speak... surrender to them. Don't ask first whether it's permitted, or would please your teachers or father or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that.