There are no extremes which are right. There is only one way, and it is in the middle.

Unaffected by affection or estrangement,
Unaffected by profit or loss,
Unaffected by honour or disgrace,
They are the most precious things in the world.
- Lao Tzu

Many paths lead
from the foot of the mountain,
But at the peak
We all gaze at the
Single bright moon.
- Ikkyu

All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten. 
- Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi)

"The sage is occupied with the unspoken
 and acts without effort.
 Teaching without verbosity,
 producing without possessing,
 creating without regard to result,
 claiming nothing,
 the sage has nothing to lose."
 ~Lao Tzu

Zengetsu, a Chinese master of the T'ang dynasty, wrote the following advice for his pupils:

Living in the world yet not forming attachments to the dust of the world is the way of a true Zen student.

When witnessing the good action of another encourage yourself to follow his example. Hearing of the mistaken action of another, advise yourself not to emulate it.

Even though alone in a dark room, be as if you were facing a noble guest. Express your feelings, but become no more expressive than your true nature.

Poverty is your treasure. Never exchange it for an easy life.

A person may appear a fool and yet not be one. He may only be guarding his wisdom carefully.

Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven of themselves as does rain or snow.

Modesty is the foundation of all virtues. Let your neighbors discover you before you make yourself known to them.

A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value.

To a sincere student, every day is a fortunate day. Time passes but he never lags behind. Neither glory nor shame can move him.

Censure yourself, never another. Do not discuss right and wrong.

Some things, though right, were considered wrong for generations. Since the value of righteousness may be recognized after centuries, there is no need to crave immediate appreciation.

Live with cause and leave results to the great law of the universe. Pass each day in peaceful contemplation.

However deep your
Knowledge of the scriptures,
It is no more than a strand of hair
In the vastness of space;
However important appears
Your worldly experience,
It is but a drop of water in a deep ravine.
- Tokusan

If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the sea of delusion.. Because you grasp labels and slogans, you are hindered by those labels and slogans, both those used in ordinary life and those considered sacred. Thus they obstruct your perception of objective truth, and you cannot understand clearly.

- Linji Yixuan

One day, a samurai named Nobushige set out to find Hakuin, an old Zen monk who was known to be very wise. When he arrived at the monastery, he flung open the door and demanded of the old man, "Tell me, you are learned in these matters. What is heaven and what is hell?"

Hakuin sat still for a moment on the tatami-matted floor. Then he turned and looked up at the warrior. "You call yourself a samurai warrior," he said. "Why, look at you. You're nothing but a mere sliver of a man! I doubt you could cut off the head of a fly with your sword."

For a moment, Nobushige stood gaping. No one talked to a samurai like that! Then, as if someone had waved a red cloth in front of a bull, his face contorted in rage. He bellowed, "How dare you! I won't let you get away with such an insult." Pulling his huge sword from its sheath, he raised it high above his head, ready to kill the old monk.

Unperturbed, Hakuin looked directly into the eyes of the furious warror and said, "You asked what hell is. *This* is hell."

Nobushige froze, his sword still raised, as the hatred and anger that had consumed him drained away. He looked at the old monk in amazement, realizing that this small, stooped man had risked his life to answer his question.

Lowering his weapon, Nobushige bowed to the monk, as tears appeared in his eyes. "Thank you for your teaching," the samurai said humbly, his heart filled with gratitude for the monk's gift.

Hakuin smiled at the samurai and said, "And this, my friend, is heaven."

Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: “The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.”

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.

“If nothing exists,” inquired Dokuon, “where did this anger come from?”

Don't pursue actions that can be repudiated, but don't resent it if people repudiate you. Cultivate virtues worthy of praise, but don't expect people to praise you.
You cannot cause calamity not to occur, but trust in yourself not to beckon it. You cannot cause fortune to arrive, but trust in yourself not to reject it. When calamity occurs, since it is not your doing you do not grieve when in straits. When fortune comes, since it is not your achievement you are not conceited when successful.
In this way you live at ease and enjoy effortlessness, yet there is order. - Lao Tzu

ॐ
I bow to the lotus feet of our great teachers,
who uncovers our true self and awakens happiness
Like a Shaman in the Jungle he brings total complete well-being.
He can even heal the most awful poison of conditioning and illusion.
The upper body of human shape, carrying
a mussel horn (original tone), a discus (infinity) and a sword (power of differentiation)
having 1000 bright heads,
I bow to Patanjali.
ॐ

Noble one, from Hafez he read:
"In the city, I am the one famous who loves and who adores"
And I fell in love with this path,
On the way when I got scared, from Hafez he read:
"If Noah is sailing your ark don't be sorrowful from storm"
And I surrendered silently,
Then he wrote:
"To see the face of beloved, eyes that see the soul are needed
And how can it be the same as the eyes that only can see the world"
Now I have an eternal vow to the path ~Friend / Yazdan

When mortals are alive, they worry about death.
When they're full, they worry about hunger.
Theirs is the Great Uncertainty.
But sages don't consider the past.
And they don't worry about the future.
Nor do they cling to the present.
And from moment to moment they follow the Way.
- Bodhidharma