When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

The key to meditation is to recognize the nature of your mind rather than trying to change it.

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.

The essence of the teaching is emptiness and compassion. Without emptiness, compassion can become attachment. Without compassion, emptiness can become cold and distant.

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

Many people think excitement is happiness... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

The past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.

The nature of all things is like a magical illusion, a mirage, a dream, a reflection of the moon in water.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

Mindfulness is the quality and power of mind that is aware of what's happening—without judgment and without interference.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

Where there is great doubt, there is great awakening; small doubt, small awakening; no doubt, no awakening.

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.