The past is gone, the future is not yet here. Live in the present moment with awareness.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

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

The perfect moment is this one, not the one you're waiting for.

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

The root of suffering is attachment.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

The technique of self-observation is the technique of observing the reality about oneself at the experiential level.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within oneself.

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what's happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what's happening.

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

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

When mindfulness and concentration are strong, insight into the three characteristics naturally unfolds.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

The cultivation of loving-kindness has the power to transform enmity into amity, hostility into hospitality.

Buddhist practice is not to eliminate life's problems but to grow with them patiently and with compassion.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.