Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

The more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

In the monastery of your body, the monk of your mind must stay in retreat.

The root of suffering is attachment.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

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

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.

Whatever we do, we should see ourselves. Reading books doesn't show us our defilements. Watch yourself. Watch your mind.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

Meditation is not about achieving anything. It's about letting go of everything.

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but through understanding and through letting go.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

Devotion is the head of meditation, as is often said. When you are inspired by some spiritual teacher, you can have a very strong connection with that person, and thereby the blessings can enter.

Panic is a gateway to wisdom. When we learn to stay present with our panic, it becomes our teacher.

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

Better to have one moment of genuine meditation than to perform religious activities for a thousand years.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.

The Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.