What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

Our task is to learn to see clearly what is happening in each moment, rather than be lost in our reactions and judgments.

The only way to fail at meditation is to stop doing it.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be miserable, expect something in return.

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

The purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. If our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental discomfort.

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

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

Buddhas and ordinary beings are not two. Enlightenment and delusion are not different paths.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

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

The practitioner and practice are like fire and wood. The more you practice, the more you burn.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

The water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

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

Compassion is a verb.

Meditation is not about getting away from it all. It's about getting into it all.

Those who grasp at things as truly existent are like someone trying to catch the reflection of the moon in water.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

Our practice cannot be perfect, but without being discouraged by this, we should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

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

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

The essence of meditation is not something complicated or exotic. It is simply taking a break from our habitual patterns.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, be empty.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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