The practice of meditation is like tuning an instrument. Too tight, and the strings break. Too loose, and they won't play.

The master's introduction is direct recognition of one's own nature. Meditation is maintaining the continuity of this recognition.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

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

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

Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are not our thoughts.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

Each moment of noting is a moment of purification, a moment of cultivating the path.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

The way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

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.

The path to liberation is a gradual path of self-discipline, self-development, and self-transformation.

Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don't serve them tea.

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

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life.

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

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

Sleep is the best meditation.

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

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

Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as your capacity to ground your attention in the present moment.

The path of practice moves from faith through understanding to direct realization.

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

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

The way to overcome anger is to be too busy being kind to have time to be angry.

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

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

The mind is like a wild monkey, jumping here and there. But through meditation, we learn to see whatever arises in our mind with more spaciousness and clarity.