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

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

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

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

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.

The only way to experience truth is to look within, to observe oneself.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

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

Each breath is a new beginning, a fresh opportunity to awaken.

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

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

The practice of mindfulness is the practice of being alive in the present moment.

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer.

Mindfulness is not just bare attention but wise attention that leads to understanding and insight.

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

Recognize the emptiness of all phenomena, but do not become attached to emptiness itself.

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.

When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity for accepting and having compassion for them is there.

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

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

The heart of one who practices is like the earth. No matter what they throw on it, the earth remains unchanged.