Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

The challenge in meditation is not to eliminate thinking but to understand the nature of thought itself.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

Just observe whatever arises. Don't try to create anything, and don't reject anything.

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

The practice of meditation is not about achieving states of bliss but about seeing things as they really are.

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

Concentration develops naturally through continuous noting. Don't try to force concentration to arise.

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

Genuine happiness comes from having developed basic human qualities, such as attention, emotional balance, and generosity.

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.

The root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.

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

The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

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

The more we understand the nature of our mind, the more we understand the nature of our world.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

Every moment of confusion is also a moment of wisdom, if we can learn to recognize it.

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.