The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, and one life can change the world.

The mind itself is the maker of all happiness and misery; yet beings do not understand this and blame external conditions.

Past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty. Future thoughts are unborn and fresh. The present moment abides naturally and unconstructed.

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

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

World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

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

Observe the reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are not philosophical concepts but realities to be directly perceived through mindfulness practice.

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

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

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.

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.

Freedom is not found in the absence of difficulty, but in our relationship to it.

The more precisely you note, the more clearly you understand. The more clearly you understand, the stronger your insight becomes.

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.