When the heart is still, it can be kind. When the mind is still, it can see clearly.

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

True peace comes not from controlling the world, but from letting go of control.

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.

Meditation is not about trying to change your experience; it's about changing your relationship to your experience.

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

Just as the wise do not take a mirage to be water, nor an echo to be a voice, so the enlightened do not take the world to be real.

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

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

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

The real purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

To live – is that not enough? To love – is that not everything?

The nature of everything is empty and clear, and the mind is beyond both existence and nonexistence.

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.

Don't expect or desire anything. Just keep noting whatever arises in the present moment.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

Concentration and insight are like two wings of a bird: both are necessary for the flight to liberation.

Meditation is not an escape from life but a way to fully engage with life.

When you let go of trying to control everything, you can relax and enjoy life.

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

The rising and falling of the abdomen is not the main object. The main object is to develop mindfulness, concentration, and insight.

The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

The dharma is not outside of you. Looking for it elsewhere is like placing a Buddha on your head while searching for him everywhere else.