The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

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

The goal of meditation is not to achieve a blank mind, but to gain insight into the nature of mind itself.

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

To be attached to a thing means that mind and the thing meet and grow into each other.

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease.

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

The noting mind and the object noted appear to occur as a pair. Through concentration they are seen to arise and vanish together.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be miserable, expect something in return.

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

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

Our task is to learn to see clearly what is happening in each moment, rather than be lost in our reactions and judgments.

When you note pain, you should not dwell on the thought, "I feel pain." Simply recognize the presence of pain.

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

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

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.

Short moments, many times. That is the essence of meditation practice.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

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

When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick. Every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

The goal of meditation is not to reach some highest place, but to remain in the place where you already are.

As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practice it.

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

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

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.