Many people think excitement is happiness... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

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

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

The essence of the teaching is emptiness and compassion. Without emptiness, compassion can become attachment. Without compassion, emptiness can become cold and distant.

Dependent origination is not a theory about the origin of the world but a teaching that shows how suffering originates in dependence on our own mental processes.

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

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

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.

Faith is the firm foundation, diligence the supporting pillar, and wisdom the roof of the house of practice.

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

The perfect moment is this one, not the one you're waiting for.

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

In meditation, we are continuously discovering who and what we are.

The practice of metta begins with oneself, for only when we have developed loving-kindness towards ourselves can we truly offer it to others.

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

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