We need to learn to let our emotions pass through us like waves, without getting caught in their undertow.

In the monastery of your body, the monk of your mind must stay in retreat.

Meditation is not about getting away from it all. It's about getting into it all.

The more clearly you see the arising and passing of phenomena, the less you will be attached to them.

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

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

Mindfulness is the key to the present moment. Without it we cannot see the world clearly, and we cannot make the wisest choices in our lives.

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

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.

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

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

Knowledge must be stabilized by meditation. Without meditation, knowledge is like a child in battle.

Mindfulness is the key to transformation. It enables us to see our experience as it really is, free from distortion and bias.

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

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

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

Every moment is a fresh beginning. Every breath is a new chance.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

The grass is greener where you water it.

The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing.

If you want to understand suffering, you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there.

Every sensation shares the same characteristic - arising, passing. Arising, passing. Learn to observe objectively.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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

Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

The practice is like peeling an onion. Layer after layer of delusion is removed through continuous mindfulness.

The path of practice moves from faith through understanding to direct realization.

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

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

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

Every moment of mindfulness is a step on the path to liberation. Each step is valuable, no matter how small.

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

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind.

The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within oneself.

Buddhist practice is not to eliminate life's problems but to grow with them patiently and with compassion.

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

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

It is never too late to turn on the light.

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

When walking, just walk. When sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test of each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize.

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

The dharma is not in the books. If you want to find the dharma, look in your mind.

Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, be empty.

Forgiveness is letting go of the hope that the past could have been any different.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

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

The way to overcome anger is to be too busy being kind to have time to be angry.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

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