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

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

The practice of mindfulness is simply to bring awareness to what we are doing, what we are saying, and what we are thinking.

The view is like a lion - it cannot be led around by anything else. Meditation is like an eagle - it cannot be distracted by anything else. Action is like a madman - it is free from accepting and rejecting.

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

The moment you note a thought, it disappears. The noting mind keeps the hindrances away.

The best way to solve a problem is to help someone else solve their problem.

Metta is the ability to embrace all parts of ourselves, as well as all parts of the world.

When mindfulness is weak, defilements are strong; when mindfulness is strong, defilements are weak.

In the moment of love, awareness is very strong. Use that awareness, that strength of consciousness, to look into yourself.

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

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

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

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

If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence.

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

We can learn the art of fierce compassion - redefining strength, deconstructing isolation and renewing a sense of community, practicing letting go of rigid us-vs.-them thinking.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

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

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

When you note effectively, there is no time for defilements to arise. The mind becomes pure through noting.

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

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

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.

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.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

The practitioner and practice are like fire and wood. The more you practice, the more you burn.

The root of all mind is your own present pure awareness. Rest in that essence without seeking elsewhere.

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

Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as your capacity to ground your attention in the present moment.

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

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

Meditation is not about escaping from difficulty but about meeting it with awareness.

When mindfulness and concentration are strong, insight into the three characteristics naturally unfolds.

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

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.

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

Our own life has to be our message.

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

The more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

The way to change others' minds is with affection, and not anger.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

Conquer anger with non-anger. Conquer evil with good. Conquer stinginess with giving. Conquer deceit with truth.

Every moment of confusion is also a moment of wisdom, if we can learn to recognize it.

Our task is not to seek for love but to find all the barriers within ourselves that we have built against it.

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

Mindfulness is the gentle effort to be continuously present with experience.

Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are not our thoughts.

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through cultivation of altruism, of love, of compassion.

The supreme path is not to fabricate anything. The supreme meditation is not to be distracted.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

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.