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.

Compassion is not mere sentiment but a powerful force that can transform both ourselves and others.

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

The most profound meditation is to think nothing at all.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

The measure of success in spiritual life is how peaceful you are.

Each moment of noting is a moment of purification, a moment of cultivating the path.

Meditation is the road to happiness.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

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

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

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

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

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

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking.

The stages of insight unfold naturally when mindfulness is continuous. There is no need to desire them or try to make them happen.

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

Life is nothing but a continuous chain of sensations. Pleasant or unpleasant, observe them objectively.

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.

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

Mindfulness is attention to life, and life itself is sacred.

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

The practice of meditation is like tuning an instrument. Too tight, and the strings break. Too loose, and they won't play.

The only thing that we truly have control over is our attitude toward experience.

Face your own anger and you will be free from anger. Face your own fears and you will be free from fear.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

The highest mantra is to be without deception. The highest medicine is to have few desires. The highest meditation is not to be attached.

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

The four foundations of mindfulness are not separate practices but different aspects of the same practice of clear awareness.

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

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

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to reduce our selfishness and to work for the benefit of others.

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

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

Each moment of mindfulness is a moment of purification.

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

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

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

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

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

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.

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.