When we rest in awareness, we discover a peace that is always present, regardless of circumstances.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

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

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

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.

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything.

When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.

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.

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.

May all beings be happy, be peaceful, be liberated.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

The cave I live in is empty and so is my mind. I live simply and at ease.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

Radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The whole path of mindfulness is about letting go. We let go of our attachment to our views, our attachment to our opinions, our attachment to our ideas.

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

When we look directly at our thoughts, they dissolve like bubbles in water.

The practice is not about achieving special states but about seeing ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity.

The Noble Eightfold Path is not a path of mere intellectual understanding but a path of practice, of inner transformation.

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.

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.

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

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

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

The snow lion stays in the mountains, and the snow lion's ways are the snow lion's ways.

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

The object of meditation and the mind which knows it must be noted as they occur. If they are not noted, desire arises and disturbs concentration.

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

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

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

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

The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.

Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.

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

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

Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

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

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

Observe the reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.