The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

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 most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

The cultivation of loving-kindness has the power to transform enmity into amity, hostility into hospitality.

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

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

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

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.

Don't be afraid of the future. The future is good.

The goal of meditation is not to reach some highest place, but to remain in the place where you already are.

Every thought, every word, and every action leaves an imprint on our mind.

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

When you generate negativity, you are the first victim of your negativity.

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

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.

The mind is like a wild monkey, jumping here and there. But through meditation, we learn to see whatever arises in our mind with more spaciousness and clarity.

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

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

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

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

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

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

The practice of mindfulness leads naturally to concentration. Concentration leads naturally to wisdom.

The great gift of meditation is that it returns us to the simplicity of our own being.

The practice of meditation is not about achieving states of bliss but about seeing things as they really are.

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

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

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

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

Love is not a feeling. It's a capability.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

True peace comes not from controlling the world, but from letting go of control.

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

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

Whatever we do, we should see ourselves. Reading books doesn't show us our defilements. Watch yourself. Watch your mind.

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

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

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

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

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.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

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

Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Don't expect or desire anything. Just keep noting whatever arises in the present moment.

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

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.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

Mindfulness is the quality and power of mind that is aware of what's happening—without judgment and without interference.

The key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

The movement of love is what creates the beauty in our lives.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.