We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

The superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.

We need the courage to learn from our experience and the wisdom to be willing to change and grow.

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

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

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

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

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

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

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 only way to fail at meditation is to stop doing it.

The practice of meditation is like learning to play an instrument - it takes patience, regular practice, and a gentle touch.

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

Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.

The way to change the world is to change your own mind.

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

Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening right now, without wishing it were different.

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

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but through understanding and through letting go.

The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life.

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

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.

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.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.

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

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

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

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.

The path is not about perfecting ourselves, but about perfecting our love.

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

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

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

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

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 yogi's joy is in the solitude of mountains, where all distractions naturally dissolve into emptiness.

The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in a wider sense.

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

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

As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.

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

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

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

Meditation is not about trying to change your experience; it's about changing your relationship to your experience.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

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.

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to bring everything onto the path. Every experience becomes an opportunity for awakening.

The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.

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

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

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

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