Our own life has to be our message.

The grass is greener where you water it.

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

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.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

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

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

The path of practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

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

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

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

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

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

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

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

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

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

Mindfulness is being aware of what's going on, not trying to control what's going on.

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

Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

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

Each breath is a new beginning, a fresh opportunity to awaken.

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

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.

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.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

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

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.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

Every moment is a fresh beginning. Every breath is a new chance.

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things.

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

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

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

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

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

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 essence of meditation is not something complicated or exotic. It is simply taking a break from our habitual patterns.

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

Liberation is not found by running away from our experience but by looking deeply into it.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

The practice of mindfulness is the practice of being alive in the present moment.

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

Meditation is not about achieving anything. It's about letting go of everything.

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.

Sticking with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path.

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

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

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

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