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

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

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

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

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

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease.

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

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

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

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

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

The Buddha's teachings are not about abandoning our lives but about bringing the fullness of our attention to our lives.

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.

Compassion is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

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.

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.

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

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

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

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

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

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

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.

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

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.

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

It is never too late to turn on the light.

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

Meditation is the road to happiness.

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

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

Meditation is not about getting away from it all. It's about getting into it all.

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

Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don't try to figure anything out. Don't try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest.

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.

The practice of metta begins with oneself, for only when we have developed loving-kindness towards ourselves can we truly offer it to others.

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

Just observe whatever arises. Don't try to create anything, and don't reject anything.

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.

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

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

The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

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

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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

Every moment of confusion is also a moment of wisdom, if we can learn to recognize it.

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

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

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.

In meditation, we're not trying to get rid of thoughts but to recognize their true nature.

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

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

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

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

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