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

The key to meditation is to recognize the nature of your mind rather than trying to change it.

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

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

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

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

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.

The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath during the day. This will give your mind a steadiness and your life a balance.

The practice of mindfulness transforms the mind from a place of suffering into an instrument of enlightenment.

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

Mindfulness is not just bare attention but wise attention that leads to understanding and insight.

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

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

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

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.

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

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

The teaching is simple: act with kindness and compassion. If you cannot do this, at least try not to harm others.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

Knowledge must be stabilized by meditation. Without meditation, knowledge is like a child in battle.

Compassion is not just about being kind to others. It's about being kind to ourselves as well.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

If you want to understand suffering, you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there.

Mindfulness is attention to life, and life itself is sacred.

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

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

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

When you note pain, you should not dwell on the thought, "I feel pain." Simply recognize the presence of pain.

If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

Mindfulness is the key to the present moment. Without it we cannot see the world clearly, and we cannot make the wisest choices in our lives.

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

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.

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.