The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

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

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

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

The goal of meditation is not to achieve a blank mind, but to gain insight into the nature of mind itself.

Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow, death comes.

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

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

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

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.

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

May all beings be happy, be peaceful, be liberated.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

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

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

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

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.

In the moment of love, awareness is very strong. Use that awareness, that strength of consciousness, to look into yourself.

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

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

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

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Better to have one moment of genuine meditation than to perform religious activities for a thousand years.

When we rest in awareness, we discover a peace that is always present, regardless of circumstances.

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

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

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don't accept praise or gain or anything else. If you let go a little, you will have a little peace; if you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.

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

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.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practice it.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

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

Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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

Meditation is the road to happiness.

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

Concentration and insight are like two wings of a bird: both are necessary for the flight to liberation.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

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

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

In meditation, we are continuously discovering who and what we are.

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.

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

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

The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.