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

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

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

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

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

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

The cultivation of loving-kindness has the power to transform enmity into amity, hostility into hospitality.

The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

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

Meditation is the road to happiness.

The grass is greener where you water it.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through cultivation of altruism, of love, of compassion.

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

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

The practice of mindfulness is simply to bring awareness to what we are doing, what we are saying, and what we are thinking.

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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

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

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

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

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

When mindfulness and concentration are strong, insight into the three characteristics naturally unfolds.

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

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to reduce our selfishness and to work for the benefit of others.

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

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

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

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 path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

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

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.

The root of all mind is your own present pure awareness. Rest in that essence without seeking elsewhere.

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

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

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

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

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

Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

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

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

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

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

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

The purpose of meditation is not to create a mental vacuum but to come to know one's own mind.

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

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.

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

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

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

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

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

When we develop patience, we find that we develop a reserve of calm and tranquility.