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

We need to learn to let our emotions pass through us like waves, without getting caught in their undertow.

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

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.

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

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

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

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 more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

When you let go of trying to control everything, you can relax and enjoy life.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind.

The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within oneself.

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

The more clearly you see the arising and passing of phenomena, the less you will be attached to them.

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

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

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

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

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

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

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

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

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

Meditation is not about trying to change your experience; it's about changing your relationship to your experience.

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

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

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

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

The practice of mindfulness is simple: whatever you experience, you observe and note it.

The practice of ethics is not about following rules but about developing inner purity and freedom.

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

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.

Buddhist practice is not to eliminate life's problems but to grow with them patiently and with compassion.

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

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

The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

Life is nothing but a continuous chain of sensations. Pleasant or unpleasant, observe them objectively.

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

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

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

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived, how well we have loved, how well we have learned to let go.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.

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

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

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

As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.

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.

Every sensation shares the same characteristic - arising, passing. Arising, passing. Learn to observe objectively.

The Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

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

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

The view is like a lion - it cannot be led around by anything else. Meditation is like an eagle - it cannot be distracted by anything else. Action is like a madman - it is free from accepting and rejecting.

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

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