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

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.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

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

In true vipassana practice, there is no room for likes and dislikes. There is only observation.

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

The grass is greener where you water it.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

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

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to escape from the world but to transform our relationship with it.

The obstacle is the path.

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things.

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.

When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The path to liberation is a gradual path of self-discipline, self-development, and self-transformation.

The master's introduction is direct recognition of one's own nature. Meditation is maintaining the continuity of this recognition.

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

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

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

Meditation is not about escaping from difficulty but about meeting it with awareness.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be miserable, expect something in return.

When we look directly at our thoughts, they dissolve like bubbles in water.

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

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

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

The heart of one who practices is like the earth. No matter what they throw on it, the earth remains unchanged.

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

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

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

The only way to fail at meditation is to stop doing it.

Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

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

The practice of meditation requires both energy and patience, both effort and relaxation.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

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

In the monastery of your body, the monk of your mind must stay in retreat.

Short moments, many times. That is the essence of meditation practice.

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

Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are not our thoughts.

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.