Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

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

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

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

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

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

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

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

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

The everyday practice is simply to develop complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions.

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

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.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

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

The only thing that we truly have control over is our attitude toward experience.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

Compassion is a verb.

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

The path of practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

The practice of meditation is like tuning an instrument. Too tight, and the strings break. Too loose, and they won't play.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

The obstacle is the path.

The role of Zen is neither to stand above life nor to run away from it, but to face it with a spirit of determination.

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

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

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

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

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

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.

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

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

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

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

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

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

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

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

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.

Every moment is a fresh beginning. Every breath is a new chance.

Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

When walking, just walk. When sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.

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.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

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

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

The moment you note a thought, it disappears. The noting mind keeps the hindrances away.

When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

The key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

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

The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.