The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

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

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

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

The way to change the world is to change your own 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.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

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

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

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

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

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.

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

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

Genuine happiness comes from having developed basic human qualities, such as attention, emotional balance, and generosity.

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

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

The more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

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

The cave I live in is empty and so is my mind. I live simply and at ease.

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

The practice of meditation is not about achieving states of bliss but about seeing things as they really are.

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

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

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

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

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.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything.

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

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

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

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

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

The stages of insight unfold naturally when mindfulness is continuous. There is no need to desire them or try to make them happen.

Mindfulness is the key to transformation. It enables us to see our experience as it really is, free from distortion and bias.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

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.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

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

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

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

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

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

In my youth I studied, in my prime I practiced, now all my doubts are cleared.

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

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

Knowledge must be stabilized by meditation. Without meditation, knowledge is like a child in battle.

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

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

The great gift of meditation is that it returns us to the simplicity of our own being.

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