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

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.

Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don't try to figure anything out. Don't try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest.

We can learn the art of fierce compassion - redefining strength, deconstructing isolation and renewing a sense of community, practicing letting go of rigid us-vs.-them thinking.

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.

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

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

The best way to solve a problem is to help someone else solve their problem.

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

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

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.

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

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

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

Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.

Meditation is not an escape from life but a way to fully engage with life.

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

Study the Buddha's teaching which is present in every moment.

Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.

The whole path of mindfulness is about letting go. We let go of our attachment to our views, our attachment to our opinions, our attachment to our ideas.

The Noble Eightfold Path is not a path of mere intellectual understanding but a path of practice, of inner transformation.

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

The practice is not about achieving special states but about seeing ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.

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

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.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

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

Our task is not to seek for love but to find all the barriers within ourselves that we have built against it.

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

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.

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

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

The technique of self-observation is the technique of observing the reality about oneself at the experiential level.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

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

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

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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

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

Compassion is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

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

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

The noting mind and the object noted appear to occur as a pair. Through concentration they are seen to arise and vanish together.

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

Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.

When you generate negativity, you are the first victim of your negativity.

Mindfulness is the quality and power of mind that is aware of what's happening—without judgment and without interference.

The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath during the day. This will give your mind a steadiness and your life a balance.

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.

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

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

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.