My religion is to live and die without regret.

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

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

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence.

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

The more precisely you note, the more clearly you understand. The more clearly you understand, the stronger your insight becomes.

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

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through cultivation of altruism, of love, of compassion.

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

The measure of success in spiritual life is how peaceful you are.

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

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

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.

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

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

Meditation is the road to happiness.

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

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

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

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.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

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

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

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

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

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

The development of insight is gradual, but the realization of truth is sudden.

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

Observe the reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.

Start from where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

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

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

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.

Face your own anger and you will be free from anger. Face your own fears and you will be free from fear.

Self-awareness is the key to freedom. The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand how to be free.

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

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

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

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

Just observe whatever arises. Don't try to create anything, and don't reject anything.

The root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

Meditation is not about getting rid of thoughts; it's about changing the way we relate to them.

The practice of metta begins with oneself, for only when we have developed loving-kindness towards ourselves can we truly offer it to others.

Every moment of mindfulness is a step on the path to liberation. Each step is valuable, no matter how small.

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

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool.

Panic is a gateway to wisdom. When we learn to stay present with our panic, it becomes our teacher.

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

The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within oneself.