Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

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

Conquer anger with non-anger. Conquer evil with good. Conquer stinginess with giving. Conquer deceit with truth.

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

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

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

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

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

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

Every thought, every word, and every action leaves an imprint on our mind.

Don't be afraid of the future. The future is good.

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

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

Meditation is the road to happiness.

Love is not a feeling. It's a capability.

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

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

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

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

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

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

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

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

The more you meditate, the more you understand yourself and the better friend you become to yourself.

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

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

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

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

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

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.

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

The practice of mindfulness leads naturally to concentration. Concentration leads naturally to wisdom.

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.

The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

The Noble Eightfold Path is a path of training: training in ethical conduct, training in mental discipline, and training in wisdom.

The past is gone, the future is not yet here. Live in the present moment with awareness.

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.

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

The yogi's joy is in the solitude of mountains, where all distractions naturally dissolve into emptiness.

The essence of meditation is not something complicated or exotic. It is simply taking a break from our habitual patterns.

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

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

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

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

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

Generosity generates its own enthusiasm. We don't have to force ourselves to be generous; we just need to start.

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

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

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

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

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

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

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