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

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

The practice of mindfulness is simple: whatever you experience, you observe and note it.

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.

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

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

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

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

Liberation is not found by running away from our experience but by looking deeply into it.

The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

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

Devotion is the head of meditation, as is often said. When you are inspired by some spiritual teacher, you can have a very strong connection with that person, and thereby the blessings can enter.

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

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

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

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

There are many ways to meditate. But at the heart of them all is mindfulness.

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

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.

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

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, be empty.

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

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

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

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

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

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another – and ourselves.

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

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

The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person's suffering and bring that person joy.

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

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

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

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

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

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

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

The practice of mindfulness transforms the mind from a place of suffering into an instrument of enlightenment.

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

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

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

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

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

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.

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

As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practice it.

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

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

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

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 most profound meditation is to think nothing at all.

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

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

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.