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

It is never too late to turn on the light.

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

As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.

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

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

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

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

The Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

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

In meditation, we're not trying to get rid of thoughts but to recognize their true nature.

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

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

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

Through understanding emptiness, one does not become proud of one's virtues, just as one does not become proud of building a castle in the sky.

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

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.

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

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

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

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

Concentration develops naturally through continuous noting. Don't try to force concentration to arise.

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

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

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

The most profound meditation is to think nothing at all.

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

The dharma is not in the books. If you want to find the dharma, look in your mind.

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

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

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

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

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.

The supreme path is not to fabricate anything. The supreme meditation is not to be distracted.

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

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

Compassion is not something we develop. It arises naturally as we see the truth of what is.

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

Each breath is a new beginning, a fresh opportunity to awaken.

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

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

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

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

The movement of love is what creates the beauty in our lives.

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

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

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

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