Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing.

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don't accept praise or gain or anything else. 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.

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

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

The moment you note a thought, it disappears. The noting mind keeps the hindrances away.

The perfect moment is this one, not the one you're waiting for.

Forgiveness is letting go of the hope that the past could have been any different.

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

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

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 way to change others' minds is with affection, and not anger.

The challenge in meditation is not to eliminate thinking but to understand the nature of thought itself.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

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

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

The mind is like a room with many windows. Open them all and let the fresh air in.

Whatever we do, we should see ourselves. Reading books doesn't show us our defilements. Watch yourself. Watch your mind.

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

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.

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

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

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

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

The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking.

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

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

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

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.

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

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

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

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

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

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

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

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

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

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

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.