When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

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

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay.

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

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

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

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

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

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

The practice of mindfulness is simply to bring awareness to what we are doing, what we are saying, and what we are thinking.

The past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.

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

The five aggregates are not a theoretical model but a description of lived experience to be investigated through mindfulness.

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.

Our task is to learn to see clearly what is happening in each moment, rather than be lost in our reactions and judgments.

When mindfulness and concentration are strong, insight into the three characteristics naturally unfolds.

The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.

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

Don't expect or desire anything. Just keep noting whatever arises in the present moment.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

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 only way to experience truth is to look within, to observe oneself.

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

Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening right now, without wishing it were different.

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

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

The difference between being caught in thoughts and being mindful of thoughts is like the difference between being in a movie and watching a movie.

Mindfulness is the gentle effort to be continuously present with experience.

Be happy at the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

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

Mindfulness is attention to life, and life itself is sacred.

Life is available only in the present moment.

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

The four foundations of mindfulness are not separate practices but different aspects of the same practice of clear awareness.

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

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

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

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

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.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

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

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

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.

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the "support," of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

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.

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

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

Meditation is not about trying to change ourselves. Meditation is about being aware of what is.

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

When mindfulness is weak, defilements are strong; when mindfulness is strong, defilements are weak.

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.

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

Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.