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

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

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

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

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

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

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

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

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

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

The goal of meditation is not to reach some highest place, but to remain in the place where you already are.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

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.

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test of each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.

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 key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

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

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

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

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

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

Happiness is found in the simplest of things. It is not in the things you own, but in the love you share.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

The world is its own magic.

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

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

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

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

The lamp of wisdom burns constantly, illuminating the nature of mind.

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.

When the heart is still, it can be kind. When the mind is still, it can see clearly.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.