We can learn the art of fierce compassion - redefining strength, deconstructing isolation and renewing a sense of community, practicing letting go of rigid us-vs.-them thinking.

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

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

The heart of one who practices is like the earth. No matter what they throw on it, the earth remains unchanged.

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.

The mind itself is the maker of all happiness and misery; yet beings do not understand this and blame external conditions.

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but through understanding and through letting go.

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look into your present actions.

Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are not philosophical concepts but realities to be directly perceived through mindfulness practice.

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

Kindness is the solution to all of life's problems.

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

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

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

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

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

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

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

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

Just as true humor is laughter at oneself, true humanity is knowledge of oneself.

If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.

The secret of happiness lies not in getting what we want, but in learning to want what we already have.

The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand.

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

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

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

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

Buddhist practice is not to eliminate life's problems but to grow with them patiently and with compassion.

The world is its own magic.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

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

The defilements of the mind are temporary visitors. Pure awareness is your true home.

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

The measure of success in spiritual life is how peaceful you are.

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

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

The path to liberation is through understanding the true nature of mind and matter through direct observation.

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

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

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

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

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

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