In my youth I studied, in my prime I practiced, now all my doubts are cleared.

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

The obstacle is the path.

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

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

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

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

The grass is greener where you water it.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

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

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind.

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

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

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Every moment is a fresh beginning. Every breath is a new chance.

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

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

Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

Genuine happiness comes from having developed basic human qualities, such as attention, emotional balance, and generosity.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

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

If you want to understand suffering, you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

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

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

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

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