To what shall I compare this life? It is like a boat that left at dawn, leaving no trace.

Every moment of confusion is also a moment of wisdom, if we can learn to recognize it.

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

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

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

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

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.

The more precisely you note, the more clearly you understand. The more clearly you understand, the stronger your insight becomes.

Self-awareness is the key to freedom. The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand how to be free.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

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

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

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

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

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.

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

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

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

The superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

The way we look at the world is the way the world looks.

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.

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

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

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

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

The root of suffering is attachment.

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

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

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

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.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.

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

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

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

Panic is a gateway to wisdom. When we learn to stay present with our panic, it becomes our teacher.

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

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.

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

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

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

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.

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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

The more we understand the nature of our mind, the more we understand the nature of our world.

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

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another – and ourselves.

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

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

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

The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.