Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

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

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

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

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

Forgiveness is not a moral issue. It's a power issue. When we hold onto grievance and resentment, we are giving our power away.

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

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

Every thought, every word, and every action leaves an imprint on our mind.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

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

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

The practice is not about achieving special states but about seeing ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity.

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

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

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.

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.

We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.

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.

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

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

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

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

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

Mindfulness is not just bare attention but wise attention that leads to understanding and insight.

Observe the reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived, how well we have loved, how well we have learned to let go.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

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

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

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

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

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

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

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

The essence of Buddhist practice is to bring everything onto the path. Every experience becomes an opportunity for awakening.

True freedom is a freedom from the tyranny of our own thoughts and afflictive emotions.

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

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

To see directly is to be free of hope and fear. Hope and fear are like a cloud before the sun.

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

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

When you let go of trying to control everything, you can relax and enjoy life.

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

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

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.