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

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

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

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

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

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

The practice is like peeling an onion. Layer after layer of delusion is removed through continuous mindfulness.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

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

The more you understand yourself, the more you understand the world.

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfection.

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

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

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.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

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

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

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

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

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

The only way to experience truth is to look within, to observe oneself.

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

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

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

The root of suffering is attachment.

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

The practice of ethics is not about following rules but about developing inner purity and freedom.

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.

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

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

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

The Noble Eightfold Path is a path of training: training in ethical conduct, training in mental discipline, and training in wisdom.

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

The past is gone, the future is not yet here. Live in the present moment with awareness.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.