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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

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

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

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 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 person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

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.

Peace and negativity cannot coexist just as light and darkness cannot coexist.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

The nature of mind is clearer than the sky, yet we keep looking elsewhere.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

The development of insight is gradual, but the realization of truth is sudden.

My religion is to live and die without regret.

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

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

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

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

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

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

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

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

It is never too late to turn on the light.

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

The more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

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

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

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

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

Faith is the firm foundation, diligence the supporting pillar, and wisdom the roof of the house of practice.

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

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

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

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.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

Many people think excitement is happiness... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

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

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

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

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.