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

The movement of love is what creates the beauty in our lives.

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

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

The practice of mindfulness leads naturally to concentration. Concentration leads naturally to wisdom.

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

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.

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.

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

The snow lion stays in the mountains, and the snow lion's ways are the snow lion's ways.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

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

The more we understand impermanence, the more we appreciate each moment of our lives.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

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.

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

When you love someone, you have to have trust and confidence. Love without trust is not yet love.

If you want to find peace, then look at that point where you find you're dissatisfied and investigate what's really going on.

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

The nature of life is change. The nature of change is painful. The nature of pain is temporary.

The lamp of wisdom burns constantly, illuminating the nature of mind.

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.

When the heart is still, it can be kind. When the mind is still, it can see clearly.

When you generate negativity, you are the first victim of your negativity.

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

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.

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

The Buddha's teachings are not about abandoning our lives but about bringing the fullness of our attention to our lives.

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

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

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

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

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.

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

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

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.

Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

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

The grass is greener where you water it.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.

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

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.

Enlightenment is not the end of change but the end of resistance to change.

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.

Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.