When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test of each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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

When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

Study the Buddha's teaching which is present in every moment.

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.

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.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

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

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

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

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

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

It is never too late to turn on the light.

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

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

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

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

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.

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

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

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

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

The great gift of meditation is that it returns us to the simplicity of our own being.

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

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

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

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

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

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.

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

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

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

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

The water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

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

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

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

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

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

In my youth I studied, in my prime I practiced, now all my doubts are cleared.

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

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

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.