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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

When we see the nature of the mind, we see that we are not our thoughts.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.

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

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

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

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

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

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

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

To live is enough.

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

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

The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind.

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

Through violence, you may solve one problem, but you sow the seeds for another.

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

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

It is never too late to turn on the light.

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

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

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

Kindness is the solution to all of life's problems.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

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

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

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

The path of practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Life is nothing but a continuous chain of sensations. Pleasant or unpleasant, observe them objectively.

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

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

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

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.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

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.

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

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

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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

When I run from suffering, it follows me. When I face suffering with equanimity, it runs from me.

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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.

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

Be happy at the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

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

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