Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

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

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

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

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

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

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

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

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

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

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

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 Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

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

The knowledge of dissolution comes when you see both the noting mind and noted object dissolving together.

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

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

The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.

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

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

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

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

The practice is not about achieving special states but about seeing ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity.

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.

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.

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

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

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

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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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 way to change the world is to change your own mind.

The dharma is not outside of you. Looking for it elsewhere is like placing a Buddha on your head while searching for him everywhere else.

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

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

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.

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

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

When you note pain, you are not trying to make it go away. You are trying to understand its true nature.

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

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

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

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

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.