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

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

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

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

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

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

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

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

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

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

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

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

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

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

The practice is like peeling an onion. Layer after layer of delusion is removed through continuous mindfulness.

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

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

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

The nature of all things is like a magical illusion, a mirage, a dream, a reflection of the moon in water.

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

The obstacle is the path.

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

My religion is to live and die without regret.

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

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

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

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 mind is everything. What you think, you become.

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

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

The practice of meditation is not about achieving states of bliss but about seeing things as they really are.

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to escape from the world but to transform our relationship with it.

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

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

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

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