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

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

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.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

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

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

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.

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

When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to reduce our selfishness and to work for the benefit of others.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

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

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

Liberation is not found by running away from our experience but by looking deeply into it.

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

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

True peace comes not from controlling the world, but from letting go of control.

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

Every moment is a fresh beginning. Every breath is a new chance.

Our own life has to be our message.

It is never too late to turn on the light.

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.

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

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 root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

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

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

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

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

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

Better to have one moment of genuine meditation than to perform religious activities for a thousand years.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

Compassion is not something we develop. It arises naturally as we see the truth of what is.

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.

Don't be afraid of the future. The future is good.

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.

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.

The best way to solve a problem is to help someone else solve their problem.

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

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.

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.

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.

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