When you generate negativity, you are the first victim of your negativity.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

Compassion is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

When mindfulness becomes continuous, the distinction between the observer and the observed begins to break down.

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

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

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.

The Buddha's teachings are not about abandoning our lives but about bringing the fullness of our attention to our lives.

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

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

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

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

The ultimate revolution is the spiritual revolution, where we learn to see reality as it truly is.

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

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

The path to liberation is through understanding the true nature of mind and matter through direct observation.

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

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

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

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

The world is its own magic.

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

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

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.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.

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

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

The root of suffering is attachment.

Generosity generates its own enthusiasm. We don't have to force ourselves to be generous; we just need to start.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

The key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion.

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

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.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

Genuine happiness comes from having developed basic human qualities, such as attention, emotional balance, and generosity.

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

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

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

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

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

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

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

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

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.

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.

Conquer anger with non-anger. Conquer evil with good. Conquer stinginess with giving. Conquer deceit with truth.

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

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

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

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