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.

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived, how well we have loved, how well we have learned to let go.

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

Mindfulness is not just bare attention but wise attention that leads to understanding and insight.

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

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

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.

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

Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

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

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

The mind is like a room with many windows. Open them all and let the fresh air in.

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

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

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

Compassion is not mere sentiment but a powerful force that can transform both ourselves and others.

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

The more we understand our mind, the more we understand the world.

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

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

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

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

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

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

The everyday practice is simply to develop complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions.

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

The world is its own magic.

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.

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

The defilements of the mind are temporary visitors. Pure awareness is your true home.

Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

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

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

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

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.

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

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.