The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Meditation is not about escaping from difficulty but about meeting it with awareness.

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay.

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

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

The essence of mind is empty like space; yet it contains all things, like a mirror.

The purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. If our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental discomfort.

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

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

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

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 noting mind and the object noted appear to occur as a pair. Through concentration they are seen to arise and vanish together.

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

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

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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

The whole path of mindfulness is about letting go. We let go of our attachment to our views, our attachment to our opinions, our attachment to our ideas.

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything.

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.