The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

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

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

The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

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

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

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

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

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

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

Those who know emptiness, know impermanence. Those who know impermanence, know non-self. Those who know non-self, know peace.

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.

The world is its own magic.

The object of meditation and the mind which knows it must be noted as they occur. If they are not noted, desire arises and disturbs concentration.

Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

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.

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

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

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

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be miserable, expect something in return.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

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