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.

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

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

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

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

Those who grasp at things as truly existent are like someone trying to catch the reflection of the moon in water.

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

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

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfection.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

Our own life has to be our message.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

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.

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 real purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

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

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

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

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

In true vipassana practice, there is no room for likes and dislikes. There is only observation.

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

Just as the wise do not take a mirage to be water, nor an echo to be a voice, so the enlightened do not take the world to be real.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

The practice of metta begins with oneself, for only when we have developed loving-kindness towards ourselves can we truly offer it to others.