Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

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

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

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

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

Don't try to push away the darkness. Just light a lamp. The darkness will disappear by itself.

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

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

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

In the moment of love, awareness is very strong. Use that awareness, that strength of consciousness, to look into yourself.

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 time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.

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

Start from where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

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

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

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

Knowledge must be stabilized by meditation. Without meditation, knowledge is like a child in battle.

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

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

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.