Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

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

Every thought, every word, and every action leaves an imprint on our mind.

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

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

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

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

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

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

The nature of everything is empty and clear, and the mind is beyond both existence and nonexistence.

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence.

The role of Zen is neither to stand above life nor to run away from it, but to face it with a spirit of determination.

Like a dream, like an illusion, like a city of gandharvas, that's how birth, and that's how living, that's how dying are taught to be.

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

Each moment of mindfulness is a moment of purification.

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

The cave I live in is empty and so is my mind. I live simply and at ease.

Just observe whatever arises. Don't try to create anything, and don't reject anything.

The moment you note a thought, it disappears. The noting mind keeps the hindrances away.

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.