The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

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.

Face your own anger and you will be free from anger. Face your own fears and you will be free from fear.

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.

External phenomena are like a dream, whatever appears is not real. Recognize the nature of dream-like phenomena to be dream-like.

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

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

The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds.

Just to be alive is enough.

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

In the monastery of your body, the monk of your mind must stay in retreat.

Don't be afraid of the future. The future is good.

The root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

The nature of mind is like a mirror. It is not affected by whatever appears in it, yet it never fails to reflect everything perfectly.

Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

Mindfulness is the gentle effort to be continuously present with experience.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

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

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

Suffering comes from our resistance to what is. Peace comes from our acceptance of what is.

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