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

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

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

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

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

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

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing.

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

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.

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

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

The supreme path is not to fabricate anything. The supreme meditation is not to be distracted.

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

The practice of ethics is not about following rules but about developing inner purity and freedom.

A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

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.

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.

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.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

The cultivation of loving-kindness has the power to transform enmity into amity, hostility into hospitality.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.