When thoughts arise, recognize them as the display of your own awareness, like recognizing your own children in a crowd.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

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

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

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

The nature of mind is clearer than the sky, yet we keep looking elsewhere.

Don't expect or desire anything. Just keep noting whatever arises in the present moment.

What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.

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

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

The five aggregates are not a theoretical model but a description of lived experience to be investigated through mindfulness.

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

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is awakened.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

The yogi's joy is in the solitude of mountains, where all distractions naturally dissolve into emptiness.

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

Life is available only in the present moment.

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

The essence of all phenomena is empty and clear like space. The nature of mind is awareness-emptiness like the sun and sky.

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.