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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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

Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow, death comes.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

The Noble Eightfold Path is a path of training: training in ethical conduct, training in mental discipline, and training in wisdom.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we appreciate each moment of our lives.

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

All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddha.

When we develop patience, we find that we develop a reserve of calm and tranquility.

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

Faith is the firm foundation, diligence the supporting pillar, and wisdom the roof of the house of practice.

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within oneself.

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

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

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

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

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

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

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

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

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

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

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.