At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.

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

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

Meditation is not just about sitting quietly, it's about transforming the mind.

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.

The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

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

Our task is to learn to see clearly what is happening in each moment, rather than be lost in our reactions and judgments.

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion.

The mind is like a room with many windows. Open them all and let the fresh air in.

The practice of metta begins with oneself, for only when we have developed loving-kindness towards ourselves can we truly offer it to others.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

The practice of mindfulness is simple: whatever you experience, you observe and note it.

The perfect moment is this one, not the one you're waiting for.

Just as true humor is laughter at oneself, true humanity is knowledge of oneself.

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.