Through violence, you may solve one problem, but you sow the seeds for another.

The key to meditation is to recognize the nature of your mind rather than trying to change it.

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

Metta is the ability to embrace all parts of ourselves, as well as all parts of the world.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

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

Every moment of mindfulness is a step on the path to liberation. Each step is valuable, no matter how small.

There are many ways to meditate. But at the heart of them all is mindfulness.

The only way to experience truth is to look within, to observe oneself.

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

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

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.

The practice is not about achieving special states but about seeing ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity.

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

The teaching is simple: act with kindness and compassion. If you cannot do this, at least try not to harm others.

Meditation is not about getting rid of thoughts; it's about changing the way we relate to them.

Through understanding emptiness, one does not become proud of one's virtues, just as one does not become proud of building a castle in the sky.

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

Birth and death are neither two things nor one thing. Life is not an appearance, death is not a disappearance.

When you love someone, you have to have trust and confidence. Love without trust is not yet love.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

The practice of meditation requires both energy and patience, both effort and relaxation.

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

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

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

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

In the moment of anger, abandon anger but not the person. In the moment of attachment, abandon attachment but not the person.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to bring everything onto the path. Every experience becomes an opportunity for awakening.

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