We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

When I run from suffering, it follows me. When I face suffering with equanimity, it runs from me.

The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

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.

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly away.

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

When you note effectively, there is no time for defilements to arise. The mind becomes pure through noting.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

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

The more you understand yourself, the more you understand the world.

The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath during the day. This will give your mind a steadiness and your life a balance.

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

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

The goal of meditation is not to reach some highest place, but to remain in the place where you already are.

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

The key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

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

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

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.

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

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

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

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through cultivation of altruism, of love, of compassion.