The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

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

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.

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

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

The secret of happiness lies not in getting what we want, but in learning to want what we already have.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

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

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

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

Past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty. Future thoughts are unborn and fresh. The present moment abides naturally and unconstructed.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

In my youth I studied, in my prime I practiced, now all my doubts are cleared.

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

When walking, just walk. When sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

When we see the nature of the mind, we see that we are not our thoughts.

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

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 more we understand the nature of our mind, the more we understand the nature of our world.

When mindfulness and concentration are strong, insight into the three characteristics naturally unfolds.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

Self-awareness is the key to freedom. The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand how to be free.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.