The only way to fail at meditation is to stop doing it.

The way to change the world is to change your own mind.

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.

In meditation, we are continuously discovering who and what we are.

Don't try to push away the darkness. Just light a lamp. The darkness will disappear by itself.

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

To see directly is to be free of hope and fear. Hope and fear are like a cloud before the sun.

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

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

Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

Our practice cannot be perfect, but without being discouraged by this, we should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are not our thoughts.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

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

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.

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

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

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

The everyday practice is simply to develop complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions.

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

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

Short moments, many times. That is the essence of meditation practice.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

The practitioner and practice are like fire and wood. The more you practice, the more you burn.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within oneself.

The Noble Eightfold Path is not a path of mere intellectual understanding but a path of practice, of inner transformation.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

The more we understand our mind, the more we understand the world.

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

The noting mind and the object noted appear to occur as a pair. Through concentration they are seen to arise and vanish together.

Mindfulness is the gentle effort to be continuously present with experience.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay.

The mind itself is the maker of all happiness and misery; yet beings do not understand this and blame external conditions.

The more you meditate, the more you understand yourself and the better friend you become to yourself.

The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

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

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

Meditation is not about achieving anything. It's about letting go of everything.

To be attached to a thing means that mind and the thing meet and grow into each other.

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

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

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

The nature of mind is like a mirror. It is not affected by whatever appears in it, yet it never fails to reflect everything perfectly.

The root of all mind is your own present pure awareness. Rest in that essence without seeking elsewhere.

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.