Let your mind be like a tightly woven net to catch emotions and feelings that come, and investigate them before you react.

If you know, to recognize that you know, If you don’t know, to realize that you don’t know: That is knowledge.

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children.

If we understand our doubts, our sufferings, our life, with the very depths of our minds, with every cell in our bodies, this is enlightenment.

As you walk, cultivate a sense of ease. There’s no hurry to get anywhere, no destination to reach. You’re just walking. This is a good instruction: just walk. As you walk, as you let go of the desire to get somewhere, you begin to sense the joy in simply walking, in being in the present…

We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

The energy of the world flows from God at the center, and back to God.

If words come from the heart, they will enter the heart. If they come from the tongue, they will not pass beyond the ears.

Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.

Where all human effort fails, there prayer succeeds—especially if it is prayer with one pointed attention where the heart, mind, and tongue all agree!

Every other creature on the planet is doing its best. Only human beings hesitate about that.

Surrender, and all will be well.

The goal of life is to realize God and to be always immersed in thought in Him.

When you try to stop motion to achieve quietude, the very effort fills you with activity. As long as you hold on to opposites, you will never know the One Way.

In truth we are not here. This is our shadow.

Lift the veil that obscures the heart and there you will find what you are looking for.

Beware of learning, otherwise you may never become wise.

God breaks the heart again and again and again until it stays open.

The whole point is that discovering basic goodness—discovering the awareness, the isness, the nowness of things—doesn’t happen by transcending ordinary reality. It comes from appreciating simple experiences free of story line.

To believe that you depend on things and people for happiness is due to ignorance of your true nature; to know that you need nothing to be happy, except self knowledge, is wisdom.

Anything is possible! Rewriting your future starts with this clarity: anything is possible!

Search after your Self. As long as possible, sit immersed in meditation, becoming quite still, steady, and fully concentrated.

If you have grasped the purpose of life, there is no point in trying to make life into something it is not or cannot be.

Behold but One in all things; it is the second that leads you astray.

Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.

Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.

No one is a stranger, my child, learn to make the whole world your own.

only one koan matters… you

Meditation is to be aware of what is going on:/In your body,/In your feelings,/In your mind,/And in the world./

The first step to bliss is to become a watcher. Simply watch life as if it were a drama.