We have our mind and our thoughts, and they can rev up emotions. But if we use our emotions as the object of meditation, as our friend and support, it’s like standing on the bank of the river and observing.

The grace of impermanence is that we belong to everything, that we are not separated from anything, that we are not isolated. We may be waves on an ocean, but we are waves that know we are waves.

Pain and joy, love of life, and fear of death know no boundaries of us and them. We can all wake up to realize that our happiness depends on the happiness of our neighbors and vice versa, and our real safety is in togetherness, not intractable conflict.

Do not cling to good,
Do not reject evil!
Purity and defilement—
If you depend on neither,
You will grasp the empty nature of sin.

Problems, possibilities, joys and sorrows come and go like clouds in the clear sky of the mind.

Some thoughts feel deep, some shallow—but those are just sensations, nothing more. The feeling-tones are not reliable judges of value. For me, this was a radical rejection of a view of the self that seemed, to me at least, to be everywhere.

Everything in Zen is present perfect tense. There is no future, no past—it’s all now. There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to reach, it’s all here, all One Body, one thing. Since we are already here, we are already at the end of the path and we are also at the beginning. We don’t practice to become enlightened, we don’t practice to realize something; we practice because we are enlightened. We don’t eat to live; because we are alive, we eat. We usually think it’s the other way around, that we eat and breathe so we’ll be or remain alive. But no, because we’re alive, we breathe, we eat, we do.

My suffering does not set me apart: it makes me belong. I now know that my being with whatever arises is a purification, a lens polished—often with tears from the past—with which I must stand firm against the waves of segregating myself from the world.

The sun is going to set today. We can’t change that. The only thing we can do is see what use the sunset can provide, in terms of relating with our life. Things in our lives may be somewhat predetermined, but how we work with that in the present situation is the important point. Every situation provides us with a chance, an opportunity.

In an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. 

In meditation, we are invited to still the waters of our lives. We quiet the mind, releasing conjured stories and fantasies. When the waters are still long enough, we see our reflection.

Awareness is like a crystal or mirror that reflects different colors and angles: forms, sounds, and feelings are different aspects of awareness and exist within awareness. Or you might view awareness as a guesthouse. Every type of traveler passes through—sensations, emotions, everything. Every type is welcome. No exceptions. 

Right livelihood involves mindfulness of our place in the whole, and thus becomes the foundation for intelligent social activism and ecological responsibility. 

This is the gift of mothering as a practice—a kind of inclusiveness that embraces chaos and grit and imperfection. It’s not based on control or keeping things tidy. 

One of the insidious things about the distraction habit is that we often don’t even realize it’s happening. It sneaks up on us, like old age, and before we know it we’re addicted and powerless. But we’re not really. The power we have is our awareness, and you can develop it right now. 

Turning toward our mistakes with forgiveness rather than judgment or blame contributes significantly toward feeling peace in our heart. It is like bringing a soothing balm to painful parts of ourselves that we have long rejected. 

The Buddha’s mindfulness has one purpose—the end of suffering. It encompasses all of life in order to purify the mind and bring wisdom, love, and equanimity to the center of our lives. 

Mindfulness can be a way for us to restore balance—to help us recalibrate in a way that enables us to connect with our deepest, most heartfelt values and to act in accordance with them more often. 

Attention or awareness is the secret of life and the heart of practice.