Very few people are happy in this world. Most are miserable. Even in their so-called happiness, they are unhappy; it is so short of ecstasy, of god-consciousness; it's almost pitiful.

The purpose of all of this is not to walk around with new vocabulary words, but to cause you to speculate on the marvel of your own being.

Each time you meditate you have the possibility of completely changing your life in one meditation. If you meditate with your whole heart and your whole soul, you will become light itself.

The samurais were very interested in Zen because they admired the tremendous precision that the Zen Masters had, their lack of fear and pain and their absolute lack of fear of death.

I seemed to be leading a very incongruous life from the point of view of the definition of the community I was in.

By perfecting the practices of zazen and mindfulness, by learning patience and love and by realizing the essential emptiness of all phenomena, you will discover nirvana.

There are no words, there's only the possibility of a moment even more incredible a little bit further down the road.