Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri, or unconditional friendliness, a simple, direct relationship with the way we are.

Sitting meditation gives us a way to move closer to our thoughts and emotions and to get in touch with our bodies.

We're here to get to know and study ourselves. The path, the way to do that, our main vehicle, is going to be meditation, and some sense of general wakefulness.

We don't have to be harsh with ourselves when we think, sitting here, that our meditation or our oryoki or the way we are in the world is in the category of worst horse.

PATIENCE is the antidote to anger, a way to learn to love and care for whatever we meet on the path.

The more you just try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.

What we call obstacles are really the way the world and our entire experience teach us where we’re stuck.

LIFE’S work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep. The only way to do this is to open, be curious, and develop some sense of sympathy for everything that comes along, to get to know its nature and let it teach you what it will.

The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face-to-face.