When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

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

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer.

In the monastery of your body, the monk of your mind must stay in retreat.

Those who know emptiness, know impermanence. Those who know impermanence, know non-self. Those who know non-self, know peace.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

The water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

When I run from suffering, it follows me. When I face suffering with equanimity, it runs from me.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.