The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

The menu is not the meal.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

The defilements of the mind are temporary visitors. Pure awareness is your true home.

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

The nature of all things is like a magical illusion, a mirage, a dream, a reflection of the moon in water.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.

The way we look at the world is the way the world looks.

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.

The essence of mind is empty like space; yet it contains all things, like a mirror.

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

All experiences are preceded by mind, having mind as their master, created by mind.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

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

The Buddha and all sentient beings are nothing but expressions of the one mind. There is nothing else.

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.