The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand.

The menu is not the meal.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

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.

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

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

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.

Both formerly and now, it is only suffering that I describe, and the cessation of suffering.

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

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

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

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth.

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

The nature of mind is the unity of awareness and emptiness.

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

The nature of life is change. The nature of change is painful. The nature of pain is temporary.

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

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

The path of awakening is not about becoming who we think we should be, but about unbecoming who we are not.

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

To live is enough.

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

Those who grasp at things as truly existent are like someone trying to catch the reflection of the moon in water.

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

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

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.

External phenomena are like a dream, whatever appears is not real. Recognize the nature of dream-like phenomena to be dream-like.

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

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

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

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

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

Buddhas and ordinary beings are not two. Enlightenment and delusion are not different paths.

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

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

Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people.

The nature of mind is like a mirror. It is not affected by whatever appears in it, yet it never fails to reflect everything perfectly.