The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

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

To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

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 we understand our mind, the more we understand the world.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

Life is available only in the present moment.

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

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

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

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

When mindfulness becomes continuous, the distinction between the observer and the observed begins to break down.

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

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

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

The color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.

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

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

Suffering comes from our resistance to what is. Peace comes from our acceptance of what is.

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

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.

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.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

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

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

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

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

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

Birth and death are neither two things nor one thing. Life is not an appearance, death is not a disappearance.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

The more we understand the nature of our mind, the more we understand the nature of our world.

We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.

Through continuous mindfulness practice, the true nature of physical and mental phenomena becomes clear.

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

The Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

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.

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

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

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

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