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

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

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

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

The practice of ethics is not about following rules but about developing inner purity and freedom.

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

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

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

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.

Like a dream, like an illusion, like a city of gandharvas, that's how birth, and that's how living, that's how dying are taught to be.

The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.

The path of practice moves from faith through understanding to direct realization.

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

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

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

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.

Recognize the emptiness of all phenomena, but do not become attached to emptiness itself.

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

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

To live is enough.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

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

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

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

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

The essence of all phenomena is empty and clear like space. The nature of mind is awareness-emptiness like the sun and sky.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

Happiness is found in the simplest of things. It is not in the things you own, but in the love you share.

True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to escape from the world but to transform our relationship with it.

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.