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

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

Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are not philosophical concepts but realities to be directly perceived through mindfulness practice.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

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

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

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

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

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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

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

To live – is that not enough? To love – is that not everything?

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

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion.

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

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

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

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

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

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

Life is available only in the present moment.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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 way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

The path to liberation is through understanding the true nature of mind and matter through direct observation.

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

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

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

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

True freedom is a freedom from the tyranny of our own thoughts and afflictive emotions.

Dependent origination is not a theory about the origin of the world but a teaching that shows how suffering originates in dependence on our own mental processes.

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

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

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

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.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

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

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 practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddha.

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

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.

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

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

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

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

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

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.

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

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

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

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

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

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