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

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

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.

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.

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

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

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

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

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 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.

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

Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is awakened.

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

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

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 essence of the teaching is emptiness and compassion. Without emptiness, compassion can become attachment. Without compassion, emptiness can become cold and distant.

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

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

Everybody has the light of Buddha within, but they don't look for it.

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

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.

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

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

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

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

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

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

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

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

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

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

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

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

The secret of happiness lies not in getting what we want, but in learning to want what we already have.

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

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

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

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

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

To live is enough.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

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

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.