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.

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

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

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

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

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way.

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

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

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

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

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

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

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.

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

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

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

All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

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

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

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 cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

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

When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

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

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

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

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

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

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

In the spiritual world there are no time divisions such as the past, present and future; for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present where life quivers in its true sense.

The nature of everything is empty and clear, and the mind is beyond both existence and nonexistence.

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

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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