The person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

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

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

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

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

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

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

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

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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

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

The Buddha and all sentient beings are nothing but expressions of the one mind. There is nothing else.

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

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

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.

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

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

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

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

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

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

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer.

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

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 past is for learning from, not for living in.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ultimate revolution is the spiritual revolution, where we learn to see reality as it truly is.

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

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

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.

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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

To live is enough.

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

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