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

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 way we look at the world is the way the world looks.

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

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

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

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

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

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

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

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.

We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

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

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

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

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

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

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

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

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

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

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

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

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

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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

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

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

The five aggregates are not a theoretical model but a description of lived experience to be investigated through mindfulness.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

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

The menu is not the meal.

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

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

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

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

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

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

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

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.

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