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

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

Recognize the emptiness of all phenomena, but do not become attached to emptiness itself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

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

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

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

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

The past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.

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

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.

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

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

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

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

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

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

The quality of every moment depends on the state of our minds.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

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

The path of practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

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

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

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

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.

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

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

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

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

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

The practice of ethics is not about following rules but about developing inner purity and freedom.

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

Life is available only in the present moment.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look into your present actions.

The more you understand impermanence, the more you appreciate every moment.

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

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

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

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.

This very body is the Buddha. And this very earth the lotus paradise.

Don't try to push away the darkness. Just light a lamp. The darkness will disappear by itself.

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