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

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

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.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

Enlightenment is not the end of change but the end of resistance to change.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

Life is available only in the present moment.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

The nature of mind is the unity of awareness and emptiness.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

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

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

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

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

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

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

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the "support," of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached.

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

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

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

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

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.

The Noble Eightfold Path is not a path of mere intellectual understanding but a path of practice, of inner transformation.

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

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

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

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

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

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

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

When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth.

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

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

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.

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

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

Those who grasp at things as truly existent are like someone trying to catch the reflection of the moon in water.

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

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

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

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.