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

The more we understand impermanence, the more we appreciate each moment of our lives.

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

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

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

The essence of the teaching is emptiness and compassion. Without emptiness, compassion can become attachment. Without compassion, emptiness can become cold and distant.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

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

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

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

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

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

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

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.

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

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

The time of the past becomes the present, the time of the present becomes the future, the time of the future becomes the present, and the time of the present becomes the past.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

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

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

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

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

External phenomena are like a dream, whatever appears is not real. Recognize the nature of dream-like phenomena to be dream-like.

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

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

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

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

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.