The root of suffering is attachment.

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

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

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

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

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

The lamp of wisdom burns constantly, illuminating the nature of mind.

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

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

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

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 root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

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

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

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.

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.

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

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.

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

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

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

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

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

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

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

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?

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

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

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.

True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

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

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

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

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

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

The water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

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

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

The Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.