The menu is not the meal.

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

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 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.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

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

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

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

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

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

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

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

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

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.

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy 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 eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

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

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

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

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

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.

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

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

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

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

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.

Just as the wise do not take a mirage to be water, nor an echo to be a voice, so the enlightened do not take the world to be real.

To live – is that not enough? To love – is that not everything?

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

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

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

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

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.

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

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 purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

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

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

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

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who we think we should be, but about unbecoming who we are not.

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

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

The world is its own magic.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

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.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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