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

Like a dream, like an illusion, like a city of gandharvas, that's how birth, and that's how living, that's how dying are taught to be.

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

The world is its own magic.

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

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

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

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

The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

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

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

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

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.

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 path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

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

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

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

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

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

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

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

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

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

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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

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

Both formerly and now, it is only suffering that I describe, and the cessation of suffering.

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.

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

Dependent origination is not a theory about the origin of the world but a teaching that shows how suffering originates in dependence on our own mental processes.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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

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

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

In the spiritual world there are no time divisions such as the past, present and future; for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present where life quivers in its true sense.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

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

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

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

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

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

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

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.

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