Past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty. Future thoughts are unborn and fresh. The present moment abides naturally and unconstructed.

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

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

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

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

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.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

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.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

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

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

This very body is the Buddha. And this very earth the lotus paradise.

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

The more you understand impermanence, the more you appreciate every moment.

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

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.

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

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

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.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

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

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

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

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

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

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

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

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

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.

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

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

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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

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

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.

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

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

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

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

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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

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

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

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.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

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

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

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

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

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.

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