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

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

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

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.

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

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

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

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

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

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

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

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

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

The nature of all things is like a magical illusion, a mirage, a dream, a reflection of the moon in water.

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

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

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

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

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

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

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

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

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.

Everybody has the light of Buddha within, but they don't look for it.

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

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.

Life is available only in the present moment.

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

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

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

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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

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

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

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

The essence of all phenomena is empty and clear like space. The nature of mind is awareness-emptiness like the sun and sky.

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

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

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

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

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.

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

The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

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

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

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

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