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

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

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

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

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

The nature of life is change. The nature of change is painful. The nature of pain is temporary.

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

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

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.

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

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

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

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

When mindfulness becomes continuous, the distinction between the observer and the observed begins to break down.

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

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

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.

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

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.

Through continuous mindfulness practice, the true nature of physical and mental phenomena becomes clear.

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

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

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

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

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

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

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

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

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

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

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

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

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

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

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

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

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion.

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

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.

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

All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddha.

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 spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

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.

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.