Life is available only in the present moment.

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.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

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

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.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

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

All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

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

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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

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

All experiences are preceded by mind, having mind as their master, created by mind.

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.

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

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

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

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

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

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

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

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

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

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

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

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

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

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

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

Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is awakened.

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

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

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

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

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

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

The defilements of the mind are temporary visitors. Pure awareness is your true home.

The time of the past becomes the present, the time of the present becomes the future, the time of the future becomes the present, and the time of the present becomes the past.

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

To live is enough.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

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.

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

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

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

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