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

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

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

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

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

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

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

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

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

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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

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.

Just to be alive is enough.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

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

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

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

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

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

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

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

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

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

To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

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

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

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

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

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

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.

Life is available only in the present moment.

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.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

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.

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

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

True freedom is a freedom from the tyranny of our own thoughts and afflictive emotions.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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

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

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

Suffering comes from our resistance to what is. Peace comes from our acceptance of what is.

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

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.