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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

To live is enough.

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

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

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to escape from the world but to transform our relationship with it.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we appreciate each moment of our lives.

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.

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.

The secret of happiness lies not in getting what we want, but in learning to want what we already have.

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

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

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

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

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

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

Just to be alive is enough.

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

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

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

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

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.

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

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

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

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

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

The root of suffering is attachment.

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