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

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

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

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

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.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

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

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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.

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

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look into your present actions.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

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

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

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

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

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

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

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

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

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

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

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

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

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 past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

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

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

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.