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

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

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

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

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

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

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

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

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.

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

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

Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

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

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

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

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

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

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

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

Life is available only in the present moment.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

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

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

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.

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

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

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

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

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

The quality of every moment depends on the state of our minds.

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

The Buddha and all sentient beings are nothing but expressions of the one mind. There is nothing else.

The person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

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

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

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

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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.

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

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.

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

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

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

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.

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

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