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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

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.

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

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

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

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

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.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

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

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

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

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.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

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

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

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.

The path to liberation is through understanding the true nature of mind and matter through direct observation.

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

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

To live is enough.

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

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

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

The color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

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

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

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

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

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 Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

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.

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

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

The root of suffering is attachment.

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

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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

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

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

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

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