The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

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

Those who grasp at things as truly existent are like someone trying to catch the reflection of the moon in water.

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

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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.

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

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

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

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

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

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

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

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

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

The ultimate revolution is the spiritual revolution, where we learn to see reality as it truly is.

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

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer.

Everybody has the light of Buddha within, but they don't look for it.

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

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

This very body is the Buddha. And this very earth the lotus paradise.

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

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

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

The nature of everything is empty and clear, and the mind is beyond both existence and nonexistence.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

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

The knowledge of dissolution comes when you see both the noting mind and noted object dissolving together.

The more we understand our mind, the more we understand the world.

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