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

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

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

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

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 ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

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

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

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

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.

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

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.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

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

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.

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

The Noble Eightfold Path is not a path of mere intellectual understanding but a path of practice, of inner transformation.

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

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

The root of suffering is attachment.

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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.

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

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

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

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

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

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

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

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.

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.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

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

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way.

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

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

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.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

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