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

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

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

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

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

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.

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

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 way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

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

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

Don't try to push away the darkness. Just light a lamp. The darkness will disappear by itself.

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

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

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

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

Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are not philosophical concepts but realities to be directly perceived through mindfulness practice.

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

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

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

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

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

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.

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

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

Suffering comes from our resistance to what is. Peace comes from our acceptance of what is.

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

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

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

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

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 root of suffering is attachment.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

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

When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

The path of practice moves from faith through understanding to direct realization.

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

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

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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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