Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

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

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

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

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

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

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

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

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

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

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

Enlightenment is not the end of change but the end of resistance to change.

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

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

The menu is not the meal.

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

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

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

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

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

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

The essence of mind is empty like space; yet it contains all things, like a mirror.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Just as the wise do not take a mirage to be water, nor an echo to be a voice, so the enlightened do not take the world to be real.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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.

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.

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

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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

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

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

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

Past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty. Future thoughts are unborn and fresh. The present moment abides naturally and unconstructed.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

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

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

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

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.

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.