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

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.

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

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

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

The quality of every moment depends on the state of our minds.

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

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.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

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

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

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

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

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

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

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

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

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

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

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

Recognize the emptiness of all phenomena, but do not become attached to emptiness itself.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

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

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.

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

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

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

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

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

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

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

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

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

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

Life is available only in the present moment.

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

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

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.

The nature of life is change. The nature of change is painful. The nature of pain is temporary.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

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

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

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

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

Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people.

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

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