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

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

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

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

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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

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

The Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

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

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

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

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

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

When mindfulness becomes continuous, the distinction between the observer and the observed begins to break down.

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

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

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

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

The essence of the teaching is emptiness and compassion. Without emptiness, compassion can become attachment. Without compassion, emptiness can become cold and distant.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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.

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

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

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

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

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

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

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

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

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

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

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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