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

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

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

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.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

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

The person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

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

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

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

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

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

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

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

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth.

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

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

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

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

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

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

The root of suffering is attachment.

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 highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

Dependent origination is not a theory about the origin of the world but a teaching that shows how suffering originates in dependence on our own mental processes.

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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 ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.

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

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

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

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.

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

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

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

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

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