The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

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

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

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

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

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

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.

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The Noble Eightfold Path is not a path of mere intellectual understanding but a path of practice, of inner transformation.

True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

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

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.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

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

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

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

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

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

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

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

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

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

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.

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

In the spiritual world there are no time divisions such as the past, present and future; for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present where life quivers in its true sense.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

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

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

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

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

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

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

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

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

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