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.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who we think we should be, but about unbecoming who we are not.

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

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

To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

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

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

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

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

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.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

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

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

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The secret of happiness lies not in getting what we want, but in learning to want what we already have.

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

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

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

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

The more you understand impermanence, the more you appreciate every moment.

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

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

Both formerly and now, it is only suffering that I describe, and the cessation of suffering.

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

The knowledge of dissolution comes when you see both the noting mind and noted object dissolving together.

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

The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

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

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

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

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