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

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

True freedom is a freedom from the tyranny of our own thoughts and afflictive emotions.

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

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

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way.

We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

The world is its own magic.

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

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

The nature of everything is empty and clear, and the mind is beyond both existence and nonexistence.

Just to be alive is enough.

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

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

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

The water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

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

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

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

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

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

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

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

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

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.

When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.

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.

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

To live is enough.

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

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

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

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

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

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

Life is available only in the present moment.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

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

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

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

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

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

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

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

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

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

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

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 purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.