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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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

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

The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

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.

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

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.

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

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.

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

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

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

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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

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

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

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

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

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to escape from the world but to transform our relationship with it.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

The time of the past becomes the present, the time of the present becomes the future, the time of the future becomes the present, and the time of the present becomes the past.

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.

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

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

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

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

The path of practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

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

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

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

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

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.

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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.