Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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

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

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

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

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

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

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

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

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

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

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

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

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

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

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

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

The nature of mind is the unity of awareness and emptiness.

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

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

Everybody has the light of Buddha within, but they don't look for it.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

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

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

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

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

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

Like a dream, like an illusion, like a city of gandharvas, that's how birth, and that's how living, that's how dying are taught to be.

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

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

Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

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.

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.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

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.

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

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

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

The way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

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

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

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

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

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

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.