Life is available only in the present moment.

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

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

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

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

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

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

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

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

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.

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

When you realize the emptiness of all phenomena, compassion will arise in your heart for all sentient beings who do not understand this truth.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

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

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 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.

The path of practice moves from faith through understanding to direct realization.

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.

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

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

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

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

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

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

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

Buddhas and ordinary beings are not two. Enlightenment and delusion are not different paths.

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

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 fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

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

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

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

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

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

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

Enlightenment is not the end of change but the end of resistance to change.

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.

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

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

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

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

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

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

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

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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

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

The nature of all things is like a magical illusion, a mirage, a dream, a reflection of the moon in water.

The one who grasps at existence suffers in samsara, while the one who grasps at non-existence will find no liberation.

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

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