Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

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

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

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

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

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 Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

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

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

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.

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

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

Through continuous mindfulness practice, the true nature of physical and mental phenomena becomes clear.

Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is awakened.

The five aggregates are not a theoretical model but a description of lived experience to be investigated through mindfulness.

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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

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

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

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

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

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.

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

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.

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.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

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

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

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

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

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

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

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

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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