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

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

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

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer.

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

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

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

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

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

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

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

This very body is the Buddha. And this very earth the lotus paradise.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

Birth and death are neither two things nor one thing. Life is not an appearance, death is not a disappearance.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

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 world is its own magic.

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

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

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

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

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

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

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

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

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

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

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

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

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

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

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