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

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

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

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

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

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

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

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

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

All experiences are preceded by mind, having mind as their master, created by mind.

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

The lamp of wisdom burns constantly, illuminating the nature of mind.

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

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

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

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

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

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

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

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

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.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

External phenomena are like a dream, whatever appears is not real. Recognize the nature of dream-like phenomena to be dream-like.

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

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

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.

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.

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

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Life is available only in the present moment.

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

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

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

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

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

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