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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

The essence of mind is empty like space; yet it contains all things, like a mirror.

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

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

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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 Buddha taught us to leave alone the things that don't lead to awakening.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

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

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

Recognize the emptiness of all phenomena, but do not become attached to emptiness itself.

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

The dharma is not about collecting more beliefs but about becoming free from the power of belief itself.

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

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

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

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

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

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

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

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

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

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

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

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.

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

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

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

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

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

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.

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

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

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

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

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

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.

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.