Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

We need the courage to learn from our experience and the wisdom to be willing to change and grow.

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

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

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

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Mindfulness is attention to life, and life itself is sacred.

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

When mindfulness becomes continuous, the distinction between the observer and the observed begins to break down.

The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

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

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

To live is enough.

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

If you want to find peace, then look at that point where you find you're dissatisfied and investigate what's really going on.

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

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

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

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

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

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.

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.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

Happiness is found in the simplest of things. It is not in the things you own, but in the love you share.

The mind itself is the maker of all happiness and misery; yet beings do not understand this and blame external conditions.

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

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

The root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

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

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

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

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

The dharma is not outside of you. Looking for it elsewhere is like placing a Buddha on your head while searching for him everywhere else.

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

Freedom is not found in the absence of difficulty, but in our relationship to it.

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

To what shall I compare this life? It is like a boat that left at dawn, leaving no trace.

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

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

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

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