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

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

The obstacle is the path.

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

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

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

When you generate negativity, you are the first victim of your negativity.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

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

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

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

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

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

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

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

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.

Our own life has to be our message.

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

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

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

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived, how well we have loved, how well we have learned to let go.

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

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.

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

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

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

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.

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

To see directly is to be free of hope and fear. Hope and fear are like a cloud before the sun.

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

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

The way we look at the world is the way the world looks.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to reduce our selfishness and to work for the benefit of others.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

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

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

When you note pain, you are not trying to make it go away. You are trying to understand its true nature.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

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

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

The mind is like a room with many windows. Open them all and let the fresh air in.

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

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

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

The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.