The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

Start from where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

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

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

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

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

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

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

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the "support," of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached.

The superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.

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.

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

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 more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

Faith is the firm foundation, diligence the supporting pillar, and wisdom the roof of the house of practice.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

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

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.

Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.

The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.

When we see the nature of the mind, we see that we are not our thoughts.

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

Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

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.

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

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.

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

The obstacle is the path.

The development of insight is gradual, but the realization of truth is sudden.

Be happy at the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

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

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.

The key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion.

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

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

A pure mind is always full of love - real love for all others.

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

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

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

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

If you want to understand suffering, you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there.

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

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

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

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

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

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

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

The trouble is, you think you have time.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who we think we should be, but about unbecoming who we are not.