Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

The only thing that we truly have control over is our attitude toward experience.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

The highest mantra is to be without deception. The highest medicine is to have few desires. The highest meditation is not to be attached.

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 goal of meditation is not to reach some highest place, but to remain in the place where you already are.

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.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

The way to change the world is to change your own mind.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

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

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

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

The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind.

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

The nature of life is change. The nature of change is painful. The nature of pain is temporary.

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

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

The more we understand impermanence, the more we understand that we can't hold on to anything.

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

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

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening right now, without wishing it were different.

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

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

Every thought, every word, and every action leaves an imprint on our mind.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

Compassion is not something we develop. It arises naturally as we see the truth of what is.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

True freedom is a freedom from the tyranny of our own thoughts and afflictive emotions.

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

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

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

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

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

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

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