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

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

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

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

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

The defilements of the mind are temporary visitors. Pure awareness is your true home.

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Self-awareness is the key to freedom. The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand how to be free.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

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

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

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

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

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

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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.

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

Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

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

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

When you let go of trying to control everything, you can relax and enjoy life.

The more you understand yourself, the more you understand the world.

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

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

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

The menu is not the meal.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

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

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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.

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

Genuine happiness comes from having developed basic human qualities, such as attention, emotional balance, and generosity.

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

Compassion is not just about being kind to others. It's about being kind to ourselves as well.

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

The snow lion stays in the mountains, and the snow lion's ways are the snow lion's ways.

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

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

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

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

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.