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

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to bring everything onto the path. Every experience becomes an opportunity for awakening.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look into your present actions.

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

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

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

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

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

The grass is greener where you water it.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

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

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

When I run from suffering, it follows me. When I face suffering with equanimity, it runs from me.

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

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

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

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

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

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.

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

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

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

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

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

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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

Love is not a feeling. It's a capability.

The practice is like peeling an onion. Layer after layer of delusion is removed through continuous mindfulness.

Life is available only in the present moment.

The practice of ethics is not about following rules but about developing inner purity and freedom.

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

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

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

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

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

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

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

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.

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

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

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

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

Wisdom and compassion must be developed equally and harmoniously.

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