All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking.

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

External seeking only leads to exhaustion. When you imitate others, you lose your own authenticity.

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.

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

The mind itself is the maker of all happiness and misery; yet beings do not understand this and blame external conditions.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

Many people think excitement is happiness... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.

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

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Forgiveness is not a moral issue. It's a power issue. When we hold onto grievance and resentment, we are giving our power away.

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

The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.

Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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.

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

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

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

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 path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

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

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

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

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

Dependent origination is not a theory about the origin of the world but a teaching that shows how suffering originates in dependence on our own mental processes.

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

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

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

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

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

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.

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

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

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

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.