The lamp of wisdom burns constantly, illuminating the nature of mind.

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

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

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

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

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 practice of meditation is not about achieving states of bliss but about seeing things as they really are.

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

To be attached to a thing means that mind and the thing meet and grow into each other.

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

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

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

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

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

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

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

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

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

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

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

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

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

The nature of all things is like a magical illusion, a mirage, a dream, a reflection of the moon in water.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

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.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.

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

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

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

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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.

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

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