Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

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

The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

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

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to escape from the world but to transform our relationship with it.

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

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

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

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.

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

Compassion is not mere sentiment but a powerful force that can transform both ourselves and others.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

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

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

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

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

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.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

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.

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

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

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

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.

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

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

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

Just as true humor is laughter at oneself, true humanity is knowledge of oneself.

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

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

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

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

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

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

The dharma is not outside of you. Looking for it elsewhere is like placing a Buddha on your head while searching for him everywhere else.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

Mindfulness is being aware of what's going on, not trying to control what's going on.

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

Buddhist practice is not to eliminate life's problems but to grow with them patiently and with compassion.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

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

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

To understand everything is to forgive everything.