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

The past is gone, the future is not yet here. Live in the present moment with awareness.

When you love someone, you have to have trust and confidence. Love without trust is not yet love.

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.

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

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

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

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.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

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

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

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

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

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

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

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

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

It is never too late to turn on the light.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

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

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

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

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

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

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

The key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion.

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

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

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

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

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

When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test of each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize.

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

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

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

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

The best way to solve a problem is to help someone else solve their problem.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

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.

Don't try to push away the darkness. Just light a lamp. The darkness will disappear by itself.

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

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.

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.