When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

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.

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

The Noble Eightfold Path is a path of training: training in ethical conduct, training in mental discipline, and training in wisdom.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

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

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

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.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

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

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

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

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

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

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

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

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

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

To live is enough.

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

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

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

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

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.

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

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 ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

The perfect moment is this one, not the one you're waiting for.

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

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

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

The world is its own magic.

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

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

Better to have one moment of genuine meditation than to perform religious activities for a thousand years.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

Our own life has to be our message.

The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.

When you let go of trying to control everything, you can relax and enjoy life.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

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.

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

Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are not philosophical concepts but realities to be directly perceived through mindfulness practice.

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Peace and negativity cannot coexist just as light and darkness cannot coexist.

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

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