The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

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

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be miserable, expect something in return.

A pure mind is always full of love - real love for all others.

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

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

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

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

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

The great gift of meditation is that it returns us to the simplicity of our own being.

When we see the nature of the mind, we see that we are not our thoughts.

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

Through violence, you may solve one problem, but you sow the seeds for another.

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

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.

Mindfulness is not just bare attention but wise attention that leads to understanding and insight.

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

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

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

Be happy at the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

External phenomena are like a dream, whatever appears is not real. Recognize the nature of dream-like phenomena to be dream-like.

Through continuous mindfulness practice, the true nature of physical and mental phenomena becomes clear.

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 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.

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

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

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another – and ourselves.

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

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

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

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

If you want to understand suffering, you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there.

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

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

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.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to bring everything onto the path. Every experience becomes an opportunity for awakening.

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

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 more clearly you see the arising and passing of phenomena, the less you will be attached to them.

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

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

Start from where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

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

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

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

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