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.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

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

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

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

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

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 path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

Kindness is the solution to all of life's problems.

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.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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

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

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

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look into your present actions.

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

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

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

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

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

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

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

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

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

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

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

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

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

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

The root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

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

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

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

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

Don't be afraid of the future. The future is good.

Compassion is not just about being kind to others. It's about being kind to ourselves as well.

The heart of one who practices is like the earth. No matter what they throw on it, the earth remains unchanged.

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

Compassion is not something we develop. It arises naturally as we see the truth of what is.

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana. There is no difference at all between nirvana and samsara.

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

The purpose of meditation is to gain right understanding of the true nature of mental and physical phenomena.

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

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

When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.

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