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

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

Life is available only in the present moment.

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

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

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.

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

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

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

The Buddha's teaching is not about belief but about investigation, not about accepting but about examining.

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.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

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.

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

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.

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

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

The signs of practice are not in extraordinary experiences but in extraordinary awareness of ordinary experiences.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

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

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

The everyday practice is simply to develop complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

Mindfulness is the key to the present moment. Without it we cannot see the world clearly, and we cannot make the wisest choices in our lives.

The more precisely you note, the more clearly you understand. The more clearly you understand, the stronger your insight becomes.

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

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

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

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

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

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

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer.

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

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

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

Genuine happiness comes from having developed basic human qualities, such as attention, emotional balance, and generosity.

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

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

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

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

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

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

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

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

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

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

The snow lion stays in the mountains, and the snow lion's ways are the snow lion's ways.

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

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

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