The nature of mind is clearer than the sky, yet we keep looking elsewhere.

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.

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.

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

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

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

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfection.

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

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

Forgiveness is letting go of the hope that the past could have been any different.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

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

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

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.

The obstacle is the path.

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

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

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

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

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

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

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

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

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

The more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

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

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

The mind that sees its own nature becomes free from all extremes.

My religion is to live and die without regret.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

We can learn the art of fierce compassion - redefining strength, deconstructing isolation and renewing a sense of community, practicing letting go of rigid us-vs.-them thinking.

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.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

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

If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

The superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.

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

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

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

The practice of meditation is not about achieving states of bliss but about seeing things as they really are.

Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.