The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

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

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

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

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

The true mark of a spiritual practitioner is that your own behavior is better, not that you can criticize others well.

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

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Every moment of confusion is also a moment of wisdom, if we can learn to recognize it.

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

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

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

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

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

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

Forgiveness is not a moral issue. It's a power issue. When we hold onto grievance and resentment, we are giving our power away.

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

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

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

The grass is greener where you water it.

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

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

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

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.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

Enlightenment is the realization that we were never really separate from one another or from all of life.

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 key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

True freedom is a freedom from the tyranny of our own thoughts and afflictive emotions.

The practice is not about achieving special states but about seeing ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity.

Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.

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

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

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

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 farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

The movement of love is what creates the beauty in our lives.

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

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

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.