The defilements of the mind are temporary visitors. Pure awareness is your true home.

Every experience is an opportunity to practice awareness.

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

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

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

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

Suffering comes from our resistance to what is. Peace comes from our acceptance of what is.

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but through understanding and through letting go.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

The past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophical system but a practical guide to living.

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what's happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what's happening.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

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.

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 practice of mindfulness is the practice of being alive in the present moment.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.

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

The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

Study the Buddha's teaching which is present in every moment.

You are the master of your own mind. You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

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

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

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

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

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

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.

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

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.

Panic is a gateway to wisdom. When we learn to stay present with our panic, it becomes our teacher.

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.

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

Conquer anger with non-anger. Conquer evil with good. Conquer stinginess with giving. Conquer deceit with truth.

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.

Self-awareness is the key to freedom. The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand how to be free.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

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

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

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

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

When we understand that peace is not dependent on external conditions, we can find it in the midst of any circumstance.

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

To live is enough.

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

Our own life has to be our message.

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

Freedom is not found in the absence of difficulty, but in our relationship to it.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

The Buddha's teaching challenges us to master the art of living, to live in a way that leads to the extinction of suffering.

We need the courage to learn from our experience and the wisdom to be willing to change and grow.

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

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

The more you understand impermanence, the more you appreciate every moment.