Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

Peace and negativity cannot coexist just as light and darkness cannot coexist.

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

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

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

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

The practice of mindfulness leads naturally to concentration. Concentration leads naturally to wisdom.

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

The Four Noble Truths are not mere doctrinal propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our lives.

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

Right practice is steady practice. Whether you feel lazy or diligent, just keep practicing.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

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

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

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

To what shall I compare this life? It is like a boat that left at dawn, leaving no trace.

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.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.

Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

The more we understand the nature of our mind, the more we understand the nature of our world.

The menu is not the meal.

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the "support," of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached.

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

When you note pain, you are not trying to make it go away. You are trying to understand its true nature.

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

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

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

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

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

The root of suffering is attachment.

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.

Life is nothing but a continuous chain of sensations. Pleasant or unpleasant, observe them objectively.

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

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

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

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

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

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

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

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

To live is enough.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

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

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.