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

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

The best way to solve a problem is to help someone else solve their problem.

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.

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

Compassion is not just about being kind to others. It's about being kind to ourselves as well.

The more clearly you see the arising and passing of phenomena, the less you will be attached to them.

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

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

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who we think we should be, but about unbecoming who we are not.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

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

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

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.

When I run from suffering, it follows me. When I face suffering with equanimity, it runs from me.

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

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

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

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

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

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

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

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

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

The key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion.

Be happy at the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

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 willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

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

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

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

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

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

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

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

Liberation is not found by running away from our experience but by looking deeply into it.

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

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

Faith is the firm foundation, diligence the supporting pillar, and wisdom the roof of the house of practice.

When the heart is still, it can be kind. When the mind is still, it can see clearly.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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

True peace comes not from controlling the world, but from letting go of control.

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.

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

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

Life is available only in the present moment.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

True happiness is not found through the multiplication of desires but through their simplification.

Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

The Buddha's teaching is not a philosophy or a religion; it is a method of practice.