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

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.

The goal of meditation is not to reach some highest place, but to remain in the place where you already are.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

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

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

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

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.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

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.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

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

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

The sign of wisdom is constant joy.

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

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

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

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

When you love someone, you have to have trust and confidence. Love without trust is not yet love.

Mindfulness is not just bare attention but wise attention that leads to understanding and insight.

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

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

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

The difference between being caught in thoughts and being mindful of thoughts is like the difference between being in a movie and watching a movie.

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

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

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

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

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.

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

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

The measure of success in spiritual life is how peaceful you are.

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

Love is not a feeling. It's a capability.

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

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

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

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

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.

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

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

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

My religion is to live and die without regret.

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

Knowledge must be stabilized by meditation. Without meditation, knowledge is like a child in battle.

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

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

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

To be attached to a thing means that mind and the thing meet and grow into each other.

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

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.