Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

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

Face your own anger and you will be free from anger. Face your own fears and you will be free from fear.

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time.

The way to change the world is to change your own mind.

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

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

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

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand.

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

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

The key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

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

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.

The more you give, the more you have. That's the economics of kindness.

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

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

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

My religion is to live and die without regret.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

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

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

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

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

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

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

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

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

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.

Compassion is not mere sentiment but a powerful force that can transform both ourselves and others.

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.

The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

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 quieter you become, the more you can hear.

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.

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.

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.