The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

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

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.

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

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

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

To see directly is to be free of hope and fear. Hope and fear are like a cloud before the sun.

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

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

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.

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

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

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.

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

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

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

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

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

Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

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

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.

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

In my youth I studied, in my prime I practiced, now all my doubts are cleared.

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

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

The grass is greener where you water it.

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

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

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.

True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

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

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

To live is enough.

The mind that notes and the object that is noted are both impermanent. Understanding this leads to liberation.

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

The person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

Better to have one moment of genuine meditation than to perform religious activities for a thousand years.

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

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things.

Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

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

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

Misery ceases to exist when we stop reacting to sensations.

The restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.