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

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

The development of insight is gradual, but the realization of truth is sudden.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

To live – is that not enough? To love – is that not everything?

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.

Those who know emptiness, know impermanence. Those who know impermanence, know non-self. Those who know non-self, know peace.

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 water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

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

Our own life has to be our message.

When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.

The root of suffering is attachment.

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.

Enlightenment is not a state of perfection but of authenticity.

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

The practice of meditation is like tuning an instrument. Too tight, and the strings break. Too loose, and they won't play.

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

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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

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

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

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

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

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

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

The dharma is not outside of you. Looking for it elsewhere is like placing a Buddha on your head while searching for him everywhere else.