Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

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

The only way to fail at meditation is to stop doing it.

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

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

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

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

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay.

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

Understanding means throwing away your knowledge.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

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

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way.

The Buddha's teachings are not about abandoning our lives but about bringing the fullness of our attention to our lives.

Radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.

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.

The path of practice requires both faith and wisdom, both devotion and understanding.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

Compassion is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted. Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled. Look within, be still.

The mind is like a wild monkey, jumping here and there. But through meditation, we learn to see whatever arises in our mind with more spaciousness and clarity.