Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

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

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

One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, and one life can change the world.

When you note pain, you are not trying to make it go away. You are trying to understand its true nature.

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

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.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

We need to learn to let our emotions pass through us like waves, without getting caught in their undertow.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

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

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

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

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

The essence of all phenomena is empty and clear like space. The nature of mind is awareness-emptiness like the sun and sky.

The stages of insight unfold naturally when mindfulness is continuous. There is no need to desire them or try to make them happen.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

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

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

The nature of mind is clearer than the sky, yet we keep looking elsewhere.

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.

Meditation is not about escaping from difficulty but about meeting it with awareness.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practice it.

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

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.