The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

The root of suffering is not in the world outside us but in our own minds.

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

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

Through continuous mindfulness practice, the true nature of physical and mental phenomena becomes clear.

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

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 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 essence of the teaching is emptiness and compassion. Without emptiness, compassion can become attachment. Without compassion, emptiness can become cold and distant.

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

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

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

The Four Noble Truths are not merely theoretical propositions but a framework for understanding and transforming our experience.

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

The path to enlightenment is not a path at all. It is a realization that where you are is where you have always been.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

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

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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 the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth.

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

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

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

The root of suffering is attachment.

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

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

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

The more you understand impermanence, the more you appreciate every moment.

Suffering comes from our resistance to what is. Peace comes from our acceptance of what is.

The spiritual journey begins with the recognition that beneath our surface happiness there lies a deep inner pain.

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

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

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.

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

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.

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

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.

Life is like a cup of tea. It's all in how you make it.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

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