Happiness is found in the simplest of things. It is not in the things you own, but in the love you share.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

Just to be alive is enough.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

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

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

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

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

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

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

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

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

The past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.

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

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

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

The nature of life is change. The nature of change is painful. The nature of pain is temporary.

The teaching of the Buddha is based on two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth. Without understanding the relationship between these two, the deeper meaning of the Buddha's teaching cannot be understood.

The nature of the mind is like the sky, and our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like clouds passing through it.

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is the space of possibility.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

Everybody has the light of Buddha within, but they don't look for it.

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

When you recognize that pain and suffering are impermanent, you become free.

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look into your present actions.

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

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.

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

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

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

Like a dream, like an illusion, like a city of gandharvas, that's how birth, and that's how living, that's how dying are taught to be.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

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

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

The root of suffering is attachment.

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is awakened.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

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.