When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

The perfect moment is this one, not the one you're waiting for.

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but through understanding and through letting go.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

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.

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

The mind is like a room with many windows. Open them all and let the fresh air in.

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

The way to change the world is to change your own mind.

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things.

Craving and aversion are the roots of suffering. Observe them with equanimity.

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.

To what shall I compare this life? It is like a boat that left at dawn, leaving no trace.

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri. I belong to the caste of non-duality of these two.

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.

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

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.

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

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

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

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

When we know the truth, we become people who don't have to think much, we become people with wisdom.

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

Life is available only in the present moment.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

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

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

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

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

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

Don't try to push away the darkness. Just light a lamp. The darkness will disappear by itself.

Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

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

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 restraint of the senses is not a matter of suppression but of wise attention to our experience.

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

My religion is to live and die without regret.

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 essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

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

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

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

The Buddha's teaching is a middle way between all extremes, between eternalism and annihilationism, between self-indulgence and self-torture.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, wisdom arises naturally as we open our hearts to the truth of what is.

Be happy at the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

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

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

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

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

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

The snow lion stays in the mountains, and the snow lion's ways are the snow lion's ways.