The complete teachings of all Buddhas - past, present, and future - are to be found within the essence of every human being. — Huineng
Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either. — Bodhidharma
What is most important is to go deep into ourselves and discover the loving kindness and compassion of the buddha within - the awakened nature we all possess. — Shinjo Ito
Our true nature is like a precious jewel: although it may be temporarily buried in mud, it remains completely brilliant and unaffected. We simply have to uncover it. — Pema Chodron
Every human being's essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature. — Lao Tzu
Our original nature is...void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy - and that is all. Enter deeply into it by awakening yourself. — Huangbo Xiyun
May you know the beauty of your own true nature. — Jack Kornfield
To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, 'Don't cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.' — Ajahn Chah
The word Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word Budh, meaning, to be awake. So Buddha is not a name and ultimately not a person, but a state of consciousness. — Eckhart Tolle
Pleasure and pain are only aspects of the mind. Our essential nature is happiness — Ramana Maharshi
Ultimately one must abandon the path to enlightenment. If you still define yourself as a Buddhist, you are not a buddha yet. — Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
The ultimate truth is so simple; it is nothing more than being in one’s natural, original state. — Ramana Maharshi
In the monastery of your heart, you have a temple where all Buddhas unite. — Milarepa
The supreme attainment of human life is divine bliss. Divine bliss is the nature of the Self. — Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Buddha Quotes
If you want to travel the Way of Buddhas and Zen masters, then expect nothing, seek nothing, and grasp nothing. — Dogen
I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong. — John Lennon
Putting the gold leaf on the back of a Buddha statue. — Thai Proverbs
Be patient with yourself, nothing in nature blooms all year.
So I cast my lot with Him-not the one who claimed wisdom, Confucius; or the one who claimed enlightenment, Buddha; or the one who claimed to be a prophet, Muhammad, but with the one who claimed to be God in human flesh. The one who declared, 'Before Abraham was born, I am'-and proved it. — Norman Geisler
If Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed
were to bump into each other along the road
and go have a cup of tea or whatever,
I think we all know
they would treat one another far different and far better
than a lot of their followers would. — Brian D. McLaren
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed. - Buddha No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. — Buddha
The axe forgets what the tree remembers.
Buddha left a road map, Jesus left a road map, Krishna left a road map, Rand McNally left a road map. But you still have to travel the road yourself — Stephen Levine
The mouth prays to Buddha, but the heart is full of evil. — Vietnamese Proverbs
Who do you think was smarter, Jesus or Buddha? I mean, just in terms of not letting themselves get crucified. — Anthony Jeselnik
May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the Christians give strength to you to carry out your noble idea. — Swami Vivekananda
Buddhism Quotes
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Happiness never decreases by being shared. — Buddha
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. — Dogen
If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? — Dogen
In every walk with the nature one receives far more than he seeks.
Do not encumber your mind with useless thoughts. What good does it do to brood on the past or anticipate the future? Remain in the simplicity of the present moment. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher. — Pema Chodron
Each time you read a book, a tree smiles knowing there's life after death.
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create disticntions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. — Buddha
On the day that you were born, you began to die. Do not waste a single moment more! — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them? — Buddha
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. — Buddha
Lord Buddha Quotes
Let me be reborn. I would like to be born again twenty-five times to spread Lord Buddha's Dhamma. — Anagarika Dharmapala
Five hundred years before Christ some physicians of ancient India, working under the influence of the Lord Buddha, advanced the art of healing to so perfect a state that they were able to abolish surgery, although the surgery of their time was as efficient, or more so, than that of the present day. — Edward Bach
The Lord Buddha was once asked by a disciple to sum up the whole of His teaching in one verse. He replied: Cease to do evil; Learn to do well; Cleanse your own heart; This is the religion of the Buddha. — Arthur E. Powell
The greatest oak was once a little nut who held her ground.
I am a steadfast follower of the doctrine of non-violence which was first preached by Lord Buddha, whose divine wisdom is absolute. — Dalai Lama
I hold that all the Teachers of the world have attained that Life which is the fulfilment of life. Hence, whenever anyone enters that Life, which is the culmination of all life, then he is ipso facto the Buddha, the Christ, the Lord Maitreya, because there is no distinction there. — Jiddu Krishnamurti
I see Lord Buddha doing to our collective spiritual well-being what global trade did to our collective economic well-being and the digital internet did to our collective intellectual well-being. — Narendra Modi
Be still, and the earth will speak to you.
I see Lord Buddha in the 21st Century across national borders, across faith systems, across political ideologies, playing the role of a bridge to promote understanding to counsel patience and to enlighten us with tolerance and empathy. — Narendra Modi
Bodh Gaya is a land of enlightenment. Years ago, what Bodh Gaya got was Siddhartha but what Bodh Gaya gave to the world was Lord Buddha, the epitome of knowledge, peace and compassion. — Narendra Modi
Hindu philosophy was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the advent and the teachings of the Lord Buddha. I revere Buddha as a reformer of not only Hinduism but also the world, who has given all of us a new world view and vision which is critical for the survival of all of us and the entire world. — Narendra Modi
Buddhist Quotes
Follow the three R's: - Respect for self. - Respect for others. - Responsibility for all your actions. — Dalai Lama
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. — Dalai Lama
I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done. — Marie Curie
We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we have lost our connection to ourselves.
Every civilization:
Hindu, Buddhist, Confucianist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, all of them understood that LEARNING was to make a BETTER HUMAN BEING, LEARNING was NOT to MAKE MORE MONEY;
It was to make a BETTER HUMAN BEING. — Hamza Yusuf
We suffer because we want life to be different from what it is. We suffer because we try to make pleasurable what is painful, to make solid what is fluid, to make permanent what is always changing. — Sakyong Mipham
If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good. — Shantideva
Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.
Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life. — Dogen
Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. — Confucius
All rising to great places is by a winding stair. — Buddha
Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality. — Dalai Lama
Buddhist Meditation Quotes
Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. — Ajahn Chah
All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion. Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude of love and benefitting others. — Milarepa
I'm expressin' with my full capabilities,
And now I'm livin in correctional facilities.
Cause some don't agree with how I do this,
I get straight and meditate like a Buddhist. — Dr. Dre
Be kind to every kind, not just mankind.
If you let cloudy water settle, it will become clear. If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear. — Buddha
In horror of death, I took to the mountains - again and again I meditated on the uncertainty of the hour of death, capturing the fortress of the deathless unending nature of mind. Now all fear of death is over and done. — Milarepa
You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too. — Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Thousands of tired, never-shaken, over civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home, that wilderness is a necessity.
Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment. — Nhat Hanh
When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by. — Ajahn Chah
Movement is good for the body. Stillness is good for the mind. — Sakyong Mipham
Mind is everything. What we think, we become. — Buddha
Buddhist Philosophy Quotes
"All conditioned things are impermanent" - when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. — Buddha
I follow four dictates: face it, accept it, deal with it, then let it go. — Sheng-yen
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. — Buddha
To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. — Buddha
A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker. — Buddha
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill. — Buddha
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent. — Buddha
All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things. — Akkineni Nagarjuna
From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hinduism religion. — Swami Vivekananda
Buddhist Life Quotes
One moment can change a day, One day can change a life and One life can change the world — Buddha
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path. — Buddha
Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. — A. A. Milne
This is bravery: using the challenge of daily life to sharpen our mind and open our heart. — Sakyong Mipham
Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion. — Nhat Hanh
He who experiences the unity of life sees his own self in all beings. — Buddha
Realization is not knowledge about the universe, but the living experience of the nature of the universe. Until we have such living experience, we remain dependent on examples, and subject to their limits. — Namkhai Norbu
In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves. — Abraham Joshua Heschel
As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life. — Buddha
All that we are is the result of what we have thought; what we think we become. — Buddha
Buddhism regards all living creatures as being endowed with the Buddha nature and the potential to become Buddhas. That's why Buddhism teaches us to refrain from killing and to liberate creatures instead. — Hsuan Hua
In meditation, silently and serenely, all words are transcended.
In Illumination, all things appear as is.
Silence is the ceasing of ego-grasping. Illumination is the functioning of the wonder of wisdom.
The unity of these two is awakening to Buddha Nature. — Sheng-yen
The Buddha is your real body, your original mind. This mind has no form or characteristics, no cause or effect, no tendons or bones. It's like space. You can't hold it. It's not the mind of materialists or nihilists. If you don't see your own miraculously aware nature, you'll never find a Buddha, even if you break your body into atoms. — Bodhidharma
Wordless is not the same of expressionless. All phenomenon of the universe, audible and inaudible, tangible and intangible, sentient and insentient, are the clear and ceaseless expression of the buddha nature. — John Daido Loori
If you want to find Buddha nature, love someone and care for them. — Dainin Katagiri
The Buddha said that all conscious beings possess an enlightened nature.
Because of that, we have this natural purity, peacefulness and power.
We can rest the mind naturally because we are already in possession of these qualities.
If one can rest the mind naturally, that's the best meditation. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Countless people have attempted to define the absolute power of the world of nature. Some praise it as god, some call it the Buddha, others call it truth. Still others convert nature into a philosophy by which they attempt to sound its deepest truth. Such attempts to define the power of nature are no more than striving to escape its effects. — Koichi Tohei
If you see your nature, you don't need to read sutras or invoke buddhas. Erudition and knowledge are not only useless but also cloud your awareness. Doctrines are only for pointing to the mind. Once you see your mind, why pay attention to doctrines? — Bodhidharma
To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature. — Bodhidharma
If you fall into poverty, live that way without grumbling - then your poverty will not burden you. Likewise, if you are rich, live with your riches. All this is the functioning of Buddha-nature. In short, Buddha-nature has the quality of infinite adaptability. — Philip Kapleau
Perhaps one of the main antidotes to depression, lack of self-esteem, loneliness and so forth is the recognition that we really do have Buddha nature. All the other problems like anger, jealousy, ambitions, are merely habitual patterns that we've learned, but aren't inherent to who we are. — Tenzin Palmo
Buddha nature, is like the sun which is always shining, always present, though often obscured. We are blocked from our natural light by the clouds of thought and longing and fear; the overcast of the conditioned mind; the hurricane of I am. — Stephen Levine
The Buddha never intended to make desire itself the problem. When he said craving causes suffering, he was referring not to our natural inclination as living beings to have wants and needs, but to our habit of clinging to experience that must, by nature, pass away. — Tara Brach
Unless you see your nature, all this talk about cause & effect is nonsense. Buddhas don't practice nonsense. — Bodhidharma
The root-word "buddha" means to wake up, to know, to understand; and he or she who wakes up and understands is call a Buddha. It is as simple as that. The capacity to wake up, to understand, and to love is called Buddha nature. — Nhat Hanh
When you realize the nature of mind, layers of confusion peel away. You don't actually "become" a buddha, you simply cease, slowly, to be deluded. And being a buddha is not being some omnipotent spiritual superman, but becoming at last a true human being. — Sogyal Rinpoche
...we and all sentient beings fundamentally have the buddha nature as our innermost essence. . . . — Sogyal Rinpoche
As I study both the exoteric and the esoteric schools of Buddhism, they maintain that human beings are endowed with Dharma-nature by birth. If this is the case, why did the Buddhas of all ages - undoubtedly in possession of enlightenment - find it necessary to seek enlightenment and engage in spiritual practice? — Dogen
The teachings on love given by the Buddha are clear, scientific, and applicable... Love, compassion, joy, and equanimity are the very nature of an enlightened person. They are the four aspects of true love within ourselves and within everyone and everything. — Nhat Hanh
Buddha's Wife tells a fascinating story, little known in the west, about the woman whom Buddha left behind. Gabriel Constans focuses the reader's attention on the strong and complicated women who surrounded Buddha and makes us re-think the nature of spiritual life. — Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
All living beings have Buddha nature and can become Buddhas. — Buddha
When one has a decisive realization of the inherent nature of the mind, which has no ego, it has no sense of duality between oneself and the cup, and a deep sense of interpenetration of the whole dharma. Then whatever we do is spontaneously perfect Buddha activity. And anybody who is even slightly tuned in will get a very deep experience of that. — Tenzin Palmo
Our true buddha-nature has no shape. And the dust of affliction has no form. — Bodhidharma
Buddha nature is not something that we possess, nor is it something we can be. It is the nature of things, just as they are. To realize our buddha nature, to live in accord with this awakening, is the truth that alleviates suffering in the world. — Geoffrey Shugen Arnold
Every man possesses the Buddha-nature. Do not demean yourselves. — Dogen
Your nature is the Buddha. — Bodhidharma
I would like my art to be about the possibility that each of us has to realize our connectedness with this great Spirit, whatever you want to name it, our inherent Buddha nature, Christ consciousness, primordial reality, the ground of being, God. Whether you want to go for a personal or impersonal perception of Spirit, is up to the individual. — Alex Grey
For so many centuries women have been suppressed and regarded as inferior. And that of course is not right at all, that we all have buddha-nature - so what's the difference? — Tenzin Palmo
The Buddha said that samsara by its nature is painful. He didn't say it was a joyride. — Tenzin Palmo
The real spiritual power is enabling beings to realize the nature of the mind. That's the power of Buddha activity. — Tenzin Palmo
To reflect on everything in daily life is to nurture your buddha nature. — Shinjo Ito
According to Buddhism, each person is a Buddha who has forgotten their original nature. If we in the pampered West, having grown up with so many advantages, could not claim our own health and our agency, preferring to see ourselves as helpless victims, then who would do it? Who would take responsibility for the world? — Daniel Pinchbeck
Since everything is already the Supreme Buddha Nature, where are you going to find it? — Adyashanti
All sentient beings - all holons in fact - contain Buddha-nature - contain depth, consciousness, intrinsic value, Spirit - and thus we are all members of the council of all beings... And the ultimate objective truth is that all beings are perfect manifestations of Spirit or Emptiness — Ken Wilber
According to Buddhism, individuals are masters of their own destiny. And all living beings are believed to possess the nature of the Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, the potential or seed of enlightenment, within them. So our future is in our own hands. What greater free will do we need? — Dalai Lama
When people suffer, their relationships usually suffer as well. Period. And we all suffer because, as the Buddha says, that's the nature of being human and wanting stuff we don't always get. — Mary Karr
When you're blind to your own nature, the Buddha is an ordinary being. When you're aware of your own nature, an ordinary being is the Buddha. — Bill Porter
What I believe is that we have this extraordinary spirit inside ourselves, which for me is our Buddha nature. I believe we are in the process of opening and getting closer and closer to our Buddha nature and stripping away all that is covering it. I don't think I'm going to end up meeting this one being up there or out there. — Eve Ensler
Whether a Buddha comes into the world or not, the nature of things is still the nature of things. The Buddha is someone who realizes what is true, what actually exists. If we want to become enlightened, we simply have to acknowledge or recognize what is. — Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Ignorance, vulnerability, fear, anger, and desire are expressions of the infinite potential of your buddha nature. There's nothing inherently wrong or right with making such choices. The fruit of Buddhist practice is simply the recognition that these and other mental afflictions are nothing more or less than choices available to us because our real nature is infinite in scope. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Nothing burns in hell but ego" says Tauler. Does anything live but Buddha Nature, Christ Spirit? — Frederick Franck
People walking? Karma walking ... Buddha nature walking..! — Frederick Franck
There is no self, yet we all exist. All phenomena are "empty," yet they have Buddha nature. — Frederick Lenz
According to accounts of the Buddha's life, it would seem that he had a very deep relationship with nature. He was not born in the royal palace but in a park, under a sala tree. He attained complete enlightenment under the bodhi tree and left this earth to enter Parinirvana, again, between three sala trees. It would seem that the Buddha was very fond of trees. — Dalai Lama
In Conclusion
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