Top 100 Buddha's Quotes
#1. It is often thought that the Buddha's doctrine teaches us that suffering will disappear if one has meditated long enough, or if one sees everything differently. It is not that at all. Suffering isn't going to go away; the one who suffers is going to go away.
Ayya Khema
#2. A karate practitioner should possess two things : wicked hands, and Buddha's heart
Soke Behzad Ahmadi
#3. The Buddha's message was simple but profound. Neither a life of self-indulgence nor one of self-mortification can bring happiness. Only a middle path, avoiding these two extremes, leads to peace of mind, wisdom, & complete liberation from the dissatisfactions of life.
Henepola Gunaratana
#4. We have two alternatives: either we question our beliefs - or we don't. Either we accept our fixed versions of reality- or we begin to challenge them. In Buddha's opinion, to train in staying open and curious - to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs - is the best use of our human lives.
Pema Chodron
#5. The color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.
Dogen
#6. The only theism worthy of our respect believes in God not because of the way the world is made but in spite of that. The only theism that is no less profound than the Buddha's atheism is that represented in the Bible by Job and Jeremiah.
Walter Kaufmann
#7. Going for refuge to Buddha,Dharma, and Sangha means that we apply effort to receiving Buddha's blessings, to putting Dharma into practice, and to receiving help from Sangha.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
#8. I was talking to a Zen master the other day and he said, "You shall be my disciple."I looked at him and said, "Who was Buddha's teacher?" He looked at me in a very odd way for a moment and then he burst into laughter and handed me a piece of clover.
Alan Watts
#9. You will find a blissfulness which contains in it sadness also, because that sadness gives it depth. Watch Buddha's statue - blissful, but still sad. The very word sad gives you wrong connotations - that something is wrong. This is your interpretation. To me, life in its totality is good.
Rajneesh
#10. Nonfear is the cream of the Buddha's teaching. Practicing
Thich Nhat Hanh
#11. The foundation of the Buddha's teachings lies in compassion, and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the number-one enemy of compassion.
Dalai Lama
#12. It is a weakening and discoloring idea that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time but that it is too late for us. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less. There is no whit less enlightnment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree.
Annie Dillard
#13. One day, soon after the Buddha's enlightenment, a man saw the Buddha walking toward him. The man had not heard of the Buddha, but he could see that there was something different about the man who was approaching, so he was moved to ask, Are you a god?
Steve Hagen
#14. And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire
clearly I'm not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
-from The Buddha's Last Instruction
Mary Oliver
#15. Let me be reborn. I would like to be born again twenty-five times to spread Lord Buddha's Dhamma.
Anagarika Dharmapala
#16. In our own present world age, one thousand Buddhas will appear. Each one will be accompanied by an emanation of Guru Rinpoche to carry out the Buddha's activities.
Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche
#17. In the Buddha's life story we see the three stages of practice: Morality comes first, then concentrated meditation, and then wisdom. And we see that the path takes time.
Dalai Lama
#18. The Buddha's dharma didn't teach peace and relaxation; it taught awakening - often rude awakening.
Jay Michaelson
#19. Mindfulness is Buddha's word for meditation. By mindfulness he means: you should always remain alert, watchful. You should always remain present. Not a single thing should be done in a sort of sleepy state of mind. You should not move like a somnambulist, you should move with a sharp consciousness.
Rajneesh
#20. Without ignoring the objective side of the truth, it has to be subjective as well, Buddha's whole teaching just for you, something you can taste. Not something to believe in but to discover, to experience.
Shunryu Suzuki
#21. I took note of the Buddha's teaching that in one sense a supposed enemy is more valuable than a friend, for an enemy teaches you things, such as forbearance, that a friend generally does not.
Dalai Lama XIV
#22. According to the Buddha's teachings, the most basic condition for happiness is freedom. Here we do not mean political freedom, but freedom from the mental formations of anger, despair, jealousy, and delusion.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#23. The Buddha's last words instructed us to be heedful - to see our actions as important and to keep that importance in mind at all times.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
#24. If you want to read a letter from the Buddha's world, it is necessary to understand Buddha's world.
Shunryu Suzuki
#25. Today we can see many different forms of Buddhism, such as Zen and Theravada Buddhism. All these different aspects are practices of Buddha's teachings, and all are equally precious; they are just different presentations.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
#26. Let those who desire Buddhahood not train in many Dharmas but only one.
Which one? Great compassion.
Those with great compassion possess all the Buddha's teaching as if it were in the palm of their hand.
Gautama Buddha
#27. Buddha's doctrine: Man suffers because of his craving to possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent ... this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate cause of suffering.
Alan Watts
#28. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree. I invite you to go sit under that tree by your street.
Annie Dillard
#29. No words - Buddha's, mine, or anyone else's - can see for you.
Steve Hagen
#30. I can go shopping and pick up some Bounty Towels, the three pack, I can go home and open those up and look at them and see more infinity than in the Buddha's best meditation. If I can't do that, that means I'm wrapped by the Buddha's best meditation.
Frederick Lenz
#31. Rituals, ceremonies, prayers, and special outfits are inevitable, but they do not - they cannot - express the heart of what the Buddha taught. In fact, all too often, such things get in the way. They veil the simple wisdom of the Buddha's words, and distract us from it.
Steve Hagen
#32. If we develop a good heart we will progress to true compassion, and awaken Bodhicitta. This is the way of the Buddha's method.
Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
#33. 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
#34. What in the name of Buddha's bra is he going on about now?
Louise Rennison
#35. It's said that the Buddha's enlightenment is great than that of a traveler setting out, in the same proportion as the heavens are bigger than what can be seen of them through the eye of a needle. But in both cases, what you see is the sky.
Matthieu Ricard
#36. To be a good Zen Buddhist it is not enough to follow the teaching of its founder; we have to experience the Buddha's experience.
D.T. Suzuki
#37. The Buddha's teaching leads us to the realization that we must always strive to harm no sentient being, human or nonhuman, whether or not it is in our selfish interest to do so.
Norm Phelps
#38. We must conduct research and then accept the results. If they don't stand up to experimentation, Buddha's own words must be rejected.
Dalai Lama XIV
#39. Our buddha nature is as good as any buddha's buddha nature.
Sogyal Rinpoche
#40. Taking refuge means that you align and orient your life toward Buddha's example and toward enlightenment.
Reb Anderson
#41. Buddha's teaching are very simple, you don't have to break your head to understand the message. The part that I like the most from Buddha's teachings and from His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, is that the most powerful weapon is to not attack, to be able to have self-control.
Ricky Martin
#42. When all else fails, drink some tea. Really. You'll be amazed how many problems it can solve. We like to think of it as Buddha's whiskey.
Tara Cottrell
#43. At the end of meditation period we always bow and we touch our head to the floor and say "Buddha's name be praised."
Frederick Lenz
#44. Built on the foundation of concentration is the third aspect of the Buddha's path of awakening: clarity of vision and the development of wisdom.
Jack Kornfield
#45. In Buddhism we also interprete Dharma to mean 'cessation,' as in the end of dissatisfaction, the end of dukkha. This is the purpose of Buddha's teachings.
David Michie
#46. The mystery of Buddha's cure is this: What you seek you already are.
Deepak Chopra
#47. Buddha's teachings are scientific methods to solve the problems of all living beings permanently.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
#48. Although I try / to hold the single thought / of Buddha's teaching in my heart, / I cannot help but hear / the many crickets' voices calling as well.
Izumi Shikibu
#49. It took me forty years of dealing with buddhism to finally realize that actually Buddha's discovery was happiness and bliss.
Robert Thurman
#50. Each step along the Buddha's path to happiness requires practising mindfulness until it becomes part of your daily life.
Henepola Gunaratana
#51. Like Buddha under the Bo tree, Jesus, on his tree, has his eyes closed too. The difference is this. The pain and sadness of the world that Buddha's eyes close out is the pain and sadness of the world that the eyes of Jesus close in.
Frederick Buechner
#52. The Buddha's criteria for Wise Speech include - in addition to the obvious expectation that speech be truthful - that it be timely, gentle, motivated by kindness, and helpful.
Sylvia Boorstein
#53. According to the Buddha's doctrine that they believed in, it was not the caste that defined a person high or low. It was one's deeds that mattered.
Swarnakanthi Rajapakse
#54. I went on a Buddha jag. I read 'Confession of a Buddhist Atheist' by Stephen Batchelor and Karen Armstrong's biography of Buddha, which is a great book.
Denis O'Hare
#55. If a man's thoughts are muddy, If he is reckless and full of deceit, How can he wear the yellow robe? Whoever is master of his own nature, Bright, clear and true, He may indeed wear the yellow robe.
Gautama Buddha
#56. I will purify my bodily actions through repeated reflection. I will purify my verbal actions through repeated reflection. I will purify my mental actions through repeated reflection. That's how you should train yourself.
Gautama Buddha
#57. Remember my words: Be truthful, be kind to one another, and you will attain peace. We will meet again in another life.
Jeanne M. Lee
#58. The secret of happiness lies in the mind's release from worldly ties.
Gautama Buddha
#59. We are told that if you are not occupied with the mind all the time, then you will invite the devil. It is such a heightened misconception that people are going crazy just because of this. An empty mind is not the devil's home but an empty mind is the home of the Buddha.
Anandmurti Gurumaa
#60. A man asked Gautama Buddha, "I want happiness."
Buddha said, "First remove "I," that's Ego, then remove "want," that's Desire.
See now you are left with only "Happiness.
Gautama Buddha
#61. What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?
Buddha
#62. It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Gautama Buddha
#63. In four ways ... should one who flatters be understood as a foe in the guise of a friend: He approves of his friend's evil deeds, he disapproves his friend's good deeds, he praises him in his presence, he speaks ill of him in his absence.
Gautama Buddha
#64. I like Muhammad a lot, because he's like us more than anybody else. Jesus is just so exalted, and Buddha is just so exalted, it's almost beyond our reach. Muhammad is more human, more self-doubting, even self-tortured at times.
Deepak Chopra
#65. It's your road ... and yours alone ... Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. No matter what path you choose, really walk it.
Gautama Buddha
#66. He who can curb his wrath as soon as it arises, as a timely antidote will check snake's venom that so quickly spreads, - such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin.
Gautama Buddha
#67. Oneself, indeed, is one's own protector.
One does, indeed [make] one's own destiny.
Therefore, control yourself
As a merchant does a fine horse.
Gautama Buddha
#68. I couldn't have asked for a better kid. She's our own little Buddha baby so far. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop to tell you the truth. It's like the calm before the storm.
Ana Ortiz
#69. Every memory is precious. It is more precious when it is a memory of a baby's smile.
Debasish Mridha
#70. Attachment," Buddha had said, "is the cause of grief.
Pearl S. Buck
#71. Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever's not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.
Gautama Buddha
#72. There's a treasury full of jade and jewels; It is in you. Don't go searching far from home for it-it's here.
Gautama Buddha
#73. I mean Godzilla is eternally pissed off at everything but of course he's gonna be because every time he pops out of the water for a look around somebody is firing a missile at him. Buddha would probably have to act as a mediator between the people and Godzilla.
Brad Warner
#74. To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Buddha
#75. One should follow a man of wisdom who rebukes one for one's faults, as one would follow a guide to some buried treasure. To one who follows such a wise man, it will be an advantage and not a disadvantage.
Gautama Buddha
#76. I will not look at another's bowl intent on finding fault: a training to be observed.
Gautama Buddha
#77. .'All is suffering' is a bad modernist translation. What the Buddha really said is: It's all a mixed bag. Shit is complicated. Everything's fucked up. Everything's gorgeous.
Robin Coste Lewis
#78. Though all one's life a fool associates with a wise person,one no more comprehends the Truth than a spoon tastes the flavor of the soup.
Gautama Buddha
#79. One act of pure love in saving life is greater than spending the whole of one's time in religious offerings to the gods ...
Gautama Buddha
#80. When we sit in meditation, we are closer than usual to the world as it is. By simply bringing body, breath, and mind together in the present moment, we touch Buddha; we touch reality, and we are in the world as it is. Most people's experience in this state is peaceful and rejuvenating.
Andrew Furst
#81. AS one instructs others,
So should one do oneself:
Only the self-controlled should restrain others.
Truly, it's hard to restrain oneself.
Gautama Buddha
#82. The heavens and the earth may be captured by the mind's eye.
Gautama Buddha
#83. Whoever doesn't flare up at someone who's angry wins a battle hard to win.
Gautama Buddha
#84. It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one's own mind.
Gautama Buddha
#85. Being generous, just helping one's relatives and being blameless in one's actions; this is the best good luck.
Gautama Buddha
#86. Total relaxation is the ultimate. That's the moment when one becomes a buddha. That is the moment of realization, enlightenment, christ-consciousness. You cannot be totally relaxed right now. At the innermost core a tension will persist.
Rajneesh
#87. When faced with the vicissitudes of life, one's mind remains unshaken, sorrow-less, stainless, secure; this is the greatest welfare
Gautama Buddha
#88. Plantie is a very strong Protestant, that is to say, he's against all churches, especially the Protestant: and he thinks a lot of Buddha, Karma and Confucius. He is also a bit of an anarchist and three or four years ago he took up Einstein and vitamins.
Joyce Cary
#89. There are no chains like hate ... dwelling on your brother's faults multiplies your own. You are far from the end of your journey.
Gautama Buddha
#91. 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
#92. The non-doing of any evil,
the performance of what's skillful,
the cleansing of one's own mind:
this is the teaching of the Awakened.
Gautama Buddha
#93. Without the mind there is no Buddha. Without the Buddha there's no mind.
Bodhidharma
#94. How easy it is to see your brother's faults, How hard it is to face your own.
Gautama Buddha
#95. Sri Krishna's message is the message of anyone who comes from far away. His message is the same as Buddha, Lao Tsu, Bodhidharma, Milarepa, Padmasambhava.
Frederick Lenz
#96. The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.
S. N. Goenka
#97. Man's troubles are rooted in extreme attention to senses, thoughts, and imagination. Attention should be focused internally to experience a quiet body and a calm mind.
Gautama Buddha
#98. It's much better to become a Buddha than a Buddhist.
Jack Kornfield
#99. How wonderful it would be, I thought, if only we could practice the teachings of the Buddha as he really taught them from his own experience - free from the clouds of religiosity that often surround them Yet it's difficult to distinguish the tools themselves from their cultural packaging.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
#100. Some consider me as a living Buddha. That's nonsense. That's silly. That's wrong. If they consider me a simple Buddhist monk, however, that's probably okay.
Dalai Lama
