Buddhism Mindfulness Quotes

#1. We should live every day like people who have just been rescued from the moon.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#2. Through recognizing and realizing the empty essence, instead of being selfish and self-centered, one feels very open and free

Tsoknyi Rinpoche

#3. Mindfulness has never met a cognition it didn't like.

Daniel J. Siegel

#4. The experience of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral is the consequences of perception.

Allan Lokos

#5. All beings want to be happy, yet so very few know how. It is out of ignorance that any of us cause suffering, for ourselves or for others

Sharon Salzberg

#6. One doesn't have to be religious to lead a moral life or attain wisdom.

Allan Lokos

#7. Although social and personal circumstances will play their part in contributing to how an individual suffers, in Buddhist thought blame is seen as a "poison" that will only lead to negative actions and will do nothing to reduce suffering.

Desmond Biddulph

#8. Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be. We do not need to fear anything. We are whole: our deepest happiness is intrinsic to the nature of our minds, and it is not damaged through uncertainty and change.

Sharon Salzberg

#9. One of the best ways to support the development of patience is to cultivate happiness with yourself.

Allan Lokos

#10. The secure attachment of Western psychology is actually akin to Buddhist non-attachment; avoid-ant attachment is the inverse of being mindful and present; and anxious attachment aligns with Buddhist notions of clinging and grasping.

Sharon Salzberg

#11. Meditation is to be aware of what is going on: in your body, in your feelings, in your mind, and in the world.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#12. The virtues of free enterprise can become distorted by greed & delusion.

Allan Lokos

#13. Making an effort at the wrong time or place dissipates our energy.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#14. If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it's fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there's an arrow in your heart ...

Pema Chodron

#15. To be mindful entails examining the path we are traveling & making choices that alleviate suffering & bring happiness to ourselves & those around us.

Allan Lokos

#16. We do so much, we run so quickly, the situation is difficult, and many people say, "Don't just sit there, do something." But doing more things may make the situation worse. So you should say, "Don't just do something, sit there." Sit there, stop, be yourself first, and begin from there.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#17. Buddhism has a term for the happiness we feel at someone else's success or good fortune. Sympathetic joy, as it is known, invites us to celebrate for others.

Sharon Salzberg

#18. Mindfulness is so powerful that the fact that it comes out of Buddhism is irrelevant.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

#19. Mindfulness is life. Whenever we don't have mindfulness, when we are heedless, it's as if we are dead.

Ajahn Chah

#20. We see that the vast majority of our suffering is needless, and simply arises from the misidentification with our thinking mind.

Chris Matakas

#21. Winning has to do with gaining personal power through the practice of meditation and mindfulness; not draining your energy on ridiculous things and people.

Frederick Lenz

#22. Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing.

Sharon Salzberg

#23. To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.

Sharon Salzberg

#24. Smiling is a kind of mouth yoga. When we smile, it releases the tension in our face. Others notice it, even strangers, and are likely to smile back. By smiling, we initiate a wonderful chain reaction, touching the joy in anyone we encounter. A smile is an ambassador of goodwill.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#25. Suffering has its beneficial aspects. It can be an excellent teacher.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#26. You cannot control the results, only your actions.

Allan Lokos

#27. Rest as the awareness that is aware without using thought.

Loch Kelly

#28. Honestly admitting what you lost and not trying to rationalize it or push it off is an important step in self-assessment and mindfulness.

Frederick Lenz

#29. The son needs the father to have access to his source, and the father needs the son to have access to the future and the infinite.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#30. One who is patient glows with an inner radiance.

Allan Lokos

#31. I used to live in Buddhist monasteries and I finally had to leave them because they were just too cluttered for me. They were cluttered up with many thoughts about Buddhism.

Frederick Lenz

#32. When we teach a child patience we offer them the gift of a dignified life.

Allan Lokos

#33. Patience requires a slowing down, a spaciousness, a sense of ease.

Allan Lokos

#34. The very first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings as long as we believe that things last - that they don't disintegrate, that they can be counted on to satisfy our hunger for security.

Pema Chodron

#35. When we practice metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, changing our relationship to life.

Sharon Salzberg

#36. Meditation can be a refuge, but it is not a practice in which real life is ever excluded. The strength of mindfulness is that it enables us to hold difficult thoughts and feelings in a different way - with awareness, balance, and love

Sharon Salzberg

#37. To just be--to be--amidst all doings, achievings, and becomings. This is the natural state of mind, or original, most fundamental state of being. This is unadulterated Buddha-nature. This is like finding our balance.

Lama Surya Das

#38. 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

#39. There is a lot of work ahead of us, as we endeavor to rescue the planet from ourselves, and we are likely to be at this work for a very long time. Perhaps we could come at it from the wisdom of the non-self perspective, rather than the passions of the "world is mine" point of view.

Andrew Olendzki

#40. People in the midst of losing their patience are certainly experiencing as aspect of dukkha.

Allan Lokos

#41. We cannot force the development of mindfulness.

Allan Lokos

#42. Inner Peace can be seen as the ultimate benefit of practicing patience.

Allan Lokos

#43. We need never be bound by the limitations of our previous or current thinking, nor are we ever locked into being the person we used to be, or think we are.

Allan Lokos

#44. Mindfulness is often spoken of as the heart of Buddhist meditation. It's not about Buddhism, but about paying attention. That's what all meditation is, no matter what tradition or particular technique is used.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

#45. Like water poured from one vessel to another, metta flows freely, taking the shape of each situation without changing its essence.

Sharon Salzberg

#46. A modern definition of equanimity: cool. This refers to one whose mind remains stable & calm in all situations.

Allan Lokos

#47. True compassion is undirected & holds no conceptual focus. That kind of genuine, true compassion is only possible after realizing emptiness.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche

#48. Anywhere we go, we will have our self with us; we cannot escape ourselves.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#49. Buddha first taught metta meditation as an antidote: as a way of surmounting terrible fear when it arises.

Sharon Salzberg

#50. I would encourage you to follow the pathway to enlightenment, to learn to meditate, to practice mindfulness, and not to really care what anybody thinks about you, including yourself.

Frederick Lenz

#51. In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice

Nhat Hanh

#52. Deep down I believe each of us is a well-spring of understanding and wisdom, but we simply never allow the space or time for this understanding to rise to the level of conscious thought.

Chris Matakas

#53. By practicing meditation we establish love, compassion, sympathetic joy & equanimity as our home.

Sharon Salzberg

#54. Dalai Lama: "If a scientist confirm nonexistence of something we believe, then we have to accept that."
Dan Harris: "So if scientists come up with something that contradicts your beliefs, you will change your beliefs?"
Dalai Lama: "Oh yes. Yes.

Dan Harris

#55. We do not want to deny existence. Yet we also do not want to limit existence. Thus, we observe and honor without forming opinion, labeling, or adding a story to the object of our observation.

Alaric Hutchinson

#56. You are already the awakeness that you seek!

Loch Kelly

#57. Mindfulness is the awareness of what is going on in us and around us in the present moment. It requires stopping, looking deeply, and recognizing both the uniqueness of the moment and its connection to everything that has gone on before and will go on in the future.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#58. Remind yourself that your mental & emotional health are important.

Allan Lokos

#59. Compassion is not complete if it does not include oneself.

Allan Lokos

#60. We use mindfulness to observe the way we cling to pleasant experiences & push away unpleasant ones.

Sharon Salzberg

#61. When we pay attention to sensations in our bodies, we can feel that love is the energetic opposite of fear.

Sharon Salzberg

#62. Precepts in Buddhism are not imposed by some outside authority. They arise from our own insight based on the practice of mindfulness. To be attached to the form without understanding the essence is to fall into what Buddhism calls attachment to rules.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#63. We are all trying to find a path back to the present moment. And good enough reason to just be happy here ... Mindfulness meditation is just a trick for doing that. It's a trick for setting aside your to-do list, if only for a few moments, and actually locate a feeling of fulfilment in the present

Sam Harris

#64. When life is good do not take it for granted as it will pass. Be mindful, be compassionate and nurture the circumstances that find you in this good time so it will last longer. When life falls apart always remember that this too will pass. Life will have its unexpected turns.

Ajahn Brahm

#65. Maybe what we really need is to change our relationship to what is, to see who we are with the strength of a generous spirit & a wise heart.

Sharon Salzberg

#66. Without the ability to be present we are missing much of what the adventure has to offer.

Allan Lokos

#67. To truly love ourselves, we must challenge our beliefs that we need to be different or better.

Sharon Salzberg

#68. We must especially learn the art of directing mindfulness into the closed areas of our life.

Jack Kornfield

#69. To reteach a thing its loveliness is the nature of metta. Through lovingkindness, everyone & everything can flower again from within.

Sharon Salzberg

#70. Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what's happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what's happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.

Sharon Salzberg

#71. The big realization when we go beyond the ego is simply seeing that we've always been ok.

Loch Kelly

#72. Let the breath lead the way.

Sharon Salzberg

#73. With mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion, we can begin to let go of our expectations about how life and those we love should be.

Sharon Salzberg

#74. Suffering has many faces. If we discover the roots of one suffering, we are at the same time discovering the roots of others.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#75. Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#76. Patience is both the tool for and the result of, our efforts.

Allan Lokos

#77. You actions are your only true belongings.

Allan Lokos

#78. If I don't understand you, I may be angry at you, all the time. We are not capable of understanding each other, and that is the main source of human suffering.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#79. By identifying impermanence as a fundamental characteristic of existence itself, rather than a problem to be solved, the Buddhists are encouraging us to let go our hold on illusory solidity and learn to swim freely in the sea of change.

Andrew Olendzki

#80. Seeking is endless. It never comes to a state of rest; it never ceases.

Sharon Salzberg

#81. Do not lose yourself in the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. Do not get caught in your anger, worries, or fears. Come back to the present moment, and touch life deeply. This is mindfulness.

Thich Nhat Hanh

#82. Vulnerability in the face of constant change is what we share, whatever our present condition.

Sharon Salzberg

#83. Equanimity can be hard to talk about.

Sharon Salzberg

#84. We all need a place that is safe and wholesome enough for us to return for refuge. In Buddhism, that refuge is mindfulness.

Nhat Hanh

#85. So what is a good meditator? A good meditator meditates.

Allan Lokos

#86. We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That's a fact but one we fight.

Sharon Salzberg

#87. Remind yourself that your mental & emotional health are important.

Allan Lokos

#88. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on earth.

Linji Yixuan

#89. This is what it means to be mindful. To watch the thoughts as they come and go without judgment while completely accepting what arises in the present moment.

Chris Matakas

#90. Instead of catching ourselves after we first felt angry, we develop a visceral sensitivity to what's happening within us in the moment & through mindfulness, we can shape our reaction right away.

Sharon Salzberg

#91. Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.

Sharon Salzberg

#92. The art of peaceful living comes down to living compassionately & wisely.

Allan Lokos

#93. Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we're adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere.

Sharon Salzberg

#94. Meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware - not only of our own inner workings but also of what's happening around us in the here & now.

Sharon Salzberg

#95. Mindfulness is the agent of our freedom. Through mindfulness we arrive at faith we grow in wisdom & we attain equanimity.

Sharon Salzberg

#96. Without giving up hope - that there's somewhere better to be, that there's someone better to be - we will never relax with where we are or who we are.

Pema Chodron

#97. An open beginner's mind is a powerful tool for developing patience.

Allan Lokos

#98. We can learn to return home to our open hearts at any moment.

Loch Kelly

#99. Understanding the true nature of things, or seeing things as they really are, is the ground of wisdom.

Allan Lokos

#100. I kept hearing about mindfulness, which isn't a new subject. In fact it's rooted in ancient Buddhism. Wikipedia defines Mindfulness as "The intentional, accepting, non-judgmental focus of one's attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment.

KP Croft