Top 100 The Buddha Quotes
#1. 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
#2. Desire, said the Buddha, is the cause of suffering. But without desire, what delight?
Edward Abbey
#3. The Buddha shared his teachings so that everyone, without exception, could reach the same supreme state of liberation that he had attained through practice and effort.
Shinjo Ito
#4. 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
#5. The Buddha promised release from something we all understand: suffering. By contrast, no one can say what was the original sin, and no one understands how the suffering of Christ can redeem it.
John Gray
#6. The Buddha takes no position on gods, he suggests they may exist or they may not, but either way you can live a moral life.
Robert M. Pirsig
#7. In Zen Buddhism it is said that "if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him". Which means that if by walking on the spiritual path you encounter the rigid ideas and fixed laws of institutionalised Buddhism , you must free yourself from them too.
Yuval Noah Harari
#8. 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
#9. 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
#10. We are all mother's of the Buddha because we are all pregnant with the potential for awakening.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#11. 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
#12. To feel that you are the Buddha of all times and places and that in some way the salvation of anyone, including yourself, depends upon you, I think there's a lot of ego involved in such a view, not much self-transcendence.
Frederick Lenz
#13. The Buddha taught some people the teachings of duality that help them avoid sin and acquire spiritual merit. To others he taught non-duality, that some find profoundly frightening.
Akkineni Nagarjuna
#14. 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
#16. True zazen is surrendering every moment. But surrendering to what? It really does not matter what we call it: God or the Tao or the Dharma or the Buddha or our true nature ... It is the act of letting go, of surrendering, that matters. The very act of letting go opens us up completely.
Dennis Merzel
#17. 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
#18. When a monk complained about the world's evil, the Buddha stretched his hand toward the Earth: on this Earth I attained Liberation.
Frederick Franck
#19. the Buddha whimsically pointed out that seeking happiness in one's material desires is as absurd as "suffering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes.
Rolf Potts
#20. The Buddha also counseled the monks and nuns to avoid wasting any precious time by engaging in idle conversation, oversleeping, pursuing fame and recognition, chasing after desires, spending time with people of poor character, and being satisfied with only a shallow understanding of the teaching.
Nhat Hanh
#22. Hadn't another wise man, the Buddha himself, warned about the evils of attachment?
Manil Suri
#24. The Buddha taught complete honesty, with the extra instruction that everything a person says should be truthful and helpful.
Sylvia Boorstein
#25. Zen was an attempt to get back to the purest teachings of the Buddha -enlightenment without strings.
Frederick Lenz
#26. To enter the Buddha Way is to stop discriminating between good and evil and to cast aside the mind that says this is good and that is bad.
Dogen
#27. Citing both the Buddha and Aristotle, Sachs makes the case for a "middle path," a path of moderation and balance between work and non-work (what he calls, quaintly in this day and age, "leisure"), savings and consumption, self-interest and compassion, individualism and citizenship.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
#28. 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
#29. The Buddha is in me, the Buddha is in you. Live up to it.
Huston Smith
#30. When the Buddha gave a talk to a large gathering of businessmen, the core of his message to them was, "It is possible to live happily right in the present moment.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#31. Everyone who has changed the course of human history, every last one was able to do so only because he was ready for his destiny. That's true of Moses and the Buddha, Napoleon and Bismarck. The wave that carries us, the star that guides us - we cannot choose it.
Hermann Hesse
#32. I started running ultras to become a better person. I thought if you could run 100 miles you'd be in this Zen state. You'd be the Buddha, bringing peace and a smile to the world. It didn't work in my case. I'm the same old punk-ass as before, but there's always hope.
Jenn Shelton
#33. Instead of quoting the Buddha, be the Buddha, be "the awakened one," which is what the word buddha means.
Eckhart Tolle
#34. The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.
Mahatma Gandhi
#35. We and all sentient beings fundamentally have the buddha nature as our innermost essence ...
Sogyal Rinpoche
#36. 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
#37. 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
#38. It's an old principle, as old as the Buddha or Marcus Aurelius: We need at times to step away from our lives in order to put them in perspective. Especially if we wish to be productive.
Pico Iyer
#39. If you find yourself in some difficulty, step aside, and allow Buddha to take your place. The Buddha is in you.
Nhat Hanh
#40. 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
#41. The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is to demean oneself.
Robert M. Pirsig
#42. The most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha is not God, is not soul ... it is freedom: freedom absolute, total, unconditional. He does not want to give you an ideology, because every ideology creates its own slavery.
Rajneesh
#43. The Buddha always reminds us that our afflictions, including our fear and our desiring, are born from our ignorance. That is why in order to dissipate fear, we have to remove wrong perception.
Nhat Hanh
#44. I often wonder when I make a film - I'm thinking of making a film of the Buddha - and I often wonder: If Buddha had all the elements that are given to a director - if he had music, if he had visuals, if he had a video camera - would we get Buddhism better?
Shekhar Kapur
#45. Mindfulness, as defined by the Buddha, means awareness of incessant change, of arising and vanishing, inside of your own body, which is the ultimate reality of your own life.
Paul Fleischman
#46. What is the way of the Buddha? It is to study the self. What is the study of the self? It is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to enlightened by everything in the world.
Dogen
#47. To an experienced Zen Buddhist, asking if one believes in Zen or one believes in the Buddha, sounds a little ludicrous, like asking if one believes in air or water. Similarly Quality is not something you believe in, Quality is something you experience.
Robert M. Pirsig
#48. The Buddha does not see nibbana as a special, metaphysical place to go to but as a process of dissolution that one can achieve here and now.
Martine Batchelor
#50. It is always a question of knowing and seeing, and not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as ehi-passika, inviting you to 'come and see', but not to come and believe.
Walpola Rahula
#51. According to the Buddha, life is available only in the here and now, the present moment. He said, "The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment." If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#52. Don't be a spiritualist and don't be a materialist: be both. Don't be a Zorba and don't be a Buddha; be both: Zorba the Buddha. Enjoy all that God has showered on you.
Osho
#53. Steve sighed, wishing for a cigarette. "The Buddha teaches respect for all life." "Oh." She considered this. "Are you a Buddhist?" "No. I'm an asshole. But I keep trying.
Scott Hawkins
#54. When I'm a Buddhist my family hates me. When I'm the Buddha they love me.
Frank Hall
#55. Compassion allows us to accept everything. That's why there's always a tear in the eye of the Buddha that no one sees, for the pain and suffering of others.
Frederick Lenz
#56. When the sunset of life arrives, and its twilight shadows fade away; while dreams of the next begin to appear more vividly; may the inner-light essence of the Buddha, and all the radiant awakened ones, continuously guide us onwards and upwards, on the path of spiritual enlightment.
Surya Das
#57. Allah protect us,' Bold said politely. Then, in Arabic, 'In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate.' In his years in Temur's army he had learned to be as much a Muslim as anyone. The Buddha did not mind what you said to be polite.
Kim Stanley Robinson
#58. The Buddha compared anger with picking up hot coals with one's bare hands and trying to throw them at the person with whom one is angry. Who gets burned first? The one who is angry of course.
Ayya Khema
#59. When you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha means that when you see that you're grasping or clinging to anything, whether conventionally it's called good or bad, make friends with that. Look into it. Get to know it completely and utterly. In that way it will let go of itself.
Pema Chodron
#60. Dear master, I think it would be better for each of us to watch ourself. To look after oneself means to look after both of us. That way I am sure we will avoid any accidents and will earn enough to eat.' " The Buddha said: "The child spoke correctly.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#61. Thus, as the Buddha said to a lady who offered him a curse,the gift is returned to the giver when it is not accepted
Allen Ginsberg
#62. The Dalai Lama can claim the sanction of the Buddha, who is said to have altered his teachings in order to reach a diverse audience.
Pankaj Mishra
#63. The Buddha taught three cycles of teachings. His first cycle of teachings cover the basics, the prerequisites. This would include the Dharmapada.
Frederick Lenz
#64. Buddha is pretty funny. Buddha is the coolest, though. If I had to go with one, I'd probably party with the Buddha.
Jack Black
#65. The Buddha is not a person but a (state of) realization to which anyone can attain.
Swami Vivekananda
#66. Theosophy tries to bridge the gulf between Buddhism and Christianity by pointing to the fundamental spiritual truths on which both religions are built, and by winning people to regard the Buddha and the Christ as fellow-laborers, and not as rivals.
Annie Besant
#67. 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
#68. Okay, I wasn't getting something, by there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't the Buddha. I couldn't have a vision. Unless, maybe, it was drug-induced.
Nancy Werlin
#69. 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
#70. As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.
Bodhidharma
#71. Regard everyone you meet as the Buddha and you will know 10,000 Buddhas.
Gampopa
#72. According to this doctrine, however, the Buddha was never merely an individual human being but, like St. John's Word or Logos, an eternal principle temporarily made flesh.
Anonymous
#73. The Buddha taught that we're not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea. But when you let things be as they are, you will be a much happier, more balanced, compassionate person.
Pema Chodron
#74. It is by fighting and triumphing over the enemies of the Buddha that we ourselves become Buddhas.
Daisaku Ikeda
#75. If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him
Linji Yixuan
#76. The Buddha said, When you are walking, walk. When you are sitting, sit. Don't wobble.
Eknath Easwaran
#77. Yo, man," he said. "You got, like, half a dog hanging off your back bumper."
"Do I?"
"Yeah. Did you drive over it? On purpose, like?"
"No. The Buddha teaches respect for all life." Then, under his breath. "I guess I did shoot a couple though.
Scott Hawkins
#78. 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
#80. If grief or anger arises, Let there be grief or anger. This is the Buddha in all forms,Sun Buddha, Moon Buddha, Happy Buddha, Sad Buddha. It is the universe offering all things to awaken and open our heart.
Jack Kornfield
#81. Embrace nothing:
If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.
If you meet your father, kill your father.
Only live your life as it is,
Not bound to anything.
Gautama Siddharta
#82. Each step along the Buddha's path to happiness requires practising mindfulness until it becomes part of your daily life.
Henepola Gunaratana
#83. Because God the Sonnets is made of the energy of the Holy Spirit, He is the door for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven...The Buddha is also described as a door, a teacher, who shows us the way in this life.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#84. And the Buddha is the person who's free: free of plans, free of cares.
Bodhidharma
#85. Of course the Dharma-body of the Buddha was the hedge at the bottom of the garden. At the same time, and no less obviously, it was these flowers, it was anything that I - or rather the blessed Not-I - cared to look at.
Aldous Huxley
#86. There is no need to choose. Why not live choicelessly? Why not live all that life makes available to you? Don't be a spiritualist and don't be a materialist: be both. Don't be a Zorba and don't be a Buddha; be both: Zorba the Buddha. Enjoy all that God has showered on you. That's
Osho
#87. Before I move closer towards my vision of the Buddha, I would respectfully plead that you adopt a stance of compassion towards the small things of this world." He
Scott Hawkins
#88. The Christ-symbol is of the greatest importance for psychology in so far as it is perhaps the most highly developed and differentiated symbol of the self, apart from the figure of the Buddha.
Carl Jung
#89. The mind, the Buddha, living creatures - these are not three different things.
Sengcan
#90. The essence of the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) is about identifying the cause of our suffering & alleviating it.
Allan Lokos
#91. All beings are not only the parents in the past. They will become the Buddha in the future. If you free their lives, you are Buddha.
Gautama Buddha
#92. The Buddha gave equal opportunities to women. But we, even as followers of Buddha, neglected that.
Dalai Lama
#93. Every man possesses the Buddha-nature. Do not demean yourselves.
Dogen
#94. Half smiling, with imperturbable brightness and friendliness, the Buddha looked steadily at the stranger and dismissed him with a hardly visible gesture. 'You are clever, O Samana,' said the Illustrious One, 'you know how to speak cleverly, my friend. Be on your guard against too much cleverness.
Hermann Hesse
#95. I think the Buddha presents an image of someone who believes in self-control. I think he's offering, perhaps, a critique of the romantic idea of the passions being this wonderful source of life or vitality that define you or your writing.
Pankaj Mishra
#96. Maybe the Buddha was right: pain and suffering are the only true constants in life.
Dermot Davis
#97. The mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the mind.
Bodhidharma
#98. On the 15th of the second month, as the Buddha was about to enter Nirvana, he, with his divine power, spoke in a great voice, which filled the whole world and reached the highest of the heavens.
Tony Page
#99. I play a female Indiana Jones, a professor who hunts down precious objects, like a bowl that belonged to the Buddha. They tailored the role to me: I wanted to be smart, funny, and to kick some ass.
Tia Carrere
#100. That solitude promotes insight as well as change," Storr continues, "has been recognized by the great religious leaders" - including the Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed - "who have usually retreated from the world before returning to it to share what has been revealed to them.
Joshua Wolf Shenk
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