Gautama Buddha Quotes
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The recollected go forth to lives of renunciation. They take no pleasure in a fixed abode. Like wild swans abandoning a pool, they leave one resting place after another.
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Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is. In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it? The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day, 'one who knows the better way to live alone.'
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Whatsoever misfortunes there are Here in this world or in the next, They all have their root in Ignorance And in the accumulation of Longing and Desire.
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It is because I perceive the danger in the practice of mystic wonders, that I loath, abhor, and am ashamed thereof.
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If for just the time of a finger-snap a monk produces a thought of loving-kindness, develops it, gives attention to it, such a one is rightly called a monk. Not in vain does he meditate. He acts in accordance with the master's teaching, he follows his advice. How much more so if he cultivates it.
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If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present.
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I call wise man who, while he is innocent , endures insults and blows with a patience equal to its strength.
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We do not learn by experience, but by our capacity for experience.
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Attention leads to immortality. Carelessness leads to death. Those who pay attention will not die, while the careless are as good as dead already.
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More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.
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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.
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If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater.
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Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.
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How does one stay mindful? Where feelings are known as they arise, known as they persist, known as they pass away. Thoughts are known as they arise, known as they persist, known as they pass away. Perceptions are known they arise, known as they persist, known as they pass away. This is how a monk stays awake.
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There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of idle thoughts. What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. Every thought we have either contributes to truth or to illusion.
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So too, monks, I saw the ancient path, the ancient road traveled by the Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road? It is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
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As long as one feels that he is the doer, he cannot escape from the wheel of births.
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One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the Messiah?" "No," answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No," Buddha replied. "Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted. "No, I am not a teacher." "Then what are you?" asked the student exasperated. "I am awake," Buddha replied.
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Do not overlook tiny good actions, thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel. Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain.
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Your actions are your only true belongings.
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As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.
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A person writing at night may put out the lamp, but the words he has written will remain. It is the same with the destiny we create for ourselves in this world.
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Neither my life of luxury in the palace -nor- my life as ascetic in the forest were ways to enlightenment.
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In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?