Gautama Buddha Quotes
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From a withered tree, a flower blooms.
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Kindnessis giving others happiness. Compassionis removing others' bitterness. Joyis freeing others from suffering.
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Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. It can be argued that peace and happiness comes from the subjective internalised perspective of realizing things could be worse and being grateful they aren't. The alternative view that peace and happiness comes from the objective external perspective of having more and better things than at present, while important for growth, can be a never-ending source of jealousy, dissatisfaction and disappointment. A balance of the two, where people are grateful for what they have while striving for more seems the best blended perspective.
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Everything is extraordinarily clear. I see the whole landscape before me, I see my hands, my feet, my toes, and I smell the rich river mud. I feel a sense of tremendous strangeness and wonder at being alive. Wonder of wonders.
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Peace comes from within; do not try to seek it without.
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One way leads to acquisition, the other leads to nirvana. Realising this a monk should take no pleasure in the respect of others, but should devote himself to solitude.
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The fool is his own enemy. Seeking wealth, he destroys himself. Seek rather the other shore.
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To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not spiritual or intellectual.
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The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
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We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act.
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However young, the seeker who sets out upon the way Shines bright over the world. But day and night the person who is awake Shines in the radiance of the spirit. Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work, with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine!
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The discipline which I have imparted to you will lead you when I am gone. Practice mindfulness diligently, to attain the goal of awakening.
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Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully through this world and on beyond.
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Thus all things are subject to death, sorrow and suffering. I became aware that I too was of the same nature, the nature of beginning and end. What if I searched for that which underlies all creation, that which is nirvana, the perfect freedom from unconditioned existence?
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Beware of the anger of the body. Master the body. Let it serve truth. Beware of the anger of the mouth. Master your words. Let them serve truth. Beware of the anger of the mind. Master your thoughts. Let them serve truth.
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The person who masters himself through self-control and discipline is truly undefeatable.
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He whose longing has been aroused for the indescribable, whose mind has been quickened by it, and whose thought is not attached to sensuality is truly called one who is bound upstream.
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There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant.
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For all mortals, birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sickness is suffering.
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Be it known that Men of dull faculties and slight wisdom, They who cling proudly to signs, Cannot believe in this Dharma. Now I, joyfully and fearlessly, In the midst of the bodhisattvas Frankly casting aside my expedient devices, Merely preach the Unexcelled Path.
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A truly wise man does not play leapfrog with a unicorn.
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Inner freedom is not guided by our efforts; it comes from seeing what is true.
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Therefore, do not eat meat which will cause terror among people, because it hinders the truth of emancipation; not to eat meat? this is the mark of the wise.
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Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.