Gautama Buddha Quotes
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Long is the night for the sleepless. Long is the road for the weary. Long is samsara (the cycle of continued rebirth) for the foolish, who have not recognised the true teaching.
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There are, O monks, these four lights. What four? The light of the moon, the light of the sun, the light of fire, and the light of wisdom. Of these four lights, the light of wisdom is supreme.
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All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.
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Nothing is to be clung to as I, me or mine.
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Let your diet be spare, your wants moderate, your needs few. So, living modestly, with no distracting desires, you will find content.
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The four catagories of existance, non-existance, both existance and non-existance, and neither existance nor non-existance, are spiderwebs among spiderwebs which can never take hold of the enormous bird of reality.
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Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like) ; fletchers bend the arrow ; carpenters bend a log of wood ; wise people fashion themselves.
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Goodwill toward all beings is the true religion; cherish in your hearts boundless goodwill to all that lives.
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Mind precedes all phenomena, mind matters most, everything is mind-made. If with an impure mind, you speak or act, then suffering follows you as the cartwheel follows the foot of the draft animal. If with a pure mind, you speak or act, then happiness follows you as a shadow that never departs.
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When you go into the space of nothingness, everything becomes known.
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All rising to great places is by a winding stair.
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All acts of living become bad by ten things, and by avoiding the ten things they become good. There are three evils of the body, four evils of the tongue, and three evils of the mind.
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Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
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He who, calm and clear as the moon, hankers no more for continuity-he is holy.
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Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form.
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The mind precedes all things, the mind dominates all things, the mind creates all things.
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When one is overcome by this wretched, clinging desire in the world, one's sorrows increase like grass growing up after a lot of rain.
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He who never thinks of anything as 'mine' does not feel the lack of anything: he is never worried by a sense of loss.
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In protecting oneself, others are protected; In protecting others, oneself is protected.
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Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps As if he were already dead, But the master is awake And he lives forever.
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Believe nothing because it is written in books. Believe nothing because wise men say it is so. Believe nothing because it is religious doctrine. Believe it only because you yourself know it to be true.
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When a man makes utensils out of a metal which has been thoroughly cleansed of dross, the utensils will be excellent. You monks, who wish to follow the Way, make your own hearts clean from the dirt of evil passion, and your conduct will be unimpeachable.
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If people become accustomed to lying, they will unconsciously commit every possible wrong deed. Before they can act wickedly, they must lie and once they begin to lie they will act wickedly without concern.
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Cultivation of meditative stability alone, will not destroy the discrimination of inherent existence. Afflictive emotions can return, making all sorts of disturbances.