Gautama Buddha Quotes

Come, live with the doors of the senses guarded, diligent and mindful, vigilant and mindful, with the ways of the mind well watched, possessed of a mind that is awake and observing.

His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust.

Irrigators channel waters; fletchers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; the wise master themselves.

...One who possesses four qualities is deposited in heaven as if brought there. What four? Bodily good conduct, verbal good conduct, mental good conduct, and gratitude or thankfulness. One possessing these four qualities is deposited in heaven as if brought there.

Here will I live in the rainy season, here in the autumn and in the summer: thus muses the fool. He realizes not the danger (of death).

When you move your focus from competition to contribution life becomes a celebration. Never try to defeat people, just win their hearts.

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

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.

To insist on a spiritual practice that served you in the past is to carry the raft on your back after you have crossed the river.

Like the mother of the world, touch each being as your beloved child.

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

To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear.

Of all the worldly passions, lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train.

It is better to do nothing Than to do what is wrong. For whatever you do, you do to yourself.

Never tell a lie. Anyone who can tell you the slightest of lies is also capable of any evil.

Know all things to be like this: A mirage, a cloud castle, A dream, an apparition, Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen. Know all things to be like this: As the moon in a bright sky In some clear lake reflected, Though to that lake the moon has never moved. Know all things to be like this: As an echo that derives From music, sounds, and weeping, Yet in that echo is no melody. Know all things to be like this: As a magician makes illusions Of horses, oxen, carts and other things, Nothing is as it appears.

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.

Man's troubles are rooted in extreme attention to senses, thoughts, and imagination. Attention should be focused internally to experience a quiet body and a calm mind.

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind. If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering will follow him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart. If a man speaks or acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow.

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.'

In the same way that rain breaks into a house with a bad roof, desire breaks into the mind that has not been practising meditation.

Whoever sees me sees the teaching, and whoever sees the teaching sees me.

Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever's not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.

Meat-eating is condemned by the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Sravakas; if one devours meat out of shamelessness he will always be devoid of sense.

Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.

Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be ye a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp; hold fast as a refuge to the truth. Look not for refuge to anyone besides yourselves.

Hunger (for things) is the supreme disease.

Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.

If you know something hurtful and not true, don't say it. If you know something hurtful and true, don't say it. If you know something helpful but not true, don't say it. If you know something helpful and true, find the right time to say it.

Apply yourself to solitude. One who is given to solitude knows things as they really are.

Buddha was speaking in a village square one day, when one of the inhabitants started to abuse him. Buddha paused and said to the man, "If you offer me a piece of paper and I refuse to accept it, what happens to the paper?" "Why, it stays with me, of course," the villager replied. Buddha smiled gently, "And that is exactly what I am doing with your abuse," he said. "I am not accepting it, therefore it stays with you."

The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of Great Kindness.

Life is uncertain; death is certain.

The worlds originate so that truth may come and dwell therein.

I teach one thing and one only: that is, suffering and the end of suffering.

Hate is only conquered by love.

Never by hatred is hatred appeased, but it is appeased by kindness. This is an eternal truth.

The grudge you hold on to is like a hot coal that you intend to throw at someone, only you're the one who gets burned.

It is in this way that I went forth to teach.

Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear themselves out

Sustaining a loving heart, even for a moment, makes one a spiritual being.

No clouds gathered in the skies and the polluted streams became clear, whilst celestial music rang through the air and the angels rejoiced with gladness. With no selfish or partial joy but for the sake of the law they rejoiced, for creation engulfed in the ocean of pain was now to obtain release.

I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that I will fall heir.

Do not disregard the accumulation of goodness, saying, 'This will come to nothing.' By the gradual falling of raindrops, a jar is filled.

Remember, the greatest gift to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest.

For those who are ready the door to the deathless state is open. If you have ears give up the conditions that bind you and enter in.

How deeply did you learn to let go?

Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.