Gautama Buddha Quotes

By your own folly you will be brought as low as your worst enemy wishes.

Do not believe what you have heard Do not believe in tradition because it is handed down many generations Do not believe in anything that has been spoken of many times Do not believe because the written statements come from some old sage Do not believe in conjecture Do not believe in authority, or teachers, or elders But after careful observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and it will benefit one and all, then accept it and live by it.

Let us live most happily, free from hatred in the midst of the hateful; Let us remain free from hatred in the midst of people who hate.

Sit Rest Work. Alone with yourself, Never weary. On the edge of the forest Live joyfully, Without desire.

The wise man makes an island of himself that no flood can overwhelm.

He who walks in the company of fools suffers much. Company with fools, as with an enemy, is always painful. Company with the wise is pleasure, like meeting with kinfolk.

True charity occurs only when there are no notions of giving, giver, or gift.

He whose inflowing thoughts are dried up, who is unattached to food, whose dwelling place is an empty and imageless release - the way of such a person is hard to follow, like the path of birds through the sky.

Be your own lamps. Be your own shelters. Hang on to the truth as a lamp. Hang on to the truth as a refuge.

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.

A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit.

Just as you have come to know, the false discrimination of yourself, apply this mentally to all phenomena

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.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant.

Offensive acts come back upon the evil doer, like dust that is thrown against the wind.

Wherever there is light, there is shadow; wherever there is length, there is shortness; wherever there is white, there is black. Just like these, as the self-nature of things can not exist alone, they are called non-substantial.

Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.

Be quick to do good. If you are slow, the mind, delighting in mischief, will catch you.

This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, Rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.

Confusion conditions activity, which conditions consciousness, which conditions embodied personality, which conditions sensory experiences, which conditions impact, which conditions mood, which conditions craving, which conditions clinging, which conditions becoming, which conditions birth, which conditions aging and death.

Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.

Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those which a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might form of the outside world.

Religion is a cow. It gives milk, but it also kicks.

We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?

A fool acquires knowledge only to his own disadvantage. It destroys what good he has, and turns his brains.

Do not accept anything simply because it has been said by your teacher, or because it has been written in your sacred books, or because it has been believed by many, or because it has been handed down by your ancestors. Accept and live only according to what will enable you to see truth face to face.

Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse.

In what is seen, there should be just the seen; In what is heard, there should be just the heard; In what is sensed, there should be just the sensed; In what is thought, there should be just the thought. He should not kill a living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should he incite another to kill. Do not injure any being, either strong or weak in the world.

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

One who, while seeking happiness, oppresses with violence other living beings who also desire happinesss, will not find happiness hereafter.

The gift of truth excels all other gifts.

Just as a tree, though cut down, can grow again and again if its roots are undamaged and strong, in the same way if the roots of craving are not wholly uprooted sorrows will come again and again

Don't indulge in careless behaviour. Don't be the friend of sensual pleasures. He who meditates attentively attains abundant joy.

Freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change.

The wind cannot shake a mountain. Neither praise nor blame moves the wise man.

However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?

This life of separateness may be compared to a dream, a phantasm, a bubble, a shadow, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.

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.

First of all there will appear to you, swifter than lightning, the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness, and that will surround you on all sides. ...Try to submerge yourself in that light, giving up all belief in a separate self, all attachment to your illusory ego.

Like a caring mother holding and guarding the life of her only child, so with a boundless heart of loving kindness, hold yourself and all beings as your beloved children.

A victor only breeds hatred, while a defeated man lives in misery, but a man at peace within lives happily, abandoning up ideas of victory and defeat.

A generous heart, kind speech, & a life of service & compassion are the things which renew humanity.

Realizing the doctrine of dependent-arising, the wise do not at all partake of extreme views

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.

If you endeavor to embrace the Way through much learning, the Way will not be understood. If you observe the Way with simplicity of heart, great indeed is this Way.

Freed by full realization and at peace, the mind of such a man is at peace, and his speech and action peaceful. He has no need for faith who knows the uncreated, who has cut off rebirth, who has destroyed any opportunity for good or evil, and cast away all desire. He is indeed the ultimate man.

Better than a long speech is a single quietening word.