Gautama Buddha Quotes

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

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

Doubt everything. Find your own light.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon.... If a man speak or act with a good thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.

A man asked Gautama Buddha, "I want happiness." Buddha said, "First remove "I," that's Ego, then remove "want," that's Desire. See now you are left with only "Happiness.

There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.

Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

Nothing is forever except change.

Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

The Way is not in the sky; the Way is in the heart.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in them. [Kalama Sutta, AN 3.65]

If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.

I am Plato's Republic. Mr. Simmons is Marcus. I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of that evil political book, Gulliver's Travels! And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and-this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert Schweitzer, a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind.

There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.

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.

When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.

The mind is everything. What you think, you become

Embrace nothing: If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet your father, kill your father. Only live your life as it is, Not bound to anything.

Though one should live a hundred years without wisdom and control, yet better, indeed, is a single day’s life of one who is wise and meditative.

Bahujanahitāya bahujanasukhāya lokānukampāya: For the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world.

Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than Buddha? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than Socrates? Was he more patient, more charitable, than Epictetus? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than Epicurus? In what respect was he the superior of Zoroaster? Was he gentler than Lao-tsze, more universal than Confucius? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of Zeno? Did he express grander truths than Cicero? Was his mind subtler than Spinoza’s? Was his brain equal to Kepler’s or Newton’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than Bruno? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of Shakespeare, the greatest of the human race?

The ignorant man is an ox. He grows in size, not in wisdom.

The teaching is simple. Do what is right. Be Pure.

The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

The virtuous man delights in this world and he delights in the next

A jug fills drop by drop.

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

Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

My whole teaching consists of two words, meditation and love. Meditate so that you can feel immense silence, and love so that your life can become a song, a dance, a celebration. You will have to move between the two, and if you can move easily, if you can move without any effort, you have learned the greatest thing in life.

Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.

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.

If you cannot find a good companion to walk with, walk alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than to be with those who will hinder your progress.

How blissful it is, for one who has nothing. Attainers-of-wisdom are people with nothing. See him suffering, one who has something, a person bound in mind with people.

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted. Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled. Look within, be still. Free from fear and attachment, know the sweet joy of the way.

Anger is the punishment we give ourselves for someone else's mistake.

The darkest night is ignorance.

All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependent-arisings. All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependently imputed.

Meditate, Ānanda, do not delay, or else you will regret it later. This is our instruction to you.

When the Aggregates arise, decay and die, O bhikkhu, every moment you are born, decay, and die.

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

Your actions are your only belongings.

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.

Love yourself and watch --- today, tomorrow, and always.

Greater than all the joys Of heaven and earth, Greater still than dominion Over all the worlds, Is the joy of reaching the stream.

This I tell you: decay is inherent in all conditioned things. Work out your own salvation, with diligence.

The rain could turn to gold and still your thirst would not be slaked. Desire is unquenchable or it ends in tears, even in heaven.

Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.

Don't give yourself to negligence, Don't devote yourself to sensual pleasure, Vigilant and absorbed in meditation One attains abundant happiness.

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

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

A fool suffers, thinking, "I have children! I have wealth!" One's self is not even one's own. How then are children? How then is wealth?

The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.

من يعتقد أنه قادر فهو قادر.

Many do not realize that We here must die For those who realize this Quarrels end.

Our life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think.

To life in the consciousness of the inevitability of suffering, of becoming enfeebled, of old age and of death, is impossible -- we must free ourselves from life, from all possible life.

Oneself, indeed, is one's own protector. One does, indeed [make] one's own destiny. Therefore, control yourself As a merchant does a fine horse.

Better it is to live alone; there is no fellowship with a fool. Live alone and do no evil; be carefree like an elephant in the elephant forest.

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

I shall live here in the rains, There in winter, Elsewhere in summer," muses the fool, Not aware of the nearness of death.

Delightful are forests Where the public does not delight. There the passion-free delight, Not seeking sensual pleasure.

Sensual craving gives rise to grief; Sensual craving gives rise to fear. For someone released from sensual craving There is no grief; And from where would be fear?

All too soon this body Will lie on the ground, Cast aside, deprived of consciousness, Like a useless scrap of wood.

Ambition is like love, impatient of both delays and rivals

For behold your body — A painted puppet, a toy, Jointed, sick and full of false imaginings, A shadow that shifts and fade.

Sometimes it's better to be kind than to be right. We do not need an intelligent mind that speaks, but a patient heart that listens. You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.

Virtuous people always let go. They don't prattle about pleasures and desires. Touched by happiness and then by suffering, The sage shows no sign of being elated or depressed.

Fearless, free of craving, and without blemish, Having reached the goal And destroyed the arrows of becoming One is in one's final body.

The moment you see how important it is to love yourself, you will stop making others suffer.

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

Love is a fleeting emotion, to reach true nirvana one must know themselves and forsake love, for it breeds contempt.

Here bhikkhus, some misguided men learn the Dhamma–discourses, stanzas, expositions, verses, exclamations, sayings, birth stories, marvels, and answers to questions–but having learned the Dhamma, they do not examine the meaning of those teachings with wisdom. Not examining the meaning of those teachings with wisdom, they do not gain a reflective acceptance of them. Instead they learn the Dhamma only for the sake of criticising others and for winning in debates, and they do not experience the good for the sake of which they learned the Dhamma.

Who have not led the holy life nor riches won while young, they linger on as aged cranes around a fished-out pond.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge.

All Beings are owners of their Karma. Whatever volitional actions they do, good or evil, of those they shall become the heir.

Just as on a rubbish heap swept up on a main road a purely fragrant, delightful lotus might there spring up, Even so amidst those rubbish heaps (of men) does the savaka of the Perfectly Enlightened One outshine in insight the blind puthujjana

Through the round of many births I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder. Painful is birth again & again. House-builder, you're seen! You will not build a house again. All your rafters broken, the ridge pole destroyed, gone to the Unformed, the mind has come to the end of craving.

You are as the yellow leaf. The messengers of death are at hand. You are to travel far away. What will you take with you? You are the lamp To lighten the way. Then hurry, hurry. When your light shines Without impurity or desire You will come into the boundless country. Your life is falling away. Death is at hand. Where will you rest on the way? What have you taken with you? You are the lamp To lighten the way. Then hurry, hurry. When your light shines purely You will not be born And you will not die.

If a person has faith, Bhāradvāja, he preserves truth when he says: 'My faith is thus'; but he does not yet come to the conclusion: 'Only this is true, anything else is wrong.' In this way, Bhāradvāja, there is the preservation of truth; in this way he preserves truth; in this way we describe the preservation of truth. But as yet there is no discovery of truth.

Subhuti, someone might fill innumerable worlds with the seven treasures and give all away in gifts of alms, but if any good man or any good woman awakens the thought of Enlightenment and takes even only four lines from this Discourse, reciting, using, receiving, retaining and spreading them abroad and explaining them for the benefit of others, it will be far more meritorious. Now in what manner may he explain them to others? By detachment from appearances-abiding in Real Truth. -So I tell you- Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; A flash of lightening in a summer cloud, A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream. When Buddha finished this Discourse the venerable Subhuti, together with the bhikshus, bhikshunis, lay-brothers and sisters, and the whole realms of Gods, Men and Titans, were filled with joy by His teaching, and, taking it sincerely to heart they went their ways.

Just as a line drawn on water with a stick will quickly vanish and will not last long; even so is human life like a line drawn on water. It is short, limited, and brief; it is full of suffering, full of tribulation. This one should wisely understand, one should do good and live a pure life; for none who is born can escape death.

Năm pháp nào cần phải an trú nội tâm? "Ta nói đúng thời, không phải phi thời; ta nói đúng sự thật, không phải không đúng sự thật; ta nói lời nhu hòa, không phải nói lời thô bạo; ta nói lời liên hệ đến mục đích, không phải lời không liên hệ đến mục đích; ta nói với tâm từ bi, không nói với tâm sân hận". Năm pháp này cần phải an trú nội tâm.

Jīvaka, I say that there are three instances in which meat should not be eaten: when it is seen, heard, or suspected [that the living being has been slaughtered for oneself]. I say that meat should not be eaten in these three instances. I say that there are three instances in which meat may be eaten: when it is not seen, not heard, and not suspected [that the living being has been slaughtered for oneself]. I say that meat may be eaten in these three instances.

Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS I. Suffering does exist. II. Suffering arises from "attachment" to desires. III. Suffering ceases when "attachment" to desire ceases. IV. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the eightfold path: 1. Right understanding (view). 2. Right intention (thought). 3. Right speach. 4. Right action. 5. Right livelihood. 6. Right effort. 7. Right mindfulness. 8. Rght meditation (concentration). Buddha's fourfold consolation: With a mind free from greed and unfriendliness, incorruptible, and purified, the noble disciple is already during this lifetime assure of a fourfold consolation: “If there is another world (heaven), and a cause and effect (Karma) of good and bad actions, then it may be that, at the dissolution of the body, after death, I shall be reborn in a happy realm, a heavenly world.” Of this first consolation (s)he is assured. “And if there is no other world, no reward and no punishment of good and bad actions, then I live at least here, in this world, an untroubled and happy life, free from hate and unfriendliness.” Of this second consolation (s)he is assured. “And if bad things happen to bad people, but I do not do anything bad (or have unfriendliness against anyone), how can I, who am doing no bad things, meet with bad things?” Of this third consolation (s)he is assured. “And if no bad things happen to bad people, then I know myself in both ways pure.” Of this fourth consolation (s)he is assured.

Nė viena pasaka nepatikėkit, Nors šimtmečius ilgus Daugybė kraštų jas laikė tikrove. Netikėkit ir tuo, ką Kiti žmonės be perstojo kalba, Nors išminčiaus žodžius jie kartotų Ar pasiremtų raštais šventais. Netikėkite niekuo, Sapnuose ką regėjot, ką vaizduotė sukūrė, Nors manot, kad siunčia tuos vaizdinius Dievas. Nepriimkite žodžių už tiesą, Nors kažkas juos pridengtų šventuolio ar Meistro vardu. Patikėkit tik tuo, ko karti patirtis Ilgai Jus pačius per išbandymus mokė, Kas nekliudo gerovės nei Jums, nei kitiems.

So too, friend, purification of virtue is for the sake of reaching purification of mind; purification of mind is for the sake of reaching purification of view; purification of view is for the sake of reaching purification by overcoming doubt; purification by overcoming doubt is for the sake of reaching purification by knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path; purification by knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path is for the sake of reaching purification by knowledge and vision of the way; purification by knowledge and vision of the way is for the sake of reaching purification by knowledge and vision; purification by knowledge and vision is for the sake of reaching final Nibbāna [Nirvana] without clinging. It is for the sake of final Nibbāna without clinging that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One.

Suppose a man threw into the sea a yoke with one hole in it, and the east wind carried it to the west, and the west wind carried it to the east, and the north wind carried it to the south, and the south wind carried it to the north. Suppose there were a blind turtle that came up once at the end of each century. What do you think, bhikkhus? Would that blind turtle put his neck into that yoke with one hole in it?" "He might, venerable sir, sometime or other at the end of a long period." "Bhikkhus, the blind turtle would sooner put his neck into that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool, once gone to perdition, would take to regain the human state, I say. Why is that? Because there is no practising of the Dhamma there, no practising of what is righteous, no doing of what is wholesome, no performance of merit. There mutual devouring prevails, and the slaughter of the weak.