Gautama Buddha Quotes

Gautama Buddha gives calm, wise insights on mindfulness, wisdom and mindset that feel like a quiet meditation.

55 quotes

1. No one saves us but ourselves, no one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path but Buddhas clearly show the way.

2. Behold now, Bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence!

3. Sensual passions are your first army.

4. ...I spit on my life.

5. That army of yours,

6. I will go about, from kingdom to kingdom,

7. Open are the doors to the Deathless

8. In a world become blind,

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

10. We forgive principally for our own sake, so that we may cease to bear the burden of rancour.

11. Rather than continuing to seek the truth, simply let go of your views.

12. Therefore, be islands unto yourselves. Be your own refuge. Have recourse to none else for refuge. Hold fast to the Dharma as an island. Hold fast to the Dharma as a refuge. Resort to no other refuge. Whosoever, either now or after I am gone, shall be islands unto themselves, refuges unto themselves, shall seek no external refuge,it is they, among my disciples who shall reach the very topmost height! But they must be keen to progress.

13. There is no wealth like knowledge, and no poverty like ignorance.

14. The no-mind not-thinks no thoughts about no things.

15. This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds,

16. Know all things to be like this,

17. Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

18. People with opinions just go around bothering each other.

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

20. There is no way to Happiness. Happiness is the way.

21. Life is no more than a dewdrop balancing on the end of a blade of grass.

22. Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Just as the candle won't be shortend, one's happiness never decreases by being shared.

23. The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

24. Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

25. If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.

26. Let us all be thankful for this day, for we have learned a great deal; if we have not learned a great deal, then at least we learned slightly; if we did not learn slightly, then at least we did not become sick; if we did become sick, then at least we did not die. So, let us all be thankful.

27. Desire is the cause for all your sickness and misery.

28. It is your mind that creates this world.

29. Buddhism

30. Zen proverbs

31. Before you've seen it, and when you first see it, it is the greatest thing; afterwards, it is ordinary.

32. One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the Messiah?" "No," answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No," Buddha replied. "Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted. "No, I am not a teacher." "Then what are you?" asked the student exasperated. "I am awake," Buddha replied.

33. Give thanks for what had been given to you, However little. Be pure, never falter.

34. For fear of causing terror to living beings, Mahamati, let the Bodhisattva who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating flesh.

35. Be lamps unto yourselves. Be refuges unto yourselves. Take yourself no external refuge. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone besides yourselves. And those, Ananda, who either now or after I am dead, Shall be a lamp unto themselves, Shall betake themselves as no external refuge, But holding fast to the truth as their lamp, Holding fast to the truth as their refuge, Shall not look for refuge to anyone else besides themselves, It is they who shall reach to the very topmost height; But they must be anxious to learn.

36. Speak only the speech that neither torments self nor does harm to others. That speech is truly well spoken.

37. Pain is the outcome of sin.

38. It is because I perceive the danger in the practice of mystic wonders, that I loath, abhor, and am ashamed thereof.

39. 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.

40. If one is the master of oneself, one is the resort one can depend on; therefore, one should control oneself of all.

41. Seeing the similarity to oneself, one should not use violence or have it used.

42. Watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love born out of concern for all beings.

43. One is not low because of birth nor does birth make one holy. Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one holy.

44. He who causes suffering shall suffer. There is no escape.

45. The fool says, "These are my sons, this is my land, this is my money." In reality, the fool does not own himself, much less sons, land, or money.

46. Through our senses the world appears. Through our reactions we create delusions.Without reactions the world becomes clear.

47. If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present.

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

49. Those who are ashamed of what they ought not to be ashamed; and are not ashamed of what they ought to be - such men, embracing erroneous views, enter the woeful path.

50. Even if everyone elseIs not doing good,I alone will.Even if everyone elseis doing wrong,I alone will not.

51. There is no satisfying the senses, not even with a shower of money. "The senses are of slight pleasure and really suffering." When a wise man has realised this, he takes no pleasure, as a disciple of the Buddhas, even in the pleasures of heaven. Instead he takes pleasure in the elimination of craving.

52. Let a man neither give himself over to pleasures ... nor yet let him give himself over to self-mortification ... To the exclusion of both these extremes, the Truth-Finder has discovered a middle course.

53. Do not be thoughtless, always be mindful, watch your thoughts! Draw yourself out of the path of evil, like an elephant sunk in mud.

54. 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.

55. The world is continuous flux and is impermanent.