Quotes About Buddha

Hindus spoke in many voices about the Buddha, some positive, some negative, and some indifferent or ambivalent.

Every act, says Thich Nhat Hanh, should be a ritual of mindfulness awakening us to our true identity of interbeing. "True mind is our real self, is the Buddha: the pure one-ness which cannot be cut up by the illusory divisions of separate selves, created by concepts and language" (Naht Hanh, 1975, p. 42).

Once again, eternity is peering through the latticework of time and space, and this sense of eternal stillness and deep freedom is what the iconic image of the seated Buddha conveys. What this image doesn't convey is a sense of humanity, of a real flesh-and-blood human being. But in the Jesus story, it's as if the still point that the image of the Buddha evokes within us becomes

Buddhists consider a personal encounter with a buddha a rare chance, and an occasion for deep gratitude. The rarity of this opportunity is emphasized by the Buddhist saying that it is as difficult for a living being to be born human and to encounter the Buddha as for a blind turtle that raises its head above the surface of the sea only once in a hundred years to put its head in a hole in a floating log. This metaphor encourages the devotee to pursue religious training.

While in H?nay?na Buddhism the Buddha appears and disappears in the universe, in Mah?y?na thought the Buddha is the universe itself, eternal existence. This idea was probably influenced by the notion of Brahm?, Brahmanism's fundamental principle of the universe, and by Hinduism's concept of the gods Vi??u and ?iva.

The idea of rebirth is also reflected in biographies of the Buddha. The Buddha experiences a variety of previous births, during which he practices his religious discipline and appears as a perfected being. The J?takas , tales of the Buddha's former lives, relate how he amasses great numbers of virtues. In some of them, he is shown as having been born previously as a monkey or a deer.

A buddha's mission is to rescue living beings trapped in the worlds of transmigration. A buddha appears in the world as a result of his aspiration toward enlightenment in former existences and his accumulation of various kinds of practice in a single world system (or, some say, in a trichiliocosm, described in chapter 4). ??kyamuni, th Buddha who appeared in India, was one such buddha.

You will not be punished for your anger, Buddha had said. You will be punished by your anger.

You don't have to work at what you are. Part of what you are is what you think you are, but what you think you are is not all of what you are. It is just an aspect of what you are. Being buddha means being unattached to your thoughts about what you are. If you think you are a worthy person or an unworthy person, not grasping those thoughts is buddha.

There is no seer or anything seen / no speaker or anything spoken / the appearance of buddhas and also their teachings / are merely what we imagine 44. Those who view such things as real / they don't see the Buddha / nor do those who imagine nothing / only those who transform their existence.

To awaken to this teaching is to have 'no-idea,' 'no-memory,' and 'no-attachment.' Not giving rise to delusions, this is the nature of suchness.33 View all dharmas with wisdom. Neither grasp them nor reject them. This is the way to see your nature and become a buddha.

The Buddha asks us to see things as they really are. He does not ask us to cling to optimistic views of eternity or pessimistic views of annihilation but simply to examine our experience.

THREE QUALITIES ENABLE people to understand the teachings: objectivity, which means an open mind; intelligence, which is the critical faculty to discern the real meaning by checking the teachings of Buddha; and interest and commitment, which means enthusiasm.

Buddha renounced every worldly happiness because he wanted to share with the whole world his happiness which was to be had by men who sacrificed and suffered in the search for truth.

What is most important is to go deep into ourselves and discover the loving kindness and compassion of the buddha within - the awakened nature we all possess.

If you want to find Buddha nature, love someone and care for them.

To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature.

When you're blind to your own nature, the Buddha is an ordinary being. When you're aware of your own nature, an ordinary being is the Buddha.

Our buddha nature is as good as any buddha's buddha nature.

To reflect on everything in daily life is to nurture your buddha nature.

You want to eliminate your evil desires in order to reveal your Buddha nature, but where will you throw them away?

The real spiritual power is enabling beings to realize the nature of the mind. That's the power of Buddha activity.

The Buddha said that samsara by its nature is painful. He didn't say it was a joyride.

The Buddha's dharma didn't teach peace and relaxation; it taught awakening—often rude awakening.