Quotes About Buddha

Underlying it all is the happiness delusion. As the Buddha emphasized, our ongoing attempts to feel better tend to involve an overestimation of how long "better" is going to last. What's more, when "better" ends, it can be followed by "worse"—an unsettled feeling, a thirst for more. Long before psychologists were describing the hedonic treadmill, the Buddha saw it.

The desire to punish people who treat you unfairly or show you disrespect is deeply human. And admit it: though there's something unpleasant about being made angry, there's something pleasing about the feeling of anger itself—the feeling that you're rightfully enraged. The Buddha said anger has a "poisoned root and honeyed tip.

The Buddha said that responding to email and Twitter is like sweeping the sands from the banks of the Ganges River." "The Buddha said that?" "Well, maybe not. But the point remains the same. Some tasks are impossible, even if you are a Buddha. Even if you have eleven heads and a thousand arms.

When the Buddha, dying, entreated his followers to "be a lamp unto your self," I understood he was willing to free his followers even from his own teachings. He had done all he could do, taught them everything he had learned. Now, their own enlightenment was up to them.

This room is very powerful: Buddha, golden, holding down one side; the primordial Great Mother, black, offering her bead of mitochondria holding down the other.

Thus, as the Buddha said to a lady who offered him a curse,the gift is returned to the giver when it is not accepted

Ancient religions used to tell people that letting go of yearning is the highest form of spirituality. But Buddha had it wrong. Yearning is the difference between being human and being a Clockwork. Not to want is not to live. Even DNA is an engine of desire--driven to copy itself over and over.

Mindfulness, as defined by the Buddha, means awareness of incessant change, of arising and vanishing, inside of your own body, which is the ultimate reality of your own life.

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.

The color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.

The perfect human being is uninteresting-the Buddha who leaves the world, you know. It is the imperfections of life that are lovable.

As your awareness of the riches available to you in your everyday life grows, you are on the way to becoming the laughing Buddha. Life is joyous. Life is Light. Life is happy. You are awake at last.

Taking refuge means that you align and orient your life toward Buddha's example and toward enlightenment.

The Buddha takes no position on gods, he suggests they may exist or they may not, but either way you can live a moral life.

The process of relating to this reflection of the inner Buddha is called devotion. As long as there is the stream of thoughts, there is no end to the projection of samsara. Until the end of samsara, there is no end to the path. As long as there is a path, there is devotion. And as long as there is devotion, there is an outer teacher.

Avoid what is evil; do what is good; purify the mind—this is the teaching of the Awakened One [Buddha].

I go for refuge to the Buddha.I go for refuge to the Doctrine.I go for refuge to the Order [of monks].

Nowhere is there an account or portrait of Christ laughing... he is always stern, serious and as gloomy as a prison guard. Never does one see him laughing until tears appear in his eyes like the roly-poly squint-eyed Buddha guffawing with arms upraised.

Recall those lovely words of Buddha when he said, "Monks and scholars must not accept my words out of respect, but must analyze them the way a goldsmith analyzes gold—by cutting, scraping, rubbing, melting.

Oh-do be careful with that! That's my Buddha hand grenade. Twist the head twice and throw it and anyone within ten yards can say their prayers.

She had no human side. For the next few minutes, she said nothing, sitting at my table like some sort of malevolent Buddha, unmoving and imperious, letting me sweat it out as I wondered what was going to happen next.

If your mind is pure, all buddha-lands are pure.

the Buddha whimsically pointed out that seeking happiness in one's material desires is as absurd as "suffering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes.

The worship of the Buddha by non-Buddhists remained largely formal and deferential.