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.
Whoever has done harmful actions but later covers them up with good is like the moon which, freed from clouds, lights up the world.
Water surrounds the lotus flower, but does not wet its petals.
Our problems are not solved by physical force, by hatred, by warOur problems are solved by loving kindness by gentleness, by joy
Right perspective is no perspective or all perspectives.
My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience... My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship. My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation.
In this world Hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, Ancient and inexhaustible.
All descriptions of reality are temporary hypotheses.
You, as much as anyone in the universe, deserve your love and respect.
Surely if living creatures saw the results of all their evil deeds, they would turn away from them in disgust. But selfhood blinds them, and they cling to their obnoxious desires. They crave pleasure for themselves and they cause pain to others; when death destroys their individuality, they find no peace; their thirst for existence abides and their selfhood reappears in new births. Thus they continue to move in the coil and can find no escape from the hell of their own making.
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.
If there is only empty space, with no suns nor planets in it, then space loses its substantiality.
To know and not to use is not yet to know!
All acts of living become bad by ten things, and by avoiding the ten things they become good. There are three evils of the body, four evils of the tongue, and three evils of the mind.
How easy it is to see your brother's faults, How hard it is to face your own. You winnow his in the wind like chaff, But yours you hide, Like a cheat covering up an unlucky throw. Dwelling on your brother's faults Multiplies your own. You are far from the end of your journey. The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. See how you love.
He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after his death.
The Tempter masters the lazy and irresolute man who dwells on the attractive side of things, ungoverned in his senses, and unrestrained in his food, like the wind overcomes a rotten tree. But the Tempter cannot master a man who dwells on the distasteful side of things, self-controlled in his senses, moderate in eating, resolute and full of faith, like the wind cannot move a mountain crag.
Speak only the speech that neither torments self nor does harm to others. That speech is truly well spoken.
Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.
Do not think lightly of good, that nothing will come of it. A whole water pot will fill up from dripping drops of water.
You too shall pass away. Knowing this, how can you quarrel?
It is your mind that creates the world.
Rain falls, wind blows, plants bloom, leaves mature and are blown away; these phenomena are all interrelated with causes and conditions, are brought about by them, and disappear as the causes and conditions change.
Men who are addicted to the passions are like the torch-carrier running against the wind; his hands are sure to be burned.
The heavens and the earth may be captured by the mind's eye.
