Bodhidharma Quotes (71 Quotes)

To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma, nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings.

As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.

If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it's the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past.

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

Not thinking about anything is zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the buddha.... Using the mind to reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. Freeing oneself from words is liberation.

Don't hate life and death or love life and death. Keep your every thought free of delusion, and in life you'll witness the beginning of nirvana, and in death you'll experience the assurance of no rebirth.

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

To have a body is to suffer. Does anyone with a body know peace Those who understand this detach themselves from all that exists and stop imagining or seeking anything. The sutras say, 'To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.' When you seek nothing, you're on the Path.

To give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity.

Life and death are important. Don't suffer them in vain.

When we're deluded there's a world to escape. When we're aware, there's nothing to escape.

People who don't see their nature and imagine they can practice thoughtlessness all the time are lairs and fools.

The mind is the root from which all things grow if you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

Not suffering another existence is reaching the Way.

When mortals are alive, they worry about death. When they're full, they worry about hunger. Theirs is the Great Uncertainty. But sages don't consider the past. And they don't worry about the future. Nor do they cling to the present. And from moment to moment they follow the Way.

When delusions are absent, the mind is the land of buddhas. When delusions are present, the mind is hell. Mortals create delusions. And by using the mind to give birth to mind they always find themselves in hell. Bodhisattvas see through delusions. And by not using the mind to give birth to mind they always find themselves in the land of buddhas. If you don't use your mind to create mind, every state of mind is empty and every thought is still. You go from one buddha-land to another. If you use your mind to create mind, every state of mind is disturbed and every thought is in motion. You go from one hell to the next.

If you see your nature, you don't need to read sutras or invoke buddhas. Erudition and knowledge are not only useless but also cloud your awareness. Doctrines are only for pointing to the mind. Once you see your mind, why pay attention to doctrines.

And the Buddha is the person who's free: free of plans, free of cares.

Worship means reverence and humility it means revering your real self and humbling delusions.

The Way is basically perfect. It doesn't require perfecting.

Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn't exist.