Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as Buddha, was a spiritual teacher and the founder of Buddhism. He was born in the 6th century BCE in Lumbini, which is now part of Nepal. Buddha’s teachings and philosophy have had a profound impact on the spiritual and philosophical landscape of Asia and beyond.
Buddha’s life can be summarized in a few key stages:
Birth and Early Life: Siddhartha was born into a royal family, and his father wanted to ensure that he would become a great ruler. However, Siddhartha was deeply affected by the suffering he witnessed in the world, and he eventually left his palace and luxurious life in search of a solution to human suffering.
Renunciation: At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace, family, and all material comforts to live as an ascetic and seek enlightenment. He practiced rigorous meditation and self-denial for several years.
The Middle Way: After realizing that extreme asceticism did not lead to enlightenment, Siddhartha adopted a middle path between indulgence and self-mortification. This approach emphasized balance and moderation in all aspects of life.
Enlightenment: At the age of 35, Siddhartha sat under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, and meditated deeply. After an intense period of meditation, he achieved enlightenment and gained profound insights into the nature of suffering, existence, and the path to liberation.
Teaching: Buddha spent the remainder of his life traveling and teaching his insights to others. His teachings revolved around the Four Noble Truths, which describe the nature of suffering, its origin, and the possibility of liberation, and the Eightfold Path, which provides a guide to living a balanced and ethical life.
Passing Away (Parinirvana): Buddha passed away at the age of 80 in a state of deep meditation, having imparted his teachings to a substantial number of followers. His death marked his entry into Parinirvana, which signifies the ultimate state of release from the cycle of birth and death (samsara) in Buddhism.
Buddhism, as founded by Buddha, encompasses a wide range of philosophical ideas, practices, and beliefs, depending on different cultural and regional interpretations. It emphasizes self-awareness, ethical conduct, meditation, and the pursuit of wisdom as means to attain liberation from suffering and the cycle of rebirth.
Buddha’s teachings have had a lasting impact on millions of people and have inspired various forms of Buddhist practice and philosophy throughout history.
Buddha Quotes
1. “Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.”
— Buddha
2. “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”
— Buddha
3. “If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature.”
— Buddha
4. “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
— Buddha
5. “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you.”
— Buddha
6. “The root of suffering is attachment.”
— Buddha
7. “No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.”
— Buddha
8. “To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.”
— Buddha
9. “There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires.”
— Buddha
10. “A disciplined mind brings happiness.”
— Buddha
11. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
— Buddha
12. “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”
— Buddha
13. “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.”
— Buddha
14. “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
— Buddha
15. “There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.”
— Buddha
16. “When you dig a well, there’s no sign of water until you reach it, only rocks and dirt to move out of the way. You have removed enough; soon the pure water will flow.”
— Buddha
17. “Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.”
— Buddha
18. “Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”
— Buddha
19. “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
— Buddha
20. “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”
— Buddha
21. “Once you know the nature of anger and joy is empty and you let them go, you free yourself from karma.”
— Buddha
22. “One who previously made bad karma, but who reforms and creates good karma, brightens the world like the moon appearing from behind a cloud.”
— Buddha
23. “Not even death can wipe out our good deeds.”
— Buddha
24. “Karma grows from our hearts. Karma terminates from our hearts.”
— Buddha
25. “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.”
— Buddha
26. “When action comes out of nothing it creates no karma.”
— Buddha
27. “One who acts on truth is happy in this world and beyond.”
— Buddha
28. “All that we are is the result of what we have thought; what we think we become.”
— Buddha
29. “What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.”
— Buddha
30. “If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.”
— Buddha
31. “Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.”
— Buddha
32. “Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.”
— Buddha
33. “Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.”
— Buddha
34. “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”
— Buddha
35. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
— Buddha
36. “A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving, and fearless then he is in truth called wise.”
— Buddha
37. “Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.”
— Buddha
38. “Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.”
— Buddha
39. “You only lose what you cling to.”
— Buddha
40. “Pain is certain, suffering is optional.”
— Buddha
41. “The tongue like a sharp knife… kills without drawing blood.”
— Buddha
42. “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
— Buddha
43. “Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.”
— Buddha
44. “Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm.”
— Buddha
45. “Give, even if you only have a little.”
— Buddha
46. “One should strive to understand what underlies sufferings and diseases – and aim for health and well-being while gaining in the path.”
— Buddha
47. “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”
— Buddha
48. “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”
— Buddha
49. “Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another.”
— Buddha
50. “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.”
— Buddha
51. “If the problem can be solved, why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good.”
— Buddha
52. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.”
— Buddha
53. “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
— Buddha
54. “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.”
— Buddha
55. “If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another.”
— Buddha
56. “True love is born from understanding.”
— Buddha
57. “There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.”
— Buddha
58. “As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgement but rain your kindness equally on all.”
— Buddha
59. “You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
— Buddha
60. “Love is a gift of one’s inner most soul to another so both can be whole.”
— Buddha
61. “The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live.”
— Buddha
62. “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
— Buddha
63. “Even as a solid rock is unshaken by the wind, so are the wise unshaken by praise or blame.”
— Buddha
64. “Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind.”
— Buddha
65. “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.”
— Buddha
66. “There isn’t enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.”
— Buddha
67. “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
— Buddha
68. “To support mother and father, to cherish wife and children, and to be engaged in peaceful occupation — this is the greatest blessing.”
— Buddha
69. “If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows them like a never-departing shadow.”
— Buddha
70. “Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is Awakened.”
— Buddha
71. “Meditate … do not delay, lest you later regret it.”
— Buddha
72. “Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance.”
— Buddha
73. “If you meditate earnestly, pure in mind and kind in deeds, leading a disciplined life in harmony with the dharma, you will grow in glory…If you meditate earnestly, through spiritual disciplines you can make an island for yourself that no flood can overwhelm.”
— Buddha
74. “Health is the best gift, contentment the best wealth, trust the best kinsman, nirvana the greatest joy. Drink the nectar of the dharma in the depths of meditation, and become free from fear and sin.”
— Buddha
75. “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.”
— Buddha
76. “Don’t run after pleasure and neglect the practice of meditation. If you forget the goal of life and get caught in the pleasures of the world, you will come to envy those who put meditation first.”
— Buddha
77. “Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.”
— Buddha
78. “If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key.”
— Buddha
79. “Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again and you will be filled with joy.”
— Buddha
80. “Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.”
— Buddha
81. “You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.”
— Buddha
82. “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”
— Buddha
83. “Purity or impurity depends on oneself. No one can purify another.”
— Buddha
84. “Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people.”
— Buddha
85. “If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.”
— Buddha
86. “Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.”
— Buddha
87. “In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength.”
— Buddha
88. “To abstain from lying is essentially wholesome.”
— Buddha
89. “Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.”
— Buddha
90. “Avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison.”
— Buddha
91. “The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.”
— Buddha
92. “Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure.”
— Buddha
93. “Radiate boundless love towards the entire world.”
— Buddha
94. “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”
— Buddha
95. “What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. And What you imagine, you create.”
— Buddha
96. “Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.”
— Buddha
97. “Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts!”
— Buddha
98. “All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.”
— Buddha
99. “As an elephant in the battlefield withstands arrows shot from bows all around, even so shall I endure abuse.”
— Buddha
100. “Understanding is the heartwood of well-spoken words.”
— Buddha
101. “The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”
— Buddha
102. “It is in the nature of things that joy arises in a person free from remorse.”
— Buddha
103. “Let him not deceive another nor despise anyone anywhere. In anger or ill will let him not wish another ill.”
— Buddha
104. “Your own self is your master; who else could be? With yourself well controlled, you gain a master very hard to find.”
— Buddha
105. “Conquer anger through gentleness, unkindness through kindness, greed through generosity, and falsehood by truth.”
— Buddha
106. “Like someone pointing to treasure is the wise person who sees your faults and points them out. Associate with such a sage.”
— Buddha
107. “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.”
— Buddha
108. “Be truthful; do not yield to anger. Give freely, even if you have but little. The gods will bless you.”
— Buddha
109. “As a water bead on a lotus leaf, as water on a red lily, does not adhere, so the sage does not adhere to the seen, the heard, or the sensed.”
— Buddha
110. “One is not called noble who harms living beings. By not harming living beings one is called noble.”
— Buddha
111. “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”
— Buddha
112. “If you knew what I know about the power of giving you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.”
— Buddha
113. “I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
— Buddha
114. “As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.”
— Buddha
115. “The trouble is, you think you have time.”
— Buddha
116. “One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.”
— Buddha
117. “Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”
— Buddha
118. “Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.”
— Buddha
119. “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”
— Buddha
120. “They blame those who remain silent, they blame those who speak much, they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed.”
— Buddha
