Buddhist Quotes

Being a Buddhist monk means never losing one's optimism in spite of all difficulties. It also means being harder on yourself than any of your teachers ever were.

A Buddhist monk has a responsibility first and foremost to themselves, and that's to find the truth each day in every part of their life.

From my own personal encounters and studies with both Tantric and Zen Buddhist monks, I have found them to be humorous, warm, charming, and compassionate.

And finally, be assured that Zen asks nothing even as it promises nothing. One can be a Protestant Zen Buddhist, a Catholic Zen Buddhist or a Jewish Zen Buddhist. Zen is a quiet thing. It listens.

I'm a lapsed Buddhist like I'm a lapsed Catholic. I take it to a point.

There's a kind of training, when you are sitting in a session in the Japanese tradition or any of the Buddhist traditions, taking your lotus posture or whatever it is. That's what you're doing.

Spend 5 minutes breathing in, cherishing yourself; and, breathing out cherishing others. If you think about people you have difficulty cherishing, extend your cherishing to them anyway.

Don't become a Buddhist. The world doesn't need Buddhist. Do practice Compassion. The world needs more compassion.

If I say, "I am a monk." or "I am a Buddhist," these are, in comparison to my nature as a human being, temporary. To be human is basic.

If we had to accept the idea of an independent creator, the explanations given in [several Buddhist texts] which completely refutes the existence per se of all phenomena, would be negated.

It may seem unrealistic to think we can ever become free from hatred, but Buddhists have systematic methods for gradually developing a tolerance powerful enough to give such freedom.

Continue this practice no matter what happens or what anyone does to you.

If you want to be wisely selfish, care for others

During the day extend that attitude to everyone you meet. Practice cherishing the "simplest" person (clerks, attendants, etc) or people you dislike.

Compassion and love is the source of external and internal peace and is also the root of racial survival.

Don't try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-al ready-are.

To combat hatred directed toward a person, a Buddhist cultivates loving kindness toward that person.

We believe in self creation. That's why Buddhists believe in the Four Noble Truths.

Since we became Buddhist, we have lived in peace with them. We did not invade them. We did not want them to invade us. We have never declared war on China.

We have made a great effort to maintain all levels of Buddhist education; it has helped us have a kind of renaissance, really.

I've had loss in my life, and I like to think my mother's energy lives on in some faintly Buddhist way. I do find some comfort there.

In the emerging culture, darkness represents spirituality. We see this in Buddhist temples, as well as Catholic and orthodox churches. Darkness indicates that something serious is happening.

My idea for a Buddhist video game: No guns. Self-immolate instead. Get reincarnated. Repeat until you find Nirvana. Takes forever to play.

I don't really go down one path. I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist, or a Catholic or a Christian or a Muslim, or Jewish. I couldn't put myself into any organized faith.

The Mind cannot be confused, but it is confusion.

Some of my best friends are Hindu or Buddhist or Sikh, my students as well. This is the sea in which I swim.

People came as immigrants from all over the world, and Hindu and Muslim and Buddhist and Sikh communities became part of the landscape of the U.S.

I think my Buddhist practice has a profound influence on my life and encompasses my creative projects

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form" states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is emptiness.

When I'm a Buddhist my family hates me. When I'm the Buddha they love me.

If someone is in the same state of mind and doesn't seek to block your success, you have a friend. Such friends are rare, and if you find such a friend, value them.

As a monk you have a responsibility to meditate many hours a day. Not just to sit there but to think of the ten thousand radiances.

Advanced Buddhist Yoga is the art of altering your karmic patterns.

In Buddhist Yoga, we refer to our mutlilife karmic traits as samskaras. They are the internal karmic patterns that make each of us who we are.

The Buddhists believe that everything in life is random. There are patterns that are intrinsic to life. We don't know why, we just know they're there like the DNA. We have no idea.

A Buddhist is working not just to get paid, but working to advance spiritually. You shouldn't create a syntactical break in your mind between your career and your religious practice.

As Buddhists, our only task is to keep our room clean.

The Tibetan Buddhist realization is that mind does not have any particular qualities or attributes of its own. It's clear - clear light.

Since there were others, a long time ago, who were kind enough to give me a hard time and allow me to study with them, I try and express the same Buddhist courtesy.

Tantric Buddhists don't believe in sin. Stupidity, yes, meaning we make ourselves or others suffer.

In the world of Buddhist mind, in the advanced states, we go beyond time, space, life, death and Newsweek.

I used to live in Buddhist monasteries and I finally had to leave them because they were just too cluttered for me. They were cluttered up with many thoughts about Buddhism.

The outer form of Buddhism, of practice, is etiquette - a series of ways to live intelligently that keep you alive, awake and happy, wakeful.

In the beginning we define what is spiritual. But as you go on, you see that everybody and everything is an instrument of infinity.

If you attain liberation do not feel that it matters or it is important. You had nothing to do with it. If you are bound by ignorance do not feel bad. You had nothing to do with it.

From a Buddhist perspective, it is incorrect to always assume that we know what is best.

Sometimes there are people who only meditate with a teacher. They ride the teacher's energy. They don't really learn how to meditate. They learn how to ride the energy.

One person's cult is another person's spiritual organization.

It's necessary to respect all other ways and other teachings on the subject because even though they may not make a lot of sense to us, they might to someone else. Who are we to say?

Just because it doesn't work out for you, doesn't mean that it's not wonderful for someone else.