Quotations From Buddha II

Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.

As an irrigator guides water to his fields, as an archer aims an arrow, as a carpenter carves wood, the wise shape their lives.


Let go the past, let go the future, and let go what is in between, transcending the things of time. With your mind free in every direction, you will not return to birth and aging.


A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.

It is good to have companions when occasion arises, and it is good to be contented with whatever comes.


Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love, this is the eternal rule.


The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.


When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble.


Because he has pity on every living creature, therefore is a man called 'holy'.


Joyful is the accumulation of good work.


He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after his death.


One act of pure love in saving life is greater than spending the whole of one's time in religious offerings to the gods . . .


To utter pleasant words without practicing them, is like a fine flower without fragrance.


Pain is the outcome of sin.


When one is overcome by this wretched, clinging desire in the world, one's sorrows increase like grass growing up after a lot of rain.


To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.


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.


Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.


From craving arises sorrow, from craving arises fear, but he who is freed from craving has no sorrow and certainly no fear.


Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.


The fool who thinks he is wise is just a fool. The fool who knows he is a fool is wise indeed.


Hunger (for things) is the supreme disease.


Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.


Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.


If a viper lives in your room and you wish to have a peaceful sleep, you must first chase it out.


Good thoughts will produce good actions and bad thoughts will produce bad actions. Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love.


Better than a thousand useless words is one word that gives peace.


Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.


An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.


Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.� Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.


Through zeal, knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal, knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.


All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.