# Quotes about Buddhism

- Quotes: 27
- Authors: 12
- Broader topic: [Quotes about religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md)
- Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism
- JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.json

## Quotes

> Thinking that we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain is what in Buddhism is called samsara, a hopeless cycle that goes round and round endlessly and causes us to suffer greatly.

[Pema Chödrön](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron.md) · [When Things Fall Apart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron/when-things-fall-apart.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron/when-things-fall-apart/thinking-that-we-can.md)

Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The very first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings as long as we believe that things last — that they don’t disintegrate, that they can be counted on to satisfy our hunger for security.

[Pema Chödrön](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron.md) · [When Things Fall Apart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron/when-things-fall-apart.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron/when-things-fall-apart/the-very-first.md)

Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> When anyone asks me how I got involved in Buddhism, I always say it was because I was so angry with my husband... When that marriage fell apart, I tried hard—very, very hard—to go back to some kind of comfort, some kind of security, some kind of familiar resting place... I knew that annihilation of my old dependent, clinging self was the only way to go.

[Pema Chödrön](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron.md) · [When Things Fall Apart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron/when-things-fall-apart.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pema-chodron/when-things-fall-apart/when-anyone-asks.md)

Topics: [anger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md), [divorce](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/divorce.md)

> If you know anything about Buddhism, you will know that the most important point is to be yourself and not try to become anything that you are not already. Buddhism is fundamentally about being in touch with your own deepest nature and letting it flow out of you unimpeded.

[Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jon-kabat-zinn.md) · [Wherever You Go, There You Are](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jon-kabat-zinn/wherever-you-go-there-you-are.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jon-kabat-zinn/wherever-you-go-there-you-are/if-you-know.md)

Topics: [authenticity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> As it is said:
>
> Go hundreds of miles away
>
> From places of dispute;
>
> Don't stay for an instant
>
> Where disturbing emotions prevail.

[Dilgo Khyentse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse.md) · [The Heart of Compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion/as-it-is-said.md)

Topics: [peace of mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> Contemplate death and the sufferings of samsara, and you will not want to waste a single moment in pointless distractions and activities, such as trying to get rich, defeating your enemies, or spending your life protecting and furthering the interests of those to whom you are attached. You will only want to practice the Dharma.

[Dilgo Khyentse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse.md) · [The Heart of Compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion/contemplate-death-and.md)

Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> As time goes on, it will become obvious through your practice of the Dharma that hatred toward anyone is a mistake.
>
> You will have nothing but good thoughts and intentions toward all beings.
>
> So, too, the pointlessness of becoming attached to anyone and anything will also become obvious,
>
> and you will see that all objects of attachment are like things perceived in dreams,
>
> like phantasmagoric illusions.

[Dilgo Khyentse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse.md) · [The Heart of Compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion/as-time-goes.md)

Topics: [hatred](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md), [Attachment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/attachment.md)

> If you continue investigating, you will find that there is nothing anywhere, not even a single atom, that has a verifiable existence.

[Dilgo Khyentse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse.md) · [The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-treasure-of-the-enlightened-ones.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-treasure-of-the-enlightened-ones/if-you-continue.md)

Topics: [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md), [existence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/existence.md)

> When buddhas look at samsara with the eyes of their omniscience, they do not see it as an enjoyable place. They are acutely aware of the sufferings of beings... and they see how senseless are the pointless, temporary goals that beings try so hard to attain.

[Dilgo Khyentse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse.md) · [The Heart of Compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion/when-buddhas-look.md)

Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> In my native land waves of attachment to friends and kin surge,
>
> Hatred for enemies rages like fire,
>
> The darkness of stupidity, not caring what to adopt or avoid, thickens -
>
> To abandon my native land is the practice of a bodhisattva

[Dilgo Khyentse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse.md) · [The Heart of Compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dilgo-khyentse/the-heart-of-compassion/in-my-native.md)

Topics: [hatred](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md), [Attachment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/attachment.md)

> The sinner is not on the way to a Buddha-like state; he is not evolving, although our thinking cannot conceive things otherwise. No, the potential Buddha already exists in the sinner; his future is already there. The potential hidden Buddha must be recognized in him, in you, in everybody. The world, Govinda, is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a long path to perfection. No it is perfect at every moment; every sin already carries grace within it. .... The Buddha exists in the robber and dice player; the robber exists in the Brahmin. During deep meditation it is possible to dispel time, to see simultaneously all the past, present and future, and then everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is Brahman. Therefore it seems to me that everything that exists is good—death as well as life, sin as well as holiness, wisdom as well as folly. Everything is necessary, everything needs only my agreement, my assent, my loving understanding; then all is well with me and nothing can harm me. I learned through my body and soul that it was necessary for me to sin, that I needed lust, that I had to strive for property and experience nausea and the depths of despair in order to learn not resist them, in order to learn to love the world, and no longer compare it with some kind of desired imaginary world, some imaginary vision of perfection, but to leave it as it is, to love it and be glad to belong to it.

[Hermann Hesse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse.md) · [Siddhartha](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha.md) · p. 143 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/the-sinner-is-not.md)

Topics: [sin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sin.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The teaching which you have heard, however, is not my opinion, and its goal is not to explain the world to those who are thirsty for knowledge. Its goal is quite different; its goal is salvation from suffering. That is what Gotama teaches, nothing else.

[Hermann Hesse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse.md) · [Siddhartha](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha.md) · p. 35 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/the-teaching-which.md)

Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The tenth penetration is, "All times penetrate one time. One time penetrates all times — past, present, and future. In one second, you can find the past, present, and future." In the past, you can see the present and the future. In the present, you can find the past and future. In the future, you can find the past and present. They "inter-contain" each other. Space contains time, time contains space. In the teaching of interpenetration, one determines the other, the other determines this one. When we realize our nature of interbeing, we will stop blaming and killing, because we know that we inter-are.

[Thich Nhat Hanh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh.md) · [The Sun My Heart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/the-tenth-penetration.md)

Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> Self, person, living being, and life span are four notions that prevent us from seeing reality.
>
> Life is one. We do not need to slice it into pieces and call this or that piece a "self." What we call a self is made only of non-self elements. When we look at a flower, for example, we may think that it is different from "non-flower" things. But when we look more deeply, we see that everything in the cosmos is in that flower. Without all of the non-flower elements — sunshine, clouds, earth, minerals, heat, rivers, and consciousness — a flower cannot be. That is why the Buddha teaches that the self does not exist. We have to discard all distinctions between self and non-self.

[Thich Nhat Hanh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh.md) · [The Sun My Heart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/self-person-living.md)

Topics: [identity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> If we are a Buddha in the morning and we try to nourish the Buddha throughout the day, we may be able to come home at the end of a day with a smile - the Buddha is still there. When you become agitated, you do not have to do or say anything. Just follow your breathing and walk slowly into that room. The "room" for breathing also symbolizes our own inner Buddha Land, so we can enter it whenever we need to, even if we are not at home.

[Thich Nhat Hanh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh.md) · [Being Peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/being-peace.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/being-peace/if-we-are-a.md)

Topics: [peace of mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism but to study ourselves. You are not your body. You are the Big Activity. You are just expressing the smallest particle of the Big Activity. That is all. But when you become attached to a temporal expression of the Big Activity, it is time to talk about Buddhism.

[Shunryu Suzuki](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki.md) · [Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/the-purpose-of-studying.md)

Topics: [self-knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth and all teaching of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness. Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self.

[Shunryu Suzuki](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki.md) · [Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/the-basic-teaching.md)

Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [identity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> "Revenge is part of the illusion of self. How can a man kill that which neither lives nor dies truly, but which exists only as a reflection of the Absolute?"
>
> "You did a pretty good job of it, though, even if, as you say, it was only a rearrangement."
>
> "Thank you."

[Roger Zelazny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny.md) · [Lord of Light](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/revenge-is-part.md)

Topics: [revenge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/revenge.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The Buddha, looking imperturbable, returned his attention to the drama. A monk seated nearby noticed he was tapping his fingers on the ground, and he decided that the Enlightened One must be keeping time with the drumbeats, for it was common knowledge that he was above such things as impatience.

[Roger Zelazny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny.md) · [Lord of Light](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/the-buddha-looking.md)

Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The Buddhist doctrine of impermanence includes the notion that there is no self... It holds that the idea of a separate, individual self is an illusion, just another form of maya, an intellectual concept that has no reality. To cling to this idea of a separate self leads to the same pain and suffering (duhkha) as the adherence to any other fixed category of thought.

[Fritjof Capra](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fritjof-capra.md) · [The Web of Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fritjof-capra/the-web-of-life.md) · p. 295 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fritjof-capra/the-web-of-life/the-buddhist-doctrine.md)

Topics: [identity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> When I was a little kid in Oregon I didn't feel that I was an American at all, with all that suburban ideal and sex repression and general dreary newspaper gray censorship of all our real human values but and when I discovered Buddhism and all I suddenly felt that I had lived in a previous lifetime innumerable ages ago and now because of faults and sins in that lifetime I was being degraded to a more grievous domain of existence and my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything, especially freedom.

[Jack Kerouac](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac.md) · [The Dharma Bums](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/the-dharma-bums.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/the-dharma-bums/when-i-was.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> If Christianity is wine and Islam coffee, Buddhism is most certainly tea.

[Alan W. Watts](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts.md) · [The Way of Zen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts/the-way-of-zen.md) · p. 190 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts/the-way-of-zen/if-christianity-is-wine.md)

Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> Zen is the "spirit of the valley." The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig.md) · [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/zen-is-the.md)

Topics: [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha—which is to demean oneself.

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig.md) · [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/the-buddha-the.md)

Topics: [technology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> Buddhism calls anger "corruption of the mind," Manicheism "root of the tree of death." I know this, but what good does it do me to know?

[Emil Cioran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran.md) · [The Trouble With Being Born](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/buddhism-calls-anger.md)

Topics: [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md), [anger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)

> We do not rush toward death, we flee the catastrophe of birth, survivors struggling to forget it. Fear of death is merely the projection into the future of a fear which dates back to our first moment of life. We are reluctant, of course, to treat birth as a scourge: has it not been inculcated as the sovereign good — have we not been told that the worst came at the end, not at the outset of our lives? Yet evil, the real evil, is behind, not ahead of us. What escaped Jesus did not escape Buddha: "If three things did not exist in the world, O disciples, the Perfect One would not appear in the world. …" And ahead of old age and death he places the fact of birth, source of every infirmity, every disaster.

[Emil Cioran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran.md) · [The Trouble With Being Born](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/we-do-not.md)

Topics: [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md), [birth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/birth.md), [fear of death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear-of-death.md)

> My faculty for disappointment surpasses understanding. It is what lets me comprehend Buddha, but also what keeps me from following him.

[Emil Cioran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran.md) · [The Trouble With Being Born](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/my-faculty-for.md)

Topics: [disappointment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment.md), [Buddhism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism.md)