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Enlightenment Quotes by Gautama Buddha

48 Enlightenment quotes by Gautama Buddha

All Enlightenment quotes Gautama Buddha’s page

Buddha refuses titles like Messiah, healer, or teacher, showing he values direct experience over labels. He teaches compassion, non‑violence, and the need to test ideas with observation. He describes nirvana as a present, unattached state that can be realized now, without waiting for anything else.

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Concentrate the mind on the present moment.

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What you think you become.

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Look within, thou art the Buddha.

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You are all the Buddha.

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After enlightenment, the laundry.

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There are two obstacles to enlightenment: 1. Thinking you know. 2 Thinking you don't know.

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Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.

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Buddha is in our hearts. Buddha is in our mouths. Buddha is in our daily lives.

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Dharma is not upheld by talking about it. Dharma is upheld by living in harmony with it...

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All that we are is the result of what we have thought; what we think we become.

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You are all Buddhas. There is nothing you need to achieve. Just open your eyes.

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You yourself must strive. The Buddhas only point the way.

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It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.

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Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.

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For fear of causing terror to living beings, Mahamati, let the Bodhisattva who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating…

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You yourself must make an effort. Buddhas are only show the way. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the…

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To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.

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For innumerable reasons, Mahamati, the Bodhisattva, whose nature is compassion, is not to eat any meat.

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Remember, the greatest gift to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest.

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Neither my life of luxury in the palace -nor- my life as ascetic in the forest were ways to enlightenment.

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If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

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If for just the time of a finger-snap a monk produces a thought of loving-kindness, develops it, gives attention to it, such…

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Nirvana is this moment seen directly. There is no where else than here. The only gate is now. The only doorway is…

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Because not even the least Dharma is there found or got at. Therefore is it called 'utmost, right and perfect enlightenment'. Self-identical…

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The Tathagatha... is the originator of the path unarisen before, the producer of the path unproduced before, the declarer of the path…

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They are not following dharma who resort to violence to achieve their purpose. But those who lead others through nonviolent means, knowing…

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I have the True Dharma Eye, the Marvelous Mind of Nirvana, the True Form of the Formless, and the Subtle Dharma Gate,…

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“Among all the sutras I have expounded, Lotus Sutra is the first and foremost! If you are able to uphold the Lotus…

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“Among all shravakas and pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas are the foremost. So is the Lotus Sutra; among all sutras, it is the foremost! Just…

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“So too, friend, purification of virtue is for the sake of reaching purification of mind; purification of mind is for the sake…

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The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, for one great cause alone appear in the world. The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the…

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“Here bhikkhus, some misguided men learn the Dhamma–discourses, stanzas, expositions, verses, exclamations, sayings, birth stories, marvels, and answers to questions–but having learned…

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There have been many Buddhas before me and will be many Buddhas in the future.

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The Buddhas do but tell the way; it is for you to swelter at the task.

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Suffering is temporary, enlightenment is forever.

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All living beings have Buddha nature and can become Buddhas.

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You must take action yourself, for Buddhas only teach the way.

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We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or…

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I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment.

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Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees…

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More by Gautama Buddha

Before you've seen it, and when you first see it, it is the greatest thing; afterwards, it is ordinary.

One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the Messiah?" "No," answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No," Buddha replied. "Then are you…

Give thanks for what had been given to you, However little. Be pure, never falter.

For fear of causing terror to living beings, Mahamati, let the Bodhisattva who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating flesh.

Be lamps unto yourselves. Be refuges unto yourselves. Take yourself no external refuge. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Hold fast to…

Speak only the speech that neither torments self nor does harm to others. That speech is truly well spoken.

Pain is the outcome of sin.

It is because I perceive the danger in the practice of mystic wonders, that I loath, abhor, and am ashamed thereof.

So too, monks, I saw the ancient path, the ancient road traveled by the Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past. And what is that…

If one is the master of oneself, one is the resort one can depend on; therefore, one should control oneself of all.

Watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love born out of concern for all beings.

One is not low because of birth nor does birth make one holy. Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one holy.

He who causes suffering shall suffer. There is no escape.

If a person does not harm any living being...and does not kill or cause others to kill - that person is a true spiritual…

The fool says, "These are my sons, this is my land, this is my money." In reality, the fool does not own himself, much…