--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: After Buddha was dead, his shadow was…" description: "\"After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave.\" — Friedrich Nietzsche" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg" --- # After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for… ![“After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave.” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg) > “After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave.” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even after his death, Buddha’s influence persisted in hidden places. **In simple terms:** Buddha’s legacy endures. Key Takeaway Recognize lasting impact of ideas. Themes legacy spirituality history Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical historical When to use this quote - academic study - spiritual practice - cultural preservation Key Concepts philosophy cultural transmission Questions to Reflect On - Why do some teachings survive centuries? - How do we honor past wisdom? A Different Perspective Historical accuracy debated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/buddha/) [Cave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cave/) [Caves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caves/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) ## Related quotes > [“New struggles. -- After Buddha was dead, they still showed his shadow in a cave for centuries -- a colossal, horrible shadow. God is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/new-struggles-after-buddha-was-dead-they-still-showed-his-shadow-in-a/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-very-cave-you-are-afraid-to-enter-turns-out-to-be-the-source-of/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [You can go into caves, and they can maintain constant conditions of temperature and humidity over long periods of time, even though the outside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hendrik-poinar/you-can-go-into-caves-and-they-can-maintain-constant-conditions-of/) [Hendrik Poinar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hendrik-poinar/) > [There is this cave In the air behind my body That nobody is going to touch: A cloister, a silence Closing around a blossom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wright/there-is-this-cave-in-the-air-behind-my-body-that-nobody-is-going-to/) [James Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wright/) > [One just principle from the depths of a cave is more powerful than an army.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-marti/one-just-principle-from-the-depths-of-a-cave-is-more-powerful-than-an/) [Jose Marti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-marti/) > [Consider the situation. There you are, forehead like a set of balconies, worrying about the long-term effects of all this new 'fire' stuff on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/consider-the-situation-there-you-are-forehead-like-a-set-of-balconies/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Born on a mountain, raised in a cave. Arresting fugitives is all I crave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duane-chapman/born-on-a-mountain-raised-in-a-cave-arresting-fugitives-is-all-i-crave/) [Duane Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duane-chapman/) > [I am really indoors-y. I am a video game and movie buff, and this keeps me in my little boy cave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-gilman/i-am-really-indoors-y-i-am-a-video-game-and-movie-buff-and-this-keeps/) [Jared Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-gilman/) > [You're after something - not a story, but a certain, exquisitely intense encounter with beauty - and the only way to find it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-finnegan/you-re-after-something-not-a-story-but-a-certain-exquisitely-intense/) [William Finnegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-finnegan/) > [I would get a lot of writing done if I lived in isolation in a cave under a swamp.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-cameron/i-would-get-a-lot-of-writing-done-if-i-lived-in-isolation-in-a-cave/) [Claire Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-cameron/) > [I don't ever want t' leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-don-t-ever-want-t-leave-this-cave-jon-snow-not-ever/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm Andrea Thompson, and unless you've been living in a cave, you probably already know that](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-thompson/i-m-andrea-thompson-and-unless-you-ve-been-living-in-a-cave-you/) [Andrea Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-thompson/) > [You know,” he said, “I wish you could see this cave.” “What’s it like?” He paused. “It’s...beautiful, really.” “Tell me.” And so Po described…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-cashore/you-know-he-said-i-wish-you-could-see-this-cave-what-s-it-like-he/) [Kristin Cashore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-cashore/) > [(At the back of the cave, Phoebe placed her hand against one of the stones where a spring release opened an elevator door. Chris…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/at-the-back-of-the-cave-phoebe-placed-her-hand-against-one-of-the/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [A man in a cave or in a camp, a nomad, will die with no more estate than the wolf or the horse leaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-in-a-cave-or-in-a-camp-a-nomad-will-die-with-no-more-estate/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/79-a-soul-which-knows-that-it-is-loved-but-does-not-itself-love/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“The great periods of our life occur when we gain the courage to rechristen what is bad about us as what is best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-great-periods-of-our-life-occur-when-we-gain-the-courage-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What is life? Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Buddha quotes > [Of course the Dharma-body of the Buddha was the hedge at the bottom of the garden. At the same time, and no less obviously,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/of-course-the-dharma-body-of-the-buddha-was-the-hedge-at-the-bottom/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [The birds fly in the sky but they don't leave any footmarks. That's what Buddha says, that the man who is awakened lives in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-birds-fly-in-the-sky-but-they-don-t-leave-any-footmarks-that-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The Buddha gave his first talks, and three or four ascetics became his first disciples. They recognized his enlightenment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/the-buddha-gave-his-first-talks-and-three-or-four-ascetics-became-his/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [I went on a Buddha jag. I read 'Confession of a Buddhist Atheist' by Stephen Batchelor and Karen Armstrong's biography of Buddha, which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-o-hare/i-went-on-a-buddha-jag-i-read-confession-of-a-buddhist-atheist-by/) [Denis O'Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-o-hare/) > [The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-buddha-the-godhead-resides-quite-as-comfortably-in-the-circuits/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [Why don't the names of Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius offend people? The reason is that these others didn't claim to be God, but Jesus did.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-mcdowell/why-don-t-the-names-of-buddha-mohammed-confucius-offend-people-the/) [Josh McDowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-mcdowell/) > [When people suffer, their relationships usually suffer as well. Period. And we all suffer because, as the Buddha says, that's the nature of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/when-people-suffer-their-relationships-usually-suffer-as-well-period/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [The real power of the Buddha was that he had so much love. He saw people trapped in their notions of small separate self,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nhat-hanh/the-real-power-of-the-buddha-was-that-he-had-so-much-love-he-saw/) [Nhat Hanh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nhat-hanh/) > [“Then Maitreya Bodhisattva thought: “Now the World-Honored One has displayed a marvelous sign. But what is the cause or reason for this auspicious sign?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-reeves/then-maitreya-bodhisattva-thought-now-the-world-honored-one-has/) Gene Reeves > [It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nhat-hanh/it-is-possible-that-the-next-buddha-will-not-take-the-form-of-an/) [Nhat Hanh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nhat-hanh/) > [“The foundational Vajrakilaya is the sun shining in the sky behind the clouds. The path Vajrakilaya is the removal of the clouds from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gyatrul-rinpoche/the-foundational-vajrakilaya-is-the-sun-shining-in-the-sky-behind-the/) Gyatrul Rinpoche > [Inside we are all Golden Buddha's, but we grew to believe we were made of clay. Our ego's false perceptions led us to grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-bernstein/inside-we-are-all-golden-buddha-s-but-we-grew-to-believe-we-were-made/) [Gabrielle Bernstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-bernstein/) > [The mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bodhidharma/the-mind-is-the-buddha-and-the-buddha-is-the-mind/) [Bodhidharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bodhidharma/) > [“In the eyes of Buddha, there are no evil people, only people who don't yet have light in their hearts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lijia-zhang/in-the-eyes-of-buddha-there-are-no-evil-people-only-people-who-don-t/) Lijia Zhang > [I hold that all the Teachers of the world have attained that Life which is the fulfilment of life. Hence, whenever anyone enters that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/i-hold-that-all-the-teachers-of-the-world-have-attained-that-life/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) [Browse all 411 Buddha quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/buddha/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-still-shown-for-centuries-in-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Buddha" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-still-shown-for-centuries-in-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/friedrich-nietzsche-15_buddha_after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-sti_2816732.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave.” — Friedrich Nietzsche", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "After Buddha was dead, his shadow...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-still-shown-for-centuries-in-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/after-buddha-was-dead-his-shadow-was-still-shown-for-centuries-in-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```