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Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (‘the awakened’),[ was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic (Sanskrit: śramaṇa).
After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha thereafter wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. He taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to Nirvana,that is, freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering.
His teachings are summarized in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind that includes ethical training and meditative practices such as sense restraint, kindness toward others, mindfulness, and jhana/dhyana (meditation proper). He died in Kushinagar, attaining parinirvana.
The Buddha has since been venerated by numerous religions and communities across Asia.
Quotes
| I am the miracle. |
| Nothing is permanent. |
| What we think we become. |
| A jug fills drop by drop. |
| Peace is the highest bliss. |
| Attachment leads to suffering. |
| May all beings have happy minds. |
| You only lose what you cling to. |
| He is able who thinks he is able. |
| Doubt everything. Find your light. |
| Born out of concern for all beings. |
| The root of suffering is attachment. |
| Rule your mind, or it will rule you. |
| A disciplined mind brings happiness. |
| True love is born from understanding. |
| Give, even if you only have a little. |
| The root of suffering is an attachment. |
| Pain is certain; Suffering is optional. |
| The trouble is, you think you have time. |
| Happiness never decreases by being shared. |
| Wear your ego like a loose-fitting garment. |
| It is better to travel well than to arrive. |
| Happy indeed we live, we who possess nothing. |
| Live every act fully, as if it were your last. |
| To abstain from lying is essentially wholesome. |
| Radiate boundless love towards the entire world. |
| You must strive. The Buddhas only point the way. |
| Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. |
| The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. |
| Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts! |
| The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground. |
| Meditate… do not delay, lest you later regret it. |
| Work out your salvation. Do not depend on others. |
| Life is so tough. How can we be anything but kind? |
| The mind is everything. What you think you become. |
| Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds. |
| To understand everything is to forgive everything. |
| Let all-embracing thoughts for all beings be yours. |
| The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. |
| Understanding is the heartwood of well-spoken words. |
| Be where you are; otherwise, you will miss your life. |
| There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path. |
| All that we are is the result of what we have thought. |
| Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except yourself. |
| If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart. |
| Avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison. |
| Nothing can harm you as much as your thoughts unguarded. |
| One who acts on truth is happy in this world and beyond. |
| People with opinions just go around bothering each other. |
| You yourself must strive. The Buddhas only point the way. |
| Happiness is not having a lot. Happiness is giving a lot. |
| If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another. |
| People with opinions just go around bothering one another. |
| Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind. |
| Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely. |
| The tongue like a sharp knife… Kills without drawing blood. |
| Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals. |
| Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. |
| Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded. |
| To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others. |
| If you don’t tend to one another, who then will tend to you? |
| Every human being is the author of his own health or disease. |
| Whatever has the nature of arising has the nature of ceasing. |
| Speak or act with an impure mind, and trouble will follow you. |
| If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. |
| There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires. |
| It is like things that joy arises in a person free from remorse. |
| There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it. |
| You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself. |
| Purity or impurity depends on oneself. No one can purify another. |
| If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path. |
| Stop, stop. Do not speak. The ultimate truth is not even to think. |
| Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception. |
| Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace. |
| Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to others. |
| Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. |
| I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done. |
| He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes. |
| Remember to take care of yourself. You can’t pour from an empty cup. |
| If you wish to be gentle with others, be gentle first with yourself. |
| Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your unguarded thoughts. |
| Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace. |
| Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good. |
| Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. |
| Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. |
| If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. |
| Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow, death comes. |
| What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now. |
| It is a man’s mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways. |
| The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. |
| In whom there is no sympathy for living beings: know him as an outcast. |
| Love is a gift of one’s inner most soul to another so both can be whole. |
| Love is a gift of one’s innermost soul to another, so both can be whole. |
| Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is about everything else. |
| Every morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. |
| It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways. |
| Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again. |
| Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion. |
| It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s faults. |
| Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care. |