Category Quotations

Bodhidharma says: “This one life has no form and is empty by nature. If you become attached by any form, you should reject it. If you see an ego, a soul, a birth,

Bodhidharma says: “There’s no language that, isn’t the Dharma. To talk all day without saying anything is the Way. To be silent all day and still say something isn’t the Way. Hence neither does a Tathagata speech depend on silence,…

Bodhidharma says: “There’s no advantage in deceiving yourself. Even if you have mountains of jewels and as many servants as there are grains of sand along the Ganges, you see them when your eyes are open. But what about when…

Bodhidharma says: “The Way is wordless. Words are illusions. They’re no different from things that appear in your dreams at night, be they palaces or carriages, forested parks or lakeside lions. Don’t conceive any delight for such things. They’re all…

Bodhidharma says: “The sutras say, “Not to let go of wisdom is stupidity.” When the mind doesn’t exist, understanding and not understanding are both true. When the mind exists, understanding and not understanding are both false.”

Bodhidharma says: “The sutras say, “No vehicle is the vehicle of Buddhas.” Whoever realizes that the six senses aren’t real, that the five aggregates are fictions, that no such things can be located anywhere in the body, understands the language…

Bodhidharma says: “The stupa is your body and mind. When your awareness circles your body and mind without stopping, this is called walking around a stupa. The sages of long ago followed this path to nirvana. But people today don’t…

Bodhidharma says: “The Nirvana Sutra says, “All mortals have the buddha-nature. But it’s covered by darkness from which they can’t escape. Our buddha-nature is awareness: to be aware and to make others aware. To realize awareness is liberation,” Everything good…

Bodhidharma says: “The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. It’s like the root of a tree. All a tree’s fruit and flowers, branches and leaves depend on…

Bodhidharma says: “The karma of the three realms comes from the mind alone. If your mind isn’t within the three realms, it’s beyond them. The three realms correspond to the three poisons: greed corresponds to the realm of desire, anger…