Category Quotations

Bodhidharma says: “Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either.”

Bodhidharma says: “Buddha is Sanskrit for what you call aware, miraculously aware. Responding, arching your brows blinking your eyes, moving your hands and feet, its all your miraculously aware nature. And this nature is the mind. And the mind is…

Bodhidharma says: “As mortals, we are ruled by conditions, not by ourselves. All the suffering and joy we experience depend on conditions. If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it’s the fruit of…

Bodhidharma says: “As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you’ll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.”

Bodhidharma says: “A special transmission outside the scriptures, Not founded upon words and letters; By pointing directly to mind it lets one see into [one’s own true] nature and attain Buddhahood.”

Bodhidharma says: “A buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad. Such is his power that karma can’t hold him. No matter what kind of karma, a buddha transforms it. Heaven and hell are nothing to him.…

Bodhidharma says: “A buddha is an idle person. He doesn’t run around after fortune and fame.”

Bodhidharma says: “. . . this mind, through endless kalpas without beginning, has never varied. It has never lived or died, appeared or disappeared, increased or decreased. It’s not pure or impure, good or evil, past or future. It’s not…

Bodhidharma says: “. . . the only reason I’ve come to China is to transmit the instantaneous teaching of the Mahayana. This mind is the Buddha. I don’t talk about precepts, devotions or ascetic practices such immersing yourself in water…

Bodhidharma says: “. . . the fools of this world prefer to look for sages far away. They don’t believe that the wisdom of their own mind is the sage . . . the sutras say, “Mind is the teaching.”…