122 Inspiring Buddhism Quotes

In a world that's constantly moving, finding moments of peace and introspection can feel challenging. Yet, the teachings of Buddhism offer a guiding light, inviting us to pause, reflect, and connect with our inner selves. With a rich tapestry of wisdom woven over thousands of years, Buddhist philosophy reaches across cultures and borders, resonating with seekers of truth and tranquility. In this collection of 122 inspiring Buddhism quotes, you'll uncover timeless insights that encourage mindfulness, compassion, and a deeper understanding of life's journey. Whether you're new to Buddhist practices or an avid follower, these quotes aim to uplift and enlighten, serving as gentle reminders of the beauty and simplicity inherent in every moment.

1. “Where there are humans, You'll find flies,And Buddhas.” - Kobayashi Issa

2. “These... things, householder, are welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world:Long life is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.Beauty is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.Happiness is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.Status is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world....Now, I tell you, these... things are not to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes. If they were to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes, who here would lack them? It's not fitting for the disciple of the noble ones who desires long life to pray for it or to delight in doing so. Instead, the disciple of the noble ones who desires long life should follow the path of practice leading to long life. In so doing, he will attain long life...[Ittha Sutta, AN 5.43]” - Buddha

3. “Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical.When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same.” - Alan Watts

4. “Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.” - Buddha

5. “Many do not realize that we here must die. For those who realize this, quarrels end.” - Anonymous

6. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” - Pema Chodron

7. “There is no miserable place waiting for you, no hell realm, sitting and waiting like Alaska—waiting to turn you into ice cream. But whatever you call it—hell or the suffering realms—it is something that you enter by creating a world of neurotic fantasy and believing it to be real. It sounds simple, but that's exactly what happens.” - Lama Yeshe

8. “No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words.” - Roger Zelazny

9. “Limitations gone:Since my mind fixed on the moon,Clarity and serenityMake something for whichThere's no end in sight.” - Saigyo

10. “Tightly held by rocksThrough winter, the ice todayBegins to come undone:A way-seeker also is the water,Melting, murmuring from the moss.” - Saigyo

11. “the golden eternity is { }” - Jack Kerouac

12. “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

13. “One of the things that kills Buddhist spiritual life is excessive seriousness.” - Gil Fronsdal

14. “Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.” - Mahatma Gandhi

15. “The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

16. “Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.” - Shunryu Suzuki

17. “If you want to take care of tomorrow, take better care of today. We always live now. All we have to do is entrust ourselves to the life we now live.” - Dainin Katagiri

18. “There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.” - Yamamoto Tsunetomo

19. “Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.” - Alan Wilson Watts

20. “The Buddha's original teaching is essentially a matter of four points -- the Four Noble Truths:1. Anguish is everywhere.2. We desire permanent existence of ourselves and for our loved ones, and we desire to prove ourselves independent of others and superior to them. These desires conflict with the way things are: nothing abides, and everything and everyone depends upon everything and everyone else. This conflict causes our anguish, and we project this anguish on those we meet.3. Release from anguish comes with the personal acknowledgment and resolve: we are here together very briefly, so let us accept reality fully and take care of one another while we can.4. This acknowledgement and resolve are realized by following the Eightfold Path: Right Views, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Recollection, and Right Meditation. Here "Right" means "correct" or "accurate" -- in keeping with the reality of impermanence and interdependence.” - Robert Aitken

21. “It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

22. “We who are like senseless children shrink from suffering, but love its causes. We hurt ourselves; our pain is self-inflicted! Why should others be the object of our anger?” - Shantideva

23. “We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.” - Hermann Hesse

24. “Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.” - Siddhārtha Gautama

25. “People who are diagnosed as having "generalized anxiety disorder" are afflicted by three major problems that many of us experience to a lesser extent from time to time. First and foremost, says Rapgay, the natural human inclination to focus on threats and bad news is strongly amplified in them, so that even significant positive events get suppressed. An inflexible mentality and tendency toward excessive verbalizing make therapeutic intervention a further challenge.” - Winifred Gallagher

26. “When you dig a well, there's no sign of water until you reach it, only rocks and dirt to move out of the way. You have removed enough; soon the pure water will flow," said Buddha.” - Deepak Chopra

27. “Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.” - Bodhidharma

28. “True change is within; leave the outside as it is.” - Dalai Lama XIV

29. “Salute to the Smiling Faces of the 21st Century.” - Daisaku Ikeda

30. “Rise to the challenges that life presents you. You can't develop genuine character and ability by sidestepping adversity and struggle.” - Daisaku Ikeda

31. “Reality is harsh. It can be cruel and ugly. Yet no matter how much we grieve over our environment and circumstances nothing will change. What is important is not to be defeated, to forge ahead bravely. If we do this, a path will open before us.” - Daisaku Ikeda

32. “Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself.” - Daisaku Ikeda

33. “The institutions of human society treat us as parts of a machine. They assign us ranks and place considerable pressure upon us to fulfill defined roles. We need something to help us restore our lost and distorted humanity. Each of us has feelings that have been suppressed and have built up inside. There is a voiceless cry resting in the depths of our souls, waiting for expression. Art gives the soul's feelings voice and form.” - Daisaku Ikeda

34. “it is impossible to build one's own happiness on the unhappiness of others. This perspective is at the heart of Buddhist teachings.” - Daisaku Ikeda

35. “Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.” - Mahatma Gandhi

36. “Like a lamp, dispelling the darkness of ignorance” - Dalai Lama XIV

37. “There's a limit to my patience with anything that smacks of metaphysics. I squirm at the mention of "mind expansion" or "warm healing energy." I don't like drum circles, public nudity or strangers touching my feet.” - Koren Zailckas

38. “The use of market values and technology as a social barometer has devalued the worth of individuals, rendered irrelevant the quality of their lives, and stunted their creativity.” - Sulak Sivaraksa

39. “The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.” - Albert Einstein

40. “We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That’s a fact but one we fight.” - Sharon Salzberg

41. “Courage is often associated with aggression, but instead should be seen as a willingness to act from the heart.” - Donna Quesada

42. “Many Buddhist temple priests regard their parishioners as possessions and fear their departure as a diminishing of assets.” - Kentetsu Takamori

43. “The teaching of the sexual tantras all come down to one point. Although desire, of whatever shape or form, seeks completion, there is another kind of union than the one we imagine. In this union, achieved when the egocentric model of dualistic thinking is no longer dominant, we are not united with it, nor am I united with you, but we all just are. The movement from object to subject, as described in both Eastern meditation and modern psychotherapy, is training for this union, but its perception usually comes as a surprise, even when this shift is well under way. It is a kind of grace. The emphasis on sexual relations in the tantric teachings make it clear that the ecstatic surprise of orgasm is the best approximation of this grace.” - Mark Epstein

44. “It is only when we begin to relax with ourselves that meditation becomes a transformative process. Only when we relate with ourselves without moralizing, without harshness, without deception, can we let go of harmful patterns. Without maitri (metta), renunciation of old habits becomes abusive. This is an important point.” - Pema Chodron

45. “If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart...” - Pema Chodron

46. “Too lazy to be ambitious,I let the world take care of itself.Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?Listening to the night rain on my roof,I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.” - Ryokan

47. “There is no illness that is not exacerbated by stress.” - Allan Lokos

48. “One who is patient glows with an inner radiance.” - Allan Lokos

49. “Technology offers us a unique opportunity, though rarely welcome, to practice patience.” - Allan Lokos

50. “Patience requires a slowing down, a spaciousness, a sense of ease.” - Allan Lokos

51. “It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn't depend on how long you've held on to the old view. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn't matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn't see before.Its never too late to take a moment to look.” - Sharon Salzberg

52. “You cannot control the results, only your actions.” - Allan Lokos

53. “Health, wealth, reputation, and status are all mere ingredients of happiness. The key to true well-being is being able to manage them capably.” - Kentetsu Takamori

54. “My experience with forgiveness is that it sort of comes spontaneously at a certain point and to try to force it it's not really forgiveness. It's Buddhist philosophy or something spiritual jargon that you're trying to live up to but you're just using it against yourself as a reason why you're not okay.” - Pema Chodron

55. “Effort is the unconstrained willingness to persevere through difficulty.” - Sharon Salzberg

56. “To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.” - Sharon Salzberg

57. “In Buddhism there is one word for mind & heart: chitta. Chitta refers not just to thoughts and emotions in the narrow sense of arising from the brain, but also to the whole range of consciousness, vast & unimpeded.” - Sharon Salzberg

58. “TreeIt is foolishto let a young redwoodgrow next to a house.Even in this one lifetime,you will have to choose.That great calm being,this clutter of soup pots and books--Already the first branch-tips brush at the window.Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.” - Jane Hirshfield

59. “The art of peaceful living comes down to living compassionately & wisely.” - Allan Lokos

60. “Patience is a natural consequence of the cultivation of compassion & love, for ourselves and all beings.” - Allan Lokos

61. “One of the best ways to support the development of patience is to cultivate happiness with yourself.” - Allan Lokos

62. “Without the ability to be present we are missing much of what the adventure has to offer.” - Allan Lokos

63. “Inner Peace can be seen as the ultimate benefit of practicing patience.” - Allan Lokos

64. “All beings want to be happy, yet so very few know how. It is out of ignorance that any of us cause suffering, for ourselves or for others” - Sharon Salzberg

65. “Metta is the ability to embrace all parts of ourselves, as well as all parts of the world. Practicing metta illuminates our inner integrity because it relieves us of the need to deny different aspects of ourselves. We can open to everything with the healing force of love. When we feel love, our mind is expansive and open enough to include the entirety of life in full awareness, both its pleasures and its pains, we feel neither betrayed by pain or overcome by it, and thus we can contact that which is undamaged within us regardless of the situation. Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be.” - Sharon Salzberg

66. “We cannot force the development of mindfulness.” - Allan Lokos

67. “We find greater lightness & ease in our lives as we increasingly care for ourselves & other beings.” - Sharon Salzberg

68. “Our greatest happiness comes from the experience of love & compassion.” - Allan Lokos

69. “When we are aware of our weaknesses or negative tendencies, we open the opportunity to work on them.” - Allan Lokos

70. “Once someone appears to us primarily as an object, kindness has no place to root.” - Sharon Salzberg

71. “According to the Buddha's teaching the beginning of the life-stream of living beings is unthinkable. THe believer in the creation of life by God may be astonished at this reply. But if you were to ask him 'What is the beginning of God?' he would answer without hesitation 'God has no beginning', and he is not astonished at his own reply.” - Walpola Rahula

72. “I was only beginning to enter into the infinite subtlety of Gregorian chant. It was - and remains - the only public prayer I have ever been able to engage in without feeling like a phony and a jackass. But then, one day in 1965 or so, it was simply abolished. With a stroke of his pen, Pope John XXIII - who had such good ideas about other things - declared that liturgy would henceforth be in the vernacular language of the people. That was, effectively, the end of Latin chant.Then all those monks and nuns who had devoted hours and hours a day began to sicken and fall into depressions, but nobody noticed for a long time. Maybe, as I can well believe, the music toned up their systems in some mysterious way. Or perhaps chant really was a language that God understood. Faced with numerous liturgical scholas shrieking away in the new vernacular hymns, Divinity may have covered its ears and withdrawn, leaving the monks to pine. We parish musicians, illiterate in anything written after the 13th century, stumbled around trying to score liturgies for guitar and bongo drums, trying to make sense of texts like "Eat his body! Drink his blood!"It wasn't because the music got so bad that I quit going to Mass, but it certainly was the beginning of my doubts about papal infallibility.” - Mary Rose O'Reilley

73. “Why are you unhappy?Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn’t one.” - Wei Wu Wei

74. “Greed kills us all.” - Kentetsu Takamori

75. “Meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware— not only of our own inner workings but also of what’s happening around us in the here & now.” - Sharon Salzberg

76. “Consider this:1. Would you ride in a car whose driver was on the consciousness-expanding "entheogenic" drug LSD?And here's a bonus question:2. Why does an "expanded consciousness" include the inability to operate a motor vehicle?” - Brad Warner

77. “If you’re reading these words, perhaps it’s because something has kicked open the door for you, and you’re ready to embrace change. It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you. We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.” - Sharon Salzberg

78. “How wonderful it would be if people did all they could for one other without seeking anything in return! One should never remember a kindness done, and never forget a kindness received.” - Kentetsu Takamori

79. “The practice of lovingkindness can uplift us & relieve sorrow & unhappiness.” - Allan Lokos

80. “The more we genuinely care about others the greater our own happiness & inner peace.” - Allan Lokos

81. “Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.” - Sharon Salzberg

82. “That's why it's called a practice. We have to practice a practice if it is to be of value.” - Allan Lokos

83. “We all have issues & we have usually come by them honestly.” - Allan Lokos

84. “Instead of engaging in cutthroat competition, we should strive to create value. In economic terms, this means a transition from a consumer economy - the mad rush for ownership and consumption - to a constructive economy where all human beings can participate in the act of creating lasting worth.” - Daisaku Ikeda

85. “Before I had studied Chan for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once again as rivers.” - Qingyuan Weixin

86. “Let the breath lead the way.” - Sharon Salzberg

87. “The Three Kinds of Pride are: (1) thinking I am better than the other(s); (2) thinking I am worse than the other(s); and (3) thinking I am just as good as the other(s).” - Thich Nhat Hanh

88. “Birth is okay and death is okay, if we know that they are only concepts in our mind. Reality transcends both birth and death.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

89. “Although contemplating the nature of the body highlights its less attractive features, the purpose of the exercise is not to demonize the body. While it is certainly true that at times the discourses describe the human body in rather negative terms, some of these instances occur in a particular context in which the point being made is that the speakers in question have overcome all attachment to their body. In contrast, the Kāyagatāsati Sutta takes the physical bliss of absorption attainment as an object for body contemplation. This passage clearly demonstrates that contemplation of the body is not necessarily linked to repugnance and loathing.The purpose of contemplating the nature of the body is to bring its unattractive aspects to the forefront of one's attention, thereby placing the attractive aspects previously emphasized in a more balanced context. The aim is a balanced and detached attitude towards the body. With such a balanced attitude, one sees the body merely as a product of conditions, a product with which one need not identify.” - Anālayo

90. “It is better to know oneself than know to others. So not find fault others see first in yourself. When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappears.” - Suman Jyoty Bhante

91. “From the Buddhist perspective, the only lasting way to bring about change is for people themselves to change.” - Pat Allwright

92. “Tune as the sitthar, neither high nor low, and we will dance away the hearts of men.” - The Buddha

93. “The teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not proclaim them to be infallible. The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to have...Now what is the basis of Buddhism? If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason. There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.” - Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

94. “The application of this knife, the division of the world into parts and the building of this structure, is something everybody does. All the time we are aware of millions of things around us - these changing shapes, these burning hills, the sound of the engine, the feel of the throttle, each rock and weed and fence post and piece of debris beside the road - aware of these things but not really conscious of them unless there is something unusual or unless they reflect something we are predisposed to see. We could not possibly be conscious of these things and remember all of them because our mind would be so full of useless details we would be unable to think. From all this awareness we must select, and what we select and calls consciousness is never the same as the awareness because the process of selection mutates it. We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the world.” - Pirsig, Robert M.

95. “Buddha wrote a code which he said would be useful to guide men in darkness, but he never claimed to be the Light of the world. Buddhism was born with a disgust for the world, when a prince's son deserted his wife and child, turning from the pleasures of existence to the problems of existence. Burnt by the fires of the world, and already weary with it, Buddha turned to ethics.” - Fulton J. Sheen

96. “A close examination of the instructions in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta reveals that the meditator is never instructed to interfere actively with what happens in the mind. If a mental hindrance arises, for example, the task of satipaṭṭhāna contemplation is to know that the hindrance is present, to know what has led to its arising, and to know what will lead to its disappearance. A more active intervention is no longer the domain of satipaṭṭhāna, but belongs rather to the province of right effort (sammā vāyāma).The need to distinguish clearly between a first stage of observation and a second stage of taking action is, according to the Buddha, an essential feature of his way of teaching. The simple reason for this approach is that only the preliminary step of calmly assessing a situation without immediately reacting enables one to undertake the appropriate action.” - Anālayo

97. “When angry, count to Zen.” - Leonard Scheff

98. “Buddha is our inherent nature—our buddha nature—and what that means is that if you’re going to grow up fully, the way that it happens is that you begin to connect with the intelligence that you already have. It’s not like some intelligence that’s going to be transplanted into you. If you’re going to be fully mature, you will no longer be imprisoned in the childhood feeling that you always need to protect yourself or shield yourself because things are too harsh. If you’re going to be a grown-up—which I would define as being completely at home in your world no matter how difficult the situation—it’s because you will allow something that’s already in you to be nurtured. You allow it to grow, you allow it to come out, instead of all the time shielding it and protecting it and keeping it buried. Someone once told me, “When you feel afraid, that’s ‘fearful buddha.’” That could be applied to whatever you feel. Maybe anger is your thing. You just go out of control and you see red, and the next thing you know you’re yelling or throwing something or hitting someone. At that time, begin to accept the fact that that’s “enraged buddha.” If you feel jealous, that’s “jealous buddha.” If you have indigestion, that’s “buddha with heartburn.” If you’re happy, “happy buddha”; if bored, “bored buddha.” In other words, anything that you can experience or think is worthy of compassion; anything you could think or feel is worthy of appreciation.” - Pema Chodron

99. “Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, fame and disripute, these are just the worldly winds of existence.” - T. Scott McLeod

100. “Two ideas are psychologically deep-rooted in man: self-protection and self-preservation. For self-protection man has created God, on whom he depends for his own protection, safety and security, just as a child depends on its parent. For self-preservation man has conceived the idea of an immortal Soul or Atman, which will live eternally. In his ignorance, weakness, fear, and desire, man needs these two things to console himself. Hence he clings to them deeply and fanatically.” - Walpola Rahula

101. “The present moment is the substance with which the future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment. What else can you do?” - Thich Nhat Hanh

102. “Love has no meaning without understanding” - Thich Nhat Hanh

103. “Another aspect inviting contemplation is the fact that the affective tone of any feeling depends on the type of contact that has caused its arising. Once this conditioned nature of feelings is fully apprehended, detachment arises naturally and one's identification with feelings starts to dissolve.” - Anālayo

104. “You necessarily have to be lost, before you’re found.” - T. Scott McLeod

105. “I don’t know where I’m going on this path. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. You had to be lost, before you could be found. These are the truths. You had to be confused, before you could find clarity; you had to suffer, before you could find peace. These were the only ways, life could happen. Of course you were confused before you found clarity. If you weren't confused, then you would already be clear. Of course you were lost before you were found. If you were already found, then you wouldn't be lost. Of course there would be suffering before peace. If there was already peace, then there wouldn't be suffering. One necessarily came before the other.” - T. Scott McLeod

106. “It is the rub that polishes the jewel,” Enso Roshi says. “Nobody ever gets to nirvana without going through samsara. Nobody ever gets to heaven, without going through hell. The center of all things, the truth, is surrounded by demons.” - T. Scott McLeod

107. “Can you allow yourself to be impaled on the present moment?” - T. Scott McLeod

108. “Life gives you exactly what you need to awaken.” - T. Scott McLeod

109. “Cause and effect, in the Buddhist sense, though. Any action you undertake creates a seed that will sprout when the conditions are right, creating a good or bad result.""Do you believe in it?"He doesn’t allow even a pause. “Very much so.” - Jacquie Underdown

110. “Only those few who are able to surpass their fear of death completely can fully experience the highest forms of life; not the mundane life of the mortal, but the godly life of the resurrected.” - Zeena Schreck

111. “It is the nature of the Kali Yuga that most human beings are now held back from spiritual liberation due to the gravity of inertia, apathy and laziness, (known in Sankrit as the quality of tapas) that overwhelms this age. Despite this seemingly gloomy prognosis, there is a way out of this predicament for those with the will and stamina to awaken from the rampant lethargy, within and outside of themselves, to take action.” - Zeena Schreck

112. “Rather than allowing our response to an even affect our breathing, we can learn instead to let our breathing change our relationship to the event.” - Cyndi Lee

113. “And the Buddha pointed out that his confusion was justified, for 'the dharma is profound, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful, excellent, beyond the sphere of logic, subtle, and to be understood by the wise'. The reason for this is that it is not readily comprehended by one who holds a different view and has different learnings and inclinations, different involvements and instruction. It is clear from this statement that the conception of nibbāna in beyond logical reasoning, not because it is an Ultimate Reality transcending logic, but because logic or reason, being the 'slave of passions', makes it difficult for one who has a passion for an alien tradition to understand the conception of nibbāna.” - David J. Kalupahana

114. “The path to enlightenment is really very simple - all we need to do is stop cherishing ourself and learn to cherish others. All other spiritual realisations will naturally follow from this.” - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

115. “We find what's in our own heads.” - T. Scott McLeod

116. “When I was young, I lacked certainty, too,” he says. “I have the certainty, now, of not needing certainty. I have the certainty, of uncertainty. The peace, with being uncertain. All is good. All is holy. Whatever you choose, it can be fine. Hatred never ceases with hatred, but with love alone is healed. Rejection never ceases with rejection, but with acceptance alone is healed.” - T. Scott McLeod

117. “According to the Buddha, the failure to recognize the illusion of the self is the source of all ignorance and unhappiness. It is only by renouncing the self, that is, by dropping his ego defences and committing metaphorical suicide, that a person can open up to different modes of being and relating and thereby transform himself into a pure essence of humanity. In so doing, he becomes free to recast himself as a much more joyful and productive person, and attains the only species of transcendence and immortality that is open to man.” - Neel Burton

118. “In meditation we discover our inherent restlessness. Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we sit there but our bodies wiggle and squirm and our minds go far away. This can be so uncomfortable that we feel’s it’s impossible to stay. Yet this feeling can teach us not just about ourselves but what it is to be human…we really don’t want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. It goes against the grain to stay present. These are the times when only gentleness and a sense of humor can give us the strength to settle down…so whenever we wander off, we gently encourage ourselves to “stay” and settle down. Are we experiencing restlessness? Stay! Are fear and loathing out of control? Stay! Aching knees and throbbing back? Stay! What’s for lunch? Stay! I can’t stand this another minute! Stay!” - Pema Chodron

119. “The Buddha’s principal message that day was that holding on to anything blocks wisdom. Any conclusion that we draw must be let go. The only way to fully understand the bodhichitta teachings, the only way to practice them fully, is to abide in the unconditional openness of the prajna, patiently cutting through all our tendencies to hang on.” - Pema Chodron

120. “No doubt, humans will do a lot of damage before we ultimately destroy ourselves. But life will continue without humans. New forms of intelligence will emerge long after this human experiment is over.” - Zeena Schreck

121. “When I missed the physical body of my partner, I meditated on its parts, tossed by the waves, torn, dispersed, and deteriorated. When memories of our lives together became acute and intense, I breathed. I breathed through each wave of yearning, of regret, of guilt, of what-could-have-been. Every time I asked him, “Where are you?” A quiet voice immediately responded, “I am here. I have never left you.” I did not only lose a partner. I lost my childhood all over again. I lost my soul mate. I lost the accepting father and the gentle mother that he was to me. I lost the dream of a “normal life,” which I had tried so hard to achieve. Now I had to face my own mind.” - Dang Nghiem

122. “I loved the quiet places in Kyoto, the places that held the world within a windless moment. Inside the temples, Nature held her breath. All longing was put to sleep in the stillness, and all was distilled into a clean simplicity.The smell of woodsmoke, the drift of incense; a procession of monks in black-and-gold robes, one of them giggling in a voice yet unbroken; a touch of autumn in the air, a sense of gathering rain.” - Pico Iyer