Our nature is the mind. And the mind is our nature.
BODHIDHARMAStill others commit all sorts of evil deeds, claiming karma doesn’t exist. They erroneously maintain that since everything is empty, committing evil isn’t wrong. Such persons fall into a hell of endless darkness with no hope of release. Those who are wise hold no such conception.
More Bodhidharma Quotes
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The Buddha is your real body, your original mind.
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Unless you see your nature, all this talk about cause & effect is nonsense. Buddhas don’t practice nonsense.
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The true Way is sublime. It can’t be expressed in language. Of what use are scriptures? But someone who sees his own nature finds the Way, even if he can’t read a word.
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The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure.
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Our true buddha-nature has no shape. And the dust of affliction has no form.
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Leaving behind the false, return to the true: make no discriminations between self and others. In contemplation, one’s mind should be stable and unmoving, like a wall.
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You can’t know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself.
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Buddhas don’t practice nonsense.
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If you use your mind to study reality, you won’t understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both.
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When you don’t understand, you depend on reality. When you do understand, reality depends on you.
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And the Buddha is the person who’s free: free of plans, free of cares.
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The Way is basically perfect. It doesn’t require perfecting. The Way has no form or sound. It’s subtle and hard to perceive. It’s like when you drink water: you know how hot or cold it is, but you can’t tell others.
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Regardless of what we do, our karma has no hold on us.
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People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something – always, in a word, seeking.
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The mind is always present. You just don’t see it.
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Once you stop clinging and let things be, you’ll be free, even of birth and death. You’ll transform everything.
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The ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They’re not the Way.
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Someone who seeks the Way doesn’t look beyond himself.
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Buddhas move freely through birth and death, appearing and disappearing at will.
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Not thinking about anything is zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the buddha…. Using the mind to reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. Freeing oneself from words is liberation.
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Worship means reverence and humility. It means revering your real self and humbling delusions. If you can wipe out evil desires and harbor good thoughts, even if nothing shows, it’s worship. Such form is its real form.
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I do not need any writing, since I transmit teaching beyond words and ideas.
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The essence of the Way is detachment.
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And as long as you’re subject to birth and death, you’ll never attain enlightenment.
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The mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the mind.
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Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the Path.
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