Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn’t exist.
BODHIDHARMABut people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind.
More Bodhidharma Quotes
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The mind’s capacity is limitless, and its manifestations are inexhaustible. Seeing forms with your eyes, hearing sounds with your ears, smelling odors with your nose, tasting flavors with your tongue, every movement or state is all your mind.
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But this mind isn’t somewhere outside the material body of the four elements. Without this mind we can’t move. The body has no awareness. Like a plant or a stone, the body has no nature. So how does it move? It’s the mind that moves.
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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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Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the Path.
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Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.
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The essence of the Way is detachment. And the goal of those who practice is freedom from appearances.
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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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People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something, always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose reason over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons.
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The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.
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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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An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad.
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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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Neither gods nor men can foresee when an evil deed will bear its fruit.
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Without the mind there is no Buddha. Without the Buddha there’s no mind.
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As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you’ll never see that your own mind is the Buddha
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If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won’t see the Buddha.
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And as long as you’re subject to birth and death, you’ll never attain enlightenment.
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Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain.
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The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure.
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But people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind.
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To give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity.
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Delusion means mortality. And awareness means Buddhahood.
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At every moment where language can’t go, that’s your mind.
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Reality has no inside, outside, or middle part.
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The essence of the Way is detachment.
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In order to see a fish you must watch the water
BODHIDHARMA