Someone who seeks the Way doesn’t look beyond himself.
BODHIDHARMAMany roads lead to the Path, but basically there are only two: reason and practice.
More Bodhidharma Quotes
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One clings to life although there is nothing to be called life; another clings to death although there is nothing to be called death. In reality, there is nothing to be born; consequently, there is nothing to perish.
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All know the way, but few actually walk it.
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But when you first embark on the Path, your awareness won’t be focused. You’re likely to see all sorts of strange, dreamlike scenes. But you shouldn’t doubt that all such scenes come from your own mind and nowhere else.
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When we’re deluded there’s a world to escape. When we’re aware, there’s nothing to escape.
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And as long as you’re subject to birth and death, you’ll never attain enlightenment.
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An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad.
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The Way is basically perfect. It doesn’t require perfecting.
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If you see your nature, you don’t need to read sutras or invoke buddhas. Erudition and knowledge are not only useless but also cloud your awareness. Doctrines are only for pointing to the mind. Once you see your mind, why pay attention to doctrines?
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As long as you’re enthralled by a lifeless form, you’re not free.
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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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Worship means reverence and humility it means revering your real self and humbling delusions.
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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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To have a body is to suffer. Does anyone with a body know peace? Those who understand this detach themselves from all that exists and stop imagining or seeking anything. The sutras say, “To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.” When you seek nothing, you’re on the Path.
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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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Our nature is the mind. And the mind is our nature.
BODHIDHARMA