But while success and failure depend on conditions, the mind neither waxes nor wanes.
BODHIDHARMAPeople 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.
More Bodhidharma Quotes
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This one life has no form and is empty by nature. If you become attached by any form, you should reject it. If you see an ego, a soul, a birth, or a death, reject them all.
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Not suffering another existence is reaching the Way.
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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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Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either.
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Buddhas don’t practice nonsense.
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In order to see a fish you must watch the water
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The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion.
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An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad.
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But deluded people don’t realize that their own mind is the Buddha. They keep searching outside.
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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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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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And as long as you’re subject to birth and death, you’ll never attain enlightenment.
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To enter by reason means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe that all living things share the same true nature, which isn’t apparent because it’s shrouded by sensation and delusion.
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Mortals liberate Buddhas and Buddhas liberate mortals.
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The mind is always present. You just don’t see it.
BODHIDHARMA