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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.

Bodhidharma

Those who worship don’t know, and those who know don’t worship.
BODHIDHARMA

Know Worship
Trying to find a buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space.
BODHIDHARMA

Buddha Enlightenment Find Grasp Space Try
When you don’t understand, you depend on reality. When you do understand, reality depends on you.
BODHIDHARMA

Depend Reality Understand You
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.
BODHIDHARMA

Anything Down Everything Lying Popple Stand Think Walk
To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma, because seeing is neither seeing nor not seeing, and because understanding is neither understanding nor not understanding.
BODHIDHARMA

Dharma Nothing Perceive See Understand Wa
All the suffering and joy we experience depend on conditions.
BODHIDHARMA

Condition Depend Experience Joy Suffer
According to the Sutras, evil deeds result in hardships and good deeds result in blessings.
BODHIDHARMA

Accordingly Bless Deed Evil Good Hardship Result Sutras
If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won’t see the Buddha.
BODHIDHARMA

Buddha Look Mind See Use
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.
BODHIDHARMA

Deepest Distract Nothing People Understanding
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.
BODHIDHARMA

Mind Reality Study Understand
As mortals, we’re ruled by conditions, not by ourselves.
BODHIDHARMA

Condition Morais Ourselves Rule
When your mind doesn’t stir inside, the world doesn’t arise outside. When the world and the mind are both transparent, this is true vision. And such understanding is true understanding.
BODHIDHARMA

Arie Inside Mind Outside Stir World
Buddhas move freely through birth and death, appearing and disappearing at will.
BODHIDHARMA

Appear Birth Budhha Death Disappear Freely Move Will
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.
BODHIDHARMA

Anyone Body Peace Sexist Stop Suffer Themselves Understand
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?
BODHIDHARMA

Buddha Nature Need See Sutras
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.
BODHIDHARMA

Awareness Embark First Focus Path

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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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Bodhidharma Quotes