Dharma Quotes

Therefore, be islands unto yourselves. Be your own refuge. Have recourse to none else for refuge. Hold fast to the Dharma as a refuge. Resort to no other refuge. Whosoever, either now or after I am gone, shall be islands unto themselves, shall seek no eternal refuge, it is they, among my disciples who shall reach the very topmost height! But they must be keen to progress.

Feel the wind. This wind blows from world to world and from life to death. This is the wind of dharma. Be in love with the wind. It is an intimate lover. It enraptures you. It blows you through eternity.

To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature.

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.

By the dharma is meant the heart, for there is no dharma apart from the heart.

The dharma is here. And the dharma is in your heart. Where else would it be?

If you let go completely you will have complete peace.

When we shout at the oak tree, the oak tree is not offended. When we praise the oak tree, it doesn't raise its nose. We can learn the Dharma from the oak tree; therefore, the oak tree is part of our Dharmakaya. We can learn from everything that is around, that is in us.

A monk is holy and great until he starts teaching you the real Dharma

Dharma is a sanskrit word. It simply means that which is right, that which is correct, that which is the divine law.

Many roads lead to the Path, but basically there are only two: reason and practice.

Happiness does not come from external objects. It comes from peace of mind. You can be famous; you can be a king, a queen, anything. It does not necessarily bring happiness or peace of mind. It comes about through following dharma.

Today, society is sacrificing love, values and dharma in its pursuit of materialistic gains.

When you are following dharma, you will be happy, at peace, still inside. There will be a sense of purpose to your life. Difficulties will not seem unconquerable.

Success is not success in an individual endeavor. Success is simply to practice the dharma impeccably.

When you understand dharma, when you see its perfect perfection, shining both in and beyond all things, you will be freed from all misunderstandings.

Our ultimate dharma is self-realization. Thoughts and actions that support our spiritual evolution are real dharma.

We have to transform those ordinary actions of our day into dharma practice because otherwise nothing is going to move.

Everyone should not be ordained, but for those who really feel that the only thing that matters in this world is the Dharma, then it is a logical step to adopt a form of life that automatically precludes worldly distractions.

If you're meeting with the dharma, you have probably been a human being before.

Start simply everyday by asking yourself, "What is the dharma today? What should I do? What is right? What does the universe want from me?"

The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure.

Look what we are trying. You call it dharma, but it is not. What we are trying is to come together; come together to an understanding. The difference is, the discipline is, the commitment is that we are going to come together with the following guiding lines: 'May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within you guide your way on.' When we came together we decided we would guide our way on. My way and your way we already know, so we do not need to learn that. Each one of you knows 'my' way and 'your' way. All we have to learn is 'our' way."

It is the duty of all to support and side with Dharma. All must fight and support Dharma regardless of their personality, background, status.

Everyone has a dharma or purpose in life.

A person who follows the dharma is unpredictable because the dharma is unpredictable.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

Practicing Dharma is the supreme method for improving the quality of our human life.

The Dharma is a very, very special and precious thing. The more you practice it, the more you will realize this.

Souls have different journeys. The best thing to know is, not what everybody else does, but what you do. Self-discovery essentially is finding your own dharma, your own rhythm.

The higher nature in man always seeks for something which transcends itself and yet is its deepest truth; which claims all its sacrifice, yet makes this sacrifice its own recompense. This is man's dharma, man's religion, and man's self is the vessel.

See karma, make dharma

Beyond learning and unlearning is awareness, and beyond awareness is consciousness, and beyond consciousness is immortality, and beyond immortality is dharma and beyond dharma is nirvana.

A great gift - a gift of Dharma conquers all gifts.

The same Divine Compassion that blessed Dharma; saved Gajendra; restored Kuchela; and stood by Prahlada, has come to the Earth as the Refuge of the refugeless; as the Lord of Peace, Harmony and Righteousness; as the Lord of all the Worlds; as the Sath-Chith-Anandamurthi; and as the Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Sath-Chakravarthi - the King of Kings.

We live in a society which is heading in one direction, so it's good to have at least a few friends who share the same values and can encourage us and help us to remember that we're not alone or peculiar, but that what we're doing is a very valid way of life. This will encourage us to put the Dharma at the centre of our life and not the periphery, to use our daily life as our Dharma practice.

My first encounter with Buddhist dharma would be in my early 20s. Like most young men, I was not particularly happy.

Dharma is not upheld by talking about it. Dharma is upheld by living in harmony with it.

There are several realms which ordinary persons do not perceive. Because they cannot see them, that doesn't mean they don't exist. One of these realms is the sambhogakaya that can only be visited by highly realized Bodhisattvas. In the pure realm of the sambhogakaya, the Dharma is continuously taught. One sambhogakaya realm is Tushita, which is presided over by the next Buddha, the Maitreya Buddha. Buddha Shakyamuni dwelled there before coming to earth to give Dharma teachings.

The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the Dharma gate of repose and bliss, the practice-realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the manifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and snares can never reach it. Once its heart is grasped, you are like the dragon when he gains the water, like the tiger when she enters the mountain. For you must know that just there (in zazen) the right Dharma is manifesting itself and that, from the first, dullness and distraction are struck aside.

I just kind of understood it, and I threw my love for others and love for life into the character, and was having a blast. I loved playing Dharma. I loved it!

The individuation of dharma practice occurs whenever priority is given to the resolution of a personal existential dilemma over the need to conform to the doctrines of a Buddhist orthodoxy. Individuation is a process of recovering personal authority through freeing ourselves from the constraints of collectively held belief systems.

In varying degrees, the authority of the dharma was replaced by the authority of the guru, who came, in some traditions, to assume the role of the Buddha himself.

Though through all his life a fool associates with a wise man, he yet understands not the Dharma, as the spoon, the flavor of soup.

Dharma is that which is enjoined by the holy books, followed by the sages, interpreted by the learned and which appeals to the heart.

A person's ethics and character are not tested in good times. It is only in bad times that a person shows how steadfast he is to his dharma.

To preserve the integrity of the tradition, we have to distinguish between what is central to that integrity and what is peripheral. We have to discern between what elements are vital for the survival of dharma practice and what are alien cultural artefacts that might obstruct that survival.

Ahimsa is the height of Kshatriya dharma as it represents the climax of fearlessness.

If we want to eliminate bad qualities like hatred, envy, pride and ostentation, we have to employ Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema and Ahimsa as the cleaning instruments.

The future is certain for those who follow dharma. Those who don't follow dharma are pushed back again and again into the net of rebirth. They are drawn back to the same planes of attention, or lower. It could happen to you!