Top 200+ Amazing Thoughts By Gautam Buddha

Buddha was an ascetic and spiritual teacher of ancient India. He lived during the 6th or 5th century BCE. He is the founder of Buddhism.
His original name is Siddhartha Gautama. He was born in Lumbini Province, Nepal, and died at Kushinagar.

1. I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world – a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.
2. Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
3. You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.
4. He who walks in the eightfold noble path with unswerving determination is sure to reach Nirvana.
5. It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
6. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, and concentrate the mind on the present moment.
7. With mindfulness, strive on.
8. Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.
9. Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, even so, the wise are not affected by praise or blame.
10. Let my skin and sinews and bones dry up, together with all the flesh and blood of my body! I welcome it! But I will not move from this spot until I have attained the supreme and final wisdom.

1. To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our minds strong and clear.
2. All experiences are preceded by the mind, having the mind as its master, created by the mind.
3. Not falling into wrong views — being virtuous, endowed with insight, lust in the senses discarded — verily never again will he return to conceive in a womb.
4. The one in whom no longer exists the craving and thirst that perpetuate becoming; how could you track that Awakened one, trackless, and of limitless range?
5. With fools, there is no companionship. Rather than live with men who are selfish, vain, quarrelsome, and obstinate, let a man walk alone.
6. If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
7. He who loves people has woes; he who loves no one has no woes.
8. A mind unruffled by the vagaries of fortune, from sorrow freed, from defilements cleansed, from fear liberated — this is the greatest blessing.
9. We will develop love, we will practice it, we will make it both a way and a basis…
10. The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.

1. Nothing is forever except change.
2. Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.
3. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
4. Speak only endearing speech. Speech, when it brings no evil to others, is a pleasant thing.
5. What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
6. Your own self is your master; who else could be? With yourself well controlled, you gain a master very hard to find.
7. The way to happiness is: to keep your heart free from hate, and your mind from worry. Live simply, give much. Fill your life with love. Do as you would be done by.
8. They blame those who remain silent, they blame those who speak much, and they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed.
9. Not by rituals and resolutions, nor by much learning, nor by celibacy, nor even by meditation can you find the supreme, immortal joy of nirvana until you extinguish your self-will.
10. Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.

1. The tongue is like a sharp knife. It kills without drawing blood.
2. All conditioned things are impermanent when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.
3. Live with no sense of ‘mine,’ not forming an attachment to experiences.
4. Nothing remains without change.
5. Conquer anger through gentleness, unkindness through kindness, greed through generosity, and falsehood by truth.
6. Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
7. I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act, but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
8. Better than worshiping gods is obedience to the laws of righteousness.
9. One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand men on the battlefield. Be victorious over yourself and not over others.
10. Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth, and faithfulness is the best relationship.

1. What we think, we become.
2. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.
3. You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
4. I do not dispute with the world; rather it is the world that disputes with me.
5. Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.
6. Understanding is the heartwood of well-spoken words.
7. If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone.
8. Offend in neither word nor deed. Eat with moderation. Live in your heart. Seek the highest consciousness. Master yourself according to the law. This is the simple teaching of the awakened.
9. Whatever has the nature of arising has the nature of ceasing.
10. I do not dispute with the world; rather it is the world that disputes with me.

1. Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts are unguarded.
2. Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.
3. It seems that although we thought ourselves permanent, we are not. Although we thought ourselves settled, we are not. Although we thought we would last forever, we will not.
4. Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts!
5. When one has the feeling of dislike for evil when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.
6. Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is a law eternal.
7. The one in whom no longer exists the craving and thirst that perpetuate becoming; how could you track that Awakened one, trackless, and of limitless range?
8. If we fail to look after others when they need help, who will look after us?
9. Everything is based on the mind, is led by the mind, and is fashioned by the mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox.
10. Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is Awakened.

1. We will develop and cultivate the liberation of mind by lovingkindness, make it our vehicle, make it our basis, stabilize it, exercise ourselves in it, and fully perfect it.’ Thus should you train yourselves?
2. If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.
3. All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
4. Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
5. All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.
6. Good people keep on walking whatever happens. They do not speak vain words and are the same in good fortune and bad. If one desires neither children nor wealth nor power nor success by unfair means, know such a one to be good, wise, and virtuous.
7. Irrigators channel waters; fletchers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; the wise master themselves.
8. Ceasing to do evil, Cultivating the good, Purifying the heart: This is the teaching of the Buddhas.
9. There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.
10. Life is so very hard. How can we be anything but kind?

1. Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth.
2. The greatest gift is to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest.
3. Health is the best gift, contentment the best wealth, trust the best kinsman, nirvana the greatest joy. Drink the nectar of the dharma in the depths of meditation, and become free from fear and sin.
4. Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.
5. Don’t run after pleasure and neglect the practice of meditation. If you forget the goal of life and get caught in the pleasures of the world, you will come to envy those who put meditation first.
6. If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
7. As a water bead on a lotus leaf, as water on a red lily, does not adhere, so the sage does not adhere to the seen, the heard, or the sensed.
8. I was born into the world as the king of truth for the salvation of the world.
9. Even as a solid rock is unshaken by the wind, so are the wise unshaken by praise or blame.
10. Faith and prayer both are invisible, but they make impossible things possible.

1. Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure.
2. Give, even if you only have a little.
3. You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
4. May all beings have happy minds.
5. The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups.
6. It is better to travel well than to arrive.
7. Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts are unguarded.
8. As an elephant on the battlefield withstands arrows shot from bows all around, even so, shall I endure abuse?
9. Life is suffering.
10. Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.

1. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another.
2. Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people.
3. It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one’s own faults as a cunning gambler conceals his dice.
4. The one in whom no longer exists the craving and thirst that perpetuate becoming; how could you track that Awakened one, trackless, and of limitless range.
5. Should a seeker not find a companion who is better or equal, let them resolutely pursue a solitary course.
6. If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good.
7. It is better to do nothing than to do what is wrong. Whatever you do, you do to yourself.
8. There is no fire like passion. There is no shark-like hatred. There is no snare like folly. There is no torrent like greed.
9. There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
10. Conquer anger with non-anger. Conquer badness with goodness. Conquer meanness with generosity. Conquer dishonesty with truth.

1. Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
2. Live every act fully, as if it were your last.
3. The instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
4. Some do not understand that we must die, but those who do realize this settle their quarrels.
5. Meditate. Do not delay, lest you later regret it.
6. Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except yourself.
7. Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.
8. It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
9. I will not look at another’s bowl intent on finding fault: a training to be observed.
10. Whatever’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.

1. Whatever is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.
2. Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception.
3. All conditioned things are impermanent’ — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.
4. The mind is everything. What you think you become.
5. Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.
6. He who sits alone, sleeps alone, and walks alone, who is strenuous and subdues himself alone, will find delight in the solitude of the forest.
7. He who gives away shall have real gain. He who subdues himself shall be free; he shall cease to be a slave of passions. The righteous man casts off evil, and by rooting out lust, bitterness, and illusion we reach Nirvana.
8. If a man going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current — how can he help others across?
9. A woman of the world is anxious to exhibit her form and shape, whether walking, standing, sitting, or sleeping. Even when represented as a picture, she desires to captivate with the cha”e feared by one who has lived wisely.
10. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows them like a never-departing shadow.

1. Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.
2. Everything is in moderation, including moderation.
3. A disciplined mind brings happiness.
4. He who can curb his wrath as soon as it arises, as a timely antidote will check the snake’s venom that so quickly spreads — such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin.
5. Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow, death comes.
6. An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast. A wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
7. Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
8. There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires.
9. My doctrine is not a doctrine but just a vision. I have not given you any set rules, I have not given you a system.
10. The root of suffering is attachment.

1. Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
2. Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
3. Radiate boundless love towards the entire world.
4. All wrong-doing arises because of the mind. If the mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?
5. You only lose what you cling to.
6. To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
7. Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child.
8. The one in whom no longer exist the craving and thirst that perpetuate becoming; how could you track that Awakened one, trackless, and of limitless range?
9. One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, and one life can change the world.
10. True love is born from understanding.

1. She who knows life flows feels no wear or tear and needs no mending or repair.
2. Train your eyes and ears; train your nose and tongue. The senses are good friends when they are trained. Train your body in deeds, train your tongue in words, train your mind in thoughts. This training will take you beyond sorrow.
3. Meditate, do not delay, lest you later regret it.
4. The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
5. To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life. Foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
6. Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one’s own acts, done and undone.
7. Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
8. Radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.
9. The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men.
10. The world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world.

1. Be truthful; do not yield to anger. Give freely, even if you have but little. The gods will bless you.
2. Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.
3. People with opinions just go around bothering each other.
4. You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
5. Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.
6. Everything that happens to us is the result of what we ourselves have thought, said, or done. We alone are responsible for our lives.
7. What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.
8. Whatever living beings there may be — feeble or strong, long, stout, or of medium size, short, small, large, those seen or those unseen, those dwelling far or near, those who are born as well as those yet to be born — may all beings have happy minds.
9. A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again. But if he is peaceful, loving, and fearless, then he is in truth called wise.
10. Of those beings who live in ignorance, shut up and confined, as it were, in an egg, I have first broken the eggshell of ignorance and alone in the universe obtained the most exalted, universal Buddhahood.

1. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
2. Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance.
3. Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
4. The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
5. If you meditate earnestly, are pure in mind, and are kind in deeds, leading a disciplined life in harmony with the dharma, you will grow in glory. If you meditate earnestly, through spiritual disciplines you can make an island for yourself that no flood can overwhelm.
6. Without health life is not life; it is only a state of languor and suffering – an image of death.
7. One is not called a noble who harms living beings. By not harming living beings one is called noble.
8. Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
9. A jug fills drop by drop.
10. Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

1. Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
2. Delight in meditation and solitude. Compose yourself, and be happy. You are a seeker.
3. No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
4. Be a lamp for yourselves. Be your own refuge. Seek for no other. All things must pass. Strive on diligently. Don’t give up.
5. In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength.
6. When you attain victory over yourself, not even the gods can turn it into defeat.
7. Leave behind confused reactions and become patient as the earth; unmoved by anger, unshaken as a pillar, unperturbed as a clear and quiet pool.
8. The past is already gone, and the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live.
9. To support mother and father, to cherish wife and children, and to be engaged in peaceful occupation — this is the greatest blessing.
10. We are what we think. All that we are arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

1. Whatever is not yours, your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.
2. In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
3. As I am, so are these. As are these, so am I. Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither kill nor get others to kill.
4. Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy.
5. Looking deeply at life as it is in this very moment, the meditator dwells in stability and freedom.
6. Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things that renew humanity.
7. Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
8. An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
9. The foolish man conceives the idea of ‘self.’ The wise man sees there is no ground on which to build the idea of ‘self;’ thus, he has a right conception of the world and well concludes that all compounds amassed by sorrow will be dissolved again, but the truth will remain.
10. It is in the nature of things that joy arises in a person free from remorse.

1. Whoever doesn’t flare up at someone who’s angry wins a battle hard to win.
2. Let him not deceive another nor despise anyone anywhere. In anger or ill will let him not wish another ill.
3. Love is a gift of one’s innermost soul to another so both can be whole.
4. Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline have one taste, the taste of liberation.
5. Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
6. Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained, and using well-spoken words: this is good luck.
7. Charity bestowed upon those who are worthy of it is like a good seed sown on good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions are like seeds deposited in bad soil. The passions of the receiver of the alms choke, as it were, the growth of merits.
8. Let all-embracing thoughts for all beings be yours.
9. To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, and wise people are diligent.
10. We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

1. One who acts on truth is happy in this world and beyond.
2. Like someone pointing to treasure is the wise person who sees your faults and points them out. Associate with such a sage.
3. Wear your ego like a loose-fitting garment.
4. There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
5. In whom there is no sympathy for living beings: know him as an outcast.
6. It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
7. Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
8. Better it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.
9. Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.
10. When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.

1. The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
2. Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so, let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.
3. Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.
4. Our life is shaped by our mind. We become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
5. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
6. As I am, so are these. As are these, so am I.’ Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither kill nor get others to kill.
7. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.
8. If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.