If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won't see the Buddha. Bodhidharma More Quotes by Bodhidharma More Quotes From Bodhidharma 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. Bodhidharma birthegosoul Everything good and bad comes from your own mind. To find something beyond the mind is impossible. Bodhidharma good-and-badmindimpossible Many roads lead to the Path, but basically there are only two: reason and practice. Bodhidharma wisdompracticetwo Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom. Bodhidharma engagingstupidityignorance The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. Bodhidharma growsrootsmind Not creating delusions is enlightenment. Bodhidharma delusionenlightenmentcreating 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 pathdoubtmind You can't know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself. Bodhidharma hypereallong 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 understandingmeditationpeople Reality has no inside, outside, or middle part. Bodhidharma middlereality Unless you see your nature, you shouldn't go around criticizing the goodness of others. There's no advantage in deceiving yourself. Good and bad are distinct. Cause and effect are clear. But fools don't believe and fall straight into a hell of endless darkness without even knowing it. What keeps them from believing is the heaviness of their karma. They're like blind people who don't believe there's such a thing as light. Even if you explain it to them, they still don't believe, because they're blind. How can they possibly distinguish light? Bodhidharma karmabelievefall 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 visionunderstandingmind Buddhas don't practice nonsense. Bodhidharma nonsensepractice The true Way is sublime. It can't be expressed in language. Of what use are scriptures? But someone who sees his own nature finds the Way, even if he can't read a word. Bodhidharma sublimeuseway The Buddha is your real body, your original mind. This mind has no form or characteristics, no cause or effect, no tendons or bones. It's like space. You can't hold it. It's not the mind of materialists or nihilists. If you don't see your own miraculously aware nature, you'll never find a Buddha, even if you break your body into atoms. Bodhidharma spacerealwisdom Trying to find a buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Bodhidharma enlightenmentspacetrying As mortals, we're ruled by conditions, not by ourselves. Bodhidharma conditionsmortals The Way is basically perfect. It doesn't require perfecting. The Way has no form or sound. It's subtle and hard to perceive. It's like when you drink water: you know how hot or cold it is, but you can't tell others. Bodhidharma wisdomperfectwater Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher's help. Bodhidharma teachingteacherretirement To find Buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don't see your nature, invoking buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless. Invoking buddhas results in good karma, reciting sutras results in a good memory, keeping precepts results in good rebirth, and making offerings results in future blessings-but no Buddha. Bodhidharma karmawisdommemories
