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Dharma Quotes

Browse 358 quotes about Dharma.

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Dharma Quotes

“They are not following dharma who resort to violence to achieve their purpose. But those who lead others through nonviolent means, knowing right and wrong, may be called guardians of the dharma. Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.”

MindMayMeanPurposeStrongTermKnowingPathViolenceAchieveEnlightenmentDeterminationFollowingBuddhistResortsGuardianDharmaPath To EnlightenmentStrong Determination
Author:Gautama Buddha
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“Better than a thousand hollow words Is one word that brings peace. Better than a thousand hollow verses Is one verse that brings peace. Better than a hundred hollow lines Is one line of the dharma, bringing peace. 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.”

WinningHeavenLinesHellTakenMeditationVictoryBattleThousandHundredAngelConquerDemonVersesHollowOne WordDharmaOne LineDhammapadaHeaven Or HellBringing Peace
Author:Gautama Buddha
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“In transmitting the dharma, there is neither explanation nor teaching; there is neighter hearing nor attainment. Since explanations never really explains, nor are they able to teach, why talk about it? Since listening isn't really hearing or attaining anything, then why listen? But say, since it cannot be explained or heard, how can you enter the Way? But down the bagagge, take of the blinders, and see for yourself that this very place is the valley of the endless spring, this very body is the body of the universe. At such a time, who is it who can accompany this?”

WayBodyAbleUniverseTeachHeardTeachingListeningSpringHearingEndlessExplanationValleysDharmaAttainmentAccompanyBlinders
Author:John Daido Loori
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“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.”

KnowsFirstsHeartRealitySpeakWaterPracticeMeditationMountainEnlightenmentGainsUltimateRealizationManifestationBlissDragonsGatesManifestDistractionTrapsTigersDharmaReposeSnaresDullnessUltimate Reality
Author:Dogen
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“Hinduism... gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up no single narrow path or gate of salvation; it was less a creed or cult than a continuously enlarging tradition of the Godward endeavour of the human spirit. An immense many-sided many-staged provision for a spiritual self-building and self-finding, it had some right to speak of itself by the only name it knew, the eternal religion, Sanatana Dharma.”

HumansSelfSpiritualSpiritNamesSpeakPathBuildingLimitsFindingsEternalTraditionUniversalSalvationGatesEndeavorHinduismSoleCreedsDogmaImmenseCultHuman SpiritProvisionDharmaInfallibleNarrow PathSantana
Author:Sri Aurobindo
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“To think that practice and realization are not one is a heretical view. In the Buddha Dharma, practice and realization are identical. Because one's present practice is practice in realization, one's initial negotiating of the Way in itself is the whole of original realization. Thus, even while directed to practice, one is told not to anticipate a realization apart from practice, because practice points directly to original realization.”

ThinkingWayWholeViewsPracticeMindfulnessOriginalsExcellenceRealizationInitialsIdenticalAnticipateDharmaNegotiating
Book:Zen and Western Thought
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“For the dharma to become firsthand knowledge-to feel the ‘ouch’ of it-you have to live intimately with it, hold it up to scrutiny, and let it hold you up to scrutiny. In the end, the ball is always thrown back to you: ‘Be a lamp unto yourself,’ says the Buddha. In other words, you must ultimately find the way on your own, by putting your ideas of the truth to the test. Your questions light the way.”

WayFeelsIdeasEndsLightTestsBallsThrownLampsDharmaScrutinyOuch
Author:Larry Rosenberg
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“Followers of the Way [of Chán], if you want to get the kind of understanding that accords with the Dharma, never be misled by others. Whether you're facing inward or facing outward, whatever you meet up with, just kill it! If you meet a buddha, kill the buddha. If you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch. If you meet an arhat, kill the arhat. If you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you meet your kinfolk, kill your kinfolk. Then for the first time you will gain emancipation, will not be entangled with things, will pass freely anywhere you wish to go.”

IfsWayWantFirstsKindWishParentUnderstandingGainsFirst TimeFollowersInwardAccordDharmaEmancipationMisledPatriarchKinfolk
Author:Linji Yixuan
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“Dharma has several connotations in South Asian religions, but in Buddhism it has two basic, interrelated meanings: dharma as 'teaching' as found in the expression Buddha Dharma, and dharma as 'reality-as-is' (abhigama-dharma). The teaching is a verbal expression of reality-as-is that consists of two aspects-the subject that realizes and the object that is realized. Together they constitute 'reality-as-is;' if either aspect is lacking, it is not reality-as-is. This sense of dharma or reality-as-is is also called suchness (tathata) or thatness (tattva) in Buddhism.”

IfsTwoRealityTogetherFoundRealizingTeachingSubjectsObjectsExpressionBuddhismAspectSouthLackingAsianDharmaConnotation
Author:Taitetsu Unno
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“Dharma is not about credentials. It's not about how many practices you've done, or how peaceful you can make your mind. It's not about being in a community where you feel safe or enjoying the cachet of being a 'Buddhist.' It's not even about accumulating teachings, empowerments, or 'spiritual accomplishments.' It's about how naked you're willing to be with your own life, and how much you're willing to let go of your masks and your armor and live as a completely exposed, undefended, and open human person.”

FeelsMindHumansPersonsDoneSpiritualEnjoyCommunityPracticeTeachingWillingSafeLetting GoEmpowermentNakedPeacefulBuddhistAccomplishmentMaskExposedDharmaArmorCredentials
Author:Reginald Ray
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“The Kama Sutra is neither exclusively a sex manual nor, as also commonly used art, a sacred or religious work. It is certainly not a tantric text. In opening with a discussion of the three aims of ancient Hindu life – dharma, artha and kama – Vatsyayana's purpose is to set kama, or enjoyment of the senses, in context. Thus dharma or virtuous living is the highest aim, artha, the amassing of wealth is next, and kama is the least of three.”

ArtUsedPurposeThreeNextSexReligiousWealthHighestAimSacredAncientSensesOpeningDiscussionEnjoymentWorking ItVirtuousDharmaManuals
Author:Indra Sinha
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“Shivaji was the greatest Hindu king that India had produced within the last thousand years; one who was the very incarnation of lord Siva, about whom prophecies were given out long before he was born; and his advent was eagerly expected by all the great souls and saints of Maharashtra as the deliverer of the Hindus from the hands of the Mlecchas, and as one who succeeded in the reestablishment of Dharma which had been trampled underfoot by the depredations of the devastating hordes of the Moghals”

YearsLongSoulHandsLastsGivenBornLordKingsThousandIndiaSaintExpectedThousand YearsProphecyIncarnationDharmaAdventHordeGreat SoulsYear OneMaharashtra
Author:Swami Vivekananda
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“Self-reflection is the gateway to freedom. It also brings greater appreciation and enjoyment. We begin to enjoy spending time with our own mind, and we enjoy reflecting on our experience of the teachings. Like the sun emerging from behind the clouds, the teachings of the dharma become clear.”

MindSelfEnjoyBehindsSunClearGreaterTeachingReflectionCloudsAppreciationSpendingEnjoymentReflectingSelf ReflectionEmergingDharmaSpending TimeGateways
Author:Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
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“And whatever the form of your own resurrection, you will arise, driven not by the Great Search, but by your own Great Duty, your limitless Dharma, the manifestation of your own highest potentials, and the world will begin to change because of you. And you will never flinch, and you will never fail in that great Duty, and you will never turn away, because simple, ever-present awareness will be with you now and forever, even unto the end of the worlds, because now and forever and endlessly forever, there is only Spirit, only intrinsic awareness of just this, and nothing more.”

WorldEndsFormSpiritTurnsSimpleForeverFailingAwarenessDutyHighestDrivenAriseManifestationResurrectionEnd Of The WorldLimitlessDharmaBecause Of You
Book:The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad
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“Bearing in his right paw the shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances, cut the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war; His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display - indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma.”

WarLeftGrowsAnimalFireCuttingTruth IsCreaturesLimitsRootsGreedAppearanceUselessRealmsSandAttachmentDisplaySnakesRabbitsDharmaDeerFlingDampPawsShovelsLizardsDandelionsChipmunks
Book:Back on the Fire: Essays
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“The art of dharma practice requires commitment, technical accomplishment, and imagination. As with all arts, we will fail to realize its full potential if any of these three are lacking. The raw material of dharma practice is ourself and our world, which are to be understood and transformed according to the vision and values of the dharma itself. This is not a process of self- or world- transcendence, but one of self- and world- creation.”

IfsWorldArtSelfValuesThreeProcessRealizingImaginationVisionPracticeFailingCreationMaterialsUnderstoodCommitmentAccomplishmentOur WorldTransformedLackingTranscendenceDharmaRaw MaterialsFull Potential
Author:Stephen Batchelor
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