Bodhidharma Quotes

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century and is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen to China. 

A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad. Such is his power that karma can't hold him. No matter what kind of karma, a Buddha transforms it. Heaven and hell are nothing to him. But the awareness of a mortal is dim compared to that of a Buddha, who penetrates everything, inside and out. - Bodhidharma

Don't hate life and death or love life and death. Keep your every thought free of delusion, and in life you'll witness the beginning of nirvana, and in death you'll experience the assurance of no rebirth. - Bodhidharma

Worship means reverence and humility. It means revering your real self and humbling delusions. If you can wipe out evil desires and harbor good thoughts, even if nothing shows, it's worship. Such form is its real form. - Bodhidharma

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

When mortals are alive, they worry about death. When they're full, they worry about hunger. Theirs is the Great Uncertainty. But sages don't consider the past. And they don't worry about the future. Nor do they cling to the present. And from moment to moment they follow the Way. - Bodhidharma

The essence of the Way is detachment. And the goal of those who practice is freedom from appearances. - Bodhidharma 

To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma, nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings. - Bodhidharma

When we're deluded there's a world to escape. When we're aware, there's nothing to escape. - Bodhidharma

Not thinking about anything is zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. - Bodhidharma

All know the way, but few actually walk it. - Bodhidharma

To give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity. - Bodhidharma

- Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma