Ram Dass Quotes

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

One has to go beyond the mind to experience the spiritual bliss of desirelessness.

All bad qualities centre round the ego. When the ego is gone, Realisation results by itself. There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self. The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only.

I am interested in suffering and, in particular, the Buddhist idea that in pain, you can find beauty.

It's much better to become a Buddha than a Buddhist.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery, caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations.

We are awakened to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything.

The gift of the Truth beats all other gifts. The flavour of the Truth beats all other tastes. The joy of the Truth beats all other joys, and the cessation of desire conquers all suffering

The holy man is beyond time, he does not depend on any view nor subscribe to any sect; all current theories he understands, but he remains unattached to any of them.

When nothing upsets you, you are at the beginning of the path. When you desire nothing, you are halfway on the path; when nothing becomes everything, you are perfected.

Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.

If you can get rid of your attachment to a single thing, you are on the way to liberation.

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

Meditation means keeping one mind. You must understand - what is life? What is death? If you keep one mind, there is no life, no death. Then if you die tomorrow, no problem; if you die in five minutes, no problem.

The mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the mind.

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

In Gnosticism, the physical world did not ultimately matter - which meant physical suffering did not matter either. Seeking 'enlightenment' meant cultivating an attitude of detachment, even indifference.

When you become a sannyasin, I initiate you into freedom, and into nothing else... I am destroying your ideologies, creeds, cults, dogmas, and I am not replacing them with anything else.

And the Buddha is the person who's free: free of plans, free of cares.

There is no answer. That's what Buddhism says. The Void, oblivion, no answer. To be in that state is an enlightened state.

My feeling or philosophy is closer to Taoism and Zen Buddhism, 'cause it's the most practical.

Happiness requires that we give up a worldly orientation-not worldly things, but a worldly attachment to things. We have to surrender all outcomes. We have to live here but appreciate the joke.

To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no trace continues endlessly.

Suffering does not befall him who is without attachment to names and forms.