Buddha Craving Quotes & Sayings

Buddha's doctrine: Man suffers because of his craving to possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent ... this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate cause of suffering. — Alan Watts

In exactly the same way, ... scatter your body, your feeling, your perception, your predispositions, your discriminative consciousness, break them up, knock them down, cease to play with them, apply yourself to the destruction of craving for them. Verily, ... the extinction of craving is Nirvana. — Gautama Buddha

Through countless births in the cycle of existence
I have run, not finding
although seeking the builder of this house;
and again and again I faced the suffering of new birth.
Oh housebuilder! Now you are seen.
You shall not build a house again for me.
All your beams are broken,
the ridgepole is shattered.
The mind has become freed from conditioning:
the end of craving has been reached. — Gautama Buddha

The Buddha taught that we can feel pleasure fully, yet without craving or clinging, without defining it as our ultimate happiness. We can feel pain fully without condemning or hating it. And we can experience neutral events by being fully present, so that they are not just fill-in times until something more exciting comes along. — Sharon Salzberg

There is no satisfying the senses, not even with a shower of money. "The senses are of slight pleasure and really suffering." When a wise man has realised this, he takes no pleasure, as a disciple of the Buddhas, even in the pleasures of heaven. Instead he takes pleasure in the elimination of craving. — Gautama Buddha

(The real brahmin is the one who ... has crossed beyond duality ... knows no this shore, other shore, or both ... (is) settled in mind ... without inflowing thoughts ... is without attachment ... endures undisturbed criticism, ill-treatment and bonds, (and is) strong in patience ... (is) without anger, devout, upright, free from craving, disciplined and in his last body ... has experienced the end of his suffering here in this life, who has set down the burden, freed! — Gautama Buddha

I have passed in ignorance through a cycle of many rebirths, seeking the builder of the house. Continuous rebirth is a painful thing. But now, housebuilder, I have found you out. You will not build me a house again. All your rafters are broken, your ridge-pole shattered. My mind is free from active thought, and has made an end of craving. — Gautama Buddha

It is ignorance that smothers, and it is carelessness that makes it invisible. The hunger of craving pollutes the world, and the pain of suffering causes the greatest fear. — Gautama Buddha

Just as a tree, though cut down, can grow again and again if its roots are undamaged and strong, in the same way if the roots of craving are not wholly uprooted sorrows will come again and again — Gautama Buddha

Sensual craving gives rise to grief;
Sensual craving gives rise to fear.
For someone released from sensual craving
There is no grief;
And from where would be fear? — Gautama Buddha

Through the round of many births I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder.
Painful is birth again & again.
House-builder, you're seen!
You will not build a house again.
All your rafters broken,
the ridge pole destroyed,
gone to the Unformed,
the mind has come to the end of craving. — Gautama Buddha

To be concerned with the issue; soul versus non-soul, is to be in bondage to craving for becoming and non-becoming. — Gautama Buddha

When wishes are few, the heart is happy. When craving ends, there is peace. — Gautama Buddha

The Buddha says that pain or suffering arises through desire or craving and that to be free of pain we need to cut the bonds of desire."-Eckhart Tolle — Eckhart Tolle

Craving brings pain; craving brings fear. If you do not yield to craving, you will be free from pain and fear — Gautama Buddha

Rid of craving and without clinging, an expert in the study of texts, and understanding the right sequence of the words, he may indeed be called "In his last body", "Great in wisdom" and a "Great man." — Gautama Buddha

Happy indeed are the arahants! No craving can be found in them. Cut off is the conceit 'I am,' Burst asunder is delusion's net. — Gautama Buddha

From craving arises sorrow, from craving arises fear, but he who is freed from craving has no sorrow and certainly no fear. — Gautama Buddha

All the holy words you read and all the holy words you speak are as nothing if you do not act upon them. Even if you read little and say little but live the right way, forsaking craving, hatred and delusion, you will know the truth and find calmness and will show others the path. — Gautama Buddha

Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even so, until the craving that lies dormant is rooted out, suffering springs up again and again. — Gautama Buddha

When a man is stimulated by his own thoughts, full of desire and dwelling on what is attractive, his craving increases even more. He is making the fetter even stronger. But he who takes pleasure in stilling his thoughts, practising the contemplation of what is repulsive, and remaining recollected, now he will make an end of craving, he will snap the bonds of Mara. His aim is accomplished, he is without fear, rid of craving and without stain. He has removed the arrows of changing existence. This is his last body. — Gautama Buddha

From craving is born grief, from craving is born fear. For one freed from craving there's no grief- so how fear? — Gautama Buddha

Confusion conditions activity, which conditions consciousness, which conditions embodied personality, which conditions sensory experiences, which conditions impact, which conditions mood, which conditions craving, which conditions clinging, which conditions becoming, which conditions birth, which conditions aging and death. — Gautama Buddha

Craving and desire are the cause of all unhappiness. Everything sooner or later must change, so do not become attached to anything. Instead devote ... — Gautama Buddha

Each being is simply what it is and it is a serious mistake to treat your world as though it existed for you, as if what you value in each thing is its value. In a sense, the Buddha argued, all things are "empty," in that they simply do not possess the "soul" that a grasping, craving person invests them with. Pile all your expectations onto some person or object as though you truly hope it will deliver what you want, and you are making the fundamental mistake. The notion of non-soul (anatman) is difficult to understand, but it is one of the Buddha's most provocative teachings. — John Renard

The Buddha never intended to make desire itself the problem. When he said craving causes suffering, he was referring not to our natural inclination as living beings to have wants and needs, but to our habit of clinging to experience that must, by nature, pass away. — Tara Brach

Seeker, empty the boat, lighten the load, be free of craving and judgment and hatred, and feel the joy of the way. — Gautama Buddha