Top 35 Thubten Yeshe Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Karma is not something complicated or philosophical. Karma means watching your body, watching your mouth, and watching your mind. Trying to keep these three doors as pure as possible is the practice of karma.”

— Thubten Yeshe

Featured in: Morality Quotes, Buddhist Quotes, Karma Quotes

2. “Be blissful and enjoy your life; do not let yourself become obsessed with anything. Determine to use the rest of your life to benefit others as much as possible.”

— Thubten Yeshe

3. “When you check your own mind properly, you stop blaming others for your problems.”

— Thubten Yeshe

4. “At certain times, a silent mind is very important, but ‘silent’ does not mean closed. The silent mind is an alert, awakened mind; a mind seeking the nature of reality.”

— Thubten Yeshe

5. “Knowing your own mind is the solution to all our problems.”

— Thubten Yeshe

6. “Examine your own mental attitudes. Become your own therapist.”

— Thubten Yeshe

7. “Be wise. Treat yourself, your mind, sympathetically, with loving kindness. If you are gentle with yourself, you will become gentle with others.”

— Thubten Yeshe

8. “The mind is very powerful. Therefore, it requires firm guidance. A powerful jet plane needs a good pilot; the pilot of your mind should be the wisdom that understands its nature.”

— Thubten Yeshe

9. “When a strong wind blows, the clouds vanish and blue sky appears. Similarly, when the powerful wisdom that understand the nature of the mind arises, the dark clouds of ego disappear.”

— Thubten Yeshe

10. “Some children are wiser than adults.”

— Thubten Yeshe

11. “The narrow mind rejects; wisdom accepts.”

— Thubten Yeshe

12. “One action produces a reaction; that is karma.”

— Thubten Yeshe

13. “It’s not just philosophy, not just words; it’s knowing how the mind functions; only then can you develop loving-kindness; only then can you become a spiritual person.”

— Thubten Yeshe

14. “Meditation is the way we realize the nature of the mind.”

— Thubten Yeshe

15. “Don’t think that examining and knowing the nature of your mind is just an Eastern trip. That’s a wrong conception. It’s your trip.”

— Thubten Yeshe

16. “Buddhist meditation doen’t necessarily mean sitting cross-legged with your eyes closed. Simply observing how your mind is responding to the sense world as you go about your business – walking, talking, shopping, whatever – can be a really perfect meditation and bring a perfect result.”

— Thubten Yeshe

17. “There’s a big difference between being able to explain religion intellectually and transforming that knowledge into spiritual experience.”

— Thubten Yeshe

18. “If you expect your life to be full of ups and downs, then your mind will be much more peaceful.”

— Thubten Yeshe

19. “No matter how confused or deluded we may be at the moment, the underlying and essential nature of our being is clear and pure.”

— Thubten Yeshe

20. “It is a simple truth that if we identify ourselves as being fundamentally pure, strong, and capable we will actually develop these qualities, but if we continue to think of ourselves as dull and foolish, that is what we will become.”

— Thubten Yeshe

21. “It is precisely because our present life is so inseparably linked with desire that we must make use of desire’s tremendous energy if we wish to transform our life into something transcendental.”

— Thubten Yeshe

22. “Your mind is your religion.”

— Thubten Yeshe

23. “The human mind has the potential for infinite development. If you can discover, even in a small way, that true satisfaction comes from your mind, you will realize that you can extend this experience without limit and that it is possible to discover everlasting satisfaction.”

— Thubten Yeshe

24. “First of all, merely by living a simple life with a heart dedicated to overcoming self-cherishing, we automatically benefit others.”

— Thubten Yeshe

25. “We completely deny the existence of a self-existent I, or a permanent, independent soul. Every aspect of your body and mind is impermanent: changing, changing, changing...”

— Thubten Yeshe

26. “Just the idea that you are religious doesn’t help at all. It does not help you; it does not help others. In order to really help others, you need to gain knowledge-wisdom.”

— Thubten Yeshe

27. “Tantra considers it very important to eradicate such symptoms of ego. There is no point in holding garbage-concepts of yourself. You are perfect; you just need to recognize it. According to tantra, you do not need to wait until your next life to experience heaven.”

— Thubten Yeshe

28. “Many people, even in this country, have material problems because they are concerned for only themselves. Even though society offers many good situations, they are still in the preta realm. I think so, isn’t it? You are living in America but you’re still living in the preta realm – of the three lower realms, the hungry ghost realm; you are still living in the hungry ghost realm.”

— Thubten Yeshe

29. “That also doesn’t mean that your mind should be closed to other religions. You can study any religion; you can check it out. The problem is that when you choose one particular religion, you get too extreme about its ideas and then put other religions and philosophies down. This happens because you don’t know the purpose of religion, why it exists or how to practice. If you did, you’d never feel insecure about other religions.”

— Thubten Yeshe

30. “If the religion you are practicing is a true path and gives satisfactory answers to your dissatisfied mind, you should be better than ever at dealing with your everyday life and living like a decent human being.”

— Thubten Yeshe

31. “A great deal of our suffering arises because we are conflicted about reputation. Instead of being concerned about the reality of what we are, we’re concerned about what other people think of us. We’re too outward looking. That’s incredible. As far as Buddhism is concerned, that’s a sick mind; totally, clinically sick.”

— Thubten Yeshe

32. “Don’t worry. When the time is right, you’ll meet your teacher. When you’re ready, some kind of magnetic energy will bring you together with your teacher.”

— Thubten Yeshe

33. “When you’re among peaceful, generous, happy people, you’re inclined to feel happy and peaceful yourself. When you’re among angry, aggressive people, you tend to become like them. The human mind is like a mirror. A mirror does not discriminate but simply reflects whatever’s before it, no matter whether it’s horrible or wonderful.”

— Thubten Yeshe

34. “Problems exist in the minds of individuals. You have to solve your own problems, no matter what kind of society you live in – socialist, communist or capitalist. You must check your own mind. Your problem is not society’s problem, not my problem. You are responsible for your own problems just as you’re responsible for your own liberation or enlightenment.”

— Thubten Yeshe

35. “Don’t think about Buddhist terminology; don’t think about what the books say or anything like that. Just ask yourself simply, “How, at this moment, do I interpret myself?” That’s all.”

— Thubten Yeshe

36. “Whether you get up one morning with a foggy mind and the world around you appears to be dark and foggy, or you awaken with a clear mind and your world seems beautiful and light, understand that these different impressions are coming from your own mind rather than from changes in the external environment. Instead of misinterpreting whatever you experience in life through wrong conceptions, realize that it’s not outer reality, but only mind.”

— Thubten Yeshe

37. “Lord Buddha himself taught that basically, human nature is pure, egoless, just as the sky is by nature clear, not cloudy. Clouds come and go, but the blue sky is always there; clouds don’t alter the fundamental nature of the sky. Similarly, the human mind is fundamentally pure.”

— Thubten Yeshe

38. “Lord Buddha never put much emphasis on belief. Instead, he exhorted us to investigate and try to understand the reality of our own being. He never stressed that we had to know what he was, what a buddha is. All he wanted was for us to understand our own nature. Isn’t that so simple? We don’t have to believe in anything. Simply by making the right effort, we understand things through our own experience, and gradually develop all realizations.”

— Thubten Yeshe

39. “We may mistakenly conclude, for example, that the source of our dissatisfaction and frustration is a particular intellectual view or opinion that we hold and that all we have to do to correct the situation is adopt a higher, more respectable philosophical position. But such a superficial approach never strikes at the root of our difficulties.”

— Thubten Yeshe