Whenever life feels wobbly, I like to read through Buddhist quotes to remind myself that, no matter what is going on around me, I can be the eye of the storm.
But why are the Buddhist quotes in this article paired with teachings on making peace with food? Because that’s my jam! My name is Kari and I’m an eating psychology coach and the creator of Psycho-Spiritual Wellness: a path to stopping compulsive eating through both psychological and spiritual practices.
Buddhism is a major source of inspiration behind my methodology, so I’d like to kick off this roundup of Buddhist quotes with a little background.
A Buddhist-Inspired Path to Food Freedom
Buddhism teaches us that everything in life is in a constant state of flux, encouraging us to appreciate the present moment and let go of our attachments. Similarly, Psycho-Spiritual Wellness integrates psychological and spiritual practices to cultivate emotional resilience and self-understanding, offering a holistic approach to stopping compulsive eating.
One of the most relevant spiritual practices that bridge these two philosophies is my Stop, Drop, & Feel®️ method. This technique, which aims to stop the urge to eat compulsively, is deeply influenced by Buddhist ideals such as presence, non-attachment, impermanence, and acceptance.
The Stop, Drop, & Feel method works as follows:
When you feel the urge to eat without hunger, implement the Stop, Drop, & Feel by going to another room, setting a timer for two minutes, and dropping into your body. There’s much more that goes into it, of course, but this is the single-sentence summary.
The Stop, Drop, & Feel is much like meditation, except the emphasis is placed on feel your feelings. Typically, whenever there’s an urge to eat without hunger, there are ignored or suppressed emotions that need attention. When we stop to create space for them without resisting them—harnessing the Buddhist teachings of letting go, acceptance, and non-judgment—the urge to eat often dissipates.
Sometimes it doesn’t, though, but either way, carving out time to intentionally hold space for uncomfortable emotions promotes two crucial skills for stopping compulsive eating: emotional awareness and emotional tolerance, the ability to be the eye of the storm.
As we scroll through the Buddhist quotes below, I’ll unpack how they relate to the Stop, Drop, & Feel and the path to stopping compulsive eating the psycho-spiritual way.
The Most Inspiring Buddhist Quotes
Now let’s explore some powerful Buddhist quotes that illuminate the path to inner peace and resilience, both in life and around food.
#1 Buddhist Quote
“A jug fills drop by drop.”
-Buddha, the Enlightened One
This Buddhist quote reminds me that one drop in the bucket is enough—and feeling enough is a big deal in today’s society! We’ve all been trained to celebrate success and achievement, which means we’re focused on the jug and not the drops. But the drops are everything!
When I first created the Stop, Drop, & Feel, I had no idea how powerful it would be. It was only by practicing it day after day—all for just 2 minutes at a time—that I developed emotional tolerance. I developed the ability to feel supremely edgy without being swept into compulsion. Day by day, as I filled my bucked drop by drop, emotional tolerance became my greatest asset.
As you proceed on your own journey of spiritual and personal growth, keep your eyes on the drops, not the jug. It can be discouraging and unsatisfying to watch the bucket slowly fill. By shifting your focus to each successful step—or each drop in the bucket—you can rest assured that you’re paving a clear path to personal freedom, both in life and around food.
#2 Buddhist Quote
“All addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain.”
-Pema Chodron, American Tibetan Buddhist nun
This Pema Chodron quote captures the essence of how addictions, including compulsive eating, often develop. When we encounter emotional or psychological discomfort—our “edge”—we feel a knee-jerk reaction to reach for something to buffer it.
In this way, my Stop, Drop, & Feel draws heavy influences from Buddhism, because it asks you to drop in at the precise moment when you’re at your edge. This is why I recommend just two minutes at a time, because it often feels like twenty minutes when you’re at that edge!
#3 Buddhist Quote
“Generally speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad news. But for practitioners or spiritual warriors—people who have a certain hunger to know what is true—feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck.”
-Pema Chodron
Humans are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. It’s our natural reflex. Therefore, learning how to perk up and lean in when life gets tough are two crucial skills that must be learned.
Buddhism promotes meditation for this task. By carving out time to sit still with yourself, you cultivate the skills of perking up and leaning in. Food also provides another doorway into this type of spiritual growth.
Perking up and leaning in is the essence of the Stop, Drop, & Feel. Surrendering to your emotions in the precise moment that you’d rather collapse and back away is a tall ask and therefore the path of a true spiritual warrior.
#4 Buddhist Quote
"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know."
-Pema Chodron
This Buddhist quote encapsulates the importance of facing and understanding our emotions rather than suppressing them. When we suppress our emotions, they become trapped within us, festering and often manifesting in compulsive behaviors like emotional eating.
In Buddhism, surrendering means fully accepting and experiencing the present moment without resistance. This includes our emotions and the lessons they are here to teach us, or the messages they are here to share with us.
#5 Buddhist Quote
“The root of suffering is attachment.”
-Buddha, the Enlightened One
Many of us turn to food to cope with uncertainty. For many of us, uncertainty triggers anxiety and panic because we want to know how the cards are going to fall.
To reduce suffering, Buddhism teaches the practice of non-attachment. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about anything or live a detached life, but rather that we should engage with the world without clinging or relying on external circumstances for our inner peace.
#6 Buddhist Quote
"Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment."
-Dogen Zenji, Japanese Buddhist priest
I chose this Buddhist quote because it’s something that I hope everyone knows as they begin to work with the Stop, Drop, & Feel, or any practice that involves feeling your feelings. Success is hard to see! Because life doesn’t exactly feel better when you cultivate the skill of opening your eyes to the full spectrum of emotion.
This is one reason why the third stage of giving up dieting involves “life suddenly getting worse in seemingly unrelated areas.” It’s not that life is suddenly throwing curveballs; it’s that they’ve been here all along but now you’re finally feeling them—and this is good!
Keeping your eyes and heart open leads to an authentic life. Out of those curveballs, change is likely to occur, and if you follow your intuition and live by your values, that change is going to be good.
#7 Buddhist Quote
"The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men."
-Nagarjuna, Indian monk and Mahāyāna Buddhist philosopher
I can appreciate a good reminder of how hard it is to sit still with yourself sometimes. It makes me feel more normal when I drag my feet to do even just two minutes of the Stop, Drop, & Feel. For some people well-trained in meditation, they might not relate to this. But for anyone that struggles with compulsion or addiction, you know exactly what I mean.
I’ve been practicing the Stop, Drop, & Feel since 2017, and I still only do it for two minutes at a time, because it truly does feel like an eternity when you’re at your edge. I appreciate this Buddhist quote because it reminds us that this skill is a thousand times harder to cultivate, which I hope inspires compassion and self-understanding.
#8 Buddhist Quote
"You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather."
-Pema Chodron
Buddhism teaches us that everything in life is impermanent. Although this can sound like bad news, and it may even trigger FOMO (the fear of missing out), it’s a good reminder that the only constant is us.
Everything in life, from jobs to friends to finances, changes over time. Sometimes these changes are good, other times they’re not so good. Buddhism teaches us to ride the wave and be the eye of the storm because at the end of it all, it’s just the weather.
#9 Buddhist Quote
"Smile, breathe, and go slowly."
-Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen master
#10 Buddhist Quote
"In the end, just three things matter: how well we have lived, how well we have loved, how well we have learned to let go."
-Jack Kornfield, American Buddhist teacher and author
For many people, a relentless focus on achieving goals and advancing careers often leads to sacrificing health and well-being. This perpetual race for more creates stress and dissatisfaction, a strong driver behind compulsion.
By embracing Kornfield’s wisdom, we can shift our focus to living joyfully, cultivating deep relationships, and letting go of unattainable standards. In the end, we’ll never wish we had worked more. We will have wished that we spent more time with loved ones, slowed down, and took care of our health.
#11 Buddhist Quote
“He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.”
-Buddha, the Enlightened One
This Buddhist quote actually reminds me of another quote from Brene Brown: “The brokenhearted are the bravest among us. They dared to love.”
Buddhism teaches us to make peace with uncertainty, and love is certainly daring and uncertain. When we choose to love, we make ourselves vulnerable, which means that we’re open to love as much as we’re open to hurt. But we can’t shut ourselves off from potential hurt, otherwise we also shut off love.
I mention these quotes because sometimes the happiest moments can push us to compulsive eating. While it seems like pure eating for pleasure, it could actually be a subconscious attempt to buffer the vulnerability that accompanies happiness and love.
My hope is that, by acknowledging the vulnerability of love and happiness, we can embrace these moments with just as much mindfulness, compassion, and intention as we embrace any other moment.
#12 Buddhist Quote
“If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.”
-Buddha, the Enlightened One
When you choose to engage in any task, whether it’s big or small, doing it with all your heart means giving it your full attention, energy, and effort. Instead of trying to be everywhere and do everything, see what it’s like to slow down and really dedicate yourself to doing what you love and doing it with everything that you’ve got—at a pace that nurtures your mind, body, and soul.
#13 Buddhist Quote
“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”
-Jack Kornfield
This Buddhist quote—which came from Jack Kornfield, not Buddha—reminds us that today is not something to simply “get through.” It’s the only thing we have. If we continuously rush through each day trying to make it to some far-off goal, we will continue to live in a rushed, unsatisfied manner, because as soon as we reach that far-off goal, we’ll simply move to the next.
To quote Geneen Roth, who is not Buddhist but still wise and relevant: “Who we are on the way there is who we will be when we get there.” I love Buddhism and all of these Buddhist quotes because they immediately shift your perspective from striving for the future to relishing in the present moment.
Buddhist Inspiration for Peace & Resilience
I hope you enjoyed these Buddhist quotes as much as I did! Almost half of them were from Pema. I can’t help it; she’s my favorite. If you want to keep scrolling through more inspiration, see my roundup of Pema Chodron quotes, which are all Buddhist inspired.
Or, if you want to learn more about the fascinating intersection between spirituality and eating psychology, my free ebook below is the perfect next step:
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