Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) — "The pleasant and the unpleasant, the agreeable and the disagreeable, are not in …"
The pleasant and the unpleasant, the agreeable and the disagreeable, are not in things themselves, but in us.
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More from Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
"Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not."
"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."
"All conditioned things are impermanent — when one sees this with wisdom, then one turns away from suffering."
"If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another."
"Give, even if you only have a little."
Details
Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Date: c. 5th century BCE
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Our reactions to experiences are not built into the experiences themselves. The same meal, weather, or comment can delight one person and irritate another. Whether something feels good or bad depends on the mind encountering it—its expectations, memories, and cravings. Change the mind and the feeling changes, even when the external event is identical. Responsibility for suffering and satisfaction therefore belongs to the perceiver, not to the world.
Relevance to Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
The Buddha abandoned palace luxury after realizing pleasure could not shield him from aging, sickness, and death. Through meditation under the Bodhi tree, he concluded that craving and aversion—not external objects—create dukkha (suffering). This idea underpins the Four Noble Truths and the practice of mindfulness, where one observes sensations without labeling them pleasant or unpleasant. Training the mind, not rearranging the world, became his prescription for liberation.
The era
In 5th–6th century BCE northern India, Vedic ritualism dominated and shramana movements were questioning it. Philosophers debated whether reality was material, divine, or illusory, and ascetics tortured their bodies seeking release. The Buddha's teaching that suffering is generated internally offered a radical middle path between hedonism and self-mortification, reframing spiritual practice as mental discipline rather than sacrifice, caste obedience, or extreme austerity.
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