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Daily Buddhist Wisdom

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    #32
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Some quotes (from Buddhist sutras) about truth:

    “Never think that I should set out a ”system of teachings” to help people understand the way. Never cherish such a thought. What I proclaim is the truth as I have discovered it and ”a system of teaching” has no meaning because the truth can’t be cut up into pieces and arranged in a system.”
    (The Diamond Sutra)

    “Let a person be a light to himself and learn wisdom.”
    (Dhammapada)

    “The truth indeed has never been preached by the Buddha, seeing that one has to realize it within oneself.”
    (Lamkara Sutra)


    I hope everybody's having a good summer! :)


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    #33
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    maitri wrote:
    “The truth indeed has never been preached by the Buddha, seeing that one has to realize it within oneself.”
    (Lamkara Sutra)

    I hope everybody's having a good summer! :)

    That is one of my fav quotes.
    Having a really hot summer here in Tokyo.


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    #34
    bubonicus
    Registered Users Posts: 715 ✭✭✭bubonicus


    The portrait of the Buddha is really a mirror of your own enlightenment.


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    #35
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    bubonicus wrote:
    The portrait of the Buddha is really a mirror of your own enlightenment.
    A very nice reminder. Thank you.


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    #36
    hairyheretic
    Registered Users Posts: 1,257 ✭✭✭hairyheretic


    I have a small book of buddhist sayings, a gift I got years ago. One of my favourites from this is

    "Do not blindly believe what others say, even the buddha. See for yourself what brings contentment, clarity and peace. That is the path for you to follow."


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    #37
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    hairyheretic wrote:
    "Do not blindly believe what others say, even the buddha. See for yourself what brings contentment, clarity and peace. That is the path for you to follow."
    Hi HH, nice to see you. I mentioned that one just a couple of days ago, amazing.
    I think that is one of the most important sayings. It was the reason I became a Buddhist all those years ago. I was so impressed with the idea of being told not to blindly believe, but to actually go out and seek the truth for yourself. That way it really means something personal.


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    #38
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    Yeah, I find that one very important indeed as well.


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    #39
    hairyheretic
    Registered Users Posts: 1,257 ✭✭✭hairyheretic


    Asiaprod wrote:
    Hi HH, nice to see you. I mentioned that one just a couple of days ago, amazing.
    I think that is one of the most important sayings. It was the reason I became a Buddhist all those years ago. I was so impressed with the idea of being told not to blindly believe, but to actually go out and seek the truth for yourself. That way it really means something personal.

    It holds equally true for my own beliefs.


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    #40
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    hairyheretic wrote:
    It holds equally true for my own beliefs.

    I know.

    Todays one is interesting, the more you think on it, the more the message changes. Please enjoy.

    "If a teacher has a good disciple, both will gain the fruit of Buddhahood, but if a teacher fosters a bad disciple, both will fall into hell. If teacher and disciple are of different minds, they will never accomplish anything."


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    #41
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Asiaprod wrote:
    I know.

    Todays one is interesting, the more you think on it, the more the message changes. Please enjoy.

    "If a teacher has a good disciple, both will gain the fruit of Buddhahood, but if a teacher fosters a bad disciple, both will fall into hell. If teacher and disciple are of different minds, they will never accomplish anything."


    So how do you understand it?


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    #42
    scojones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭scojones


    maitri wrote:
    "Don't cling to anything and don't reject anything. Let come what comes, and
    accomodate yourself to that, whatever it is. If good mental images arise, that is
    fine. If bad mental images arise, that is fine, too. Look on all of it as equal, and
    make yourself comfortable with whatever happens. Don't fight with what you
    experience, just observe it all mindfully."

    -Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain English"

    This is very good. :)


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    #43
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    sjones wrote:
    This is very good. :)

    Hi Sjones!:) Yeah, I like it too.

    And this:

    "O monks, even if you have insight that is pure and clear but you cling to it, fondle it and treasure it, depend on it and are attached to it, then you do not understand that the teaching is like a raft that carries you across the water to the farther shore but is then to be put down and not clung to."
    - Majjahima Nikaya


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    #44
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    maitri wrote:
    Hi Sjones!:) Yeah, I like it too.

    And this:

    "O monks, even if you have insight that is pure and clear but you cling to it, fondle it and treasure it, depend on it and are attached to it, then you do not understand that the teaching is like a raft that carries you across the water to the farther shore but is then to be put down and not clung to."
    - Majjahima Nikaya

    This is very cool maitri. It was this quote from Bubonicus on this very forum way back last year that set me off in a different direction.
    Good post.


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    #45
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Asiaprod wrote:
    This is very cool maitri. It was this quote from Bubonicus on this very forum way back last year that set me off in a different direction.
    Good post.

    Well, I can only say one thing:The Pocket Buddha Reader :D

    BTW, What direction?


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    #46
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    maitri wrote:
    Well, I can only say one thing:The Pocket Buddha Reader :D

    BTW, What direction?
    The direction to get off the raft, the other shore had been reached.


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    #47
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Asiaprod wrote:
    The direction to get off the raft, the other shore had been reached.

    Any new shores ahead?;)


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    #48
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    maitri wrote:
    Any new shores ahead?;)
    Always maitri, always. That is the beauty of life, fresh challenges


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    #49
    bubonicus
    Registered Users Posts: 715 ✭✭✭bubonicus


    Asiaprod wrote:
    This is very cool maitri. It was this quote from Bubonicus on this very forum way back last year that set me off in a different direction.
    Good post.


    I don't know about that.. You jumped out and start swimming, I don't think Buddha himself thought of that.:D


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    #50
    MeditationMom
    Registered Users Posts: 380 ✭✭MeditationMom


    What a delicious feast of insight and wisdom to return to. Much Love to everyone. And here a wonderful Osho qoute: "For those who can wait infinitely, things happen instantaneously."


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    #51
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Good to see you back, MeditationMom! :)
    MeditationMom wrote:
    "For those who can wait infinitely, things happen instantaneously."

    (And for those of us who are not very patient, I guess we'll just have to live with things taking their time... :D Which reminds me, I need a cup of tea - instantly!)


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    #52
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    maitri wrote:
    Good to see you back, MeditationMom! :)
    Me too.
    (And for those of us who are not very patient, I guess we'll just have to live with things taking their time... :D
    Or jump in and start swimming:D
    Which reminds me, I need a cup of tea - instantly!)
    Oh maitri I have got to get you to come to Japan. I love tea and have drunk more kinds of Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai ....... teas than I can count. Such an infinite variety. You will go insane:)


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    #53
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    "If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty." :)

    I don’t know if this can really be called Buddhist wisdom, but at least it’s a Japanese Proverb. When I get immensely rich I will go to Japan to have a cup of tea with you, Peter, (as well as a chat with my cousin who studies in Tokyo - if she’s still there), until then I’ll just have to do with my Twinings' Earl Grey. Earl Grey's not bad either.

    http://www.teamuse.com/article_020901.html


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    #54
    munkeehaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,012 ✭✭✭munkeehaven


    Here are a few bits that i found a joy to read...

    "The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral.Those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness,like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.How pitiful they who cling strongly to concrete reality.Turn your attention within my friends."- Nyoshul Rhenpo.


    William Blake certainly seems to have understood the above..

    "He who binds himself to a Joy
    Does the winged Life destroy.
    He who kisses the Joy as it flies
    Lives in Eternity's Sunrise"


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    #55
    Asiaprod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,737 ✭✭✭Asiaprod


    munkeehaven wrote:
    Those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness,like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.How pitiful they who cling strongly to concrete reality.Turn your attention within my friends."- Nyoshul Rhenpo.
    Nice post munkeehaven, and welcome.


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    #56
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Hi! :)

    We have in another thread – The Lankavatara Sutra thread – been speaking of not “having” ourselves, because we always change, according to conditions that are out of our control. Here are some interesting (I think) sutras on the topic:

    “What is not yours, put away; putting it away will be good for your welfare.
    What are the things that are not yours? Your body is not yours* – put it away. Your feelings come and go; don’t own them, put them away. Perception and the things you perceive are not yours, put them down. The way your brain works and forms ideas is not yours, let it go. Consciousness is a condition that is general; it is not yours, do not own it. Letting go and putting away and not owning will be for your good and welfare.”
    - Samyutta Nikaya (from the Pocket Buddha Reader)

    And here is an explanation from the same sutra:


    “The body, monks, is not a self. The body has evolved out of time immemorial from causes and preconditions that are also without a self. How then could the body, evolving out of something that is not a self, be a self? The same is true of thoughts and ideas that have come into existence by the influence of all beings through time – how could thoughts and ideas be a self? So, too, with feelings and perceptions, which are relative to the body and mind – how could they be a self?”

    And:

    “This body is not yours, nor does it belong to others. It should be seen as the product of the whole of history. In regard to it the wise person will reflect on the nature of conditioning: If this comes into being, that will arise; if this does not come into being, that will not arise.”


    * BTW, I’ve once read an explanation of why our body isn’t really seen as “ours”. It said that the body is really so out of our control: It gets old and wrinkled and finally it gets sick and dies and smoulders into ashes – and we really can’t do anything to stop it, even if we want to. And how can we think we really own something that is so totally beyond our control and that doesn’t obey our will at all in these important matters?


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    #57
    ignite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20 ✭ignite


    maitri wrote:

    "Apart from consciousness," answered the Buddha, "no absolute truths exist. False
    reasoning declares one view to be true and another view wrong. It is delight in
    their dearly held opinions that makes them assert that anyone who disagrees is bound
    to come to a bad end. But no true seeker becomes embroiled in all this. Pass by
    peacefully and go a stainless way, free from theories, lusts and dogmas."

    This quote above, reveals my exact feeling. Despite the fact that I've spent a few years now, training in 'debating', I've always felt that neither side was exactly wrong. Neither side is likely to really mean harm on the other. Just misunderstanding. I sometimes feel a little hypocrytical, in arguing so, since I know 'passion' in argument, is simply a reflection of the determination of belief of a person, in what they are saying. It doesn't make them 'right'.

    Tut tut. Is this perhaps a common occurance, that as a lay Buddhist, I must accept? For a long time now, I've been considering the bliss that settling in lands more 'conducive' to Buddhism, such as Tibet, parts of India, might be. Is this a pipe-dream? If, to remain a lay Buddhist, I was, is this what's to be expected?


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    #58
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Hi Ignite! :)
    ignite wrote:
    ... since I know 'passion' in argument, is simply a reflection of the determination of belief of a person, in what they are saying.

    Good point, indeed! Thanks Ignite! We also tend to identify closely with our opinions, for some strange reason. That also tend to make us very passionate about them, I think, and therefore often very fragile to any contradictions or "criticisms".
    ignite wrote:
    That doesn't make them 'right'

    Nor 'wrong'. ;) Maybe?
    ignite wrote:
    For a long time now, I've been considering the bliss that settling in lands more 'conducive' to Buddhism, such as Tibet, parts of India, might be. Is this a pipe-dream? If, to remain a lay Buddhist, I was, is this what's to be expected?

    Do you think life would be easier or "better" in a Buddhist country?
    Well, maybe that doesn't really matter, anyway, if that's what you really want to do, just "go for it" anyway... (oh, this looks like an advice... and I think I am against giving advice... like Gandalf... so please don't listen to me...)

    By the way, here's one of my other fav quotes:

    This itself is the whole of the journey, opening your heart to that which is lovely. Because of their feeling for the lovely, beings who are afraid of birth and death, aging and decaying, are freed from their fear. This is the way you must train yourself: I will become a friend and an intimate of the lovely. To do this I must closely observe and embrace all states of mind that are good.
    - Samyutta Nikaya

    Regards,

    Maitri


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    #59
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Here are two more good ones (I think):

    "I free myself not by trying to be free, but by simple noticing how I am imprisoning myself in the very moment I am imprisoning myself."
    --- Zen Theory of Change (rephrased by Rick Carson)

    “People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armouring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.”
    ---Ani Pema Chödrön (from "The Wisdom of No Escape")


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    #60
    irishtraveller1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8 ✭irishtraveller1


    Its important to meditate on something and not nothing


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    #61
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    "When it is time to dress, get dressed. When it is time to walk, walk.
    Do not concern yourself with becoming a Buddha, just be yourself. Though the fool may laugh at you, the wise man will understand."

    (Lin-chi, Ch'an master)

    The quote is taken from "The Book of Zen: The Path to Inner Peace" by Eric Chaline. BTW, a lovely little book with a lot of beatiful pictures and drawings in it. :)


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