Topic: Buddhist sayings

[erik]

Everything either occurs or does not. That would appear to be a fact of nature. Happiness, however, is not accidental.

[erik]

Buddhism is a vast field of wonder for its sincere practitioners, and so many, many, many different methods are encompassed within its parameters

[erik]

Learning to be fearless and at ease in the empty space of the mind - mind without thought - enables us to be fearless and at ease when our life circumstances thrust us into moments of emptiness.

[Firestarter]

To know someone is to sense that person's flavor - what you feel from that person. Each one has his or her own flavor, a particular personality from which many feelings appear. To fully appreciate this personality or flavor is to have a good relationship. Then we can really be friendly. To be friendly does not mean to cling to someone or try to please them but to fully appreciate them.

Shunryu Suzuki

[Firestarter]

In Tokyo in the Meiji era there lived two prominent teachers of opposite characteristics. One, Unsho, an instructor in Shingon, kept Buddha's precepts scrupulously. He never drank intoxicants, nor did he eat after eleven o'clock in the morning. The other teacher, Tanzan, a professor of philosophy at the Imperial University, never observed the precepts. Whenever he felt like eating, he ate, and when he felt like sleeping in the daytime he slept.

One day Unsho visited Tanzan, who was drinking wine at the time, not even a drop of which is suppposed to touch the tongue of a Buddhist.

"Hello, brother," Tanzan greeted him. "Won't you have a drink?"

"I never drink!" exclaimed Unsho solemnly.

"One who does not drink is not even human," said Tanzan.

"Do you mean to call me inhuman just because I do not indulge inintoxicating liquids!" exclaimed Unsho in anger. "Then if I am not human, what am I?"

"A Buddha," answered Tanzan.

[Firestarter]

When a skillful martial artist uses his sword, he should be able to cut a fly off his friend's nose without cutting his nose. To have the fear of cutting his nose is not true practice. When you do something, have a strong determination to do it ! Whoosh ! (sound of sword cutting air.)Without any idea of skillful or not, dangerous or not, you just do it. When you do something with this kind of conviction, that is true practice. That is true Enlightenment.

Shunryu Suzuki

[erik]

To achieve relaxation of mind - as well as relaxation of body - we need to examine and understand our mind.

[Firestarter]

“We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries would reduce their weapon arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds- our own prejudices, fears and ignorance. Even if we transport all the bombs to the moon, the roots of war and the roots of bombs are still there, in our hearts and minds, and sooner or later we will make new bombs. To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women. To prepare for war, to give millions of men and women the opportunity to practice killing day and night in their hearts, is to plant millions of seeds of violence, anger, frustration, and fear that will be passed on for generations to come. ”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

[erik]

Let go of the busy-ness of your day and the concerns of your life. Settle into your meditation posture and bring your attention to your breathing.

[erik]

Being is not attached to reference points. Being does not rely for its existence on any style of perceptual cross-referencing. Trying to pin-point being is like attempting to suspend time and movement - it is not possible, so we might as well simply be.

[erik]

If one’s definition of oneself as either male or female is orchestrated by how one sees the rest of the world, then one simply doesn’t have to have a definition …. One doesn’t have to have a definition of what it is to be a man or a woman.

[Michael]

Laughter is a gift and causing laughter is an act of kindness. Laughter requires space - space to see the ridiculous in our situations as beginninglessly non-dual beings who create the illusion of duality.

Maybe, but all my life I have got into trouble for my laughter and humour. Even in the hospital recently when Julie was bursting out with some abusive criticism of the nurses who had left her in the chair too long, when she came out with a particularly clever line, I started laughing - she really can be creative in her anger. But the nurse told me not to laugh, and thus encourage her, as she should sit there longer for her own good. She gave Julie a good talking to, which actually did help Julie to sit longer. After that Julie always referred to that nurse as the bully who doesn't like her. I often start laughing at the things Julie says - she is very entertaining.

[erik]

Because the world around us is the ‘form’ in which we attempt to establish our sense of self-existence, reflections of emptiness tend to be interpreted as ‘disturbing’.

[erik]

When mind is silent, there is endless silent space in which sounds sing infinitely separate songs.

[erik]

Obsession with individual freedom at the expense of others is the death of compassion. Obsession with neurotic parental-style control at the expense of the personal liberty of others is the death of wisdom.