Topic: Buddhist sayings

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Living well favours a serene death and rebirth in a happy state. ~Buddha

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To Householders
   
And once upon a time a certain householder approached the Perfect One and declared that he, aspiring to live the religious life, had renounced all worldly practices.

    "What you, O householder, call 'worldly practice' is one thing," said the Master, "but what is meant by 'worldly practice' in the Āryan discipline is another thing.

    "These eight Precepts in the Āryan discipline conduce to the renunciation of worldly practices: 1) Through making no onslaught on living beings, harming is renounced, 2) through taking only what is voluntarily given, pilfering is renounced, 3) through speaking truthfully, deceit is renounced, 4) through gracious speech, malicious speech is renounced, 5) through the absence of coveting, greed is renounced, 5) through the absence of invective, angry blame is renounced, 7) through the absence of vindictiveness, wrathful rage is renounced, and through humility, self-conceit is renounced.

    "When I say that through making no onslaught on living beings harming is renounced, I mean that an Āryan disciple considers the matter this way:

    " 'I am attaining the renunciation of those fetters because of which I was one who made onslaught on living beings.  Verily, if I were to harm living beings, conscience would upbraid me; intelligent persons, having found me out, would censure me; and at the dissolution of my body at death, I should arise in a world of woe.  But those painful mind-and-body aggregates which would arise because of onslaught on living beings come not to be when onslaught on living beings is renounced.'

    "And in like manner the Āryan disciple reasons concerning the other seven rules.

    "O householder, it is like a hungry dog, weak from starvation, who might find his way to a slaughter-yard.  Suppose the butcher flings that dog a bare bone with only a trace of blood on it.  Do you think that the dog's hunger would be allayed by such a bare bone?

    "In the same way, householder, an Āryan disciple reflects, 'Sensual pleasure has been likened by the Master to a bare bone, of great suffering, of great tribulation, which is only the beginning of a long series of sufferings,' and having by higher insight penetrated the truth of the matter, and having laid aside that indifference which is based upon diversity, he develops only that indifference whish is based upon unity, and in which all hankering after worldly things is brought to an end."

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And death, the end of it all, makes an end of man who, ever thirsty but desires, gathers the flowers of sensuous passions. ~Buddha

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Oh let us live in joy, although having nothing! In joy, let us live, like spirits of light! ~Buddha

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It is as though you have an eye
That sees all forms
But does not see itself.
This is how your mind is.
Its light penetrates everywhere
And engulfs everything,
So why does it not know itself?

~Foyan

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If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.

- Linji

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Well versed in the Buddha way,
I go the non-Way
Without abandoning my
Ordinary person's affairs.

The conditioned and
Name-and-form,
All are flowers in the sky.

Nameless and formless,
I leave birth-and-death.

~Layman P'ang (740-808)

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However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?  ~Buddha

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In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves. ~Buddha

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A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden. ~Buddha

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A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure. ~Buddha

[erik]

Vajrayana offers those with kindness, honesty, and courage the chance to be real and vivid, at a time when cultural horizons are shrinking. We cannot go forth like Lewis and Clark, in search of the passage west - there are no such new trails to blaze on behalf of others. The only compassionate trail left to seekers of such high adventure is the Vajrayana.

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"If one tries to befriend an enemy for a moment, he becomes your friend.
The same thing occurs when one treats a friend as an enemy.
Therefore, by understanding the impermanence of temporal relations,
Wise ones are never attached to food, clothing or reputation, nor to friends or enemies.

The father becomes the son in another life,
Mother becomes the wife,
Enemy becomes friend;
It always changes.
Therefore there is nothing definite in samsara."

~Buddha

[erik]

Through the practice of philosophy one might expect to arrive at one's own conclusions about the nature of being - such investigations having been mostly self-referential. Through the practice of Dharma one discovers that the nature of being has already been understood by one's teachers, and that it can be discovered for ourselves through the methods of practice they reveal. Hence, to fully engage with Dharma, we eventually have to let go of the limitations of our own view - and leap ... without reservation, into Dharma-view

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In wanting to save the world,
remember you are part of it.
In fact, you are the part of the world
most immediate to yourself.

If you cannot even save yourself,
if you do not even start with yourself,
who should you start saving first?

The mud Bodhisattva who crosses the river does not get across.
He needs to toughen himself spiritually,
much more so if he wishes to bring others across suffering
to the other shore of liberation.

~From The Daily Enlightenment