Topic: Buddhist sayings

[Firestarter]

He who is not humble will not learn because he has already assumed he knows all. He who is learned is humble-even the Buddha is humble by nature though He knows all. How can we not be unhumble then? ~The Daily Enlightenment

[Firestarter]

I once read a book concerning awareness and thought control using the analogy of a cat and mouse:

The watcher is the cat and his thoughts the mouse. For the cat to be constantly chasing the mouse (his thoughts) is tiring, not to say never-ending. However, if the cat were to keep watch just outside the mouse-hole, it would be much easier and the mouse would never have a chance to run away at all. Similarly, if the thinker were to maintain constant awareness, it would be much easier to control his thoughts, the source of his happiness and grief.

~The Daily Enlightenment

[Firestarter]

"It is as though I see people walking down a road I know well. To them the way may be unclear. I look up and see someone about to fall into a ditch on the right-hand side of the road, so I call out to him, 'Go left, go left' Similarly, if I see another person about to fall into a ditch on the left, I call out, 'Go right, go right!' That is the extent of my teaching. Whatever extreme you get caught in, whatever you get attached to, I say, 'Let go of that too.' Let go on the left, let go on the right. Come back to the center, and you will arrive at the true Dharma."

- Ajahn Chah

[Firestarter]

“Positively, my social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality and fraternity. Let no one however say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has its roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.”
 
~B. R. Ambedkar
 

[Firestarter]

Whatever is material shape, past, future, present, subjective or objective, gross or subtle, mean or excellent, whether it is far or near — all material shape should be seen by perfect intuitive wisdom as it really is: "This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self." Whatever is feeling, whatever is perception, whatever are habitual tendencies, whatever is consciousness, past, future, present, subjective or objective, gross or subtle, mean or excellent, whether it is far or near — all should be seen by perfect intuitive wisdom as it really is: "This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.

~Buddha

[Firestarter]

Externally keep yourself away from all relationships, and internally have no pantings in your heart; when your mind is like unto a straight-standing wall, you may enter into the Path.  ~Bodhidharma

[daphne]

Externally keep yourself away from all relationships, and internally have no pantings in your heart; when your mind is like unto a straight-standing wall, you may enter into the Path.  ~Bodhidharma

I suppose he means emotional obsessive type relationships? Personally, I am finding that everything in life is a relationship; how I relate to myself, to others, to the world around me. I was never much one for relationships.. still not I suppose. Though I have found a whole new meaning to relating, and so too to relationship. Moment by moment , breath by breath, I realize I am alive because my world is alive. I am rather awed by that Mystery of Being. That too appears to me to be some sort of relationship; perhaps with Spirit?

[Firestarter]

I suppose he means emotional obsessive type relationships? Personally, I am finding that everything in life is a relationship; how I relate to myself, to others, to the world around me. I was never much one for relationships.. still not I suppose. Though I have found a whole new meaning to relating, and so too to relationship. Moment by moment , breath by breath, I realize I am alive because my world is alive. I am rather awed by that Mystery of Being. That too appears to me to be some sort of relationship; perhaps with Spirit?

I think he meant attachments to relationships. I understand him in that regard. Attachments in relationship can bind you, and motivate on to fall off the path.

Hard to say tho. Im not as wise as Bodhidharma. Im a work in progress.

[Firestarter]

I cannot tell if what the world considers 'happiness' is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.... 


~Chuang-tzu

[Firestarter]

The heart Sutra teaches that "form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. "Many people don't know what that means--even some long time students of meditation. But there is a very easy way to see this in our every day lives. For example, here is a wooden chair. It is brown. You sit in the chair, and it holds you up. You can place things on it. But then you light the chair on fire, then leave. When you come back later, the chair is no longer there! This thing that seemed so solid and string and real is now just a pile of cinder and ash which the wind blows around. This example shows how the chair is empty: It as no independent existence. Over a long or short time, the chair will eventually change and become something other than it appears. So, the brown chair is complete emptiness. But though it always has the quality of emptiness, this emptiness is form: you can sit in the chair, and it will hold you up. "Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form." ....Zen Master Seun Sahn, The Compass of Zen

[Firestarter]

"weeds only grow when we dislike them"

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Zen enlightenment is as if you have been away from home for many years, when you suddenly see your father in town. you know him right away without a doubt. There is no need to ask anyone else whether he is your father or not.  ~Zen Master Foyan

[erik]

Cloud mind is the ebb and flow of conceptual mind, and Sky Mind is the still potential of the-nature of-mind. Clouds arise in the sky, flit across it and decorate it, but do not limit or define the vast empty blueness of the sky. Sky always has the potential for cloud to arise. Cloud is a natural aspect of sky, but sky is not limited by cloud. Sky exists irrespective of cloud, but cloud cannot exist irrespective of sky.

[Firestarter]

The Mountains in the Dawn

The moon is already hidden
Behind the western peak.
The sun is rising above the summit.
The frosty sky awaits
Dawn in cold silence.
One thousand mountains
Afar and ten thousand rocks near.
All enter into one eye.

 - Jakushitsu (1290–1368)

[Firestarter]

The wind has settled, the blossoms have fallen;
Birds sing, the mountains grow dark --
This is the wondrous power of Buddhism.
 
                 -   Ryokan,    (1758-1831)
                           Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf
                            Translated by John Stevens