Favorite Quotes from Buddha.

teknix · August 3, 2013

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

chegg · October 28, 2013

I just remembered a quote from the Dali-Lama I heard on TV a few years ago...

"People have misunderstood Buddhism. Buddhism is not a religion. Buddhism is a study of the mind"

There was more in his talk, but my mind cant remember it. :huh:

Edited October 28, 2013 by chegg

chegg · October 31, 2013

One of my favourite quotes from the good old days....I dont think it was Buddha's but I'll give him the credit anyway...always makes me giggle.

"Before enlightenment....chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment....chop wood, carry water."

lol. Makes you feel kinda short-changed.

Edited October 31, 2013 by chegg

chegg · November 6, 2013

"An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind."

Edited November 6, 2013 by chegg

chegg · November 6, 2013

hi chegg. How does one know if one has an evil friend?

What if one's friend is evil sometimes.

Hi cat, excellent question ! You get 5 blessings on the karmic-scale-of-good-posts ! :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

The first thing I would do is ask myself "Would my life be better without this friend ?"

You could get buddhasophical and ask "What does it mean to have a friend ? Does a 'friend' really exist or did humanity just make up the word 'friend' ? Are friends just attachments ?"

I reckon every friend will have a certain degree of insincerity, a degree of evilness. Its up to you to use your power of discernment and decide whether (i) to put up with it, (ii) try to assist that friend and point out these insincerities, or (iii) press the ejector seat button and say "bye, bye, luv" .

Edited November 20, 2013 by chegg

shenshu · November 6, 2013

hi chegg. How does one know if one has an evil friend?

What if one's friend is evil sometimes.

Hi

If a so-called friend is doing you harm, then you know you have an evil friend. One time is enough to let you know that. Then you pay attention. One time, sometimes, always makes no difference.

And this includes me as a friend: when I realize that I've harmed someone one time, several times, frequently then I know I have to pay attention. The more I pay attention, the better. I don't know much about Buddhism , but this is how I understand the quote.

chegg · December 12, 2013

"It is better to live one day ethically and reflectively than to live a hundred years immoral and unrestrained."

C T · December 12, 2013

It is volition that I call karma; for having willed, one acts with body, speech and mind.

Simple_Jack · January 16, 2014

Any stress that comes into play is all from consciousness as a requisite condition.

With the cessation of consciousness,

there is no stress coming into play.

Knowing this drawback — that stress comes from consciousness as a requisite condition —

with the stilling of consciousness,

the monk free from hunger is totally unbound.

For those overcome by contact,

flowing along in the stream of becoming,

following a miserable path, the ending of fetters is far away.

While those who comprehend contact,

delighting in stilling through discernment,

they, by breaking through contact,

free from hunger, are totally unbound.

Knowing that whatever is felt

— pleasure, pain, neither pleasure nor pain, within or without —

is stressful, deceptive, dissolving,

seeing its passing away at each contact,

each contact, he knows it right there:

with just the ending of feeling,

there is no stress coming into play.

~ Dvayatanupassana Sutta

Others will misapprehend according to their individual views, hold on to them tenaciously and not easily discard them; we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease — thus effacement can be done. ~ Sallekha Sutta

Seeker of Wisdom · January 20, 2014

The wise one straightens the unsteady mind, so difficult to guard and hard to restrain, just as a fletcher straightens an arrow's shaft.

There's always a little more depth to find. To my mind this isn't just saying 'do shamatha although it's hard', but also gives a very important key to doing it.

Consider how a fletcher would straighten an arrow shaft - gently removing tiny slivers.

In that light the reference to the mind being 'difficult to guard and hard to restrain' takes on another significance - don't guard or restrain forcefully, but respond skilfully.

Perhaps 'straightening' refers not only to samadhi, but also means 'straighten in a virtuous and wise direction', in which case this is about all the three trainings, and their synergy.

Simple_Jack · January 24, 2014

Look at the world and see its emptiness Mogharāja, always mindful,
Eliminating the view of self, one goes beyond death.
One who views the world this way is not seen by the king of death.

- Mogharaja-manava-puccha

Simple_Jack · February 27, 2014

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta

When this is, that is.

From the arising of this comes the arising of that.

When this isn't, that isn't.

From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that.

- Bodhi Sutta

Like the earth, the arahat is patient and is not provoked to respond in anger; like the door-post he is firm; he is unperturbed by the ups and downs of life; he is serene and pure like a lake free from mud. For such an arahat there will be no more rebirth. - Dhammapada verse 95

C T · March 29, 2014

The Buddha told his disciple Ananda to see impermanence, to see death with every breath. We must know death; we must die in order to live. What does that mean? To die is to come to the end of our doubts, all our questions, and just be here with the present reality. You can never die tomorrow; you must die now. Can you do it? If you can do it, you will know the peace of no more questions.

--- Ajahn Chah

Simple_Jack · March 31, 2014

"Of all those things that from a cause arise,
Tathagata the cause thereof has told;
And how they cease to be, that too he tells,
This is the doctrine of the Great Recluse."

~ Elder Assaji

Simple_Jack · April 21, 2014

And while this explanation was being given, there arose to Ven. Kondañña the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation. ~ Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

GrandmasterP · April 21, 2014

Anguttara Nikaya (3:102; I 260).....

"If, monks, there were no gratification in the world, beings would not become enamoured with the world."

...

"If there were no danger in the world, beings would not become disenchanted with it."

...

"If there was no escape from the world, beings could not escape from it.

-

But as there is an escape from the world, beings can escape from it."

Edited April 21, 2014 by GrandmasterP

Simple_Jack · April 21, 2014

Through the round of many births I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder. Painful is birth again & again. House-builder, you're seen! You will not build a house again. All your rafters broken, the ridge pole dismantled, immersed in dismantling, the mind has attained to the end of craving. ~ Dhammapada verse 153-154

Simple_Jack · May 5, 2014

"I ask the kinsman of the Sun, the great seer, about seclusion & the state of peace. Seeing in what way is a monk unbound, clinging to nothing in the world?" "He should put an entire stop to the root of objectification-classifications: 'I am the thinker.'[1] He should train, always mindful, to subdue any craving inside him. Whatever truth he may know, within or without, he shouldn't get entrenched in connection with it, for that isn't called Unbinding by the good. He shouldn't, because of it, think himself better, lower, or equal. Touched by contact in various ways, he shouldn't keep conjuring self. Stilled right within, a monk shouldn't seek peace from another from anything else. For one stilled right within, there's nothing embraced, so how rejected?[2] As in the middle of the sea it is still, with no waves upwelling, so the monk — unperturbed, still — should not swell himself anywhere."

~ Tuvataka Sutta

Simple_Jack · May 12, 2014

Just as when seeds are not broken, not rotten, not damaged by wind & heat, capable of sprouting, well-buried, planted in well-prepared soil, and the rain-god would offer good streams of rain. Those seeds would thus come to growth, increase, & abundance. In the same way, any action performed with greed... performed with aversion... performed with delusion — born of delusion, caused by delusion, originating from delusion: wherever one's selfhood turns up, there that action will ripen. Where that action ripens, there one will experience its fruit, either in this very life that has arisen or further along in the sequence.

A person unknowing: the actions performed by him, born of greed, born of aversion, & born of delusion, whether many or few, are experienced right here: no other ground is found.[1] So a monk, knowing, sheds greed, aversion, & delusion; giving rise to clear knowledge, he sheds all bad destinations.[2]

~ Nidana Sutta

Simple_Jack · July 24, 2014

Not by the Buddha, but by a buddha:

Whatever conceptions of mind have arisen,
if they are searched for,
they will not be found,
since they are the seeker.

-- Longchenpa, Shing rta chen po, chapter X.

C T · October 9, 2014

16.18
Again, you must understand how, due to this cause,

Because of men's faults, the cycle of doing goes on,

So that they succumb to death
who are afflicted by the dust of the passions and by darkness;

He is not reborn who is free of dust and darkness.

16.19
Insofar as the specific desire exists to do this or that,

An action like going or sitting happens;

Hence, in just the same way, by the force of their thirsting

Living creatures are reborn -- as is to be observed:

16.20
See sentient beings in the grip of attachment,

Dead set on pleasure among their own kind;

And, from their habitual practice of faults,

Observe them presenting with those very faults.

16.21
Just as the anger, lust, and so on of sufferers of those afflictions

Give rise in the present to a personality trait,

So too in new lives, in various manifestations,

Does the affliction-created trait develop:

16.22
In a life dominated by anger arises violent anger,

In the lover of passion arises burning passion,

And in the predominantly ignorant, overwhelming ignorance.

In one who has a lesser fault, again, the lesser fault develops.

16.23
Seeing what fruit is before one's eyes,

One knows, from past knowledge of that fruit, the seed it was in the past.

And having identified a seed before one's eyes,

One knows the fruit it may be in the future.

16.24
In whichever realms of existence a man has ended faults,

Thanks to that dispassion he is not born in those realms.

Wherever he remains susceptible to a fault,

That is where he makes his appearance, whether he likes it or not.

16.25
So my friend, with regard to the many forms of becoming,

Know their causes to be [the faults] that start with thirsting

And cut out those [faults], if you wish to be freed from suffering;

For ending of the effect follows from eradication of the cause.

16.26
Again, the ending of suffering follows from the disappearance of its cause.

Experience that reality for yourself as peace and well-being,

A place of rest, a cessation, an absence of the red taint of thirsting,

A primeval refuge which is irremovable and noble,

16.27
In which there is no becoming, no aging, no dying,

No illnesses, no being touched by unpleasantness,

No disappointment, or separation from what is pleasant:

It is an ultimate and indestructible step, in which to dwell at ease.

16.28
A lamp that has gone out

Reaches neither to the earth nor to the sky,

Nor to any cardinal nor to any intermediate point:

Because its oil is spent it reaches nothing but extinction.

16.29
In the same way, a man of action who has come to quiet

Reaches neither to the earth nor to the sky,

Nor to any cardinal nor to any intermediate point:

From the ending of his afflictions he attains nothing but extinction.

(from the Cantos, or Kavyas, of Saundarananda)

Nagarjuna summarises thus:

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |

avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||MMK26.10

The doings which are the root of saṁsāra

Thus does the ignorant one do.

The ignorant one therefore is the doer;

The wise one is not, because of the act of reality making itself known.

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |

avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||MMK26.11

In the ceasing of ignorance,

There is the non-coming-into-being of doings.

The cessation of ignorance, however,

Is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing.

tasya tasya nirodhena tat-tan nābhipravartate |

duḥkha-skandhaḥ kevalo 'yam evaṁ samyaṅ nirudhyate ||MMK26.12

By the destruction of each,

Each is discontinued.

This whole edifice of suffering

Is thus well and truly demolished.

Edited October 9, 2014 by C T

Simple_Jack · October 24, 2014

Without a beginning or an ending, bhikshus, is this samsara [cycle of lives and deaths]. A first point cannot be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance, fettered by craving, I say!...Suppose, bhikshus, an animal on a leash, bound to a strong post or pillar, would just keep on running, going in a circle around it, even so, bhikshus, the uninstructed worldling [ignorant ordinary] person, who has no regard for the noble ones and is unskilled and undisciplined in the Dharma of the noble ones, who has no regard for the true individuals and is unskilled and undisciplined in the Dharma of the true individuals, regards form as the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form;

regards feeling as the self, or the self as possessing feeling, or feeling as in the self, or the self as

in feeling;

regards perception as the self, or the self as possessing perception, or perception as in the self, or

the self as in perception;

regards formations as the self, or the self as possessing formations, or formations as in the self, or

the self as in formations;

regards consciousness as the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in

the self, or the self as in consciousness.

So he just keeps running after, going in a circle around form.

So he just keeps running after, going in a circle around feeling.

So he just keeps running after, going in a circle around perception.

So he just keeps running after, going in a circle around formations.

So he just keeps running after, going in a circle around consciousness.

~ Gaddula Sutta

And what is the origination of the world? Dependent on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the ear & sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the nose & aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the tongue & flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the body & tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the intellect & mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

~ Loka Sutta

...when there is the eye, form and eye-consciousness, a manifestation of contact can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur [possible to know this].

When there is the manifestation of contact, a manifestation of feeling can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.