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Favorite Quotes from Buddha.

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“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.”

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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 by chegg
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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. :P

Edited by chegg

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"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 by chegg
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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 by chegg

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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.

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

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

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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

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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. :)

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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

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  1. "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

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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

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"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

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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 by GrandmasterP

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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

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"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

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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

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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.

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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 by C T

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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.

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

When there is the manifestation of perception, manifestation of thinking can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur. When there is the manifestation of thinking, a manifestation of the impact of apperceptual proliferation can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

...when there is the ear, sound, and ear-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.

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

When there is the manifestation of perception, manifestation of thinking can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

When there is the manifestation of thinking, a manifestation of the impact of apperceptual proliferation can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

...when there is the nose, smell, and nose-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.

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

When there is the manifestation of perception, manifestation of thinking can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

When there is the manifestation of thinking, a manifestation of the impact of apperceptual proliferation can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

...when there is the tongue, taste, and tongue-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.

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

When there is the manifestation of perception, manifestation of thinking can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

When there is the manifestation of thinking, a manifestation of the impact of apperceptual proliferation can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

...when there is the body, touch, and body-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.

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

When there is the manifestation of perception, manifestation of thinking can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

When there is the manifestation of thinking, a manifestation of the impact of apperceptual proliferation can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

...when there is the mind, mind-object, and mind-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.

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

When there is the manifestation of perception, manifestation of thinking can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

When there is the manifestation of thinking, a manifestation of the impact of apperceptual proliferation can be discerned — it is possible for this to occur.

~ Madhupindika Sutta

 

All dharmas arise from conditions,

All dharmas cease because of conditions,
The Buddha, the Great Shramana,
Often spoke of this.

~ Elder Ashvajit

 

Suffering, monks, also has a supporting condition, I say, it does not lack a supporting condition. And what is the supporting condition for suffering? 'Birth' should be the reply.

 

And what is the supporting condition for birth?. 'Existence' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for existence? 'Clinging' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for clinging? 'Craving' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for craving? 'Feeling' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for feeling? 'Contact' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for contact? 'The sixfold sense base' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for the sixfold sense base? 'Mentality-materiality' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for mentality-materiality? 'Consciousness' should be the reply.

What is the supporting condition for consciousness? 'Kamma formations' should be the reply.

 

Kamma formations, monks, also have a supporting condition, I say, they do not lack a supporting condition. And what is the supporting condition for kamma formations? 'Ignorance' should be the reply.

 

Thus, monks, ignorance is the supporting condition for kamma formations, kamma formations are the supporting condition for consciousness, consciousness is the supporting condition for mentality-materiality, mentality-materiality is the supporting condition for the sixfold sense base, the sixfold sense base is the supporting condition for contact, contact is the supporting condition for feeling, feeling is the supporting condition for craving, craving is the supporting condition for clinging, clinging is the supporting condition for existence, existence is the supporting condition for birth, birth is the supporting condition for suffering, suffering is the supporting condition for faith, faith is the supporting condition for joy, joy is the supporting condition for rapture, rapture is the supporting condition for tranquillity, tranquillity is the supporting condition for happiness, happiness is the supporting condition for concentration, concentration is the supporting condition for the knowledge and vision of things as they really are, the knowledge and vision of things as they really are is the supporting condition for disenchantment, disenchantment is the supporting condition for dispassion, dispassion is the supporting condition for emancipation, and emancipation is the supporting condition for the knowledge of the destruction (of the cankers).

~ Upanisa Sutta

 

He who sees dependent arising sees the Dhamma; he who sees the Dhamma sees dependent arising.

~ Mahahatthipadopama Sutta

 

He perceives not perception, nor misperceives it,

Nor is not a non-perceiver, nor one without perception:

For one who has won such a state, form disappears:

For what is reckoned as "proliferation" has perception

as its source.

~Kalahavivada Sutta

 

Thus, monks, the Tathāgata does not conceive an [object] seen when seeing what is to be seen. He does not conceive an unseen. He does not conceive a to-be-seen. He does not conceive a seer.

He does not conceive an [object] heard when hearing what is to be heard. He does not conceive an unheard. He does not conceive a to-be-heard. He does not conceive a hearer.
He does not conceive an [object] sensed when sensing what is to be sensed. He does not conceive an unsensed. He does not conceive a to-be-sensed. He does not conceive a senser.
He does not conceive an [object] known when knowing what is to be known. He does not conceive an unknown. He does not conceive a to-be-known. He does not conceive a knower.
~ Kalakarama Sutta
Understanding and perceiving rely on knowing, this is originally ignorance. Understanding and perceiving without perception, this is nirvana.
~ Shurangama Sutra

Dependent origination should be known as emptiness.

~ Āryāṣṭadaśasahasrika-prajñāpāramitā-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra

Edited by Simple_Jack

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Though an Indian trumpet flower has wilted,
it is unrivaled by other common flowers,
Though one of my followers has broken his discipline
he is unrivaled by common tīrthikas.
— Daśacakrakṣitigarbha-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra

ye dharmā hetu prabhavā hetun,
teṣāṃ tathāgato hyavadat,
teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha,
evaṃ vādī mahāśramaṇa

All phenomena arise from causes;
Those causes have been taught by the Tathagata,
And their cessation too has been proclaimed by the Great Shramana.

~ Elder Ashvajit

 

Inconceivable tens of billions of eons ago
which cannot be measured,
I attained supreme awakening,
and I have also been explaining the Dharma...
I have demonstrated nirvana,
describing the method in order to tame sentient beings,
but at that time I never passed into nirvana,
but have been teaching Dharma here.
~ Shakyamuni Buddha, Lotus Sutra

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Bodhisattvas must be expert in all treatises. That is the entrance to omniscience.

~Ārya-niṣṭhāgantabhagavajjñānavaipūlya-sūtraratnānanta-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra:

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Whatever the longings or delights

Attached-- always--

To various levels of being,

Or yearnings born

From the root of unknowing:

I've destroyed them all,

Down to the root.

 

I --

Without longing,

Unattached,

Uninvolved,

With purified vision

With regard to all things,

Having reached self-awakening,

Sublime, unexcelled ---

Practice jhana hidden from Brahma,

Matured.

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