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Buddhist quotes

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  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2020

    Due to my disability, I had to stop, but I know that some of the positions might be beneficial even to those who might be chair-bound and can only adequately function from the waist/hips up, so I have been studying those methods and at some point in future, when 'Social Distancing' just means being abroad on holiday, I shall offer my services to rest homes and Hospitals....

    Bunks
  • Whatever it is that you’re feeling, recognize it. In that instant of separation and acknowledgment, … use your imagination to recognize that there are other people on the planet at this very moment feeling just like you feel. You are no longer alone.

    —Lama Kathy Wesley

    Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
    Forget your perfect offering
    There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
    That's how the light gets in

    -Leonard Cohen (who was also interested in Buddhism and did some retreats I believe)

    Bunks
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    This isn't a 'Buddhist Quote' per se, but when I read it, I was profoundly moved by it; @Kerome , this may be to your liking, too....

    "Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel ... that everything is going wrong and you're about to be annihilated, turn to your Death and ask if that is so.
    Your Death will tell you that you're wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch.
    Your Death will tell you, 'I haven't touched you yet'."

    ('Don Juan' by Carlos Castaneda.)

    JeffreyBunksJeroen
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    I have heard: in medieval Japan in the monastery outhouse they had a shit-stick with which everybody would clean their behinds. One day, there was an examination for the monks, and to one monk the Abbot held up this shit-stick and asked, “what is this?” The monk instantly replied, “the Buddha!” The Abbot was much pleased.

    lobster
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    "If you don't feel that you're enlightened...You can always try to be !"

    ~Hindu Sage~ (whose name I've forgotten)

    Bunks
  • johnathanjohnathan Canada Veteran

    "Precepts are not burdens to bear but are ornaments to be worn joyfully."
    Author Unknown

    lobsteradamcrossley
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @johnathan said:
    "Precepts are not burdens to bear but are ornaments to be worn joyfully."
    Author Unknown

    They’re like protective armour for ourselves and those around us...

    lobsteradamcrossley
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “The Buddha’s teaching is that first we should give up evil and then we practice what is good. Second, he said that we should give up evil and give up the good as well, not having attachment to it because that is also one kind of fuel. When there is something that is fuel it will eventually burst into flame. Good is fuel. Bad is fuel.
    Speaking on this level kills people. People aren’t able to follow it. So we have to turn back to the beginning and teach morality. Don’t harm each other. Be responsible in your work and don’t harm or exploit others. The Buddha taught this, but just this much isn’t enough to stop.
    Why do we find ourselves here, in this condition? It’s because of birth. As the Buddha said in his first teaching, the Discourse on Turning the Wheel of Dhamma: “Birth is ended. This is my final existence. There is no further birth for the Tathagata.”
    Not many people really come back to this point and contemplate to understand according to the principles of the Buddha’s way. But if we have faith in the Buddha’s way, it will repay us. If people genuinely rely on the Three Jewels then practice is easy.”

    — Ajahn Chah

    lobsterBunksadamcrossley
  • That Ajahn sure knew how to Chah-Cha ...

    To go beyond the flames, hot and cool is quite a dance step.

    Bonus track ... A bit more Leonard Cohen (warning do not commit suicide whilst listening ... it is just a song ...) :s

    JeroenBunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “It’s important for those of us who live in the forest to understand the forest. Living in the forest doesn’t mean that our minds become wild, like those of forest animals. Our minds can become elevated and spiritually noble. This is what the Buddha said. Living in the city we live among distraction and disturbance. In the forest, there is quiet and tranquility. We can contemplate things clearly and develop wisdom. So we take this quiet and tranquility as our friend and helper. Such an environment is conducive to Dhamma practice, so we take it as our dwelling place; we take the mountains and caves for our refuge. Ob- serving natural phenomena, wisdom comes about in such places.”

    — Ajahn Chah

    lobsterBunks
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    edited March 2020

    “All of Buddhism can be encapsulated in to the concept that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional”

    Timber Hawkeye

    ShoshinAlex
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Hearing the sounds of the forest gives delight to the mind; even as we are hearing sounds the mind is tranquil.
    The sounds of people on the other hand are not peaceful. Even when people speak nicely it doesn’t bring any deep tranquility to the mind. The sounds that people like, such as music, are not peaceful. They cause excitement and enjoyment, but there is no peace in them. When people are together and seeking pleasure in this way it will usually lead to mindless and aggressive, contentious speech, and the condition of disturbance keeps increasing.
    The sounds of humans are like this. They do not bring real comfort or happiness, unless words of Dhamma are being spoken.”

    — Ajahn Chah

  • adamcrossleyadamcrossley Veteran UK Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    “The sounds of people on the other hand are not peaceful. Even when people speak nicely it doesn’t bring any deep tranquility to the mind. The sounds that people like, such as music, are not peaceful. They cause excitement and enjoyment, but there is no peace in them. When people are together and seeking pleasure in this way it will usually lead to mindless and aggressive, contentious speech, and the condition of disturbance keeps increasing.
    The sounds of humans are like this. They do not bring real comfort or happiness, unless words of Dhamma are being spoken.”

    —Ajahn Chah

    This seems quite severe to me. I love good music and wholesome conversation. Is there really no place in life for a bit of excitement? I trust myself not to let it lead to “aggressive speech”. What do we think?

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @adamcrossley said:

    @Kerome said:
    “The sounds of people on the other hand are not peaceful. Even when people speak nicely it doesn’t bring any deep tranquility to the mind. The sounds that people like, such as music, are not peaceful. They cause excitement and enjoyment, but there is no peace in them. When people are together and seeking pleasure in this way it will usually lead to mindless and aggressive, contentious speech, and the condition of disturbance keeps increasing.
    The sounds of humans are like this. They do not bring real comfort or happiness, unless words of Dhamma are being spoken.”

    —Ajahn Chah

    This seems quite severe to me. I love good music and wholesome conversation. Is there really no place in life for a bit of excitement? I trust myself not to let it lead to “aggressive speech”. What do we think?

    Ajahn Chah was a strict monk in the Thai Forest tradition.

    You are a Western lay person.

    You're both seeing life life from very different points of view.

    adamcrossleyJeroenlobsterperson
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    @adamcrossley said:
    This seems quite severe to me. I love good music and wholesome conversation. Is there really no place in life for a bit of excitement? I trust myself not to let it lead to “aggressive speech”. What do we think?

    I can see his point, which is why I posted the quote. When you are meditating and you hear people’s voices, it is very easy to give them attention, start listening to the conversation, and before you know it your quiet mind is charging along.

    But I do agree it is quite severe, and the rest of that lecture in the book was likewise aimed at bringing to the fore some quite difficult views. He talked about how commercialism was changing attitudes towards hospitality, for example.

    As for excitement, I think under the right circumstances it is possible to enjoy it. But I think Ajahn Chah’s point that it does not bring peace is also well made.

    Bunksadamcrossley
  • adamcrossleyadamcrossley Veteran UK Veteran
    edited March 2020

    @Bunks and @Kerome, thanks for your responses! I can definitely see the truth in what he says. Part of me agrees with it and part of me says, You’re young, just enjoy yourself. And I suppose I was giving voice to that part. I don’t think it would be honest of me to say every part of me wants to practice the Dhamma at every moment. I’m usually a mixture of impulses and motivations.

    johnathanAlex
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    edited March 2020

    @adamcrossley said:
    @Bunks and @Kerome, thanks for your responses! I can definitely see the truth in what he says. Part of me agrees with it and part of me says, You’re young, just enjoy yourself. And I suppose I was giving voice to that part. I don’t think it would be honest of me to say every part of me wants to practice the Dhamma at every moment. I’m usually a mixture of impulses and motivations.

    Yes, I think we can all appreciate where you’re coming from. ❤️❤️❤️

    Except for the young bit :)

    adamcrossleyAlex
  • adamcrossleyadamcrossley Veteran UK Veteran
    edited March 2020

    Hearing the sounds of the forest gives delight to the mind; even as we are hearing sounds the mind is tranquil.

    The sounds that people like, such as music, are not peaceful. They cause excitement and enjoyment, but there is no peace in them.

    —Ajahn Chah

    Check out this Chinese composer, 雨鎖悲秋 (Raflum). Peaceful music for turbulent times.

    http://raflum.bandcamp.com/album/melodies-of-forest-and-springs

    lobsterBunks
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran

    These days when I hear people talk about the Corona virus, what I keep hearing is Karuna virus. How wonderful would that be if it was a Karuna virus going around infecting everyone?
    ~Gil Fronsdale

    ShoshinBunks
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @person said:
    These days when I hear people talk about the Corona virus, what I keep hearing is Karuna virus. How wonderful would that be if it was a Karuna virus going around infecting everyone?
    ~Gil Fronsdale

    Karma works in mysterious ways.... Maybe it will... <3

    Bunks
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Shoshin said:

    @person said:
    These days when I hear people talk about the Corona virus, what I keep hearing is Karuna virus. How wonderful would that be if it was a Karuna virus going around infecting everyone?
    ~Gil Fronsdale

    Karma works in mysterious ways.... Maybe it will... <3

    It is apparently the case that some Governments have noted the absence of pollution due to the cessation of operational activity from quarters using fossil fuels... And some Governments are wondering what to do about it, in light of the obvious improvement...

    “What I think will come out of this is a realisation - because we are forced to - that there is considerable potential to change working practices and lifestyles. This challenges us in the future to think, do we really need to drive our car there or burn fuel for that,” said Monks*.

    (*Paul Monks, professor of air pollution at the University of Leicester, and Chair of the UK government’s science advisory committee on air quality.)

    Bunksadamcrossleylobster
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    Falling down is what we humans do. If we acknowledge that, judgment softens and we allow the world to be as it is, forgiving ourselves and others for our humanity.

    Lin Jensen

    lobsteradamcrossley
  • adamcrossleyadamcrossley Veteran UK Veteran

    My only fear of death is reincarnation.
    —2Pac

    johnathanBunkslobster
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @adamcrossley said:
    My only fear of death is reincarnation.
    —2Pac

    Interesting comment.......recently an 83 year old Buddhist lady I am friends with was asked whether she feared the Coronavirus. Her response was that she was not scared of dying but was scared of being reborn.

    adamcrossleyFrogpond
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    While growing up, many of us never had the proper tools (or guidance) to deal with difficult emotions.
    We never learned to understand our sadness or anger.
    We weren't taught how to calm our anxiety or soothe our frustration.
    Instead, we learned to distract and avoid.
    To tune out unpleasant feelings with numbing, sometimes destructive behaviour.

    But no matter what habits we developed when younger, in our adult lives, mindfulness can help us cultivate the skills of self soothing.
    Through meditation, we learn how to calm our emotions and settle our nervous system.
    We develop self acceptance and compassion.
    We learn to tenderly be with whatever arises rather than run from it.
    These tools allow us to care for our own heart.

    Daily Calm | 10 minute Mindfulness Meditation | Self Soothing

    johnathanadamcrossleyFrogpond
  • Scared of living eh?

    “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
    – Bodhi Donald Trump
    https://www.keepinspiring.me/quotes-to-live-by/

    Did I go wrong again? Tsk, tsk ...

    johnathanBunksadamcrossley
  • johnathanjohnathan Canada Veteran
    edited April 2020

    "The central silence is there where no creature may enter, nor any idea, and there the soul neither thinks nor acts nor entertains any idea, either of itself or anything else." - Meister Eckhart

    BunksFrogpondadamcrossley
  • Be like a great bird, that can fly through a storm to the peaceful expanse of sky. Fly through the storm of your afflictive emotions to the peaceful expanse of your mind.

    ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

    adamcrossleyShoshinBunks
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran
    edited April 2020

    Dependent Origination

    "Two deluded actions (links 2 & 10) arise from Three deluded causes ( links 1,8,9),Seven uncontrolled results(links 3,4,5,6,7,11,12) arise from those Two deluded actions...Again Three deluded causes arise from those Seven results...Such a wheel of life goes round and round..."

    ~Nagarjuna~

    JeffreyBunksFrogpond
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    One is not versed in Dhamma because one speaks much.
    One who, after hearing a little Dhamma, realises its truth directly and is not heedless of it, is truly versed in the Dhamma.

    Dhammapada 19.259

    Frogpondlobster
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    No need to apologise @federica - all wisdom welcome here :)

    federicaFrogpond
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    He who drinks deep the Dhamma lives happily with a tranquil mind......

    Dhammapada 79

    ShoshinFrogpondadamcrossley
  • Equanimity is not insensitivity, indifference, or apathy. It is simply nonpreferential. Under its influence, one does not push aside the things one dislikes or grasp at the things one prefers. The mind rests in an attitude of balance and acceptance of things as they are.

    —Sayadaw U Pandita, "A Perfect Balance"

    Bunkslobster
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    It's important for me to say and for you to understand, that although pratityasamutpada (Dependent Arising) comes to us through formal continuum of Buddhist practice and realisation, it is not dogma or a set of ideas to adhere to...Instead the wisdom of pratityasamutpada functions like a portal into a completely new way of understanding your mind and its world, based on direct experience. It is a powerful insight that you can use as a tool to free yourself from the confusions you have about your place in the world in which you live...I know that sounds like a big promise, but such insight is quite simple and natural, I assure you...In fact, once you step outside your habitual way of seeing things, you will marvel at its obvious truth.
    ~Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel~ (The Logic of Faith)

    lobster
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    "Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves"

    ~Nisargadatta Maharaj~

    Bunkslobster
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    What you are looking for...is what is looking
    ~ St. Francis of Assisi~

    Bunkslobsteradamcrossley
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    Rather than saying “this view” is correct and “this view” is incorrect — another form of dualism which can be discouraging for practitioners — it is a defining characteristic of Buddhism that all views can be embraced.

    — Anonymous writer at Buddha Weekly

    Bunkslobster
  • "The non-doing of any evil,
    The performance of what's skillful,
    The cleansing of one's own mind:
    This is the teaching of the Awakened"

    Well, somebody probably quoted it before, but I really like it!

    lobsterBunksWalker
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    Who so untiringly pursues the Dhamma and the Discipline
    Shall go beyond the round of births and make an end of suffering

    Diggha Nikaya 2.185

    Walker
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran


    ...it's kinda Buddhist <3

    Bunkslobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Hell is when you are tense and heaven is when you are relaxed.”

    — Osho

    Bunks
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Kerome said:
    “Hell is when you are tense and heaven is when you are relaxed.”

    — Osho

    Reminds me of the Samurai Shogun, visiting a modest little Monk...

    Walker
  • When the Buddha taught mindfulness, he always taught it as part of a whole. He never said, “Pay attention to your breath and you will be free of suffering.” More like, “Pay attention to your breath as a way of steadying the mind, and then look at your life.”

    —Craig Hase and Devon Hase,“In Brief”

    lobster
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    Walk as if you’re kissing the earth with your feet

    TNH

    Jeffreyadamcrossley
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited April 2020

    @Bunks said:
    Walk as if you’re kissing the earth with your feet

    TNH

    I think my teacher (if I recall) recommended to someone wanting to work on kindness and compassion, but a person who was not around people often, to handle inanimate objects like dishes with gentleness as a practice. Sometimes when people are angry they do the opposite like slamming doors and so forth.

    Bunkslobsteradamcrossley
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “After I ordained and started to practise, I had a lot of doubts and questions. But I didn’t like to ask anyone about them very much. Even when I met Ajahn Mun, I didn’t ask him many questions. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t. I sat and listened to his teaching. I had questions, but I didn’t ask. Asking someone else is like borrowing someone else’s knife to cut something. We never come to have our own knife. That’s the way I felt. So I didn’t ask many questions of others. If I stayed with a teacher for a year or two, I’d listen to his discourses and try to work things out for myself. I would seek my own answers.”

    — Ajahn Chah

    lobsterAlex
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited April 2020

    “These days, the youngsters who are interested in Dhamma want to know about Nibbana. What’s it like? But if we tell them about a place without becoming, they don’t want to go. They back off. It’s cessation, it’s peace, but they want to know how they will live, what they will eat and enjoy there. So there’s no end to it.”

    — Ajahn Chah

    Bunkslobster
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