BUDDHIST WISDOM

[Pravin Kumar]

It does not matter whether you are a theist or atheist, what matters is sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Happiness cannot come from hatred or anger. Nobody can say, "Today I am happy because this morning I was very angry." On the contrary, people feel uneasy and sad and say, "Today I am not happy because I lost my temper this morning." Through kindness, whether at our own level or at the national and international level, through mutual understanding and through mutual respect, we will get peace, we will get happiness, and we will get genuine satisfaction.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Like a fine stallion Struck with a whip, Be ardent & chastened. Through conviction Virtue, persistence, Concentration, judgment, Consummate in knowledge & conduct, Mindful, You'll abandon this not-insignificant pain.

- Dhammapada, 10, translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.


Like a fine stallion Struck with a whip, Be ardent & chastened. Through conviction Virtue, persistence, Concentration, judgment, Consummate in knowledge & conduct, Mindful, You'll abandon this not-insignificant pain.

- Dhammapada, 10, translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.


Ch'eng-t'ien was asked, "How should I apply my mind twenty-four hours a day?" He replied, "When chickens are cold, they roost in trees; when ducks are cold, they plunge into water." The questioner said, "Then I dont need cultivated realization, and won't pursue Buddhahood or Zen mastery." Cheng-t'ien responded, "You've saved half my effort."

When there is grasping, the grasper Comes into existence. If he did not grasp, Then being freed, he would not come into existence.

- Nagarjuna, "Mulamadhyamaka-Karika"

The Buddha  was asked: "Is there only one summit of consciousness or are there several?" He replied: "One and several. As one state of consciousness is realized, then the next is seen. Thus there are several and there is one." He was then asked: "Which is first, awareness or knowledge?" "Awareness arises first and then comes knowledge. One can then say, 'Because of my awareness, I know this as a fact.'"

- Digha Nikaya

And better than a hundred years lived without seeing arising and passing away, is one day lived seeing arising and passing away.

- Dhammapada, 113, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu


Subhuti asked: "How should an ordinary person be taught the truth?" The Buddha answered: "By asking the person this: 'How can that which existed in the past become non-existent now?' This inquiry will lead to the realization that there is nothing that ever existed that is a permanent entity or an eternal self. Then the questioner will see that there is both existence and nonexistence."

- Prajnaparamita


Since the old days, it is said that "anger is the fire in one's mind that burns away all of one's virtuous deeds." Anger should be absolutely surrendered.

- Jae Woong Kim, "Polishing the Diamond"


Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. Consider, for example: a magician who cuts his body into many parts and places each part in a different region--hands in the south, arms in the east, legs in the north, and then by some miraculous power lets forth a cry which reassembles whole every part of his body. Mindfulness is like that--it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

Phenomena are preceded by the heart ruled by the heart, made of the heart. If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart, then happiness follows you, like a shadow that never leaves.

- Dhammapada, 1, translated by Thanissaro Bhikku.