BUDDHIST WISDOM

[Pravin Kumar]

All states that can be returned to external causes are obviously not you, but that which cannot be returned to anywhere, if it is not you, what is it? Therefore, you should know that your mind is fundamentally wonderful, bright, and pure and that because of your involvement with the things of the world you have covered it up and lost it. In this way you are caught on the endless wheel of becoming this or that, sinking and floating in that sea of endless becoming. Awaken yourself now to your own bright mind.

- Surangama Sutra

As a Buddhist monk my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their own happiness or satisfaction.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Oslo, December 1989


Sakka asked: "What is the cause of self-interest?" The Buddha answered: "It is perception of the world as one's object." "How does one overcome this perception of the world as apart from oneself?" "By acting for the increase of goodness and happiness. It is in this way that the world ceases to be one's object."

- Digha Nikaya


He whose senses are steadied like stallions well-trained by the charioteer, his conceit abandoned, free of effluent, Such: even devas adore him. Like the earth, he doesn't react-- cultured, Such, like Indra's pillar, like a lake free of mud. For him --Such-- there's no traveling on.

- Dhammapada 7, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu


The Lord taught a holy life Not based on tradition, For restraint and abandoning, Leading to and merging in Nibbana. This is the path followed by the great, Pursued by the lofty sages. Those who enter that course As taught by the Enlightened One, Heeding the Teacher's instruction, Will make an end of suffering.

- Itivuttaka


I declare that the overcoming of clinging to the impurities of the world is possible for a person who knows and sees but not for a person who does not know or see. In the person who knows and sees, the dustless and stainless Eye of Truth arises. Seeing the truth, he sees things as they are. Seeing the truth, the eye is born, knowledge is born, wisdom is born, science is born, and light is born.

- Samyutta Nikaya