Sayings of BUDDHA --- 1

7/29/2019 Sayings of BUDDHA --- 1

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Teachings of BuddhaThe Greatest Person Ever born in the History

"Abandon wrong. It can be done. If it were impossible to do, I would not

urge you to do so. But since it can be done, I say to you: Abandon wrong.

If abandoning wrong brought loss and sorrow, I would not urge you to do

so. But since it conduces to benefit and happiness, I urge you: Abandon

wrong.

Cultivate the good. It can be done. If it were impossible to do, I would not

urge you to do so. But since it can be done, I say to you: Cultivate thegood. If cultivating the good brought loss and sorrow, I would not urge

you to do so. But since it conduces to benefit and happiness, I urge you:

Cultivate good."

- The Buddha

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

No one saves us but ourselves, no one can and no one may. We ourselves

must walk the path but Buddhas clearly show the way.

To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the

teaching of all the Buddhas.

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

But truly, Ananda, it is nothing strange that human beings

should die.

o Digha Nikaya (DN) 16

Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.
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o Majjhima Nikaya 74; Dighanaka Sutta (this saying is also in

many other suttas as well)

This is deathless, the liberation of the mind through lack of

clinging.

o Majjhima Nikaya (MN) 106

Do not go by revelation;

Do not go by tradition;

Do not go by hearsay;

Do not go on the authority of sacred texts;

Do not go on the grounds of pure logic;

Do not go by a view that seems rational;

Do not go by reflecting on mere appearances;

Do not go along with a considered view because you agree with it;Do not go along on the grounds that the person is competent;

Do not go along because "the recluse is our teacher."

Kalamas, when you yourselves know: These things are

unwholesome, these things are blameworthy; these things are

censured by the wise; and when undertaken and observed, these

things lead to harm and ill, abandon them...

Kalamas, when you know for yourselves: These are

wholesome; these things are not blameworthy; these things

are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, thesethings lead to benefit and happiness, having undertaken

them, abide in them.

o Kalama Sutta - Angutarra Nikaya 3.65

Behold now, Bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are

subject to decay. Strive with diligence!

o Last words, as quoted in DN 16; Mahaparinibbana Sutta 6:8

o Variant translations:

o

Mendicants, I now impress it upon you, the parts andpowers of man must be dissolved; work out your own

salvation with diligence.

As quoted in Present Day Tracts on the Non-Christian

Religions of the World (1887) by Sir William Muir, p. 24

o Now, then, monks, I exhort you: All fabrications are subject to

decay. Bring about completion by being heedful.

translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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o Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things

are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!

translated by Sister Vajira & Francis Story

Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto

yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your

island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge. And

how, Ananda, is a bhikkhu an island unto himself, a refuge unto

himself, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as his island,

the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge? When he

dwells contemplating the body in the body, earnestly, clearly

comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and

sorrow in regard to the world; when he dwells contemplating

feelings in feelings, the mind in the mind, and mental objects in

mental objects, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully,

after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world,

then, truly, he is an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself,

seeking no external refuge; having the Dhamma as his island, the

Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge. Those bhikkhus of

mine, Ananda, who now or after I am gone, abide as an island unto

themselves, as a refuge unto themselves, seeking no other refuge;

having the Dhamma as their island and refuge, seeking no other

refuge: it is they who will become the highest, if they have the

desire to learn.o Mahaparinibbana Sutta 2:33-35, as translated by Sister Vajira

& Francis Story

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

o As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of

Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) edited by Larry

Chang, p. 193

Exertion

Full text online, as translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Sensual passions are your first enemy.

Your second is called Discontent.

Your third is Hunger & Thirst.

Your fourth is called Craving.

Fifth is Sloth & Drowsiness.
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Sixth is called Terror.

Your seventh is Uncertainty.

Hypocrisy & Stubbornness, your eighth.

Gains, Offerings, Fame, & Status wrongly gained,

and whoever would praise self& disparage others.

That, Namuci, is your enemy,

the Dark One's commando force.

A coward can't defeat it,

but one having defeated it

gains bliss.

I spit on my life.

Death in battle would be better for me

than that I, defeated, survive.

o This statement is made in reference to his battle against the

personification of temptation to evil, Mara.

That army of yours,

that the world with its devas can't overcome,

I will smash with discernment

I will go about, from kingdom to kingdom,

training many disciples.

They heedful, resolute

doing my teachings

despite your wishes, will go

where, having gone,

there's no grief.

Sn 3.2, Buddha's Purpose

After Enlightenment

Open are the doors to the Deathless

to those with ears.

Let them show their conviction.

o Ayacana Sutta
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In a world become blind,

I beat the drum of the Deathless.

o Ariyapariyesana Sutta

Conquerors are those like me

who have reached fermentations' end.

I've conquered evil qualities,

and so, Upaka, I'm a conqueror

o Ariyapariyesana Sutta

Dhammapada

These are just a few samples, for more from this work see the page

for the Dhammapada'

No one saves us but ourselves, no one can and no one may.

We ourselves must walk the path but Buddhas clearly show

the way.

o Ch. 165

To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind

yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.

o Ch. 183

Can there be joy and laughter When always the world is ablaze?

Enshrouded in darkness Should you not seek a light?

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

o As translated by T. Byrom (1993), Shambhala Publications.

Anguttara Nikaya

Friends

Nothing is as intractable as an untamed heart.

The untamed heart is intractable.

Nothing is as tractable as a tamed heart.

The tamed heart is tractable.

Nothing tends toward loss as does an untamed heart.

The untamed heart tends towards loss.

Nothing tends toward growth as does a tamed heart.
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The tamed heart tends towards growth.

Nothing brings suffering as does

the untamed, uncontrolled unattended and unrestrained heart.

That heart brings suffering.

Nothing brings joy as does atamed, controlled, attended and restrained heart.

This heart brings joy.

Samyutta Nikaya

Online Translations

Whatever is felt is within suffering.

o 36.11

Soma and Mara An adapation of a translation by C.A.F. Rhys-Davids

Once Soma, having returned from her alms round

and having eaten her meal, entered the woods to meditate.

Deep in the woods, she sat down under a tree.

Everything changes, nothing remains without change....

The tempter Mara, desirous and capable of arousing fear, wavering

and dread,and wishing her to interrupt her focused meditation, came to her

and said,

Your intent is difficult, even for the sages;

Completion cannot be reached by a woman regardless the wisdom

reaped."

Then Soma thought, "Who is this speaking, human or nonhuman?

Surely it is evil Mara desiring to interrupt my focused meditation."

Knowing that it was Mara, she said,

"What does gender matter with regard to a well-composed mind,which experiences insight in the light of the dharma?"

The evil Mara thought, "Soma knows me"

and sorrowful for the evil, instantly vanished into darkness.

In protecting oneself, others are protected; In protecting others, oneself is

protected.

Bamboo Acrobats An adaptation of a translation by John Ireland.
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The Exalted One was dwelling in the Sumbha country,

in a location of the Sumbhas called Sedaka

There He addressed the monks:

"Once upon a time, a bamboo-acrobat set up his pole

and called to his pupil, Medakathalika, saying,'Come my lad Medakathalika,

climb the pole and stand on my shoulders!'

'All right master,'

replied the pupil to the bamboo-acrobat.

The student then climbed the pole

and stood on the master's shoulders.

Then the bamboo-acrobat said to his pupil:

'Now Medakathalika, protect me well and I shall protect you.

Thus watched and warded by each other,

we will show our tricks, get a good fee and

come down safe from the bamboo pole.'

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well

what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that

leads to wisdom.

At these words Medakathalika the pupil

said to the bamboo-acrobat,

'No, no! That won't do master!Look after yourself and I'll look after myself.

Thus watched and warded each by himself,

we'll show our tricks and get a good fee and

come down safe from the bamboo-pole.'"

"In the synthesis is the right way,"

said the Exalted One,

"Just as Medakathalika the pupil said to his master,

'I shall protect myself,'

by this the Foundation of Mindfulness is practiced.'I shall protect others,'

by this the Foundation of Mindfulness is practiced.

In protecting oneself, others are protected;

In protecting others, oneself is protected."

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both

true and kind, they can change our world.

And how does one in protecting oneself, protect others?
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By frequent practice, development and

making much of the Foundation of Mindfulness.

Thus in protecting oneself, others are protected.

And how does one, in protecting others, protect oneself?

By forbearance and nonviolence,By loving kindness and compassion.

Thus in protecting others, one protects oneself.

With the intention, 'I shall protect myself,'

the Foundation of Mindfulness is practiced.

With the intention, 'I shall protect others,'

the Foundation of Mindfulness is practiced.

In protecting oneself, others are protected;

In protecting others, oneself is protected."

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of dukkha: the

craving that makes for further becoming accompanied by passion

& delight, relishing now here & now there i.e., craving for sensual

pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

o 56.11 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of

Dhamma in Motion translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The Gospel of Buddha (1894)

The Gospel of Buddha is a compilation from ancient records by PaulCarus

Neither fire, nor moisture, nor wind can destroy the blessing of good

deeds, and blessings enlighten the whole world.

Ch. 58 The Buddha Replies to the Deva

On a certain day when the Blessed One

dwelt at Jetavana, the garden ofAnathapindika,a celestial deva came to him in the shape of a Brahman

enlightened and wearing clothing as white as snow.

The deva asked,

What is the sharpest sword?

What is the deadliest poison?

What is the fiercest fire?
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What is the darkest night?"

The Blessed One replied,

The sharpest sword is a word spoken in wrath;

the deadliest poison is covetousness;

the fiercest fire is hatred;

the darkest night is ignorance.

The deva said,

What is the greatest gain?

What is the greatest loss?

Which armour is invulnerable?

What is the best weapon?


The greatest gain is to give to others;

the greatest loss is to greedily receive without gratitude;

an invulnerable armor is patience;

the best weapon is wisdom.

The deva said,

Who is the most dangerous thief?

What is the most precious treasure?

Who can capture the heavens and the earth?

Where is the securest treasure-trove?

A saviour has a greater right over the saved one than killer.


The most dangerous thief is unwholesome thought;

the most precious treasure is virtue;

the heavens and the earth may be captured by the mind's eye;

surpassing rebirth locates the securest treasure-trove.

The deva asked,

What is attraction?
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What is repulsion?

What is the most horrible pain?

What is the greatest enjoyment?

The Buddha replied,

Attraction is wholeness;

repulsion is unwholesomeness;

the most tormenting pain is bad conscience;

the height of bliss is redeemed awakening.

The deva asked,

What causes ruin in the world?What breaks off friendships?

What is the most violent fever?

Who is the best physician?"


Ruin in the world is caused by ignorance;

friendships are broken off by envy and selfishness;

the most violent fever is hatred;

the best physician is the Buddha;

The deva continued,

Now I have only one doubt to resolve and absolve:

What is it fire cannot burn,

nor moisture corrode,

nor wind crush down,

but is able to enlighten the whole world.

To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.

The Buddha replied,

Blessing!

Neither fire, nor moisture, nor wind

can destroy the blessing of good deeds,

and blessings enlighten the whole world.
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Hearing these answers,

the deva was overflowing with joy.

Then clasping hands, bowed down in respect and

disappeared suddenly from the presence of the Buddha.

True charity occurs only when there are no notions of giving, giver,

or gift.

o David Ross, 1,001 Pearls of Wisdom, 2006, p. 26

We forgive principally for our own sake, so that we may cease to

bear the burden of rancour.


Rather than continuing to seek the truth, simply let go of yourviews.


Disputed

These quotes are unsourced and their authenticity as sayings of the

Gautama Buddha has been questioned.

Life is no more than a dewdrop balancing on the end of a blade of grass.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to

give yourself to it.

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of

the candle will not be shortened. Just as the candle won't be

shortened, one's happiness never decreases by being shared.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the

past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment

wisely and earnestly.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are

both true and kind, they can change our world.

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life

would change.
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Let us all be thankful for this day, for we have learned a great deal;

if we have not learned a great deal, then at least we learned

slightly; if we did not learn slightly, then at least we did not become

sick; if we did become sick, then at least we did not die. So, let us all

be thankful.

On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter,

wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by

night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a

life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

Desire is the cause for all your sickness and misery.

It is your mind that creates this world.

Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it

or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have

imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out

of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination

and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the

welfare of all beingsthat doctrine believe and cling to, and take it

as your guide.

o Reported in Life (March 7, 1955), p. 102. Reported in

unverified in his writings in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary

of Quotations (1989).

Quotes about Buddha

The Buddha is a being who is totally free of all delusions and faults, who is

endowed with all good qualities and has attained the wisdom eliminatingthe darkness of ignorance. ~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Buddha in a different language called men to self-forgetfulness five

hundred years before Christ. In some ways he was near to us and our

needs. ~ H. G. Wells

The age in which true history appeared in India was one of great

intellectual and spiritual ferment. Mystics and sophists of all kinds
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roamed through the Ganga Valley, all advocating some form of

mental discipline and asceticism as a means to salvation; but the

age of the Buddha, when many of the best minds were abandoning

their homes and professions for a life of asceticism, was also a time

of advance in commerce and politics. It produced not onlyphilosophers and ascetics, but also merchant princes and men of

action.

o Arthur Llewellyn Basham inThe Wonder that was India (1954)

For the first time in human history, the Buddha admonished,

entreated and appealed to people not to hurt a living being, and it is

not necessary to offer prayer, praise or sacrifice to gods. With all

the eloquence at his command the Buddha vehemently proclaimed

that gods are also in dire need of salvation themselves.

o Thomas William Rhys Davids

India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of

Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother,

through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through

the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through

the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother

India is in many ways the mother of us all.

o Will Durant,prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher

in The Case for India (1931)

I have no hesitation in declaring that I owe a great deal to the

inspiration that I have derived from the life of the Enlightened One.

Asia has a message for the whole world, if only it would live up to it.

There is the imprint of Buddhistic influence on the whole of Asia,

which includes India, China, Japan, Burma, Ceylon, and the Malay

States. For Asia to be not for Asia but for the whole world, it has to

re-learn the message of the Buddha and deliver it to the whole

world. His love, his boundless love went out as much to the loweranimal, to the lowest life as to human beings. And he insisted upon

purity of life.

o Mahatma Gandhi

The Buddha is a being who is totally free of all delusions and faults,

who is endowed with all good qualities and has attained the wisdom

eliminating the darkness of ignorance. The Dharma is the result of

his enlightenment. After having achieved enlightenment, a Buddha
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teaches, and what he or she teaches is called the Dharma. The

Sangha is made up of those who engage in the practice of the

teachings given by the Buddha. . . . One of the benefits of refuge is

that all of the misdeeds you have committed in the past can be

purified, because taking refuge entails accepting the Buddha'sguidance and following a path of virtuous action.

o Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, in The Way to Freedom'.

Now in this realm Buddha's speeches are a source and mine of quite

unparalleled richness and depth. As soon as we cease to regard

Buddha's teachings simply intellectually and acquiesce with a

certain sympathy in the age-old Eastern concept of unity, if we allow

Buddha to speak to us as vision, as image, as the awakened one,

the perfect one, we find him, almost independently of the

philosophic content and dogmatic kernel of his teachings, a great

prototype of mankind. Whoever attentively reads a small number of

the countless speeches of Buddha is soon aware of harmony in

them, a quietude of soul, a smiling transcendence, a totally

unshakeable firmness, but also invariable kindness, endless

patience. As ways and means to the attainment of this holy

quietude of soul, the speeches are full of advice, precepts, hints.

The intellectual content of Buddha's teaching is only half his work,

the other half is his life, his life as lived, as labour accomplished and

action carried out. A training, a spiritual self training of the highestorder was accomplished and is taught here, a training about which

unthinking people who talk about "quietism" and "Hindu

dreaminess" and the like in connection with Buddha have no

conception; they deny him the cardinal Western virtue of activity.

Instead Buddha accomplished a training for himself and his pupils,

exercised a discipline, set up a goal, and produced results before

which even the genuine heroes of European action can only feel

awe.

o Herman Hesse

For natures such asJesus of Nazareth, Mohammed and Gautama

Buddha is already the capacity of its openness for a world vision

part of its application documents. With its virtues, experiences and

abilities they belong to each post written out in the world with each

interview to the most promising candidates and easy are erhalten.
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o James Redfield, in the Manual of the 10th Celestine Prophecy

part of I: The threshold; Heyne publishing house Munich,

German-language edition 1997,ISBN 3-453-11809X

If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains

the same, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether the electron's

position changes with time, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether the

electron is at rest, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether it is in

motion, we must say 'no'. The Buddha has given such answers when

interrogated as to the conditions of a man's self after his death; but

they are not familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and

eighteenth century science.

o J. Robert Oppenheimer

The fundamental teachings of Gautama, as it is now being madeplain to us by study of original sources, is clear and simple and in

the closest harmony with modern ideas. It is beyond all disputes the

achievement of one of the most penetrating intelligence the world

has ever known. Buddhism has done more for the advance of world

civilization and true culture than any other influence in the

chronicles of mankind.

o H. G. Wells

The Buddha Is Nearer to Us You see clearly a man, simple, devout,lonely, battling for light, a vivid human personality, not a myth.

Beneath a mass of miraculous fable I feel that there also was a man.

He too, gave a message to mankind universal in its character. Many

of our best modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the

miseries and discontents of life are due, he taught, to selfishness.

Selfishness takes three forms one, the desire to satisfy the

senses; second, the craving for immortality; and the third the desire

for prosperity and worldliness. Before a man can become serene he

must cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he merges into agreater being. Buddha in a different language called men to self-

forgetfulness five hundred years before Christ. In some ways he was

near to us and our needs. Buddha was more lucid upon our

individual importance in service than Christ, and less ambiguous

upon the question of personal immortality.

o H. G. Wells, inThe Outline of History Ch. 25
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The teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not

proclaim them to be infallible. The religion of Buddha has the

capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other

religion can claim to have ... Now what is the basis of Buddhism? If

you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason.There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in

any other religion.

o Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , Indian scholar, philosopher and

architect of Constitution of India, in his writing and speeches
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bhimrao_Ramji_Ambedkarhttp://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bhimrao_Ramji_Ambedkar

Documents

Sayings of BUDDHA --- 1