Daily Buddhist Verses

last SG · 2005-05-29T17:49:29+00:00

Our normal way of relating people is to see ourself as separate from the others.To objectify beings as separate you and make them an object of attachment is...

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This world is full of suffering. Being a person is also suffering, but it is the only way to become a saint and a Buddha.

~ Master Cheng Yan

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Just know what is happening in your mind not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, and be empty. It's like a letter - you have to open it before you can know what's in it.

~ Ajahn Chah

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Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherent complained of the stinginess of his wife. Mokusen visited the adherent's wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face.

"What do you mean by that?" asked the surprised woman.

"Suppose my fist were always like that, what would you call it?" he asked.

"Deformed." replied the woman.

Then he opened his hand flat in her face and asked, "Suppose it were always like that, what then?"

"Another kind of deformity," said the wife.

"If you understand that much," finished Mokusen, " you are a good wife."
Then he left.

After his visit, this wife helped her husdand to distribute as well as to save.

~Muju, Shaseki - shu

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Giving is the most important requirement for practicing the Bodhisattva way. If we could sum up all the methods in Buddhism, we would find that all methods accord with the Six Paramitas. When we condense the Six Paramitas, we find that their essence is giving.

~ Ven Master Chin Kung

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The giving of wealth results in obtaining wealth, the giving of teaching results in attaining wisdom and the giving of fearlessness results in obtaining health and long life. Therefore, if we wish to have wealth, wisdom and long and healthy lives in our future, we need to nurture and establish these causes in this lifetime.

Only a small number of people obtain the results from causes they developed in their early years. Regardless of the time frame, we must develope the cause to receive the result. This is the Law of Cause and Effect. And this Law never changes.

~ Ven Master Chin Kung, Buddhism:The Wisdom of Compassion and Awakening

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The person who lies,
who transgress in this one thing,
transcending concern for the world beyond:
there's no evil
he might not do.

_ Iti 25

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu , Noble Conversation

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How blissful it is, for one who has nothing
who has mastered the Dharma,
is learned.

See how they suffer, those who have something,
people bound in body
with people.

_ Ud II.5

An Eternal Now SG

~Non Duality~

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How do we let go? To let go you must willing to "give". You give a little, you receive a little; you give alot, you receive alot; you don't give at all, you receive nothing.
What is the ultimate perfect giving that Buddha teaches us? Everybody, do you have vexations? Yes! Then why don't you give them away?
Do you have any worries? Do you have fears? Do you have Birth and Death? Cycle of rebirth? Give away all these and you attain great perfection and freedom.

~ Ven master Chin Kung

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The True Path

Just before Ninakawa passed away, the Zen master Ikkyu visited him. "Shall I lead you on? " Ikkyu asked.

Ninakawa replied: "I came here alone and I go alone. What help could you be to me? "

Ikkyu answered: "If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going."

With his words Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that NInakawa smiled and passed away.

~ Muju, Shaseki-shu

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Better than a hundred years
lived without virtue, uncentered, is
one day
lived by a virtuous person
absorded in jhana.

~ Dhp110

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" 'This Dhamma is for one who is modest, not for one who is self-aggrandizing.' Thus was it said. With reference to what was it said? There is the case where a monk, being modest, doesn't want it to be known that 'He is modest." Being content, he doesn't want it to be known that 'He is content.' Being reclusive, he doesn't want it to be known that 'He is reclusive.' His persistence being aroused, he doesn't want it to be known that 'His perssistence is aroused.' His mindfulness being established, he doesn't want it to be known that "His mindfulness is established.' His mind being centered, he doesn't want it to be known that 'His mind is centered.' Being endowed with discernment, he doesn't want it to be known that 'He is endowed with discernment.' Enjoying non-complication, he doesn't want it to be known that 'He is enjoying non-complication.' "

~ AN VIII.30

An Eternal Now SG

Luminous is this mind,
Brightly shining, but it is
Colored by the attachments
That visit it.
This unlearned people do not
Really understand,
And so do not cultivate the
Mind.
Luminous is this mind,
Brightly shining,
And it is free of the
Attachments that visit it.
This the noble follower
Of the way really understands;
So for them there is
Cultivation of the mind.

- Anguttara Nikaya

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When you run after your thoughts you are like a dog chasing a stick; every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. But if, instead, you look at where your thoughts are coming from, you will see that each thought arises and dissolves within the space of that awareness, without engendering other thoughts. Be like a lion, who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. You only throw a stick at a lion once.

~ Milarepa, quoted by the late Dilgo Khyentse in Like a Mirror, Like a Rainbow, Like the Heart of the Sun

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Being born a human being is a rare event in itself, and it is wise to use this opportunity as beneficially as possible. We must keep in mind that we all want the same thing, so that one person or group does not seek happiness or glory at the expense of others.

~ Dalai Lama, How to See Yourself As You Really Are

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" 'This Dhamma is for one who is content, not for one who is discontent.' Thus was it said. With reference to what was it said? There is the case where a monk is content with any old robe cloth at all, any old almsfood, any old lodging, any old medicinal requisites for curing sickness at all'"

~ AN VIII.30

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A realised practitioner sees that the result of having many desires is poverty and the result of joyful giving is wealth. A contented person knows that wealth and treasures do not necessarily belong to oneself. Only wealth used in a wise way truly belongs to oneself.

~ Ven. Shi Fazhao

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Without pure morality, you cannot generate wisdom. Without wisdom, you cannot develop true renunciation. Without rennciation, you cannot develop universal compassion. Without pure compassion, there will be no pure bodhicitta. Without pure bodhicitta, no Buddhahood!

~ Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel

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The Buddha said that satisfaction was the greatest wealth, that a person who is satisfied although he may possess little is really the wealthiest of all.

~ Buddhist scholar Peter Della

An Eternal Now SG

Awareness

Awareness cannot be taught, and when it is present it has no context. All contexts are created by thought and are therefore corruptible by thought. Awareness simply throws light on what is, without any separation whatsoever.

Awareness, insight, enlightenment, wholeness - whatever words one may pick to label what cannot be caught in words - is not the effect of a cause. Activity does not destroy it and sitting does not create it. It isn't a product of anything - no technique, method, environment, tradition, posture, activity, or nonactivity can create it. It is there, uncreated, freely functioning in wisdom and love, when self-centered conditioning is clearly revealed in all its grossness and subtleness and defused in the light of understanding.

Can the inner noise be entirely left alone while attending? When the changing states of body-mind are simply left to themselves without any choice or judgment - left unreacted to by a controlling or repressive will - a new quietness emerges by itself.

Sitting motionlessly quiet, for minutes or hours, regardless of length of time, is being in touch with the movements of the body-mind, gross and subtle, dull and clear, shallow and deep, without any opposition, resistance, grasping, or escape. It is being in intimate touch with the whole network of thoughts, sensations, feelings, and emotions without judging them good or bad, right or wrong without wanting anything to continue or stop. It is an inward seeing without knowing, an open sensitivity to what is going on inside and out flowing without grasping or accumulation. Stillness in the midst of motion and commotion is free of will, direction, and time. It is a complete letting be of what is from moment to moment.

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, not knowing what is next and not concerned with what was or what may be next, a new mind is operating that is not connected with the conditioned past and yet perceives and understands the whole mechanism of conditioning. It is the unmasking of the self that is nothing but masks images, memories of past experiences, fears, hopes, and the ceaseless demand to be something or become somebody. This new mind that is no-mind is free of duality there is no doer in it and nothing to be done.

~ Toni Packer

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