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...

An Eternal Now SG

I may say that there is nothing to be changed but the revolutionary teachers come and tell us that there is something there in which you have to bring about a radical revolution then we assume there is such a thing as soul, spirit or the self. What I assert all the time is that I haven't found anything like the self or soul there. This question haunted me all my life and suddenly it hit me, “There is no self to realize. What the hell have I been doing all this time?” You see, that hits you like lightning. Once that hits you, the whole mechanism of the body that is controlled by this thought is shattered. What is left is the tremendous living organism with an intelligence of its own. What you are left with is the pulse, the beat and the throb of life.

~ U.G. Krishnamurti

An Eternal Now SG

Do not rely upon the individual, but rely upon the teaching.
As far as the teachings go, do not rely upon the words alone, but rely upon the
meaning that underlies them.
Regarding the meaning, do not rely upon the provisional meaning alone, but rely
upon the definitive meaning.
And regarding the definitive meaning, do not rely upon ordinary consciousness,
but rely upon wisdom awareness.

..........

O bhiksus and wise men,
Just as a goldsmith would test his gold
By burning, cutting, and rubbing it,
So you must examine my words and accept them,
But not merely out of reverence for me.

~ Buddha

An Eternal Now SG

Do you think that when Rembrandt was painting, he stood there with a brush in his hand thinking, "Okay, I wonder what my next brushstroke is going to be. If I put it there then it may clash with that. I'm not quite sure, but maybe two more centimeters to the right, let's measure it. It might look better over . . ." Creativity arises out of the state of thoughtless presence in which you are much more awake than when you are engrossed in thinking.

~ Eckhart Tolle

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."

— Shakyamuni Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya

An Eternal Now SG

There is nothing much to realize. There is a self-affirming clarity beyond all thoughts. However this clarity does not really exist. Thats it LOL.

~ AlwaysOn

Isis SG

Training is needed in order to love properly; and to be able to give happiness and joy, you must practice DEEP LOOKING directed toward the other person you love. Because if you do not understand this person, you cannot love properly. Understanding is the essence of love. If you cannot understand, you cannot love. That is the message of the Buddha. [True Love. A Practice for Awakening the Heart.]

Thich Nhat Hanh

An Eternal Now SG

"Hearing the dharma but not believing is still cause for the fruition of the seed of Buddhahood. Training on the Buddhist path but not completing it is still merit surpassing that of men and gods."

~ Secrets on Mind-Only

Rooney9 SG

His last words to his disciples. all conditioned things are subject to changes, strive on with diligence.

An Eternal Now SG

- forwarded -

An Eternal Now SG

Seon Master Ta‐hui Tsung‐kao :

An Eternal Now SG

Zen Master Chinul:

If we consider our actions in our past wanderings in samsara, we have no way of knowing for how many thousands of kalpas we have fallen into the darkness or entered the Interminable Hell and endured all kinds of suffering.³⁴ Nor can we know how many times we have aspired to the path to Buddhahood but, because we did not meet with wise advisors, remained submerged in the sea of birth and death for long kalpas, dark and unenlightened, performing all sorts of evil actions. Though we may reflect on this once in a while, we cannot imagine the duration of our misery. How can we relax and suffer again the same calamities as before? Furthermore, what allowed us to be born this time as human beings―the guiding spirits of all the ten thousand things―who are clear about the right road of cultivation? Truly, a human birth is as difficult to ensure as "a blind turtle putting its head through a hole in a piece of wood floating on the ocean"³⁹ or "a mustard seed falling onto the point of a needle." How can we possibly express how fortunate we are?

An Eternal Now SG

"You don't need to seek revenge, because kamma will get the bastards anyway!"

~ Ajahn Brahmavamso

An Eternal Now SG

“….At the subquantum level, the level in which the quantum potential operates, location ceases to exist. All points in space become equal to all other points in space, and it's meaningless to speak of anything as being separate from anything else.”

Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe

An Eternal Now SG

Mind accords with all circumstances, yet doesn't arise or cease.
The sages of old praised this, calling it zazen.
Blind people wear out their cushions waiting for enlightenment.
Just like trying to make a mirror by polishing a brick.

~ Bankei

An Eternal Now SG

见证真心

不明空性

只是明心

并未见性

.....

天地法界，一切皆相

因缘显相，无净无染

心生分别，净染方生

烦恼虽生，还是因缘

.....

明蕴即心，即是明心

蕴随缘现，即是见性

所谓自然，只是因缘

性本自然，无为而显

.....

强断烦恼

只是妄动

缘尽当了

方是功夫

~ Thusness

Isis SG

Don't believe in the reality of experiences, good or bad. They are like rainbows.

---------

~Poem~ by Lama Gendun Rinpoche
http://www.facebook.com/notes/buddha-blessings/poem-by-lama-gendun-rimpoche/443892231412

Happiness is not to be found with many efforts or will, but is here, nearby, in your relaxing and surrendering.
Don't worry, there is nothing to be done.
Everything that comes up to your mind has no importance because it has no reality.
Don't conceive any attachment for it.
Don't judge yourself.
Let it be.
Let it come up and down without changing a thing.
It all vanishes and begins again, endlessly.
Nothing but the quest for happiness prevents us from seeing it.
It is like a rainbow that one is always chasing without ever reaching it.
It is because it has no existence.
It has always been here and goes with you all the time.
Don't believe in the reality of experiences, good or bad.
They are like rainbows.
Because we want to grasp what is not to be grasped,
We exhaust our strength in vain.
As soon as we relinquish our hold, space is here, open, welcoming & comfortable.
So, do enjoy it.
Everything is yours already.
Stop searching.
Don't go into the jungle to look for the elephant that is quietly waiting for you at home.
There is nothing to do.
There is nothing to force.
There is nothing to desire.
And all comes by itself.

An Eternal Now SG

http://www.beingwithoutself.org/talks/TheUnconditioned.pdf

When I smell a flower, I don't smell a flower. At that moment there's just [smelling
a flower] "Ahhh!" There is no self at that moment, nor is there a flower. Everyday, in
our living experience of the moment, we are confirming the truth of those apparently
incomprehensible, ambiguous Buddhist statements. But we fail to fully realize it for
what it is. Instead, the knot of "I" returns and boundless reality is reduced to myself
facing some thing — a fragrant flower, a smelly shoe, whatever. By our restless
mental habits, the living experience turns into something experienced by me. But
it's undeniable: The actual "undoing" of the self — the vital core of Buddhism — is
under our feet at every step. It is every step. We are like small children who
carefully tie up our sneakers then run out and play; before we know it they're untied
again! It's clear: What we think of as ourselves is not substantially real. In fact, we
are constantly losing ourselves. Self-undone is living reality, not some vague ideal
to be attained in the future through self-effort.

Someone might object, "But we need the self. Without the self we couldn't make
decisions, we couldn't even lose ourselves." Sounds logical. But it's not true. The
renowned Japanese Zen master Bankei often used the example of hearing sounds
outside while listening to a talk. You're absorbed in listening to my talk right now.
But if a car passes by, you know it's a car. And if a dog barks you know it's a dog,
not a cat or a car. How, Bankei asks, do we know? How are we knowing these
things without even directing ourselves toward them, without reflecting on them at
all? His answer is the Unborn Buddha-mind. That is, the unconditioned at work. The
moment the crow caws we know it perfectly without having to reflect on it or turn in
into anything.

Another example Bankei uses is walking down a crowded street. If you happen to
be with a friend, you don't need to stop talking, nor do you need to consciously
navigate through the crowd. You both effortlessly weave around the other people as
you continue your conversation. How in the world do we do that? Can we do it
because we have a self? Or because we don't have a self? If I called out your name
right now you'd respond. From where? — Where do we come from? Who are we
before our name has been called? As it's said in Buddhism, any other self is like
putting a head on top of the one we already have. It's like taking our original,
unfettered freedom, stuffing it in a shoe and tying it up tight, then strutting around
the meditation hall saying, "Look at me!"

......

Let's end where we began. "This is unconditional. Were it not for this, there would
be no emancipation for the conditioned. But since there is indeed this,
unconditional, all conditions are emancipated!" I have looked at many English
translations and, with the help of some scholars of Indian Buddhism, at the Pali
text. A number of the translators rendered it as emancipation from the conditions.
The Pali itself is ambiguous and can be read either way. I suggest it should be read
as emancipation for the conditions. Why? Because rendering it as emancipation
from the conditions suggests that, through practice, I am getting away from the
troubling conditions by holding onto some unconditional Self.

An Eternal Now SG

The master said to the assembly,

Good friends, the true teaching originally is neither sudden nor gradual; it is human temperaments that may be quick or slow. People who are lost cultivate gradually, while people who are awakened attain suddenly. When you know your own original mind and see your own original nature, then there is no difference. That is why the temporary terms sudden and gradual are set up.

Good friends, since time immemorial this school of ours has first established freedom from thought as the source, freedom from form as the subtance, and freedom from fixation as the basis.

Freedom from form means detachment from forms in the midst of forms. Freedom from thought means having no thought in the midst of thoughts. As for freedom from fixation, while the basic nature of humanity is in the midst of the world, with good and bad, beauty and ugliness, enmity and familiarity, words and speech, offense and attack, deception and contention, one considers it all empty and does not think of retaliation, not thinking about the objects in the surroundings. If thought after thought, previous, present , and subsequent thoughts, go on continuing uninterrupted, this is called bondage. When thought after thought does not dwell on things, then there is no bondage. Thus freedom from fixation is basic.

Good friends, outwardly being detached from all forms and appearances is called freedom from form. If you can be detached from forms and appearances, then the substance of things is pure. Thus freedom from form is the substance.

Good friends, when the mind is not influenced by objects, this is called freedom from thought. One is always detached from objects in one's own thoughts, and one does not arouse the mind over objects. If you just do not think of anything at all, and get rid of all thoughts entirely, once all thoughts end you die and come back to life someplace else. This is a big mistake; those who study the Way should think about it.

If you do not know the intention of the teaching, you go wrong yourself, and can also mislead others. Your self-delusion is not visible to you. You even misrepresent Buddhist scripture. That is why we establish freedom from thought as the source.

~ 6th Ch'an Patriarch Hui-neng, Platform Sutra

geis SG

im currently reading up on Shantideva The Way Of The Bodhisattva, so will share the verses as i study them (more can be found in my blog). anyone who would like to contribute pls feel free to chip in.

Chapter 1 The Excellence of Bodhichitta

geis SG

Chapter 1 The Excellence of Bodhichitta

The Way Of The Bodhisattva

Chapter 1 The Excellence of Bodhichitta 1.5 - 1.9

1.5

As when a flash of lightning rends the night,

And in its glare shows all the dark black clouds had hid,

Likewise rarely, through the buddhas’ power,

Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the

World.

1.6

Thus behold the utter frailty of goodness!

Except for perfect bodhichitta,

There is nothing able to withstand

The great and overwhelming strength of evil.

1.7

The mighty buddhas, pondering for many ages,

Have seen that this, and only this, will save

The boundless multitudes,

And bring them easily to supreme joy.

1.8

Those who wish to overcome the sorrows of their lives,

And put to flight the pain and suffering of beings,

Those who wish to win such great beatitude,

Should never turn their back on bodhichitta

1.9

Should bodhichitta come to birth

In one who suffers in the dungeons of samsara,

In that instant he is called the buddhas’ heir,

Worshipful alike to gods and men.

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