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...

MiddleWay87 SG

The holy life is not lived for the advantages that come from gains, honours or fame; it is not lived for the advantages that come from morality; it is not lived for the advantages that come from concentration, nor is it lived for the advantages that come from knowledge and vision. But that which is unshakable freedom of mind - that is the aim of the holy life, that is the goal, that is the culmination.

Majjhima Nikaya I.197

MiddleWay87 SG

At that time, the Brahmin Sundarika Bharadvaja was sitting not far from the Lord and he said: "Does the good Gotama go down to bathe in the Bahuka River?"
    "What is there in the Bahuka River? Of what value is the Bahuka River?"
    "But, good Gotama, many people believe that they can be purified in the Bahuka River. They wash away their evil deeds in it."
    Then the Lord said:

        In the Bahuka and at Adhikakka,
        At Gaya and in the Sundarika,
        In the Sarassati and at Payaga
        Or in the river Bahumati,
        The fool, though he enter constantly,
        Cannot wash away his evil deeds.

        What can these rivers do?
        They cannot purify the bad person
        Or one who is intent on evil.
        For the good person, every day is special.
        For the good person, every day is holy.

        The good practise good every day.
        Bathe in that, protect all beings.

        If you speak no lie, do no harm,
        Steal not, if you believe and are generous,
        What can be the good of going to Gaya?
        Gaya is the same as your well at home.

Majjhima Nikaya I.39

MiddleWay87 SG

There are two people you can never repay. What two? Your father and your mother.
Even if you were to carry them on your back and live a hundred years, supporting them, anointing them with medicines, bathing and massaging their limbs and wiping up their excrement after them, even this would not repay them. Even if you were to give them absolute rule over the whole world, this would not repay them. And why? Because parents do much for their children - they bring them up, nourish them, they introduce them to the world.
But whoever encourages his unbelieving parents to believe, his immoral parents to be virtuous, his stingy parents to be generous, his foolish parents to be wise, such a one by so doing does repay, does more than repay his parents.

Anguttara Nikaya I.61

MiddleWay87 SG

There are these six dangers of being addicted to drink: loss of wealth, increase in quarrels, ill health, loss of reputation, indecent exposure and impaired intelligence.

Digha Nikaya III.182

MiddleWay87 SG

From the day the Lord said: "Four months from now, I will attain final Nirvana", thousands of men came to wait upon him. Those who had not yet attained the fruits of Stream-Winning could not restrain their tears; those who had not attained enlightenment experienced deep emotion, and walked around in small groups, saying: "What will we do?" But one monk named Dhammarama kept separate from the other monks, and when asked: "What is the matter with you?" -he gave no reply. He had thought to himself: "The Lord has said that four months from now he will attain final Nirvana and I still have not freed myself from desire. Thus, while the Lord lives I will struggle to attain enlightenment."

Accordingly, Dhammarama kept to himself recollecting, pondering and calling to mind the Lord's Dhamma. The monks went to the Tathagata and said: "Reverend Sir, Dhammarama has no affection for you. Since you announced your final Nirvana four months from now, he has nothing to do with us." The Lord had Dhammarama called to him and asked: "Is it true what they say, that you have nothing to do with the other monks?"
    "Yes, reverend sir, it is true."
    "Why do you do this?"
    "I do it thinking thus: the Lord has said that four months from now he will attain final Nirvana, and I have not freed myself from desire. Thus, while the Lord lives I will struggle to attain enlightenment. Accordingly, I keep to myself, recollecting, pondering and calling to mind the Lord's Dhamma.
    "Excellent, monk, excellent," said the Lord.

Then the Lord addressed the monks, saying: "Every monk should show his affection for me in the way Dhammarama has done. They who honour me with garlands, perfume and so on honour me not; but they that practise the Dhamma in all its parts- they honour me in the best way."

Dhammapada Atthakata 94

MiddleWay87 SG

Jambukhadaka the wanderer came to Venerable Sariputta and said to him: "They talk about Nirvana! Nirvana! But what, Sariputta, is Nirvana?"
    "The destruction of greed, hatred and delusion is Nirvana."
    "Is there any path, any approach that leads to Nirvana?"
    "There is such a path, such an approach."
    "And what is it?"
    "It is, friend, the Noble Eightfold Path - Perfect View, Perfect Thought, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood, Perfect Effort, Perfect Mindfulness and Perfect Concentration."
    "An auspicious path, an auspicious approach to the realization of Nirvana it is too, a proper occasion for earnestness."

Samyutta Nikaya IV.252

MiddleWay87 SG

Akkosaka of the Bharadvaja Brahmin clan heard that the leader of the clan had gone forth into the Sangha of the recluse Gotama. Angry and displeased, he went to where the Lord was and reviled and abused the Lord with rude, harsh words.
    When he had finished, the Lord said: "What do you think, Brahmin? Do you receive visits from friends and acquaintances, kith and kin and other guests?"
    "Yes, Gotama, sometimes I do."
    "And what do you think? Do you prepare for them hard and soft food and give them rest?"
    "Yes, Gotama, sometimes I do."
    "And if they do not accept these things from you, whose do these things become?"
    "They become mine."
    "It is the same here, Brahmin. That with which you revile, scold and abuse me, who does not revile, scold or abuse, that I do not accept from you. It is yours, Brahmin. It belongs to you.
    One who reviles when reviled, who scolds when scolded, who abuses when abused - it is as if a host and a visitor dined together and made good. We, Brahmin, have not dined together nor have we made good. It is yours, Brahmin. It belongs to you.

Samyutta Nikaya I.161

MiddleWay87 SG

This intent concentration on in-and-out breathing, if cultivated and developed, is something peaceful and excellent, something perfect in itself and a pleasant way of living also.

Not only that, it dispels evil thoughts that have arisen and makes them vanish in a moment.

It is just as when, in the last month of the hot season, the dust and dirt fly up and suddenly a great rain lays it and makes it settle in a moment.

Samyutta Nikaya V.321

An Eternal Now SG

“The practitioner in Silent Illumination
is not concerned
with meaning and therefore grasps
at nothing. He may see a bird fly
through the sky. He does not deny
that the bird has flown...yet this
is not a focus of his concern. The
thing has happened; now it has
passed by...but there is no trace of
this in his mind, no grasping, no
discarding. Rising from the cushion,
he drinks a cup of tea, nothing
remarkable; he just gets on with
whatever needs to be done.”
From Illuminating Silence
by Chan Master Sheng Yen
Watkins, 2002

MiddleWay87 SG

The Lord said to Lohicca: "Is it true that you reason like this: 'If a recluse or Brahmin discovers some good Dhamma, he should not teach it to others, for what can one man do for another? It is just as if, having cut through an old bond, one were to make a new bond. Such a thing is an evil deed rooted in attachment, for what can one man do for another?'
    "Yes, Reverend Gotama, thus is my reasoning."
    "What do you think about this, Lohicca? You reside here in Salavatika. If someone were to say: 'The Brahmin Lohicca should enjoy all the revenue and produce of Salavatika, allowing nothing to anyone else,' would one who speaks thus be a danger to your tenants?"
    "He would, Reverend Gotama."
    "And as such, would he be considering their welfare or not?"
    "He would not."
    "And not considering their welfare, would he have a heart full of love for them, or one full of hatred?"
    "Of hatred, Reverend Gotama."
    "And in a heart full of hatred is there wrong view, or Perfect View?"
    "Wrong view."
    "Now, if one holds wrong views, I say that one of two destinies results - rebirth in hell, or as an animal."

Digha Nikaya I.227

taoteching SG

It is important(!) that we understand our practice.If we misunderstand our practice,we will practice our misunderstandings(i.e ignorance will keep going on)

- Anzan Roshi

MiddleWay87 SG

The Lord said to the monks: "Body is not self. If it were the self, it would not be liable to affliction, and one could say: 'Let my body be like this. Let my body not be like this.' But since the body is not the self, it is liable to affliction, and one cannot say: 'Let my body be like this. Let my body not be like this.' And it is the same with feeling, perception, mental constructs and consciousness. What do you think? Is body permanent or impermanent?"
    "Impermanent, sir."
    "Now, is what is impermanent painful or pleasant?"
    "Painful, sir."
    "Now, is it fit to regard what is impermanent and painful like this: 'This is mine, this is I, this is my self?"
    "No, sir."
    "And it is the same with feeling, perception, mental constructs and consciousness. So, any kind of body, feeling, perception, mental constructs or consciousness - whether past, present or future, whether gross or subtle, whether internal or external, whether inferior or superior, whether far or near - must with right understanding be regarded thus: 'This is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself.' When a noble disciple has heard this and sees this, he is detached from body, feeling, perception, mental constructs and consciousness. Being detached, passions fade, with the fading of passions he is free, and when he is free he knows he is free. He knows: 'Birth is ended, the holy life has been lived, what has had to be done is done, there is no more of this.' "

Samyutta Nikaya III.67

MiddleWay87 SG

And the Lord said to Magandiya: "It is like a man born blind who cannot see either colour or shape, the even or the uneven, the stars, the sun or the moon. He might hear someone speaking of the pleasure of a lovely, unstained, pure white cloth, and start searching to get one. But someone might deceive him by giving him a greasy, grimy, coarse robe and by saying: 'My good man, this is lovely, unstained, pure white cloth.' He might take it and put it on. Then his friends and relations might get a physician and surgeon to make medicine for him, potions, purgatives, ointments and treatment for his eyes. Because of this he might regain his sight and clarify his vision.
    Then the desire and attachment he had for that greasy robe would go, he would no longer consider the man who gave it to him a friend. He might even consider him an enemy, thinking: 'For a long time I have been defrauded, deceived and cheated by this man." Even so, if I were to teach you Dhamma, saying: 'This is that health, this is that Nirvana,' you might come to know health, you might see Nirvana. With the arising of that vision, the desire and attachment you had for the five clinging aggregates might go.
    You might even think: 'For a long time I have been defrauded, deceived and cheated by the mind, by clinging to body, feeling, perception, mental constructs and consciouness. Conditioned by this clinging there was becoming; conditioned by becoming there was birth; conditioned by birth, old age, dying, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and despair came into being. This is the origin of this whole mass of suffering."
    And Magandiya said to the Lord: "I have confidence that if the good Gotama were to teach me Dhamma, I could rise from my seat no longer blind."

Majjhima Nikaya I.511

MiddleWay87 SG

By effort
    you will cross the raging flood,

    By energy
    you will pass by sorrow.

Samyutta Nikaya I.214

taoteching SG

佛在世時我沉淪,
佛滅度後我出生
懺悔此身多業障,
不見如來金色身。 I was sunken and un-awakened when the Lord Buddha was alive.
With my rebirth in this life, the Lord Buddha has annihilated long ago.
It is my solemn and sincere penitence toward my heavily accumulatedkarmic obstacles in this live,
For not being able to see the Lord Buddha radiates in a golden state again.

******

The whole of the holy life:
As he was seated to one side, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, Lord: being a friend with admirable people, a companion with admirable people, a colleague with admirable people."
"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Being a friend with admirable people, a companion with admirable people, a colleague with admirable people is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk is a friend with admirable people, a companion with admirable people, a colleague with admirable people, it is to be expected of him that he will develop the noble eightfold path, and make much of it. . . . And through this line of reasoning one may know how being a friend with such people is actually the whole of the holy life: It is in dependence on me as an admirable friend that beings subject to birth have gained release from birth, that beings subject to aging have gained release from aging, that beings subject to death have gained release from death, that beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress & despair have gained release from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress & despair." SN XLV.2

*****

Keeping company with the wise:
It's good to see Noble Ones. Happy their company always.
Through not seeing fools constantly, constantly one would be happy.
For, living with a fool, one grieves a long time.
Painful is communion with fools, as with an enemy always.
Happy is communion with the enlightened, as with a gathering of kin.
So: the enlightened man - discerning, learned, enduring, dutiful, noble, intelligent, a man of integrity:
You should follow him - follow one of this sort;
-- as the moon, the path of the zodiac stars.
Dhp 206

MiddleWay87 SG

One who would rightly use the words "noble way of life, sublime state, the Tathagata's way of life" would do so to describe the intent concentration on in-and-out breathing.

Samyutta Nikaya 326

MiddleWay87 SG

Kimbila asked the Lord: "What is the cause, what is the reason why, after the Tathagata attains final Nirvana, the good Dhamma will last long?�
"If, after the Tathagata has attained final Nirvana, the monks and the nuns, the laymen and the laywomen live with reverence and heed to the Teacher, the Dhamma and the Sangha, live with reverence and heed to the training, to concentration, to earnestness and to goodwill, then the good Dhamma will last long."

Anguttara Nikaya IV.83

MiddleWay87 SG

One conceives hatred at the thought: "So-and-so has done me harm, he is doing me harm, he is going to do me harm." One conceives hatred at the thought: "So-and-so has done harm to one dear and precious to me, he is doing harm to one dear and precious to me, he is going to do harm to one dear and precious to me."
One conceives hatred at the thought: "So-and-so has done good to one not dear and precious to me, is doing good to one not dear and precious to me, is going to do good to one not dear and precious to me." In this way, one is groundlessly annoyed.

Anguttara Nikaya V.150

MiddleWay87 SG

護持正法護念眾生統領大眾淨而不染精進念佛今生決定往生極樂

taoteching SG

When you recognize the empty nature of phenomena, the energy to bring about the good of others dawns uncontrived and effortless. Compassion is the activity of emptiness.

« Previous Page Next Page »