Daily Buddhist Verses
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Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
~ Albert Einstein -
The world is like a mirror, you see?
Smile, and your friends smile back.
~ Japanese Zen saying -
There was a monkey with his hands clutching full of beans. He accidentally dropped one bean, and so he unclutched his hands to search for it. In the end, he couldn't find that bean he dropped; and as to those beans he left behind, it was all eaten up by the chickens and ducks.
~Story from sutra: Bai Yu Jing -
People deal too much with the negative,
with what is wrong.
Why not try and see positive things,
to just touch those things
and make them bloom?
~ Thich Nhat Hanh -
Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect any praise or reward. If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom. Your struggles with the world will have come to an end.
~ Ajahn Chah -
Bodhimind has to be the motivation behind every single thing you do. In the morning instead of crying for coffee, you should cry for a good motivation. Instead of yawning and wiping your eyes, you should wipe out your selfish mind and open your eyes to the motivation of compassion and caring. If you do this, every single thing you do during the day will be in a positive way.
~Gehlek Ngawang Rinpoche -
The Dharma is closely connected to our mind. When we are bad-tempered, critical and belligerent, the Dharma shows us that we ourselves hold the key to our emotional well-being. A contented person is happy and energetic. A discontented person will blame others for their failures. Buddhism teaches us that contentment leads to gratitude. Only with this attitude in life will we be happy.
~ Venerable Shi Fazhao -
All beings own their deeds,
inherit their deeds,
originate from their deeds,
are tied to their deeds;
their deeds are their refuge.
As their deeds are base or noble,
so will be their lives.
~Cula kamma Vibhangsa Sutta -
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In a retreat in Spain, a woman in her 20's sitting in the front row slowly and silently began to cry with long teardrops rolling down her face.
1. TEARS OF A YOGI
I sat opposite her when her tears joined the cheeks
like long, slow raindrops on a summer's night.
looking intently across, I witnessed
her innocence as she gently brought
her knees to her chin
to comfort a forlorn heart
No sound emerged in the intimacy of those tears
she confided only in the quiet evening air
I could feel the pounding of her heart
with the swell of her being filling a single moment.
Her breast heaved with a quiet power
to break the dams of restraints and hardened walls
letting the tears again create downward rivulets.
I said nothing.
I had nothing to offer.
Except presence.
She said later that was more than enough.
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If we took to heart the words of this reflection,
we would abide in a wondrous realm!
2. A DAILY REFLECTION
I vow to remember that today is a new day
Full of new beginnings and fresh moments
Today, I will not cling to events of yesterday nor yesteryear
But stay connected with what today brings.
I will not madly pursue my desires at the expense of others
Nor flee from challenging tasks.
I will remain true to the unfolding process of today
Without losing myself in thoughts of what was or what might be.
I will treat today with awareness and sensitivity
Even in the most ordinary of tasks.
I will apply myself wholeheartedly to the fullness of today
For I know that today holds the resource for authenticity.
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The heart of the Buddha's teaching is very simple. It is liberation through non-clinging. We are often hardly aware of how much we cling to in daily life.
3. CLINGING
The mind clings to what it knows,
and it clings to what it doesn't know
oh, the mind,
feckless and reckless
unobservant of its own features
knowing not itself, nor otherwise,
clinging to its image, made of itself
clinging to its own pretentiousness
clinging to the extensions of a cloud filled day
clinging to trappings of associations
In the intolerance of unfulfilled dreams.
promises that torment the imagination
with a shattered life
splintered like broken glass
into countless reflections of clinging
distorting the sense of wholeness
Clinging to the thoughts,
improvement and prosperity
clinging to worse or better, wrong or right
sweet or bitter, yesterday or tomorrow
presence and absence, opened or unopened
unhelpful or helpful
and the fickle edges of inner movement
It is a strange thing that our potentially noble species
leaves unexamined the harassment of clinging
and the opportunity to live a gracious existence.
~ More Poems by Christopher Titmuss at http://www.insightmeditation.org/poems.htm -
thanks for sharing!
nice to know u all...
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HelloOriginally posted by winnie^_^:thanks for sharing!
nice to know u all... Happy reading. -
The Dharma is not a weapon;
Reality is not an enemy.
~Zen master Bai yun -
Anyone who is attached to an idea will experience unhappiness. Very attached, very unhappy. A little attached, a little unhappy. Not attached, not unhappy.
~ Zen Master Dae Bong Sumin -
Sufferings are to be recognised, but there is nothing to be recognised. The sources of suffering are to be abandoned, but there is nothing to be abandoned. Cessation is to be actualised, but there is nothing to be actualised. The path is to be meditated, but there is nothing to be meditated.
~Buddha -
When I was building the monastry in Australia, I built a brick wall. I made sure that every single brick was perfectly laid. When the wall was finished. I stood back and noticed that two bricks were inclined at an angle. I was so embarrassed that when I showed visitors around our monastry, I'd avoid taking them past that wall. Then one day, a visitor noticed the wall and said," That's a nice wall." He took me by surprise. Couldn't he see the two bad bricks that spoilt the whole wall? But then he said, " Yes, I can see the 2 bad bricks. But I can also see the 998 good bricks as well."
~ Ajahn Brahm -
Medical Science may point to your genes for harbouring the seeds of your physical ailments but the Buddhist view says you are the one who planted them there the first place.
~ Buddhist scholar, Dr Peter Della Santina -
If you want others to be happy, practise compassion.
If you want to be happy, practise compassion.
~ The Dalai Lama -
~ Missionary Chen Ming An -
"We are usually so obsessed with ourselves that we hardly ever even think about the welfare of others in fact, we are no more interested in others than a tiger is interested in eating grass. This is completely the opposite of the outlook of the Bodhisattva. The ego is really just a fabrication of thought, and when you realize that both the object grasped and the mind that grasps are void, it is easy to see that others are not different from yourself."
"All the energy we normally put into looking after ourselves, Bodhisattvas put into looking after others. If a Bodhisattva sees that by plunging into the fires of hell he can help even a single being, he does it without an instant of hesitation, like a swan entering a cool lake."
~Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoch~ -
From the point of ordinary men, enlightenment and ingorance are two separate things. Wise men who thoroughly realise mind-essence, know that they are the same nature. This sameness of nature, that is non-duality of nature, is what is called "true nature", neither decreases nor increases; it is undisturbed in an annoying situation, and is calm in samadhi. It is neither eternal, nor not-eternal... it is beyond existence and non-existence.
~ Hui neng -
You can always put two fingers to the side of your mouth and lift them up into a smile. Even if it is a false smile, something in our body is triggered, and it becomes part of ourselves after a while. Fake it till you make it!
~Ajahn Brahm -
A respected Venerable once said this: You speak and behave as what you harbour in your mind. You encounter situation as what state you put yourself in. Nobody can control you, you're responsible for yourself. You go up to heaven yourself, nobody can push you up. You go down to hell yourself, nobody can pull you down.
~ Ven. Shi Fazhao -
All the sicknesses that I have in this life are due to my past unwholesome thoughts and actions. It is because of attachment to the self( Ego) that afflictions and sicknesses arise.
~ Vimalakirty Sutra -
Just as the ocean has a single taste - that of salt - in the same way this Dhamma and Discipline has a single taste: that of release.
~ Buddha