Daily Buddhist Verses
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Gain/loss,
status/disgrace,
censure/praise,
pleasure/pain:
these conditions among human beings
are inconstant,
impermanent,
subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don't charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His welcoming
& rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
Knowing the dustless, sorrowless state,
he discerns rightly,
has gone, beyond becoming,
to the Further Shore.
~ Buddha, Lokavipatti Sutta -
Hard to find is a man of great wisdom;
such a man is not born everywhere.
Where such a wise man is born, that community thrives happily.
~ Dhammapada 193 -
To have reverence, humility, contentment and gratitude, and to hear the Dharma at an appropriate time, that is the highest blessing.
~ The Mangala Sutra -
My mind will not experience peace, if it foster painful thoughts of hatred.
I shall find no joy or happines; unable to sleep, I shall feel unsettled.
~ Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life -
That army of yours, that the world with its devas can't overcome, I will smash with wisdom! Buddha - Sn 3.2 Padhana Sutta -
Wishing to move or speak, one should first consider it in one's mind, and then act with skill and energy.
But when noticing that the mind is swayed by attraction or repulsion one should neither act nor speak but be like a piece of wood.
Similarly if the mind is conceited, derisive, arrogant, sarcastic, insincere, deceitful, inclined to self-praise, to blaming, despising / insulting others, or to quarrelsomeness -- then one should be like a piece of wood.
One should think: "my mind ever craves for gain, honor and fame, for a large following paying obeisance -- therefore I shall be like a piece of wood."
-Shantideva, The Entrance to the Way of Enlightenment -
Ignorance is the leader in the attainment of unskillful qualities, followed by lack of conscience & lack of concern. Buddha Sn 45.1 Avijja Sutta
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Open are the doors to the Deathless to those with ears.
Let them show their conviction.Buddha SN 6.1 Ayacana Sutta -
"Does Master Gotama have any position at all?"
"A 'position,' Vaccha, is something that a Tathagata has done away with.
Buddha MN 72 Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta -
“He who has sinned in deed, word or thought, if at the hour of his death he thinks of the merits of the Tathagata, he will be preserved from the three bad destinies, and though most vile, will be reborn in heaven.”288. CB Jakata, I, 97. Ekottara Agama, 32:
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"...What we call prajna essence is none other than the potent and wondrous awareness from which the six sense functions flow forth. It is like a room that encompasses empty space, having six doors open on the sides, without obstructing each other. What we call the mind of sentient beings is none other than that which habitually follows the six sense objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and thought. It constantly grabs and rejects things it encounters, generating feelings of liking and aversion, grasping and attaching [to things] thought after thought, without interruption.
Prajna essence is analogous to water and the mind of sentient beings to waves. When the ocean of mind is perturbed by the wind of conditions it encounters, waves arise from the water. Apart from the water, the waves have no concrete substance. For one whose great wisdom has shone through in great brightness and openness, he or she would be able to see the unmoving water amidst the thousand convoluted waves, with nothing amiss in both movement and non-movement. If you have not attained this, you are only relying on words that resemble [true wisdom], being profoundly blind to the wisdom essence of wondrous awareness..."
-- Chan Master Zhongfeng Mingben, http://www.chan1.org/ddp/chanmag/win2004.html#wondrous -
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Bhikkhus, when the heart-deliverance of loving-kindness is maintained in being, made much of, used as one's vehicle, used as one's foundation, established, consolidated, and properly managed, then eleven blessings can be expected. What are the eleven?
A man sleeps in comfort; he wakes in comfort; he dreams no evil dreams; he is dear to human beings; he is dear to non-human beings; the gods guard him; no fire or poison or weapon harms him; his mind can be quickly concentrated; the expression of his face is serene; he dies without falling into confusion; and, even if he fails to penetrate any further, he will pass on to the world of High Divinity, to the Brahma world.
7. From the Samyutta Nikaya, 20:3 -
In our daily lives problems are bound to arise. The biggest problems in our lives are the ones that we inevitably have to face, like old age, illness, and death. Trying to avoid our problems or simply not thinking about them may provide temporary relief, but I think that there is a better approach. If you directly confront your suffering, you will be in a better position to appreciate the depth and nature of the problem. If you are in a battle, as long as you remain ignorant of the status and combat capability of your enemy, you will be totaly unprepared and paralysed by fear. However, if you know the fighting capability of your opponents, what sort of weapons they have and so on, then you are in a much better position when you engage in a war. In the same way, if you confront your problems rather than avoid them, you will be in a better position to deal with them.
~ The Dalai Lama -
Abandoning idle chatter, one abstains from idle chatter. One speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, and the Vinaya. One speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, beneficial.
~ Buddha -
Needs are few, wants are too many.
~ Zen Master Sheng Yan -
And how is a monk content? Just as a bird, wherever it goes, flies with its wings as its only burden; so too is he content with a set of robes to provide for his body and alms food to provide for his hunger. Wherever he goes, he takes only his barest necesseities along. This is how a monk is content.
~ DN 2 -
Success can be categorised into three types. One is success in financial wealth, the second is successs in power, and third is success in human character. The first two types are delusional.
~ Zen Master Sheng Yan, Ru he du guo ku ri zi -
It does not mean that if you practise Buddhism and meditation, you are going to get better parking lots and everything. But what it means is that as you go along, what approach are you going to take? If you are coming from a fatalistic viewpoint, then you think nothing is going to work out. It makes living life right now very difficult.
But if you say, "it is actually part of the spiritual journey and part of being a Buddhist and so forth", it is actually saying, "right now we do what we can". And our actions right now have the ability to change the course of our future.
~ Saykong Mipham Rinpoche, Vaidurya Vol.44 -
There was once a woman suffering from a severe eye disease.
A friend of hers asked, "Is it painful? "
The woman answered, " Yes, indeed. "
The friend said, " That means to have eyes will bring pains. Although my eyes are not giving me any pains yet, but I better dig them out first before such a day comes."
Someone overheard her and said, "A person with eyes may or may not suffer from pains of the eyes; but a person without eyes may suffer for the rest of his life."
~ Parable from sutra- Bai Yu Jing -
"As the wise test gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it, So, bhikshus, should you accept my words -- after testing them, and not merely out of respect."
-The Buddha, Jnanasara-samuccaya -
A 16 years old fine young man was holding a feast for his guests, and a priest from another faith was invited.
Shortly after taking his seat, the priest started to laugh to himself.
" Why are you laughing? " someone asked him.
"I saw a mountain 50 000 miles away from here, at the foot of this mountain is a river, and a monkey fell into the river; it is so funny." The priest replied.
The fine young man knew that the priest was boasting. So he placed lots of delicious dishes inside a bowl, covered the dishes with rice, and have his helpers to serve the bowl to the priest. The bowls of the other guests were filled with delicious dishes on top with rice below.
Then everyone started to eat except the priest, starring into his bowl.
The young host asked him, "Why aren't you eating? "
" There is no other dishes, how to eat ? " the priest replied.
" You can see a monkey falling into a river 50 000 miles away, yet you cannot see the dishes placed under your rice? " the young host asked.
Hearing this, the embarrassed and angry priest left without touching his food.
~ A parable from sutra - Zhong jing xuan zha bi yu. -
"With regard to external factors, I don't envision any other single factor like friendship with admirable people as doing so much for a monk in training, who has not attained the goal but remains intent on the unsurpassed safety from bondage. A monk who is a friend with admirable people abandons what is unskillful and develops what is skillful."
A monk who is a friend
to admirable people
-- who's reverential, respectful,
doing what his friends advise —
mindful, alert,
attains step by step
the ending of all fetters.
— Iti 17 -
As he was seated to one side, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, lord: having admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues."
"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Having admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.
"And how does a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, develop & pursue the noble eightfold path? There is the case where a monk develops right view dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in letting go. He develops right resolve... right speech... right action... right livelihood... right effort... right mindfulness... right concentration dependent on seclusion... dispassion... cessation, resulting in letting go. This is how a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, develops & pursues the noble eightfold path.
"And through this line of reasoning one may know how having admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues 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 45.2 -
"If you touch one thing with deep awareness, you touch everything." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh