A few favourite short quotes.

Post sayings or stories from Buddhist traditions which you find interesting, inspiring or useful. (Your own stories are welcome on DW, but in the Creative Writing or Personal Experience forums rather than here.)
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Namgyal
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A few favourite short quotes.

Post by Namgyal »

'All phenomena are simply different varieties of thought.' [Longchenpa]

'Once bodhicitta has been aroused in you whatever dharma practices you do will lead to the attainment of perfect enlightenment.' [Patrul]

'Just like an arrow shot by a skillful archer as soon as the string is released it does not stay but quickly reaches its target, so also is the life of humans.' [Gampopa]

'Of all teachings the ultimate is emptiness of which compassion is the very essence.' [Atisa]

'Because the object does not exist there is no subject.' [Vasubandhu]

'Refuge and bodhicitta; Buddhahood is achieved through these two alone.' [Patrul]

'So in brief, attachment to anything is broken by this four-fold analysis; complexity, impermanence, suffering, non-self.' [Mipham]

'All-pervasive suffering is the suffering inherent in the fact of being born with contaminated aggregates, which by their very nature are like a magnet attracting sickness, old age and death.' [Wangchuk Dorje]

'All impure things are essenceless heaps, arising without substance and ceasing instantly. Recognise that they are empty of self like a waterfall, rain or an empty house.' [Mipham]

'Mind itself and the true nature of objects have no reality whatsoever and are beyond intellect and inexpressible. This one point could well be the synopsis of all teachings.' [Longchenpa]

'There is no guarantee that death will not suddenly strike right now and that tomorrow you will not be reborn as an animal with horns on its head or tusks in its mouth.' [Potowa]

' Like a magical illusion are all compounded things, worthless, insignificant, void, fashioned like the firmament, devoid of self, arisen from imagination.' [Prajnaparamitasutra]

'When the parched grass of negative karma tosses in the scorching winds of attachment, the flames of misery rise higher and higher. O, Lama, light rain that pacifies. On the desolate plateau fenced by attachment, barren of the waters of calm, clear dharma, the heat of anger blazes ever on. O, Lama, thick, white cloud that cools.' [Dalai Lama VI]
Last edited by Raksha on Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Konchog1
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by Konchog1 »

These are wonderful and very useful. Thank you.
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
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catmoon
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by catmoon »

I second that. I'm currently standing in the middle of the firestorm and in danger of losing perspective. Very helpful.
Sergeant Schultz knew everything there was to know.
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pueraeternus
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by pueraeternus »

For you, catmoon:
buddhacat.JPG
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"Men must want to do things out of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness - they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
- A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher
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catmoon
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by catmoon »

Oh meowy pat me hm?
Sergeant Schultz knew everything there was to know.
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pueraeternus
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by pueraeternus »

catmoon wrote:Oh meowy pat me hm?
The secret mantra for Avalokittysvara! Wait, you need the empowerment first:
kitty_transmission.gif
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"Men must want to do things out of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness - they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
- A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher
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lobster
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by lobster »

Pussy power :thumbsup:
. . . as the dakini said to the Bhodisattva . . . :D
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viniketa
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by viniketa »

A sense of humour is a sense of proportion.
~ Gibran
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If they can sever like and dislike, along with greed, anger, and delusion, regardless of their difference in nature, they will all accomplish the Buddha Path.. ~ Sutra of Complete Enlightenment
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lobster
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by lobster »

O Shariputra, form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
:woohoo:
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Adumbra
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by Adumbra »

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

-Guatama Buddha

(He may as well have added "Don't even believe what I tell you!".)

Any teacher who has the balls to say the above can't be a cult leader who is only interested in sex, power, and free food. As far as I'm concerned, no enlightened being could ever claim to be infallible. which is why I can say with certainty nearly all religious founders/leaders have been either self-deluded schizos or charlatans.

Buddha is up there with Socrates, Lao-Tzu, and Confucius as one of the few who who knew enough to admit that they didn't know it all; which is why we should listen to the things he was confident enough to claim that he DID know.
"The first thing you have to understand is that I don't believe in ANYTHING."
-Arahata Osho
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Konchog1
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by Konchog1 »

Let's dig this thread up shall we.
“It is not the notion of friend or enemy that you need to stop but the bias that comes from attachment and hostility, which are based on the reason that some people are your friends and others your enemies.”
- Lam Rim Chen Mo eng v02 pg. 37 tib pg. 300

“When others praise you and spread your fame, it serves neither of two purposes: for this life it does not bring you long life, health, and the like, and for future lives it does not bring merit and so forth. Therefore, do not get attached to fame and praise, but reproach yourself by thinking, “My displeasure when my praise and fame are ruined is no different from when small children cry upon the collapse of their sand castles, which lack any of the requisites for a dwelling.””
- Lam Rim Chen Mo eng v02 pg. 167 tib pg. 411

“Since the mind is not physical,
No one can ever destroy it.
It is strongly attached to the body
And so it is harmed by physical suffering.

Contempt, offensive speech,
And unpleasant words
Do not harm the body,
Then why, mind, are you so angry?”
-Bodhicaryavatara chapter 6 verses 52-53

“When my enemies are unhappy,
What am I pleased about?
My wishes alone
Will cause them no harm.”
-Bodhicaryavatara chapter 6 verse 87
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

Couple stuck in my mind at the moment:

"Otherwise, if you try to push ego aside and start perfect, you may become more and more perfect in a one-sided way, but the same amount of imperfection is building up on the other side, just as creating intense light creates intense darkness as well."

-Chogyam Trungpa

"Evil is done by oneself by oneself is one defiled. Evil is left undone by oneself by oneself is one cleansed. Purity & impurity are one's own doing. No one purifies another. No other purifies one."

"Winning gives birth to hostility. Losing, one lies down in pain. The calmed lie down with ease, having set winning & losing aside."

-The Dhammapada
Meditate upon Bodhicitta when afflicted by disease

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when sad

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when suffering occurs

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when you are scared

-Khunu Lama
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Konchog1
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by Konchog1 »

“The best way to rely upon a spiritual master is to practice contemplative meditation upon his excellent qualities and also upon his beneficial function in your spiritual life.”

-From The Essence of Refined Gold – Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by His Holiness the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso as published in The Path to Enlightenment by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
muni
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Re: A few favourite short quotes.

Post by muni »

Samsara by Miranda Hart: :smile:

"Oh! Hello there! How are you? Anyway I am not interested, it is all about me you know!"
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