Daily Buddhist Verses
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Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience.
It isn't more complicated than that.
It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.
- Sylvia Boorstein -
Do not try to become anything.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
What you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
- Ajhan Chah -
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One should follow a man of wisdom who rebukes one for one's faults, as one would follow a guide to some buried treasure.
To one who follows such a wise man, it will be an advantage and not a disadvantage.
- Dhammapada 76 -
Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner of religion, and when the mind does not become the practices one is not.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama from Deity Yoga. -
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What is this world condition?
Body is the world condition.
And with body and form goes feeling, perception, consciousness, and all the activities throughout the world.
The arising of form and the ceasing of form--everything that has been heard, sensed, and known, sought after and reached by the mind--all this is the embodied world, to be penetrated and realized.
- Samyutta Nikaya -
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By all means attend to your duties. Action, in which you are not
emotionally involved and which is beneficial and does not cause
suffering will not bind you. You may be engaged in several directions
and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with
a mirror like mind, which reflects all, without being affected. (50)
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"Absolute perfection is here and now, not in some future, near or far. The secret is in action - here and now. It is your behavior that blinds you to yourself. Disregard whatever you think yourself to be and act as if you were absolutely perfect - whatever your idea of perfection may be. All you need is courage."
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- Nisargadatta Maharaj -
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Wise Company gives good Advantage:
The blessed Buddha on Noble Friendship:
I am a friend and helper to all,
I am sympathetic to all living beings.
I develop a mind full of love & one
who always delight in harmlessness.
I gladden my mind, fill it with joy,
and make it immovable and unshakable.
I develop these divine states of mind
not cultivated by simple men.
Theragatha 648-9
I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of the bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed.
May not the footless harm me,
may not the bipeds harm me,
may not those with four feet harm me,
and may not those with many feet harm me.
AN II 72
A friend who always lends a hand,
a friend both in sorrow and joy,
a friend who offers good counsel,
a friend who sympathizes too.
These are the four kinds of true friends:
one who is wise, having understood,
will always cherish and serve such friends
just as a mother tends her only child.
DN III, 188
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived on the wood.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness, I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in such silent solitude.
Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
And how does a bhikkhu abide with his mind imbued with friendliness
extending over one direction? Just as he would feel friendliness on
seeing a dearly favourite person, so he extends loving-kindness
to all beings in all directions, as above so below.
Abhidhamma Pitaka: Appamanna-vibhanga
Bhikkhus, whatever kinds of worldly merit there are, all are not worth
one sixteenth part of the release of mind by universal friendliness;
in shining, glowing and beaming radiance such release of mind by
universal friendliness far excels & surpasses them all...
Itivuttaka 27
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I like this a lotOriginally posted by paperflower:Do not try to become anything.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
What you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
- Ajhan Chah
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A Mind that is Learning
What do we mean by learning? Is there learning when you are merely accumulating knowledge, gathering information? That is one kind of learning, is it not? As a student of engineering, you study mathematics, and so on; you are learning, informing yourself about the subject. You are accumulating knowledge in order to use that knowledge in practical ways. Your learning is accumulative, additive. Now, when the mind is merely taking on, adding, acquiring, is it learning? Or is learning something entirely different? I say the additive process that we now call learning is not learning at all. It is merely a cultivation of memory, which becomes mechanical; and a mind that functions mechanically, like a machine, is not capable of learning. A machine is never capable of learning, except in the additive sense. Learning is something quite different, as I shall try to show you. A mind that is learning never says, 'I know,' because knowledge is always partial, whereas learning is complete all the time. Learning does not mean starting with a certain amount of knowledge, and adding to it further knowledge. That is not learning at all; it is a purely mechanistic process. To me, learning is something entirely different. I am learning about myself from moment to moment, and the myself is extraordinarily vital; it is living, moving; it has no beginning and no end. When I say, 'I know myself,' learning has come to an end in accumulated knowledge. Learning is never cumulative; it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.
The Book of Life - September 20 -
"It easily happens that a man, when taking a bath, steps upon a wet rope and imagines that it is a snake. Horror will overcome him, and he will shake from fear, anticipating in his thought all the agonies caused by the serpent's venomous bite. What a relief does this man experience when he sees that the rope is no snake! The cause of his fright lies in his error, his ignorance, his illusion. If the true nature of the rope is recognized, his tranquility of mind will come back to him; he will feel relieved; he will be joyful and happy. This is the state of mind of one who has recognized that there is no personal self, that the cause of all his troubles, cares, and vanities is a mirage, a shadow, a dream."
~ Buddha -
"Going and returning with no border
Movement and stillness have one source."
*Avatamsaka Preface*
The sea moves in waves, in tides, to clouds, then rain, to the earth then to rivers and back into itself. Constantly moving, it is always still;
always still yet constantly moving.
In meditation, although the body and mind are still, there is warmth and increased circulation. The body is still outside but inside it is very much alive. Inside the mind is fixed yet it's state expands in vast measure. Although the body moves throiugh the world, the mind is still. It is not confused by states and remains Thus, Thus unmoving "in the face of the 10,000 affairs."
Seeking stillness is to be like a corpse or log of wood. Trying to be moving continually is frenetic. Simply do not attach to movement or stillness. This is to be in harmony with the natural. Movement and stillness do not fight and oppose each other. The sea is like this.
"Going and returning without border" is the natural enduring cycle of change. The entire universe is in a continual state of flux, yet it neither increases nor decreases. The sea speaks this Dharma and tells us how to regain our true selves: Let go, release your hold; produce the mind that is nowhere attached."
"It is like the water in the ocean
Which has a unified nature,
And waves by the millions, each one diffferent,
Yet the water itself has no such difference;
And all Buddhadharmas are the same."
All living beings in the world are like the "waves by the millions, each one different."
Yet the nature of living beings has no difference. Like the water in the sea, all beings are one substance, their Dharma body is the same."
"The Dharma nature pervades all places,
All living beings and all countries.
It exists throughout all times without remainder,
Yet it has no shape or appearance
Which can be got at"
- Avatamasaka Sutra -
"When a fish swims, it swims on and on, and there is no end to the water. When a bird flies, it flies on and on, and there is no end to the sky. There was never a fish that swam out of the water or a bird that flew out of the sky. When they need just a little water or sky, they use just a little; when they need a lot, they use a lot. Thus, they use all of it in every moment, and in every place they have perfect freedom.
Yet if there were a bird that first wanted to examine the size of the sky, or a fish that first wanted to examine the extent of the water, and then tried to fly or swim, it would never find its way. When we find where we are at this moment, then practice follows, and this is the realization of the truth. For the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither self nor other. It has never existed before, and it is not coming into existence now. It simply is as it is."
- Zen Master Dogen -
The Perfect Man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives but does not keep. ~ Chuang Tzu
"Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. Between the two my life flows." ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~ -
"I gaze within, at my own heart, and see.
The whole wide world, in brief, reflected there,
Each passion, pride, hope, fear, and burning lust:
And gazing, comprehend what the ancient's saw,
"Man is a mirror that reflects the world."
- Ryônen (Japanese Zen Priest).
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"We are merely a reflection of all that we see-
There is no difference between you and me"
- Sadmonk (Yao Feng Shakya-OHY-Zen Buddhist Priest and artist who specializes in Chan Splash, Sumi-e, Zen Ink Painting and Chinese Watercolor as a way of meditation).
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"The perfect way knows not difficulties
Except that it refuses to make preferences;
Only when freed from hatred and love
It reveals itself fully and without disguise;
A tenth of an inch's difference
And heaven and earth are set apart.
If you wish to see it before your own eyes
Have no fixed thoughts either for or against it."
(The Hsin Hsin Ming, Verses on the Faith-Mind , by the third Chinese patriarch of Zen, Seng T'san, is one of the most widely-admired and elegant Zen writings.) -
Thanks Paperflower for posting many excellent quotes in this topic
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Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
- Ajahn Chah -
“A spiritual notebook filled with ideas and quotations from the holy men and women who have walked before us - or who walk alongside of us - can help remind us of what's important and what we are doing and why.”
- Lama Surya Das, "Awakening to the Sacred"
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Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes, You must not be attached to the coming or the going.
— Zen Master Seung Sahn
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The doe who saved her husband's life
Once upon a time there was a fine stag who ruled a herd of deers in a forest and it had a beautiful wife. The doe was very devoted to her husband and helped him in all matters of life.
One day, the stag was caught in the trap of a hunter and the doe was very frightened as was the stag. All the friends of the stag left him. But the doe remained steadfast next to him and waited for the hunter to come. She was very devoted to her husband. As soon as the hunter came, she fell on his knees and begged, "Sir! please make a nice bed of leaves for me and my husband and then kill me first and then my husband and you can have a nice feast."
The hunter was so amazed and surprised by her love, that he went to first free the stag before he prepared the bed of leaves, and in a split second, the stag and the doe ran away being free.
Moral: Great love can achieve anything.
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(The Jatakas form a part of Buddhist canonical literature.They are popularly believed to be pearls of wisdom from the mouth of the Buddha himself after his enlightenment. He taught about his past lives in many forms, such as animals, trees, etc. .) prior to becoming a Buddha(awakened one).
We are truly blessed beings when we have been given a human body in this lifetime.. These were the stages he took in his past lives to finally reach nirvana. They contain the moral philosophy of his wisdom and compassion for all beings big, small and invisible to the eye)by his acts of metta-lovingkindness.
The Jataka tales are a huge source of wisdom. They have had a profound influence over mankind since time immemorial and they find reflection within us all.)
in the Dharma
- Rev.Yao Feng Shakya
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Row, Row, Row your boat, gently down the stream
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, life is but a dream
~ Children's song -
The spring flowers, the autumn moon;
Summer breezes, winter snow.
If useless things do not clutter your mind,
You have the best days of your life.
~ Ordinary Mind is the Way,
The Gateless Gate, Case #19