buddhist_wisdom Mahayana Not by matted hair, by clan, or by birth, is one a brahmin. Whoever has truth & rectitude: he is a pure one, he, a brahmin. What's the use of your matted hair, you dullard? What's the use of your deerskin cloak? The tangle's inside you. You comb the outside. -Dhammapada, 26, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020131 ... Mahayana The brahman Dona saw the Buddha sitting under a tree and was impressed by his peaceful air of alertness and his good looks. He asked the Buddha: "Are you a god?" "No, brahman, I am not a god." "Then an angel?" "No, indeed, brahman." "A spirit, then?" "No, I am not a spirit." "Then what are you?" "I am awake." -Anguttara Nikaya 020202 ... Mahayana If you gain a mature companion-- a fellow traveler, right-living, enlightened-- overcoming all dangers go with him, gratified, mindful. If you don't gain a mature companion-- a fellow traveler, right-living, enlightened-- go alone like a king renouncing his kingdom, like the elephant in the Matanga wilds, his herd. -Dhammapada, 23, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020204 ... Mahayana Don't be afraid of doing good. It's another name for happiness, for all that is dear and delightful--this phrase "doing good." Who ever would live well, Long lasting, bringing bliss-- Let him be generous, be calm, And cultivate the doing of good. By practicing these three, These three bliss-bringing things, The wise one lives without regret His world infused with happiness. -Itivuttaka Sutra 020206 ... phil Buddha was walking down a path made of stones. There he saw a tree full of small birds. Picking up one stone along with a handful of leaves he turns to you and says, "This stone and these leaves will turn into a bunch of flying birds" Then he throws the stone and leaves. errr... 020207 ... Mahayana And what, monks, is Right View? It is, monks, the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of the origin of suffering, the knowledge of the cessation of suffering, and the knowledge of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called Right View. -Digha Nikaya From "365 Buddha: Daily Meditations," 020208 ... Mahayana Seeing error where there is none, & no error where there is, beings adopting wrong views go to a bad destination. But knowing error as error, and non-error as non-, beings adopting right views go to a good destination. -Dhammapada, 22, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020221 ... kx21 Given that One's right is others' Wrong & One's Wrong is others' Right... Tell me who is the final authority in this world that can decide or give a fair and probably RIGHT judgment on what's Right and what's wrong... And I_will_tell_you_how_wonder_you_are... 020221 ... kx21 Given that One's right is others' Wrong & One's Wrong is others' Right... Tell me who is the final authority in this world that can decide or give a fair and probably RIGHT judgment on what's Right and what's wrong... And I_will_tell_you_how_wonder_you_are... 020221 ... Mahayana Free from anger, duties observed, principled, with no overbearing pride, trained, a 'last-body': he's what I call a brahmin. Like water on a lotus leaf, a mustard seed on the tip of an awl, he doesn't adhere to sensual pleasures: he's what I call a brahmin. -Dhammapada, 26, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020225 ... Mahayana For the one who has no inner, angry thoughts, Who has gone past being a someone, a this or a that, That one is free from fear and is blissful. Even the gods cannot win such serenity. -Udana Sutta 020225 ... Mahayana If you are afraid of pain, if you don't like it, do nothing evil, either openly or in secret. For if you do, even if you get up and run away you won't escape its pain. If you are afraid of pain, if you don't like it, take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Train in the precepts. This is good. -Theri-Gatha, 246-249 020227 ... ever dumbening Each one of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way. This is the mystery. When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything. So when you try hard to make your own way, you will help others, and you will be helped by others. Before you make your own way you cannot help anyone, and no one can help you. To be independent in this true sense, we have to forget everything which we have in our mind and discover something quite new and different moment after moment. This is how we live in the world. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind --Shunryu Suzuki 020227 ... Mahayana Do not go after the past, Nor lose yourself in the future. For the past no longer exists, And the future is not yet here. By looking deeply at things just as they are, In this moment, here and now, The seeker lives calmly and freely. You should be attentive today, For waiting until tomorrow is too late. Death can come and take us by surprise-- How can we gainsay it? The one who knows How to live attentively Night and day Is the one who knows The best way to be independent. -Bhaddekaratta Sutra [i truly appreciate this one] [[often i must remind myself of the truth within this lessons message]] 020302 ... Mahayana The man immersed in gathering blossoms, his heart distracted: death sweeps him away-- as a great flood, a village asleep. The man immersed in gathering blossoms, his heart distracted, insatiable in sensual pleasures: the End-Maker holds him under his sway. -Dhammapada, 4, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020305 ... Mahayana All the delightful things of the world--sweet sounds, lovely forms, all the pleasant tastes and touches and thoughts--these are all agreed to bring happiness if they are not grasped and possessed. But if you regard them merely as pleasures for your own use and satisfaction and do not see them as passing wonders, they will bring suffering. -Sutta Nipata 020306 ... Mahayana Monk, don't on account of your precepts & practices, great erudition, concentration attainments, secluded dwelling, or the thought, 'I touch the renunciate ease that run-of-the-mill people don't know': ever let yourself get complacent when the ending of effluents is still unattained. -Dhammapada, 19, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020307 ... Mahayana A monk with a manifold joy, with faith in the Awakened One's teaching, would attain the good state, the peaceful state: stilling-of-fabrications ease. A young monk who strives in the Awakened One's teaching, brightens the world like the moon set free from a cloud. -Dhammapada, 25, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020314 ... Mahayana The one who beholds that which has become as become Passes beyond that becoming And is released from craving for sensation. In that which really is, he understands becoming. Free from longing for birth or death, He finds the true meaning of the end of becoming. -Itivuttaka Sutta 020318 ... Boddisatva Wet Birds Don't Fly At Night 020319 ... Mahayana This is what I say: Your mind is spiritual and so too is the sense-perceived world. The spirit is timeless and it dominates all existence as the great law guiding all beings in their search for truth. It changes crude nature into mind, and there is no being that can't be transformed into a vessel of truth. -Brahmajala Sutra 020321 ... Mahayana "Great Teacher," said Upashiva, "when one is free from attachment and craving, when everything is let go and one depends on emptiness, will one be permanently in that state?" "When you are free from craving for sense pleasures and when you are aware of emptiness, you are free in a supreme way and that will not change. It is like a flame struck by a gust of wind. In a flash the flame has gone out. Similarly, the person is suddenly free and no more words can be said. When all the ways of being a self are let go and when all phenomena are seen to be empty, then all the ways of describing this have also vanished." -Sutta Nipata 020427 ... Mahayana The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves. -Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" 020524 ... kx21 Nothing: The Name of the origin of all Law Being: The Name of the Mother of all Thing... 020525 ... Mahayana If we single-pointedly practice great compassion, then, with little effort, we will be able to gain all other virtues. -Geshe Namgyal Wangchen, "Awakening the Mind" 020525 ... Mahayana All those of compassion should encourage their minds to think: "Every living being, whether born from the womb or born in any other way, whether they have perception or none, we should bring toward the boundless freedom of liberation. And when this vast and immeasurable number of beings has been liberated, we must not believe that any being has been liberated!" Why is this? It is because no compassionate person who is truly compassionate holds to the idea of a self, a being, or a separate individual. -Diamond Sutra 020611 ... phil oh where did we get it all wrong? rolls his eyes 020612 ... again i thot the point was NOT to think. of course i always get it wrong! 020612 ... Sailor Jupiter Wise man say, "Never drink from fountain on the body." =P 020612 ... Mahayana In Buddhism, the essential meaning of the word "study" is the unceasing, dedicated observation and investigation of whatever arises in the mind, be it pleasant or unpleasant. Only those familiar with the observation of mind can really understand Dharma. -Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, "Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree" 020613 ... Dafremen Hey Mahayana. Is it unlikely that another individual, after years of observation, reflection and discovery could be given these same truths? I find that many of the things which you have quoted here mirror what I have come to believe. In any event, keep it up, the truth is the truth in whatever form it may be written or with whatever imagery it might be presented. Perception is not reality, reality is reality and perception is our view of that reality through closed eyelids. 020613 ... Mahayana Desires achieved increase thirst like salt water. -Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream" 020618 ... Mahayana You should know that so far as Buddha-nature is concerned, there is no difference between an enlightened man and an ignorant one. What makes the difference is that one realizes it, while the other is ignorant of it. -The Sutra of Hui Neng 020618 ... Dafremen As profound as that sounded, it was SOMETHING of a no-sh*tter...huh? Ol' Hui Neng must've had some sense of humor. Course the problem, Hui Neng, is that the ignorant man is ALSO he who claims to be enlightened. No thanks, I'm not getting my mental thumbs caught in THAT Chinese finger puzzle. The true measure of enlightenment is easily measured in the contentment found in one's heart and in the hearts of those around them. Would that you could look upon the stars and count their numbers, thus knowing the distance between you and ignorance. Unfortunately, you need but count and then move closer, only to find more stars, and the need to count again. 020618 ... Mahayana Though in thought we range throughout the world, We'll nowhere find a thing more dear than self. So, since others hold the self so dear, He who loves himself should injure none. -Samyutta Nikaya 020629 ... Mahayana Contrary to what some people might believe, there is nothing wrong with having pleasures and enjoyments. What is wrong is the confused way we grasp onto these pleasures, turning them from a source of happiness into a source of pain and dissatisfaction. -Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Introduction to Tantra" 020629 ... Dafremen Heheh sounds like me saying to my son: "Whatever you want NOW, you can have RIGHT NOW..but now is later." or "If you want something so badly that it starts to make you miserable..let it go." 020630 ... fucking fuckity fuck fuck "burn in hell!" fuck 020630 ... Dafremen "Of course you realize that you will NEVER make your point. I'm guessing you just want to try..go right ahead. Expression of all kinds are valid expression. You see only the extent to which you are pushing the boundaries of free_expression in order to make your point. I see the expression of your frustration (in being unable to make your point) coming out in the form of your free_expression. As stupid as you wanted it to be..it has validated itself as expression and has proven my point about even the STUPIDEST expression having the potential to contain complexities. I perceive your strings of profanities and mimicry as fingernails attempting to scratch frustration into the fabric of cyberspace. I see the futility of a single character swinging and stinging in order to show how stupid and pointless the idea of true and unfettered expression REALLY is. I see the fighter and defender of ¨the way things were¨. Whether I´m right about the original intent of your expression is irrelevent. It has been perceived, it has been seen for something beyond the coarse stream of vulgarities. It has been seen to be something as beautiful as raw expression of human frustration. I thank you for that. I couldn't have proven the case for ABSOLUTELY FREE_EXPRESSION better myself." -Roger Dafremen to Silent Bob after a Charlie Chaplin Silent Film Festival 020630 ... Mahayana Hard to hold down, nimble, alighting wherever it likes: the mind. Its taming is good. The mind well-tamed brings ease. -Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020630 ... Dafremen Ahh finally, someone else who saw the importance of taming little_brain. Little_brain is the cause of his own misery...of all human misery. Somehow he stepped out of the line and has forgotten where his place was. 020701 ... Mahayana Life's easy to live for someone unscrupulous, cunning as a crow, corrupt, back-biting, forward, & brash; But for someone who's constantly scrupulous, cautious, observant, sincere, pure in his livelihood, clean in his pursuits, it's hard. -Dhammapada, 18, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 020710 ... Mahayana I am not, I will not be. I have not, I will not have." That frightens all the childish And extinguishes fear in the wise. -Nagarjuna, "Precious Garland" 020715 ... Mahayana Every minute you perform hundreds of karmic actions, yet you are hardly conscious of any of them. In the stillness of meditation, however, you can listen to your mind, the source of all this activity. You learn to be aware of your actions to a far greater extent than ever before. This self-awareness leads to self-control, enabling you to master your karma rather than be mastered by it. -Lama Thubten Yeshe, "In Wisdom Energy" 020901 ... Mahayana To probe deep into your roots: The ignorance and confusion are you yourself. The preconceptions which are yourself Are envoys and agents sent by yourself. -"Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet's Beloved Saint, Milarepa" 020901 ... minnesota_chris Buddhism is natural in Minnesota. I think that Buddhists and the kids of farmers in Minnesota have a lot in common. A denial of self importance, but a belief that what you are doing is very important. 040705 ... oldephebe . 040706 ... unhinged 'your mind is the great architect of reality.' the concept of reality is a decidely western christian thing. tonglen ; tonglen is the most wonderful thing i have ever encountered. 040706 ... minnesota_chris or like a minnesota farmer would say, "That's different." 040706 ... :) this_is_what_you_want 040706 ... birdhaus "Searching for Satori, the kick in the eye (kick in the eye!)" 040706 ... :) at_the_end_of_the_day... 040706 ... :) This_is_what_you_get... 040706 ... :) *** * M_theories:- Karma *** GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out... 040706 ... :) Amen. 040706 ... unhinged 'my religion is to live - and die - without regret.' milarepa Remember the example of an old cow, She's content to sleep in a barn. You have to eat, sleep, and shit --- That's unavoidable --- Beyond that is none of your business. --- Patrul Rinpoche 'tomorrow or the next life --- which comes first, we never know' tibetan proverb 040717 ... puredream narcissistic truths 040717 ... kx21 Individual_karma vs. Collective_karma 040717 ... :) GIGO... Amen. 040717 ... . iLink:- Bodhisattva stages - The 42 Stages to Enlightenment http://www.tientai.net/teachings/dharma/bodhisattva/42stages.htm http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?s=9531dad9fc972f68759d9d64d2a18905&showtopic=1763&st=20&#entry81380 040717 ... unhinged the_four_seals bodhisattva_vow cultivate_compassion cultivate_patience master_consideration 100123 ... hsg nothing_real_can_be_threatened nothing_unreal_exist herein_lies_the_peace_of_god 100123 ... hsg spellcheck: nothing_real_can_be_threatened nothing_unreal_exists herein_lies_the_peace_of_god 100123 ... unhinged 'a great deal of the chaos in the world occurs because people don't appreciate themselves' - chogyam_trungpa rinpoche 180610 what's it to you? who go blather from