Quote Of The Day

[siamsam]

"The Bodhisattva placed himself, with a firm resolve, beneath the Bodhi Tree, on the Immovable Spot, and straightway was approached by Karma - Mara, the god of love and death.

The dangerous god appeared mounted on an elephant and carrying weapons in his thousand hands. He was surrounded by his army, which extended twelve leagues before him, twelve to the right, twelve to the left, and in the rear as far as to the confines of the world; it was nine leagues high. The protecting deities of the universe took flight, but the future Buddah remained unmoved beneath the Tree. And the god then assailed him, seeking to break his concentration.

Whirlwind, rocks, thunder and flame, smoking weapons with keen edges, burning coals, hot ashes, boiling mud, blistering sands and fourfold darkness, the Antagonist hurled against the Saviour, but the missiles were all transformed into celestial flowers and oitments by the power of Gautama's ten perfectionists. Mara then deployed his daughters, Desire, Pining and Lust surrounded by voluptuous attendants, but the mind of the Great Being was not distracted. The god finally challenged his right to be sitting on the Immovable Spot, flung his razor-sharp discus angrily, and bid the towering host of the army to let fly at him with mountain crags. But the future Buddah only moved his hand to touch the ground with his fingertips, and thus bid the goddess Earth bear witness to his right to be sitting wher he was. She did so with a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand roars, so that the elephant of the Antagonist fell upon its knees in obeisance to the Future Buddah. The army was immediately dispersed, and the gods of all the worlds scattered garlands"

" I wondered through the rounds of countless births,

Seeking but not finding the builder of this house.

Sorrowful indeed is birth again and again.

Oh, housebuilder! You have now been seen

You shall build the house no longer.

All your rafters have been broken'

Your ridgepole shattered.

My mind has attained to unconditioned freedom.

Achieved is the end of craving. " - The Buddah.

[sabaijai]

Very nice quote. I recognise the last part from one of the suttas. But where does the very colourful first section hail from?

[Gohonzon]

But where does the very colourful first section hail from?

Maybe:

The Gospel of Buddha ((bud-gosp),p.13- 14

acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/bud-gosp.txt - 101k -

[Gohonzon]

Realise ourselves

Realise our true natures

Realise our real needs and goals

Realise the importance of the present moment

Realise the importance of health

Realise the impermanace of afflictions

Realise the love within us

Realise how blissful we are

Yang Chieh in Tainan