I 'd like to start this as a not too serious thread to give something to think about/ meditate on for the rest of the day, while the 'daily routine machine' is idle for a few moments.

Let's start with a quote of Buddha's last words, I got from Snowleopard's post:

"Everything that is born is subject to decay.Since there is no external saviour,

it's up to each of you to work out your own liberation...These are my last words."

"Truth cannot be transferred, truth cannot be handed over to you by

somebody else, because it is not a commodity. It is not a thing, it is an experience. "

A monk was driving a car into the temple grounds when suddenly a dog crosses the path. The car hit and killed the dog. The monk looked around and seeing another monk, went over and said to him "I'm terribly sorry, but my karma ran over your dogma."

Q: What did a Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?

A: Make me one with everything.

(The hot dog vendor prepares the hot dog and gives it to the monk. The monk pays him and asks for the change. The hot dog vendor says: "Change comes from within".)

don't think stroll meant buddhist jokes but ok...

If I'm not mistaken, Buddha was also known for his good sense of humor. Wisdom can come in many forms, even a joke.

-Drew

Each morning I prepare my mind like a blank slate for the day to write upon.

(The eternity of 'now')

Your notion that thoughts arise

Leads to a notion that you

Must prevent them

From arising.

These conflicting ideas

Are both wrong.

Look well at the source

Beyond mental activity.

- Daito (1282-1334)

If you desire to meet the real Buddha,

you must see your True-nature.

Unless you see your True-nature,

even if you recite the Buddha’s name,

read sutras, and uphold the precepts,

you will just be wasting your time

- Daito (1282-1334)

If I'm not mistaken, Buddha was also known for his good sense of humor. Wisdom can come in many forms, even a joke.

-Drew

I think it was either the wisdom of the Buddha himself,or maybe Confucious who once gave us this great insight,

"If you wanna meet beautiful Buddhist nurse,first you gotta be patient"!

Cheers!

Snowleopard.

Stop searching for phrases and chasing after words

Take the backward step and turn the light inward.

Your body-mind of itself will drop

off and your original face will appear.

If you want to attain just this,

immediately practice just this.

- Dogen (1200-1253)

The seeker and the (supposed) blind man:

"You've been here before?!!"

"How many times?"

Students of today get nowhere because they base their understanding upon the acknowledgment of names. They inscribe the words of stone dead old guys in a great big notebook, wrap it up in four or five squares of cloth, and won’t let anyone look at it. “This is the Mysterious Principle,” they aver, and safeguard it with care. That’s all wrong. Blind idiots! What kind of juice are you looking for in such dried-up bones!”

- Lin-chi d. 866

Everything that is born is subject to decay.Since there is no external saviour,

I'm a devout atheist, but if Budda said that then i might agree , theres a parodox.

If you pass your

Whole life half asleep,

What can you rely on?

- Kuei-shan Ling-yu (771-854)

The buddhas of past, present, and future,

And all of their scriptural discourses,

Are all in your original nature,

Inherently complete.

You do not need to seek,

But you must save yourself.

No one can do it for you.

- Hsueh-feng (822-908)

Do not try to seek the Truth

Just don’t cling to opinion

And you won’t linger in dualism.

Let go, leave things as they are

Obey the true nature of things

And you’re in harmony with the Way.

- T’sen T’sang

You must never seek any of Shakyamuni's teachings or the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the universe outside yourself. Your mastery of the Buddhist teachings will not relieve you of mortal sufferings in the least unless you perceive the nature of your own life. If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, any discipline or good deed will be meaningless. For example, a poor man cannot earn a penny just by counting his neighbor's wealth, even if he does so night and day.

- Nichiren (On attaining Buddahood, Major Works vol. 1)

There is freedom from desire and sorrow at the end of the way. The awakened one is free from all fetters and goes beyond life and death. Like a swan that rises from the lake, with her thoughts at peace, she moves onward, never looking back. The one who understands the unreality of all things, and who has laid up no store, that one’s track is unseen, as of birds in the air. Like a bird in the air, she takes an invisible course, wanting nothing, storing nothing, knowing the emptiness of all things.

- Dhammapada

If you understand the first word of Zen

You will know the last word.

The last word or the first word,

Is not a word.

- Wu-men

If a man speaks in the forest,

and there is no woman there to hear him,

is he still wrong?

Buddhism is non other than self control and respecting others.

That is why I call myself.."I am Buddhist by birth"

kwiz

"Identification with the mind gives it more energy; observation of the mind withdraws energy from it. Identification with the mind creates more time; observation of the mind opens up the dimension of the timeless."

Eckhart Tolle, 1997, "Practising the Power of Now"

If a man speaks in the forest,

and there is no woman there to hear him,

is he still wrong?

I missed that one before I saw your post, Boon.

It shows there is space for humour here as well.

Students of today get nowhere because they base their understanding upon the acknowledgment of names. They inscribe the words of stone dead old guys in a great big notebook, wrap it up in four or five squares of cloth, and won’t let anyone look at it. “This is the Mysterious Principle,” they aver, and safeguard it with care. That’s all wrong. Blind idiots! What kind of juice are you looking for in such dried-up bones!”

- Lin-chi d. 866

I'm having trouble understanding this one.

Students of today get nowhere because they base their understanding upon the acknowledgment of names. They inscribe the words of stone dead old guys in a great big notebook, wrap it up in four or five squares of cloth, and won’t let anyone look at it. “This is the Mysterious Principle,” they aver, and safeguard it with care. That’s all wrong. Blind idiots! What kind of juice are you looking for in such dried-up bones!”

- Lin-chi d. 866

I'm having trouble understanding this one.

I second that Will. A tad esoteric.

"The good traveler does'nt know where he is going. The great traveler does'nt know where he's been." Chuang Tzu

He who walks in the jungle will one day meet a tiger. Yin Yin <deleted>

Students of today get nowhere because they base their understanding upon the acknowledgment of names. They inscribe the words of stone dead old guys in a great big notebook, wrap it up in four or five squares of cloth, and won’t let anyone look at it. “This is the Mysterious Principle,” they aver, and safeguard it with care. That’s all wrong. Blind idiots! What kind of juice are you looking for in such dried-up bones!”

- Lin-chi d. 866

I'm having trouble understanding this one.

I second that Will. A tad esoteric.

it refers to the practice of priests or monk putting themselves between "buddha's" or "Gods" wisdom and using it to gain power or respect.

No juice can be distracted from old bones indeed. No wisdom can be gained from copying something in a book. Knowledge can be gained from learning.

Wisdom can only be gained through experience.

Most of my previous quotes here reflect the same sentiment.

Buddhas don’t save buddhas. If you use your mind to look for a buddha, you won’t see the buddha. As long as you look for a buddha somewhere else, you’ll never see that your own being is the buddha. And don’t use a buddha to worship a buddha. And don’t use the mind to invoke a buddha. Buddhas don’t recite sutras. Buddhas don’t keep precepts. And buddhas don’t break precepts. Buddhas don’t keep or break anything. Buddhas don’t do good or evil.

- Bodhidharma (d. 533)