Dhamma Quotes

[Xangsamhua]

A man was asked his occupation. "Farmer", he replied.

"You don't look like a farmer", they said. "How much land do you have?"

"Five and a half feet."

They laughed. "How much can you raise in five and a half feet of land?"

"This is very special soil," the man replied. "This body is my field. My thoughts and actions are the seeds, and karma, good and bad, is the harvest."

[khaowong1]

If nibbana could be reached by endurance alone, chickens would be enlightened!

- Ajahn Chah.

I also remember reading another great Ajahn Chan saying.

He was asked about the proper sitting posture. He said, if the sitting posture was the most important part of meditation, then all the frogs in the world would be enlightened..

[camerata]

"...the Buddha's teaching is pointing out things which are always
there, but which perhaps we have not seen before."

- Ajahn Viradhammo, Bringing the Teachings Alive

[meadish_sweetball]

When asked by a layman whether he made use of mind reading for teaching his students, Ajahn Chah replied: "Here at this monastery, we teach people to read their own minds."

[Xangsamhua]

"Do not give attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do."

Dhammapada, verse 50

[lungmi]

Luang Pho Kumjon: A good fart gives freedom to your mind.

[Xangsamhua]

It is easy to see the faults of others; we winnow
them like chaff. It is hard to see our own; we
hide them as a gambler hides a losing draw.

But when one keeps dwelling on the faults
of others, his own compulsions grow worse,
making it harder to overcome them.

Dhammapada 252-253

[camerata]

I have begun to describe Buddhism as nothing more than high-level addiction therapy, which I think describes it better than any other label.

- Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu

http://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/connect/desire-brain-change-and-a-buddhist-take-on-addiction/#comment-2346

[camerata]

We learn to listen to the beliefs of others with patience and goodwill. We express appreciation for those teachings in harmony with the Dhamma, and keep a polite silence about those in conflict with it. If the person we are speaking to is genuinely interested in our opinion, we express our own views with humility.

As Buddhists we don't want to convert anybody to our religion. What we do want is to support kindness, integrity and wisdom in whatever religious form they appear.

Ajahn Jayasaro

[lungmi]

"Every morning, when you wake up, you have to give an answer to the most important question of life: I stand up, say yes to life (Dhamma) or I lay down with delusion waiting for

superstitious rescue."

Jiradhammo

[ChrisB87]

For in craving pleasure or in nursing pain. There is only sorrow.

Edited August 5, 2013 by ChrisB87

[lungmi]

- What is the sense of life?

- Sorry, I have to go to toilet..

Zen Master

[PimonratC]

http://atenlightenment.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/what-will-you-bring-more/

What will you bring more if you die tomorrow?…
Everything you had, passed by,
and struggled for…
It was just…

.

Edited October 6, 2013 by PimonratC

[luckysmile]

Hi all, I wouldn't say that I am Buddhist bit I do like some of the ideas and I don't have a quote for you , sorry but was after some information on the Buddhist meditation place in benjakiti park please.

Peace

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[sabaijai]

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

--Rumi

[dutchguest]

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said.
"You can never..."
"You lie!" he cried,
And ran on.

Stephen Crane has written these beautiful lines that give a description of the functioning of the mind chasing illusions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Crane

[dutchguest]

"For hate is never conquered by hate.

Hate is conquered by love.

This is an eternal law.”

Lord Buddha

the quote comes from this http://www.poetseers.org website which offers a rich diversity of more or less wise sayings.

[camerata]

When there is no ego or selfishness, there is nothing that will destroy nature, nothing that will exploit and abuse nature. Then the external, physical aspect of nature will be able to conserve itself automatically. — Buddhadasa

[sabaijai]

If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality. ~ Socrates

[camerata]

Gautama developed a set of meditation techniques that train the mind to experience reality as it is, without craving. These practices train the mind to focus all its attention on the question, ‘What am I experiencing now?’ rather than on ‘What would I rather be experiencing?’ It is difficult to achieve this state of mind, but not impossible.

- Yuval Noah Harari, "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind."

[camerata]

It is common for us to focus too much on what make us different from each other.

This over-emphasis leads to arrogance and insecurities, prejudice and fear.

As Buddhist we seek to prevent this imbalance by constantly returning to an awareness of those things that unite us all.

We reflect on the simple indisputable truth that everyone of us are companions in birth, old age, sickness and death. Everybody wants to be happy. Nobdy wants to suffer.

We don't deny differences or ignore them. But we recognize them within the context of our shared nature as sentient beings in a challenging and fragile world.

- Ajahn Jayasaro

[camerata]

"From my own experiences in the military I know that having a sense of personal integrity is very important. Even though I can recognize primordial drives and tendencies, what is even stronger with me is an aspiration for something higher than that. Within the human state there is also something that aspires. We intuitively know that there is some higher purpose that we can realize in ourselves. That is what religion is about and why human beings have created it. Religion is the attempt to express that intuitive feeling, the mystical sense or aspiration. And yet in a moment we can revert back to primordial behaviour. The conditions are there if we are not aware."

- "Instinct and Aspiration", in Anthology Vol 5 - The Wheel of Truth by Ajahn Sumedho

Freely downloadable eBooks by Ajahn Sumedho:
http://forestsanghapublications.org/viewAuthor.php?id=9

[camerata]

Whenever illnesses arise, those who know see nothing strange about it. Getting born into this world entails experiencing illness. However, even the Buddha and the Noble Ones, contracting illness in the course of things, would also, in the course of things, treat it with medicine. For them it was simply a matter of correcting the elements. They didn't blindly cling to the body or grasp at mystic ceremonies and such. They treated illnesses with right view, they didn't treat them with delusion. ''If it heals, it heals, if it doesn't then it doesn't'' - that's how they saw things.

- Ajahn Chah -

“Transcendence"

[jacky54]

I have begun to describe Buddhism as nothing more than high-level addiction therapy, which I think describes it better than any other label.

- Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu

http://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/connect/desire-brain-change-and-a-buddhist-take-on-addiction/#comment-2346

Spot on as we have seen

[fusion58]

Contemplate the five skandhas as originally empty and quiescent, non-arising, non-perishing, equal, without differentiation. Constantly thus practicing, day or night, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down, finally one reaches an inconceivable state without any obstruction or form. This is the Samadhi of One Act (yixing sanmei, 一行三昧)