Quotes About Buddhism

whatever is impermanent is dukkha' (yad aniccam ta? dukkha ?).

Buddhism does not recognize a spirit opposed to matter, as is accepted by most other systems of philosophies and religions. Mind is only a faculty or organ (indriya) like the eye or the ear. It can be controlled and developed like any other faculty [...]. The difference between the eye and the mind as faculties is that the former senses the world of colours and visible forms, while the latter senses the world of ideas and thoughts and mental objects.

According to the Buddha, there are four ways of treating questions: (1) Some should be answered directly; (2) others should be answered by way of analysing them; (3) yet others should be answered by counter-questions; (4) and lastly, there are questions which should be put aside.

Further, the Buddha explained to ?nanda how one could be one's own island or refuge, how one could make the Dhamma one's own island or refuge: through the cultivation of mindfulness or awareness of the body, sensations, mind and mind-objects (the four Satipa??h?nas).2 There is no talk at all here about an ?tman or Self.

According to the Buddha, there are four ways of treating questions: (1) Some should be answered directly; (2) others should be answered by way of analysing them; (3) yet others should be answered by counter-questions; (4) and lastly, there are questions which should be put aside.1

T]here is no permanent unchanging spirit which can be considered 'Self' or 'Soul', or 'Ego'.

Because Nirvana is thus expressed in negative terms, there are many who have got a wrong notion that it is negative, and expresses self-annihilation. Nirvana is definitely no annihilation of self, because there is no self to annihilate. If at all, it is the annihilation of the illusion, of the false idea of self.

What we call life … is the combination of the Five Aggregates … These are constantly changing; they do not remain the same for two consecutive moments. … If we can understand that in this life we can continue without a permanent, unchanging substance like Self or Soul, why can't we understand that these forces themselves can continue without a Self or Soul behind them after the non-functioning of the body?

The conception of dukkha may be viewed from three aspects: (1) dukkha as ordinary suffering (dukkha-dukkha), (2) dukkha as produced by change (vipari??ma-dukkha) and (3) dukkha as conditioned states (sa?kh?ra-dukkha).

La resistencia paciente del budista no es pasividad sino una estrategia para que los pensamientos y las emociones negativas no se apoderen de la mente y alteren el comportamiento. La asertividad, además de proteger nuestro amor propio, nos permite modular la violencia interior, para acceder a la dignidad de una manera inteligente.

Can that be called perfect knowledge . . . If one is not released while enjoying the pleasures of sense? 2 sings Saraha, one of the Buddhist masters who lived sometime between the second and seventh centuries.

One day the Buddha came across an ascetic who sat by the bank of a river, and who had practiced austerities for twenty-five years. The Buddha asked him what he had got out of all his labor. The ascetic proudly replied that now at last he could cross the river by walking on the water. The Buddha tried to point out that this was little gain for so much labor, since for one penny the ferry would take him across.

I was quite stuck by the Dali Lama's phrase of passing through difficulties. We often feel that suffering will engulf us, it that suffering will never end, but if we can realize that it, too, will pass, or as the Buddhists say, that it is impermanent, we can survive them more easily, and perhaps what we have to learn from them, find meaning in then, so that we come out the other side, not embittered but emboldened. The depth of our suffering can also result in the height of our joy.

The Buddha image shows us abiding tranquility amidst the turning wheel of life.

There is a scripture in the Buddhist tradition called the Heart Sutra, which says that there is no birth, no old age, and no death, and no end to birth, old age, or death. This is a very important part of the sutra. There is no birth, no old age, and no death. This is true from the absolute point of view. But unless we've also realized, simultaneously, that there is no end to birth, old age, and death, then our realization is not complete.

Right now, I'm following the Buddhist principle: Smile as abuse is hurled your way and this too shall pass.

Buddhism is a religion of the heart. Only this. One who practices to develop the heart is one who practices Buddhism [...] Use your heart to listen to the Teachings, not your ears.

If you are out on the wheel, you are caught on the dizzying momentum of going round in circles. We call it 'samsara' ? 'samsara-vatta' means 'going round in circles' — endless cycles, not really going anywhere but round. That is why when you do things from ignorance, you find yourself coming back and repeating the same things over and over again.

The concept of the trichiliocosm is closely linked with Buddhist theories about time and human destiny. Buddhist thought is generally clouded with pessimism, and this is nowhere more obvious than in its concept of time. The notion of an eternal round of birth and death is an intolerable thought.

According to Buddhism, the human life span today has diminished to around a hundred years, and will continue to decrease. That we are living in a time of increasing evil is a common idea among ancient people.

Buddhists consider a personal encounter with a buddha a rare chance, and an occasion for deep gratitude. The rarity of this opportunity is emphasized by the Buddhist saying that it is as difficult for a living being to be born human and to encounter the Buddha as for a blind turtle that raises its head above the surface of the sea only once in a hundred years to put its head in a hole in a floating log. This metaphor encourages the devotee to pursue religious training.

In northwest India around the third century C.E., the belief grew that Maitreya would be the next buddha, following ??kyamuni. At present accumulating religious training as a bodhisattva, Maitreya is the focus of hope of those born too late to enjoy ??kyamuni's salvation. All the same, he is not due to appear until 5,670,000,000 years after ??kyamuni's death.

Because its philosophy and practice are so difficult, Buddhism began as an elite religion. But Mah?y?na Buddhism did not forget the masses, and offered them an easier road to salvation: praying to buddhas, bodhisattvas, and gods.

While in H?nay?na Buddhism the Buddha appears and disappears in the universe, in Mah?y?na thought the Buddha is the universe itself, eternal existence. This idea was probably influenced by the notion of Brahm?, Brahmanism's fundamental principle of the universe, and by Hinduism's concept of the gods Vi??u and ?iva.