Quotes About Wisdom

There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Seek nothing else.

The ancients thought it shameful to seek advancement or want to be the head of something, or the chief or senior.

Our own picture of the world is a kind of a fantasy made of our memory in our brain. Each person has this limitation. That is why we have problems, troubles, fighting, arguments. The angles we see the world from are different, and anuttara samyak sambodhi, the supreme awareness, is to see that we cannot see the whole world, to understand that we are deluded and limited. This means we have to let go of our viewpoints.

When we break through the barrier and drop off all limitations, we are no longer concerned with conceptual distinctions.

who can express the state of having already attained the ineffable?

Looking deeply into the writings and sutras of past teachers does not mean to learn something that is unrelated to us. Studying ancient writings means to study our lives. To study the Tenzo Ky?kun came to mean for me that I would be studying my own life.

Qué es en definitiva esta Clara Luz? Cualquier cosa que se diga no es más que el dedo que señala la luna. Por ello, el silencio de Bunko parece ser la respuesta más acertada, la que mejor refleja la vacuidad de la Clara Luz, la ausencia de sustancia, la ausencia de luz de la Clara Luz.

Uchiyama R?shi used to say again and again that loss is enlightenment, gain is illusion.

Sh?b?-genz?: Genj? K?an (Actualizing the Koan):

D?gen says here that to study Buddhism means to study one's Self; to learn Buddhism is to learn one's Self.

Be very clear about this: A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.49 As an ancient teacher has said: Two-thirds of our days are already over, And we have not practiced clarifying who we are. We waste our days in chasing satisfaction, So that even when called, we refuse to turn around. How regrettable.50

Do not get carried away by the sounds of spring, nor become heavy-hearted upon seeing the colors of fall.62 View the changes of the seasons as a whole, and weigh the relativeness of light and heavy from a broad perspective. It is then that you should write, understand

When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves.

To know yourself is to forget yourself.

A Zen master's life is one continuous mistake.

Life is made up of patterns. Patterns of eating, thirst, sleep, and fight-or-flight are crucial to our individual survival; patterns of courtship, sex, attachment, conflict, play, creativity, family life, and collaboration are crucial to our collective survival. Wisdom is our ability to perceive these patterns and to shape them into coherent chapters within the longer narrative of our lives.

The point of the spiritual life is to realize Truth. But you will never understand the spiritual life, or realize Truth, if you measure it by your own yardstick.

The truth of life is just to live.

If you don't understand, please keep your mouth shut and just live with all sentient beings in peace and harmony beyond your intellectual speculation. It's not necessary to think how much that helps people or how many people it helps. All you have to do is be peaceful with people right now, right here, day by day.

Why is it that sometimes our prayers seem not to be answered? This is a manifestation of the Buddha's wisdom, so that we can deepen our prayers, become stronger people, live more profound lives and secure deeper, more lasting good fortune. If our slightest prayer was answered immediately, we would become lazy and degenerate. And we could not hope to build a life of great dignity and substance.

Culture is an elevated expression of the inner voice which the different peoples of the Earth have heard in the depths of their being, a voice which conveys the vibrant compassion and wisdom of the cosmic life. For different cultures to engage in interaction is to catalyze each other's souls and foster mutual understanding.

The first sign of greatness is when a man does not attempt to look and act great. Before you can call yourself a man at all, Kipling assures us, you must not look too good nor talk too wise.

Let's not allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. Remember Life is too short to be little.

I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument— and that is to avoid it. Avoid it as you would avoid rattlesnakes and earthquakes.