Thought for Sun, 31 Jan 2010

Who ranks as the highest?
One who does not harm anything.
One who never retaliates.
One who is always at peace regardless
of the other person's disposition.
- Buddha

Thought for Sat, 30 Jan 2010

The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups.
A good principle was never found solitary in any breast. - Buddha

Thought for Fri, 29 Jan 2010

Live your life in happiness,
even though those around you
lead lives which are unhealthy,
and wish to spread their illness to you.
Be Happiness itself. - Buddha

Thought for Thu, 28 Jan 2010

While the Tathagata, in his teaching, constantly makes use of
conceptions and ideas about them, disciples should keep in mind the unreality
of all such conceptions and ideas. They should recall that the Tathagata, in
making use of them in explaining the Dharma always uses them in the semblance
of a raft that is of use only to cross a river. As the raft is of no further
use after the river is crossed, it should be discarded. So these arbitrary
conceptions of things and about things should be wholly given up as one attains
enlightenment. -Buddha

Thought for Wed, 27 Jan 2010

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old
dimensions. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Thought for Tue, 26 Jan 2010

Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals. - Buddha

Thought for Mon, 25 Jan 2010

The Five Precepts are:
1. Abstain from taking life,
2. Abstain from taking that which is not given,
3. Abstain from misconduct done in lust,
4. Abstain from lying,
5. Abstain from all forms of intoxication.

Thought for Sun, 24 Jan 2010

The practice of meditation is represented by the three monkeys,
who cover their eyes, ears and mouths so as to avoid the phenomenal world.

The practice of non-meditation is ceasing to be the see-er, hearer or speaker
while eyes, ears and mouths are fulfilling their function in daily life.
Open Secret by Wei Wu Wei

Thought for Sat, 23 Jan 2010

Just as the dawn is the forerunner, the vanguard of the rising sun, so too,
possession of virtue is the forerunner, the vanguard of the rising of
the Noble Eightfold Path. - Buddha

Thought for Fri, 22 Jan 2010

The fundamental idea of Buddhism is to pass beyond the world of
opposites, a world built up by intellectual distinctions and emotional
defilements. - D.T. Suzuki

Thought for Thu, 21 Jan 2010

Be wise, disciplined and non-violent and you will find peace.
Be aware both night and day, continue your practice,
and you will attain Nirvana. - Buddha

Thought for Wed, 20 Jan 2010

'Sudden Enlightenment' means precisely the
immediate apperception of all that in fact we are.
'Enlightenment' is 'sudden' only because it
is not in 'time' (subject to sequential duration).
It is re-integration in intemporality.
'Posthumous Pieces' by Wei Wu Wei

Thought for Tue, 19 Jan 2010

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. - Buddha

Thought for Mon, 18 Jan 2010

A wonderful painting is the result of the feeling in your fingers. If you have
the feeling of the thickness of the ink in your brush, the painting is already
there before you paint. When you dip your brush into the ink you already know
the result of your drawing, or else you cannot paint. So before you do
something, "being" is there, the result is there. Even though you look as if
you were sitting quietly, all your activity, past and present, is included, and
the result of your sitting is also already there. - D.T. Suzuki

Thought for Sun, 17 Jan 2010

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. - Buddha

Thought for Sat, 16 Jan 2010

It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end
as superstitions. - T.H. Huxley

Thought for Fri, 15 Jan 2010

Lead a righteous life; lead not a base life. The righteous live happily
both in this world and the next. - Buddha

Thought for Thu, 14 Jan 2010

Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love.
This is an unalterable law. - Buddha

Thought for Wed, 13 Jan 2010

Man is in appearance a derivative of the world,
but intrinsically the origin of the world. - Jalaluddin Rumi

Thought for Tue, 12 Jan 2010

A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another.
If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as
a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one
another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden. - Buddha

Thought for Mon, 11 Jan 2010

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. - Buddha

Thought for Sun, 10 Jan 2010

In Buddhism, there is a teaching called the "three bodies" (sanjin),
also called the "three properties" or the "three enlightened properties".
These are the three kinds of form that a Buddha may manifest as:

1) the Dharma Body (dharmakaya or hosshin) is the form in which a
Buddha transcends physical being and is identical with the undifferentiated
unity of being or Suchness (Skt. tathata, Jp. shinnyo);

2) the Bliss or Reward Body (sambhogakaya or hojin) is obtained as the
"reward" for having completed the bodhisattva practice of aiding other
beings to end their suffering and having penetrated the depth of the
Buddha's wisdom. Unlike the Dharma Body, which is immaterial, the Bliss Body
is conceived of as an actual body, although one that is still transcendent
and imperceptible to common people;

3) the Manifested Body (nirmanakaya or ojin) is the physical form in which
the Buddha appears in this world in order to guide sentient beings.
It is considered that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, is nirmanakaya.
Honen believed that Amida is sambhogakaya.

Thought for Sat, 09 Jan 2010

In this life, you will achieve benefit from any Buddhist practices you choose.
Jodo Shu practice can bring rebirth in the Pure Land and enlightenment, and is
easy for anyone to follow.

Thought for Fri, 08 Jan 2010

By becoming attached to names and forms, not realising that they have no
more basis than the activities of the mind itself, error rises and the way
to emancipation is blocked. -Buddha

Thought for Thu, 07 Jan 2010

Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely
out of respect for the teacher. - Buddha

Thought for Wed, 06 Jan 2010

Just as the highest and the lowest notes are equally inaudible, so perhaps,
is the greatest sense and the greatest nonsense equally unintelligible.
Alan Watts

Thought for Tue, 05 Jan 2010

Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves.
Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge.
Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those,
who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to
no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp,
and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the
topmost height. - Buddha

Thought for Mon, 04 Jan 2010

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
- Buddha

Thought for Sun, 03 Jan 2010

The qualities we possess should never be a matter for satisfaction, but the
qualities we have discarded. - Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei

Thought for Sat, 02 Jan 2010

What do you have to do?

Pack your bags,
Go to the station without them,
Catch the train,
And leave your self behind. - Open Secret by Wei Wu Wei

Thought for Fri, 01 Jan 2010

The Triptaka consists of the Sutras, the Vinaya, and the Abhidhamma.