365 Buddha PA - Jeff Schmidt [7]
‘Then, Sir, there is no such thing as wisdom.’
‘Where does the wind dwell, O king?’
‘Not anywhere, Sir.’
‘So there is no such thing as wind.’
‘Well answered, Nāgasena!’
MILINDAPAÑHA 77
60.
A contented mind is always joyful, but joy like this is but religion; the rich and poor alike, having contentment, enjoy perpetual rest.
The ill-contented man, though he be born to heavenly joys, because he is not contented would ever have a mind burned up by the fire of sorrow.
The rich, without contentment, endures the pain of poverty; though poor, if yet he be contented, then he is rich indeed!
FO-SHO-HING-TSAN-KING 2060-2062
61.
And why are we frightened by her motionless skeleton when we see it lying in the cemetery but not afraid now when we see her zombie-like body moving about like a walking corpse controlled by momentary impulses?
ŚĀNTIDEVA; BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 8.47
62.
Here, O Śāriputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness.
HEART SUTRA
63.
By him who speaks only to help beings,
It was said that all beings
Have arisen from the conception of I
And are enveloped with the conception of mine.
NĀGĀRJUNA; PRECIOUS GARLAND 27
64.
The king said: ‘Is a man, Nāgasena, who will not be reborn, aware of the fact?’
‘Yes, O king.’
‘And how does he know it?’
‘By the cessation of all that is cause, proximate or remote, of rebirth.’
‘Give me an illustration.’
‘Suppose a farmer, great king, had ploughed and sown and filled his granary; and then for a period should neither plough nor sow, but live on the stored up grain, or dispose of it in barter, or deal with it as he had need. Would the farmer be aware, great king, that his granary was not getting filled?’
‘Yes, he ought to know it.’
‘But how?’
‘He would know that the cause, proximate and remote, of the filling of the granary had ceased.’
‘Just so with the man you spoke of. By the cessation of all that leads to rebirth, he would be conscious of having escaped his liability to it.’
‘Well explained, Nāgasena!’
MILINDAPAÑHA 41
65.
“It is pleasant, it is unpleasant,” so people speak in the world; and based upon that arises desire. Having seen the appearing and disappearing of material things a man makes his judgements in the world. Anger, untruth and doubts, these states arise merely because of the existence of this duality. Let a doubter train himself by way of insight to understand these states as taught by the Recluse.
SUTTA NIPĀTA 867-868
66.
If those who are like wanton children
Are by nature prone to injure others,
What point is there in being angry—
Like resenting fire for its heat?
ŚĀNTIDEVA; BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 6.39
67.
Though one should live a hundred years, ’twere all in vain,
Did one not see that all that is doth wax and wane;
Instead, ’twere better far to live a single day,
And know that all the world contains doth rise and pass away.
DHAMMAPADA 113
68.
If you students of the Way wish to become Buddhas, you need study no doctrines whatever, but learn only how to avoid seeking for and attaching yourselves to anything.
HUANG PO; ZEN TEACHING OF HUANG PO
69.
There is no specifiable difference whatever between nirvāṇa and the everyday world; there is no specifiable difference whatever between the everyday world and nirvāṇa.
NĀGĀRJUNA; MŪLAMADHYAMAKA-KĀRIKĀ XXV, 19
70.
Patience is the sprouting of religion, firmness its root, good conduct is the flower, the enlightened heart the boughs and branches, wisdom supreme the entire tree, the “transcendent law” the fruit, its shade protects all living things. Say then! Why would you cut it down?
FO-SHO-HING-TSAN-KING 1100-1101
71.
When one comes to the Essence of Being,
The shining Wisdom of Reality
Illumines all like the cloudless sky.
HUNDRED THOUSAND SONGS