BUDDHIST WISDOM

[Pravin Kumar]

The brief elation we experience appeasing sensual impulses is very close to what the drug addict feels when indulging his or her habit. Temporary relief is soon followed by a craving for more. And in just the same way that taking drugs in the end only causes trouble, so too does much of what we undertake to fulfill our immediate sensory desires. We must acknowledge that there can be no hope of gratifying the senses permanently. At best, the happiness we derive from eating a good meal can only last until the next time we are hungry.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

If a man string putrid fish On a blade of kusa grass, That same grass will putrid smell. So with him who follows fools. If a man wrap frankincense In a leaf, that leaf smells sweet. So with those who follow sages.

- Itivuttaka

Karma is not something complicated or philosophical. Karma means watching your body, watching your mouth, and watching your mind. Trying to keep these three doors as pure as possible is the practice of karma.

- Lama Thubten Yeshe, "The Bliss of Inner Fire"

As a single slab of rock Won't budge in the wind, So the wise are not moved By praise, By blame. Like a deep lake, Clear, unruffled, & calm; So the wise become clear, Calm, On hearing words of the Dhamma.

- Dhammapada, 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.


If you are confused, there are a thousand differentiations, ten thousand distinctions. If you are enlightened, everything is the same one family.

- Wu-chien

Never think that I believe I should set out a "system of teaching" to help people understand the way. Never cherish such a thought. What I proclaim is the truth as I have discovered it and "a system of teaching" has no meaning because the truth cant be cut up into pieces and arranged in a system.

- Diamond Sutra