A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Interpretation
Life is transient, and while we may be absorbed in our pursuits, we must remember that death is inevitable.
This quote by Gautama Buddha highlights the fragility of life and the unexpected nature of death. It serves as a reminder that being preoccupied with earthly concerns, like picking flowers, can lead us to overlook the reality that death can come at any moment, much like a great flood surging into a tranquil village, disrupting the peace and normalcy of life.
In practice
During a memorial service, to encourage reflection on life's fleeting nature.
A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit.
There are having flowers in Spring, breezes in Summer, moon in Autumn, snows in Winter. If there is nothing worrying over you, it will be the best seasons at all times.
Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.
When a wise man is advised of his errors, he will reflect on and improve his conduct. When his misconduct is pointed out, a foolish man will not only disregard the advice but rather repeat the same error.
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
Care about your children. Just bless them instead of worrying, as every child is the little Buddha who helps his parents to grow up.
Nobody can be at the same time a correct bureaucrat and an innovator
Arms and laws do not flourish together.
Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.
In order for sensation to accede to the objectivity of things, it must itself be changed into a thing. The agent of change is language: the sensations are turned into verbal objects.
The Constitution is a pantheon of values, and a lot of hard cases are hard because the Constitution gives no simple rule of decision for the cases in which one of the values is truly at odds with another.
One problem with globalisation is that bad ideas seem to travel faster than good ones; first there was smearing tomato ketchup on everything; then drinking sugar-soaked cocktails ('Cosmo'-politanism) instead of our traditional whisky soda, and now this idea that we should abandon the poor to their fate in order to protect their dignity.
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