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After his great awakening, the Buddha continued to meditate and to devote himself to others; otherwise his vision would have receded into a pleasant memory.
Huston Smith
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of action and dedication after gaining insight or enlightenment.

The quote reflects on the actions of the Buddha after his enlightenment, highlighting that sustaining insights requires ongoing effort and commitment to help others. It suggests that merely having a profound realization is not enough; one must actively apply that understanding in service to the world to prevent it from fading into an unattainable ideal.

Themes

BuddhaMeditationActionEnlightenmentService

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational talk about personal growth and helping others, this quote can highlight the importance of action following enlightenment.

More from Huston Smith

A nation can assume that the addition of the words "under God" to its pledge of allegiance gives evidence that its citizens actually believe in God whereas all it really proves is that they believe in "believing" in God
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One reason education undoes belief is its teaching of evolution; Darwin's own drift from orthodoxy to agnosticism was symptomatic. Martin Lings is probably right in saying that more cases of loss of religious faith are to be traced to the theory of evolution ... than to anything else.
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So always, if we look back, concern for face-to-face morality, and its modern emphasis on justice as well, have historically evolved as religious issues.
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The crisis that the world finds itself in as it swings on the hinge of a new millennium is located in something deeper than particular ways of organizing political systems and economies.
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...conversation can be as mutually incomprehensible as foreign languages. We need the different and complementary perspectives of the various yogas - and ideally of all religions - not only to reach God but to reach each other.
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In the post-individualistic era, science and spirituality will become allies, and human beings will realize a vast potentiality now only dimly felt.
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