Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Health is the first benefit. Content is the first fortune. Friendliness is the first kindness. Nirvana is the first happiness.
Interpretation
True happiness and fulfillment come from health, contentment, kindness, and a state of peace.
This quote by Gautama Buddha emphasizes the foundational aspects of a fulfilling life. It suggests that good health is paramount, followed by a sense of contentment, the importance of kindness in our interactions, and ultimately achieving a state of nirvana, or true happiness. By prioritizing these elements, one can cultivate a rich and meaningful existence that leads to deeper joy and satisfaction.
In practice
In a wellness seminar to emphasize the importance of health and happiness.
Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
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.
A part of a healthy conscience is being able to confront consciencelessness. When you teach your daughter, explicitly or by passive rejection, that she must ignore her outrage, that she must be kind and accepting to the point of not defending herself or other people, that she must not rock the boat for any reason, you are NOT strengthening her posocial sense, you are damaging it-and the first person she will stop protecting is herself.
Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.
The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you're worrying about whether you're hopeful, or hopeless, or pessimistic, or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you're showing up, that you're here and that you're finding ever more capacity to love this world because it will not be healed without that. That was what is going to unleash our intelligence and our ingenuity and our solidarity for the healing of our world.
The difficulty is, all swing thoughts decay, like radium. What burnt up the course on Wednesday has turned to lead on Sunday. Yet it does not do to have a blank mind: the terrible hugeness of the course will rush into the vacuum and the ball will spray like a thing berserk.
Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you quit, try.
It is Chastity, my brother. She that has that is clad in complete steel.
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