Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
The judgment: You are now before Yama, King of the Dead. In vain will you try to...deny or conceal the evil deeds you have done. ... the mirror in which Yama seems to read your past is your own memory, and also his judgment is your own. It is you yourself who pronounce your own judgment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We are ultimately accountable for our actions, as our memories reflect our true selves.
This quote emphasizes the idea that we cannot escape the consequences of our actions, as our memory serves as a mirror that reflects our past deeds. Yama, the King of the Dead, symbolizes the inevitable judgment we face, which is not imposed by an external authority but rather arises from our own self-awareness and conscience, highlighting personal responsibility for our choices.
Themes
JudgmentMemorySelf-ReflectionResponsibilityConscience
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy lecture discussing personal accountability and the nature of judgment.
More from Gautama Buddha
All quotes →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
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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Similar quotes
Only in the books written in earlier times did she sometimes think she found some faint idea of what it might be like to be alive.
W. G. SebaldRead
We must want for others, not ourselves alone.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
If the whole earth is infinitely small in comparison with the sphere of the stars, what is man compared with all these created beings!
MaimonidesRead
"Do not repine, my friends," said Mr. Pecksniff, tenderly. "Do not weep for me. It is chronic."
Charles DickensRead
When our founding fathers drafted the Constitution and Bill of Rights, black people weren't even considered human.
Claudette ColvinRead
[God] is perfect not only insofar as He is absolute perfection, defining perfection in Himself and from His singular existence and total perfection, but also because He is far beyond being so. He sets a boundary to the boundless and in His total unity He rises above all limitation. He is neither contained nor comprehended by anything. He reaches out to everything and beyond everything and does so with unfailing generosity and unstinted activity.
Pope DionysiusRead