Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
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.
Interpretation
Generosity leads to true wealth, while greed offers no real benefit.
This quote by Gautama Buddha highlights the importance of kindness and generosity in relation to wealth. It suggests that those who use their resources to help others and enrich their communities are the ones who truly possess wealth, while those who hoard their riches without sharing will ultimately gain nothing of value in life.
In practice
In a speech about charity at the community center, I quoted Buddha's perspective on wealth.
Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
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.
I just thought I‘d never look good in what everybody else wore. So there’s no point trying. You just have to do what suits you, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t look like everybody else. Be you. That’s our gift and we’ve got to celebrate that, but it does take ages. I was wracked with self-doubt for years. I get spasms of it even now – I’m not indelibly self-confident.
When you feel perpetually unmotivated, you start questioning your existence in an unhealthy way; everything becomes a pseudo intellectual question you have no interest in responding whatsoever. This whole process becomes your very skin and it does not merely affect you; it actually defines you. So, you see yourself as a shadowy figure unworthy of developing interest, unworthy of wondering about the world - profoundly unworthy in every sense and deeply absent in your very presence.
Some gave me soft words and some blunt, some made excuses, some promises, some only lied. In the end words are just wind.
But individuals and firms spend an enormous amount of resources acquiring information, which affects their beliefs; and actions of others too affect their beliefs.
There are men who struggle for a day and they are good. There are men who struggle for a year and they are better. There are men who struggle many years, and they are better still. But there are those who struggle all their lives: These are the indispensable ones.
I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.
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