Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Whenever and wherever one encounters the arising and passing away of the mental-physical structure, one enjoys bliss and delight, which lead on to the deathless stage experienced by the wise
Interpretation
Recognizing the transient nature of life leads to profound joy and spiritual awakening.
This quote by Gautama Buddha reflects the core Buddhist teaching on impermanence. It emphasizes that by observing the arising and passing of sensations and experiences, one can attain a state of bliss, which ultimately guides the seeker towards enlightenment, transcending suffering and ego. This recognition helps to cultivate wisdom and a deeper understanding of existence.
In practice
In a meditation class, you might share this quote to help students understand the significance of letting go.
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.
One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence.
True power comes from standing in your own truth and walking your own path.
Faith is the ability to see things that don't yet exist. Faith, though, can turn difficulty into reality, positive reality.
Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires toward a judicious, intelligent awareness.
Incompetence annoys me. Overconfidence terrifies me.
We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.
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