Buddhism Plain and Simple
Steve Hagen
Top 10 Best Quotes
“We're never called on to do what hurts. We just do what hurts out of ignorance and habit. Once we see what we're doing, we can stop.”
“The Buddha encouraged people to "know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome and wrong. And when you do, then give them up. And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome and good, then accept them and follow them." The message is always to examine and see for yourself. When you see for yourself what is true-and that's really the only way that you can genuinely know anything-then embrace it. Until then, just suspend judgment and criticism.”
“Socrates pointed out that we carry on as though death were the greatest of all calamities—yet, for all we know, it might be the greatest of all blessings.”
“this desire to hold on, to somehow stop change in its tracks, is the greatest source of woe and horror and trouble in our lives.”
“When we talk about others, we should be very careful to observe our motive—especially if we’re talking about a person who isn’t present.”
“We’re like the comic strip character Hagar the Horrible who, when asked which he’d choose, power, gold, or true happiness, chose power: “With power, I could get the gold, and then I’d be happy.” We find Hagar’s idea humorous because we know better. Yet most of the time we ignore this very knowledge, and act (or at least think) much like Hagar.”
“We all know the maxim “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” It’s because we want the horse to drink that we become frustrated, because it’s literally not in our power to accomplish the job we’ve set out to do for ourselves.”
“Those who are aware,” he said, “do not die. Those who are ignorant are as if dead already.”
“Socrates pointed out that we carry on as though death were the greatest of all calamities—yet, for all we know, it might be the greatest of all blessings. What are we going to call good? What are we going to call bad? Good or bad is never our choice, or even the issue.”
“Reality, of course, is neither concave nor convex, neither cold nor hot, neither self nor other. If we conceive cold apart from the rest of Reality—not only apart from heat, but apart from ourselves as well—we suffer from it.”
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Book Keywords:
buddhism, inspirational-quotes
