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“clinging
"THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "HOLDING ONTO ANGER IS LIKE DRINKING POISON AND EXPECTING There are many variants of this quote. Sometimes they’re attributed to the Buddha, and sometimes to the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, or to Nelson Mandela. I haven’t found anything resembling this quote in the Buddhist scriptures. Until a friendly reader helped me out, I had found the quote in books by Anne Lamotte, Alice May, Continue reading “Holding onto anger is like drinking "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the "EVERY HUMAN BEING IS THE AUTHOR OF HIS OWN HEALTH OR This one crops up with tedious frequency on Twitter, and is in many books as well — mostly those published since 2005. Here are just a few: The Healthy Green Drink Diet: Advice and Recipes for Happy Juicing, by Jason Manheim (2012). Physical Activity & Health: An Interactive Approach, by Jerome E. Kotecki (2100). Teachers Continue reading “Every human being is the author of his own "OUR LIFE IS THE CREATION OF OUR MIND." “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” This one’s a translation of the first verse of the Dhammapada, or at least the first half of the first verse. It’s from the Juan Mascaró translation, published Continue reading “Our life is the creation of our mind.” "WE ARE WHAT WE THINK. ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.” You may well instantly recognize these three sentences as the opening of the Dhammapada, and you may wonder what could possibly be wrong with them. Isn’t this just what the Buddha taught? Didn’t the Buddha teach Continue reading “We are what we think. All that we are arises with "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "HOLDING ONTO ANGER IS LIKE DRINKING POISON AND EXPECTING There are many variants of this quote. Sometimes they’re attributed to the Buddha, and sometimes to the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, or to Nelson Mandela. I haven’t found anything resembling this quote in the Buddhist scriptures. Until a friendly reader helped me out, I had found the quote in books by Anne Lamotte, Alice May, Continue reading “Holding onto anger is like drinking "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the "EVERY HUMAN BEING IS THE AUTHOR OF HIS OWN HEALTH OR This one crops up with tedious frequency on Twitter, and is in many books as well — mostly those published since 2005. Here are just a few: The Healthy Green Drink Diet: Advice and Recipes for Happy Juicing, by Jason Manheim (2012). Physical Activity & Health: An Interactive Approach, by Jerome E. Kotecki (2100). Teachers Continue reading “Every human being is the author of his own "DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANYTHING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE HEARD “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it”: This is just the start of a calamitous misreading of a famous passage from the Kalama Sutta. I’ve dealt with a libertarian mistranslation of this verse elsewhere, but this version is different. But here’s the full quote, lifted from one of the well-known quotes Continue reading “Do not believe in anything simply "YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORLD AND THEN WITH ALL “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” This is one of the more common Fake Buddha Quotes. It’s found also in the form: “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” In an article by Soren Continue reading “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "WHAT YOU THINK YOU CREATE, WHAT YOU FEEL YOU ATTRACT “What you think you create, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you become.” This one is commonly attributed to the Buddha, although it’s very modern and law-of-attraction-y. It’s also found as “What you think you become, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you create.” I believe that the quote in this Continue reading “What you think you create, what you feel "CHANGE IS NEVER PAINFUL, ONLY THE Two people emailed me within an hour or so of each other this morning with queries about this quote : “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful.” It’s a wonderful quote. It’s true, and it’s neatly packaged in a way that makes it resonate strongly. It just happens not to be Continue reading “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is "THE PAST IS ALREADY GONE, THE FUTURE IS NOT YET HERE I’m quite sure this quote, which was sent to me the other day, is fake: “The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live.” The Buddha talked a little about the past, present, and future, although not as much as you might assume, based on Continue reading “The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "EVERY HUMAN BEING IS THE AUTHOR OF HIS OWN HEALTH OR This one crops up with tedious frequency on Twitter, and is in many books as well — mostly those published since 2005. Here are just a few: The Healthy Green Drink Diet: Advice and Recipes for Happy Juicing, by Jason Manheim (2012). Physical Activity & Health: An Interactive Approach, by Jerome E. Kotecki (2100). Teachers Continue reading “Every human being is the author of his own DEBUNKING FAKE ALBERT EINSTEIN QUOTES There’s a pressing need for a “Fake Dalai Lama Quote” website and perhaps even more of a need for fakeeinsteinquotes.com. In the meantime, we have this post, “Debunking Fake Einstein Quotes,” by someone calling themselves “Borna” on the (now defunct) site, Skeptica Esoterica. (The link now takes you to the archive.org archive of the blog Continue reading Debunking Fake Albert "WHEN THE STUDENT IS READY THE TEACHER WILL APPEAR And in a 1927 publication, Steps to Self-Mastery, S. R. Parchment says: “When the pupil is ready, the Master appears” is an old Theosophical statement, and I have been able on several occasions to prove its truthfulness. Other forms are “When the Seeker is ready, the Master will appear.” “the Master will appear when the discipleis
"TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MISTAKES ONE CAN MAKE ALONG THE ROAD There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha —INSPIRED BY ANGELS (@ANGELICWORLD12) June 22, 2012 Or as they say, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, misquote him.” This one’s a puzzle. I’m 100% certain it’s not the Buddha. As usual, Continue reading “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "HOLDING ONTO ANGER IS LIKE DRINKING POISON AND EXPECTING There are many variants of this quote. Sometimes they’re attributed to the Buddha, and sometimes to the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, or to Nelson Mandela. I haven’t found anything resembling this quote in the Buddhist scriptures. Until a friendly reader helped me out, I had found the quote in books by Anne Lamotte, Alice May, Continue reading “Holding onto anger is like drinking "WHEN YOU MEET YOUR ‘SOUL MATE’ YOU’LL FEEL CALM." A reader passed this quote on to me this morning: “The Buddhists say if you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak, that’s not the one. When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm. No anxiety, no agitation.” Obviously this is not described as a quote from the Continue reading “When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm.” "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MISTAKES ONE CAN MAKE ALONG THE ROAD There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha —INSPIRED BY ANGELS (@ANGELICWORLD12) June 22, 2012 Or as they say, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, misquote him.” This one’s a puzzle. I’m 100% certain it’s not the Buddha. As usual, Continue reading “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "HOLDING ONTO ANGER IS LIKE DRINKING POISON AND EXPECTING There are many variants of this quote. Sometimes they’re attributed to the Buddha, and sometimes to the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, or to Nelson Mandela. I haven’t found anything resembling this quote in the Buddhist scriptures. Until a friendly reader helped me out, I had found the quote in books by Anne Lamotte, Alice May, Continue reading “Holding onto anger is like drinking "WHEN YOU MEET YOUR ‘SOUL MATE’ YOU’LL FEEL CALM." A reader passed this quote on to me this morning: “The Buddhists say if you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak, that’s not the one. When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm. No anxiety, no agitation.” Obviously this is not described as a quote from the Continue reading “When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm.” "WE ARE WHAT WE THINK. ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.” You may well instantly recognize these three sentences as the opening of the Dhammapada, and you may wonder what could possibly be wrong with them. Isn’t this just what the Buddha taught? Didn’t the Buddha teach Continue reading “We are what we think. All that we are arises with "IT IS EASY TO SEE THE FAULTS OF OTHERS, BUT DIFFICULT TO This quote is often seen in books, and to some extent in social media and blog posts: “It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one’s own faults as a cunning gambler Continue reading “It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults "MEDITATION BRINGS WISDOM; LACK OF MEDITATION LEAVES A reader brought this one to my attention today: Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know what leads you forward and what holds you back and choose the path that leads to wisdom. He commented, “This feels odd – I think it’s the ‘holds you back’ phrasing.” This phrasing does sound suspiciously contemporary, Continue reading “Meditation bringswisdom
"YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORLD AND THEN WITH ALL “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” This is one of the more common Fake Buddha Quotes. It’s found also in the form: “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” In an article by Soren Continue reading “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” "IF THE PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED WHY WORRY? IF THE PROBLEM I was introduced to this particular Fake Buddha Quote by someone who wanted to show me their Buddha quote website. As is often the case, most of his quotes were fake. This one comes from Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, or “Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.” Shantideva was an 8th century Indian teacher who was a Continue reading “If the problem can be solved why worry? If the "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own “CHANGE IS NEVER PAINFUL, ONLY THE Two people emailed me within an hour or so of each other this morning with queries about this quote : “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful.” It’s a wonderful quote. It’s true, and it’s neatly packaged in a way that makes it resonate strongly. It just happens not to be Continue reading “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is "WHEN YOU MEET YOUR ‘SOUL MATE’ YOU’LL FEEL CALM." A reader passed this quote on to me this morning: “The Buddhists say if you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak, that’s not the one. When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm. No anxiety, no agitation.” Obviously this is not described as a quote from the Continue reading “When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm.” "UNITY CAN ONLY BE MANIFESTED BY THE BINARY. UNITY ITSELF Andy Rickford wrote this morning bringing my attention to what he referred to as a “ripe gorgonzola” of a Fake Buddha Quote: “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.” This reminded me that I’d started a draft post on this over two years ago. Continue reading “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the "THOUSANDS OF CANDLES CAN BE LIGHTED FROM A SINGLE CANDLE Someone on Facebook asked me about this one today: “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the single candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” At first I thought this was a spurious quote, but it does in fact have a canonical origin, although Continue reading “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MISTAKES ONE CAN MAKE ALONG THE ROAD There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha —INSPIRED BY ANGELS (@ANGELICWORLD12) June 22, 2012 Or as they say, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, misquote him.” This one’s a puzzle. I’m 100% certain it’s not the Buddha. As usual, Continue reading “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "HOLDING ONTO ANGER IS LIKE DRINKING POISON AND EXPECTING There are many variants of this quote. Sometimes they’re attributed to the Buddha, and sometimes to the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, or to Nelson Mandela. I haven’t found anything resembling this quote in the Buddhist scriptures. Until a friendly reader helped me out, I had found the quote in books by Anne Lamotte, Alice May, Continue reading “Holding onto anger is like drinking "WHEN YOU MEET YOUR ‘SOUL MATE’ YOU’LL FEEL CALM." A reader passed this quote on to me this morning: “The Buddhists say if you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak, that’s not the one. When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm. No anxiety, no agitation.” Obviously this is not described as a quote from the Continue reading “When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm.” "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "IN THE END, ONLY THREE THINGS MATTER: HOW MUCH YOU LOVED In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. I’ve been asked about this one several times, but have never written it up. There’s not much to say, really. It seems to be a variant on another Continue reading “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MISTAKES ONE CAN MAKE ALONG THE ROAD There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha —INSPIRED BY ANGELS (@ANGELICWORLD12) June 22, 2012 Or as they say, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, misquote him.” This one’s a puzzle. I’m 100% certain it’s not the Buddha. As usual, Continue reading “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "HOLDING ONTO ANGER IS LIKE DRINKING POISON AND EXPECTING There are many variants of this quote. Sometimes they’re attributed to the Buddha, and sometimes to the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, or to Nelson Mandela. I haven’t found anything resembling this quote in the Buddhist scriptures. Until a friendly reader helped me out, I had found the quote in books by Anne Lamotte, Alice May, Continue reading “Holding onto anger is like drinking "WHEN YOU MEET YOUR ‘SOUL MATE’ YOU’LL FEEL CALM." A reader passed this quote on to me this morning: “The Buddhists say if you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak, that’s not the one. When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm. No anxiety, no agitation.” Obviously this is not described as a quote from the Continue reading “When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm.” “CHANGE IS NEVER PAINFUL, ONLY THE Two people emailed me within an hour or so of each other this morning with queries about this quote : “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful.” It’s a wonderful quote. It’s true, and it’s neatly packaged in a way that makes it resonate strongly. It just happens not to be Continue reading “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is "IT IS EASY TO SEE THE FAULTS OF OTHERS, BUT DIFFICULT TO This quote is often seen in books, and to some extent in social media and blog posts: “It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one’s own faults as a cunning gambler Continue reading “It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own "IF THE PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED WHY WORRY? IF THE PROBLEM I was introduced to this particular Fake Buddha Quote by someone who wanted to show me their Buddha quote website. As is often the case, most of his quotes were fake. This one comes from Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, or “Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.” Shantideva was an 8th century Indian teacher who was a Continue reading “If the problem can be solved why worry? If the "WE ARE WHAT WE THINK. ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.” You may well instantly recognize these three sentences as the opening of the Dhammapada, and you may wonder what could possibly be wrong with them. Isn’t this just what the Buddha taught? Didn’t the Buddha teach Continue reading “We are what we think. All that we are arises with "WHEN YOU MEET YOUR ‘SOUL MATE’ YOU’LL FEEL CALM." A reader passed this quote on to me this morning: “The Buddhists say if you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak, that’s not the one. When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm. No anxiety, no agitation.” Obviously this is not described as a quote from the Continue reading “When you meet your ‘soul mate’ you’ll feel calm.” "IF YOU LIGHT A LAMP FOR SOMEONE ELSE, IT WILL ALSO This is a nice quote, but every time I saw it being shared in social media or quoted in blogs it rang an alarm bell: not because the sentiment is untrue, nor because the language was of the kind that the Buddha wouldn’t have used, but simply because in many years of reading the Pali Continue reading “If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten your own path.” "UNITY CAN ONLY BE MANIFESTED BY THE BINARY. UNITY ITSELF Andy Rickford wrote this morning bringing my attention to what he referred to as a “ripe gorgonzola” of a Fake Buddha Quote: “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.” This reminded me that I’d started a draft post on this over two years ago. Continue reading “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the "WHEN THE STUDENT IS READY THE TEACHER WILL APPEAR And in a 1927 publication, Steps to Self-Mastery, S. R. Parchment says: “When the pupil is ready, the Master appears” is an old Theosophical statement, and I have been able on several occasions to prove its truthfulness. Other forms are “When the Seeker is ready, the Master will appear.” “the Master will appear when the discipleis
"THOUSANDS OF CANDLES CAN BE LIGHTED FROM A SINGLE CANDLE Someone on Facebook asked me about this one today: “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the single candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” At first I thought this was a spurious quote, but it does in fact have a canonical origin, although Continue reading “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single “CHANGE IS NEVER PAINFUL, ONLY THE Two people emailed me within an hour or so of each other this morning with queries about this quote : “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful.” It’s a wonderful quote. It’s true, and it’s neatly packaged in a way that makes it resonate strongly. It just happens not to be Continue reading “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is "EVENTS HAPPEN, DEEDS ARE DONE, BUT THERE IS NO INDIVIDUAL This one isn’t the Buddha. It reminds me of something from Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, or “Path of Purification,” which is from 1,000 years after the Buddha: There is no doer of a deed Or one who reaps the deed’s result; Phenomena alone flow on— No other view than this is right. (XIX 20) I’m pretty sure Continue reading “Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORLD AND THEN WITH ALL “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” This is one of the more common Fake Buddha Quotes. It’s found also in the form: “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” In an article by Soren Continue reading “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MISTAKES ONE CAN MAKE ALONG THE ROAD There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha —INSPIRED BY ANGELS (@ANGELICWORLD12) June 22, 2012 Or as they say, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, misquote him.” This one’s a puzzle. I’m 100% certain it’s not the Buddha. As usual, Continue reading “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to "UNITY CAN ONLY BE MANIFESTED BY THE BINARY. UNITY ITSELF Andy Rickford wrote this morning bringing my attention to what he referred to as a “ripe gorgonzola” of a Fake Buddha Quote: “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.” This reminded me that I’d started a draft post on this over two years ago. Continue reading “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "WHAT'S DONE TO THE CHILDREN IS DONE TO SOCIETY" On the grounds of style and content this is certainly not by the Buddha. I don’t know the actual origins at the moment, but it looks like a variant on “What’s done to children, they will do to society,” which is usually attributed to Karl Menninger, an American psychiatrist who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THE I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the “CHANGE IS NEVER PAINFUL, ONLY THE Two people emailed me within an hour or so of each other this morning with queries about this quote : “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful.” It’s a wonderful quote. It’s true, and it’s neatly packaged in a way that makes it resonate strongly. It just happens not to be Continue reading “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is "EVENTS HAPPEN, DEEDS ARE DONE, BUT THERE IS NO INDIVIDUAL This one isn’t the Buddha. It reminds me of something from Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, or “Path of Purification,” which is from 1,000 years after the Buddha: There is no doer of a deed Or one who reaps the deed’s result; Phenomena alone flow on— No other view than this is right. (XIX 20) I’m pretty sure Continue reading “Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHINGTO LOVE IS TO FORGIVETO FORGIVE IS DIVINE QUOTETO FORGIVE IS TO DIVINETO FORGIVE IS TO FORGETTO FORGIVE LYRICSFORGIVE ALL MEN Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” "PEOPLE WITH OPINIONS JUST GO AROUND BOTHERING EACH OTHER The form of this quote, “People with opinions just go around bothering each other,” seems to be a minor variant of something from A Path With Heart, a 1993 book by Jack Kornfield: “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” (page 50). What’s missing here compared to the Pali is that in the original it’s“clinging
"YOUR WORK IS TO DISCOVER YOUR WORLD AND THEN WITH ALL “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” This is one of the more common Fake Buddha Quotes. It’s found also in the form: “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” In an article by Soren Continue reading “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MISTAKES ONE CAN MAKE ALONG THE ROAD There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha —INSPIRED BY ANGELS (@ANGELICWORLD12) June 22, 2012 Or as they say, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, misquote him.” This one’s a puzzle. I’m 100% certain it’s not the Buddha. As usual, Continue reading “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to "UNITY CAN ONLY BE MANIFESTED BY THE BINARY. UNITY ITSELF Andy Rickford wrote this morning bringing my attention to what he referred to as a “ripe gorgonzola” of a Fake Buddha Quote: “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.” This reminded me that I’d started a draft post on this over two years ago. Continue reading “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the "THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON Today a non-Buddhist friend, trembling no doubt at the thought of incurring my wrath and scorn by posting a quotation erroneously attributed to the Buddha, asked me on Twitter whether “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” was a genuine Buddha quote. This is an interesting one. I’ve seen Continue reading “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun "WHAT'S DONE TO THE CHILDREN IS DONE TO SOCIETY" On the grounds of style and content this is certainly not by the Buddha. I don’t know the actual origins at the moment, but it looks like a variant on “What’s done to children, they will do to society,” which is usually attributed to Karl Menninger, an American psychiatrist who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. "IN THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE STREAM AND THE ROCK, THEGOOD ROCK QUOTESYOU ROCK QUOTES I just spotted this one on Twitter: In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha — Lorraine Newman (@LorraineNewman1) June 14, 2012 The language is all wrong for the Buddha, and this sounds very 20th century, with a strong dose of self-help. At Continue reading “In the confrontation between the “CHANGE IS NEVER PAINFUL, ONLY THE Two people emailed me within an hour or so of each other this morning with queries about this quote : “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful.” It’s a wonderful quote. It’s true, and it’s neatly packaged in a way that makes it resonate strongly. It just happens not to be Continue reading “Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is "TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING IS TO FORGIVE EVERYTHING Scott Knickelbine sent me this one, which he had spotted on Facebook. I’d seen it before myself, and in fact I was sure I’d covered it on this blog, but apparently not. Scott thought it was a quote by Spinoza, but it seems almost universally to be attributed to Madame de Stael. Wikipedia says: Anne Continue reading “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” “THE WORLD IS A LOOKING GLASS. IT GIVES BACK TO EVERY MAN A kind reader of this blog alerted me to this one yesterday: “The world is a looking glass. It gives back to every man a true reflection of his own thoughts. Rule your mind or it will rule you.” This is a composite fake quote. The final sentence, “Rule your mind or it will rule Continue reading “The world is a looking glass. It gives back to every man a true reflection of his own "IF ANYTHING IS WORTH DOING, DO IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART When I first saw this quote on Twitter, my suspicious were aroused. It just seemed too neat and “literary” to be a genuine Buddha quote. But having researched it I’ve concluded that it’s a translation that’s just close enough to the original to be considered genuine. “If anything is worth doing, do it with all Continue reading “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your "DOUBT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR OWN LIGHT." This one, “Doubt everything. Find your own light” was found on Facebook. It’s in several books, mostly from the 21st century, although I’ve also found it in a 1991 book called “Armageddon the Musical,” by Robert Rankin, attributed to the Buddha. Unfortunately I don’t know where Rankin picked up the idea this was from the Continue reading “Doubt everything. Find your own "THOUSANDS OF CANDLES CAN BE LIGHTED FROM A SINGLE CANDLE Someone on Facebook asked me about this one today: “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the single candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” At first I thought this was a spurious quote, but it does in fact have a canonical origin, although Continue reading “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single "THE TROUBLE IS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE TIME." Spotted here: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha — Black Royalty™ (@royallayn) June 14, 2012 This is another one from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (1994), which isn’t a collection of Buddha quotes, but is Jack’s rather lovely interpretation of Buddhist teachings. According to the publisher: Just as the serene Continue reading “The "WHAT'S DONE TO THE CHILDREN IS DONE TO SOCIETY" On the grounds of style and content this is certainly not by the Buddha. I don’t know the actual origins at the moment, but it looks like a variant on “What’s done to children, they will do to society,” which is usually attributed to Karl Menninger, an American psychiatrist who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. "DO NOT DWELL IN THE PAST, DO NOT DREAM OF THE FUTURE Spotted on Twitter:. RT @conduru: “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” ~ Buddha. — Emily Breder (@ohiobuddhist) December 19, 2009 The quote in question comes from “The Teaching of Buddha: The Buddhist Bible : A Compendium of Many Scriptures Translated from the Japanese,” published in 1934 by The Federation of All Young “FAITH AND PRAYER BOTH ARE INVISIBLE, BUT THEY MAKE This one was just brought to my attention. It’s listed on the badly misnamed “Quotes Master” site as being by the Buddha. It’s not. Neither are many of the quotes you’ll find there. Let’s talk about prayer. No, let’s have the Buddha talk about prayer. Here’s one good image of the fruitlessness of merely wishing Continue reading “Faith and prayer both are invisible, butSkip to content
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* Real Buddha Quotes * Wildmind Buddhist Meditation “OF ALL FOOTPRINTS, THAT OF THE ELEPHANT IS SUPREME. SIMILARLY, OF ALL MINDFULNESS MEDITATION, THAT ON DEATH IS SUPREME.” A friend recently asked me about this quote — “Of all footprints, that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme” — because she’s scrupulous about sourcing her attributions. I saw nothing suspicious about the quote at all but I like to help out a Dharma sister and so I wenthunting.
The quote is very much in keeping with the style and content of the early scriptures, but I couldn’t find anything corresponding to this in either Access to Insight or, more tellingly, in Sutta Central . So it didn’t seem to come from the Pali sources. Of course the Pali texts aren’t the only early Buddhist scriptures. There are many early texts that were translated into Chinese or Tibetan that aren’t found in the Pali Tipitaka, and there are early texts in Sanskrit and other Indian languages as well, although those tend to be fragmentary. And it’s possible that this quote might be found in one of those collections. (Despite some claims to the contrary, those texts are just as ancient as the Pali texts, and have an equal claim to represent what the Buddha taught.) I did find the origins of the quote, however. It comes from the Sanskrit Mahaparinirvana Sutra (“the teaching on the great decease of the Buddha”). Now, you might assume that this is a Sanskrit version of the Pali Mahaparinibbana Sutta, which describes the Buddha’s last days and his death, but actually it’s a much later teaching, probably composed around the second century of the Common Era. It’s a Mahayana sutra, the Mahayana being a collection of schools that emphasized different things in order to reform Buddhism away from a narrow, monastic, scholarly interpretation of practice. Some emphasized a more devotional approach to practice, or emphasized compassion, or placed more emphasis on meditation, or explored (or perhaps even preserved) the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness. In Mark L. Blum’s translation of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra the same passage is translated as: “World-Honored One, just as among the footprints of all living beings there is nothing that surpasses the footprint of an elephant, so too is the concept of impermanence paramount among all concepts.” In Kosho Yamamoto’s translation, it’s “Just as all beings leave behind footprints and the best of all footprints are those of the elephant, so with this thought of the non-Eternal: it heads allthoughts.”
So far I haven’t found which translation the version “Of all footprints, that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme” comes from. Now, the reason I’m saying this is likely to be a Fake Buddha Quote is not because it comes from a Mahayana Sutra — I’ve pointed out before that my criteria for accepting a quote as valid is that it’s from a canonical scriptural source. And this one is from a canonical scriptural source, so what’s the problem? Well, the problem is that the quote, in the context of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, isn’t spoken by the Buddha, but is said to him by some unnamed monks. Since it’s not presented in the Sutra as something the Buddha said, it can’t bea Buddha quote.
This is something that a number of people, seeing that the quote comes from a Sutra, have missed. For example in one _Lion’s Roar_ article, we read “The Buddha himself left behind such a statement. ‘Of all the footprints,’ he said, ‘that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme.'” Similarly, in _Tricycle_ magazine an author says: “‘Of all footprints, that of the elephant is supreme,’ declared the Buddha in the Great Nirvana Sutra. ‘And of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme.'” And the same error has been made in a number of books. Glenn H. Mullin takes a more careful approach in his book, “Living in the Face of Death”: > It is said in The Sutra of Buddha’s Entering into Parinirvana: > “Of all footprints, That of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, Of > all mindfulness meditations, That on death is supreme.” I can well imagine the Buddha saying something like this quote. Perhaps he did! But unless it shows up in some scripture, attributed to him, then we shouldn’t describe is as something the Buddha said. Posted on September 11, 2019January 6, 2020Categories
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on “Of all footprints, that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme.” “NOTHING REMAINS WITHOUT CHANGE.” This one just came to my attention today. I spotted it in the feed of a Twitter user who is one of the worst offenders I know of where it comes to passing on Fake Buddha Quotes. As far as I’m aware it doesn’t resemble anything the Buddha is reported to have said in any scripture from any era — and it’s definitely not from the early scriptures, which are our best bet for an accurate representation of what the Buddha literally said. It’s yet another quote taken from the Japanese book, “The Teaching of Buddha,” which is a Gideon Bible–like publication found in hotel bedrooms throughout Japan and published by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai. There have been many, many editions of the book. A fuller version of the quote reads: > It is the everlasting and unchanging rule of this world that > everything is created by a series of causes and conditions and > everything disappears by the same rule; everything changes, nothing > remains without change. It would be impossible to summarize here the Buddha’s teachings on change, impermanence, or inconstancy (_anicca_). But his approach was ruthlessly practical, and focused on how our inability to deal with the fact of change causes us suffering, and how we can find eace by learning to accept change. Thanissaro has a good article on _anicca_, which he renders, rightly, I think, as inconstancy. I’d recommend reading it. Posted on September 1, 2019Categories
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comment on “Nothing remains without change.” “IF WE ARE LIKE ROCK AND SOMETHING CUTS INTO US, IT WILL LEAVE ITSMARK”
This is actually an extensive quote: > If we are like rock and something cuts into us, it will leave its > mark, perhaps for generations to come.>
> If we become like sand and something cuts into us, it will leave its > mark, but soon that mark will be gone.>
> And, if we become like water and something cuts into us, as soon as > the mark appears, it will disappear, forever. So far I’ve only seen it on a website connected with the Alexander Technique (which I understand is a kind of posture alignment therapy). The site says that this is a quote from the “Sukha Sutta.” I recognize the canonical basis of the quote, but the original is rather different. I’m going to quote the entire suttahere:
> Mendicants, these three people are found in the world. What three? A > person like a line drawn in stone, a person like a line drawn in > sand, and a person like a line drawn in water. And who is the person > like a line drawn in stone? It’s a person who is often angry, and > their anger lingers for a long time. It’s like a line drawn in > stone, which isn’t quickly worn away by wind and water, but lasts > for a long time. In the same way, this person is often angry, and > their anger lingers for a long time. This is called a person like a > line drawn in stone.>
> And who is the person like a line drawn in sand? It’s a person who > is often angry, but their anger doesn’t linger long. It’s like a > line drawn in sand, which is quickly worn away by wind and water, > and doesn’t last long. In the same way, this person is often > angry, but their anger doesn’t linger long. This is called a > person like a line drawn in sand.>
> And who is the person like a line drawn in water? It’s a person > who, though spoken to by someone in a rough, harsh, and disagreeable > manner, still stays in touch, interacts with, and greets them. > It’s like a line drawn in water, which vanishes right away, and > doesn’t last long. In the same way, this person, though spoken to > by someone in a rough, harsh, and disagreeable manner, still stays > in touch, interacts with, and greets them. This is called a person > like a line drawn in water. These are the three people found in the> world.
So this quote is quite specifically about anger, and how we can relate to it in different ways. It doesn’t have anything to do with posture. It’s not from the Sukha Sutta, but the Lekha Sutta, the word “lekha” here meaning “inscription.” Perhaps someone misread lekha for sukha. I don’t know where this adapted quote originated. Perhaps it’s in some publication that hasn’t yet been scanned by Google Books or Archive.org. It doesn’t appear to exist elsewhere on the web. It’s possible that the website owner adapted it himself. Posted on May 8, 2019May 8, 2019Categories
Fake Buddha Quotes
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on “If we are like rock and something cuts into us, it will leaveits mark”
“ONE MOMENT CAN CHANGE A DAY, ONE DAY CAN CHANGE A LIFE, AND ONE LIFE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.” A website that linked to me took one of the genuine scriptural quotations on this site and presented it in a misleading way. It thenwent on to say:
> Another quote from the Buddha, that I don’t believe is in dispute, > is, “One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, and > one life can change the world.” Of course there is no dispute about whether this is from the Buddha, _because it definitely isn’t_! This isn’t the kind of thing that you’ll find in the early scriptures. I’m not entirely sure of its origins. The first mention of it I’ve found is from 2010, where it’s paired with an image of the Buddha, but isn’t presented as being something he said. The context is an ad for the PBS special on the Buddha, which gave us the Fake Buddha Quote “In order to gain anything you must lose everything.
I don’t know whether the PBS advertising team thought that this was a quote from the Buddha—perhaps taken from the internet—or whether they just created the saying as a tag line. The ad was in “This Old House Magazine” for April 2010. Interestingly, the Buddha did say something in the Dhammapada that was on the theme of old houses: > 153. Through many a birth in samsara have I wandered in vain, > seeking the builder of this house. Repeated birth is indeed> suffering!
>
> 154. O house-builder, you are seen! You will not build this house > again. For your rafters are broken and your ridgepole shattered. My > mind has reached the Unconditioned; I have attained the destruction> of craving.
Posted on May 1, 2019May 1, 2019Categories
Fake Buddha Quotes
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on “One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, and one life can change the world.” “FAITH AND PRAYER BOTH ARE INVISIBLE, BUT THEY MAKE IMPOSSIBLETHINGS POSSIBLE”
This one was just brought to my attention. It’s listed on the badly misnamed “Quotes Master”
site as being by the Buddha. It’s not. Neither are many of the quotes you’ll find there. Let’s talk about prayer. No, let’s have the Buddha talk about prayer. Here’s one good imageof the
fruitlessness of merely wishing for something: > Suppose a man in need of butter, looking for butter, wandering in > search of butter, would sprinkle water on water in a crock and twirl > it with a churn-stick. If he were to sprinkle water on water in a > crock and twirl it with a churn-stick even when having made a wish > … having made no wish… both having made a wish and > having made no wish… neither having made a wish nor having made no > wish, he would be incapable of obtaining results. Why is that? > Because it is an inappropriate way of obtaining results.Here’s another
:
> Suppose a man were to throw a large boulder into a deep lake of > water, and a great crowd of people, gathering and congregating, > would pray, praise, and circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm > over the heart ‘Rise up, O boulder! Come floating up, O > boulder! Come float to the shore, O boulder!’ What do you think: > would that boulder — because of the prayers, praise, and > circumambulation of that great crowd of people — rise up, come > floating up, or come float to the shore?>
> In the same way, any brahmans or contemplatives endowed with wrong > view, wrong resolve, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, > wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, & wrong concentration: If they > follow the holy life even when having made a wish … > having made no wish… both having made a wish and having made no > wish… neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, they are > incapable of obtaining results. Why is that? Because it is an > inappropriate way of obtaining results. To the Buddha, it was what we do that’s important. If you do the right things, you’ll get results. I don’t know how this quote came to be. Possibly it was assembled from fragments, which would explain its lack of parallelism: there’s no real connection between invisibility/visibility and possibility/impossibility. “Faith and prayer are invisible” is found in an 1884 book by the Rev. Francis John Scott, called “The Light of Life.” “Prayer will make impossible things possible” is found in James Endell Tyler’s “Meditations From the Fathers of the First Five Centuries,” which was published in 1849. But the complete quote seems fairly new; one of the earliest dated examples I’ve found on the web is from 2012.
Osho said
“believing can make impossible things possible” (The Wisdom of the Sands, Vol. 2) but I haven’t found anything in his writings that corresponds to the first part of the quote. Posted on April 27, 2019April 28, 2019Categories
Fake Buddha Quotes
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on “Faith and prayer both are invisible, but they make impossiblethings possible”
“IT SEEMS THAT ALTHOUGH WE THOUGHT OURSELVES PERMANENT, WE ARE NOT. ALTHOUGH WE THOUGHT OURSELVES SETTLED, WE ARE NOT. ALTHOUGH WE THOUGHT WE WOULD LAST FOREVER, WE WILL NOT.” A reader called Sean sent this one to me yesterday. > It seems that although we thought ourselves permanent, we are not. > Although we thought ourselves settled, we are not. Although we > thought we would last forever, we will not. He’d seen Jack Konfield attributing it to the Buddha, and wondered if it was Jack’s own paraphrasing of some statement on the three lakkhanas (Pali) or lakshanas (Sanskrit). These are statements that say that anything that’s fabricated is impermanent and unable to give lasting peace and happiness, and that all things whatsoever arenot oneself.
As it happens however, this is canonical. It’s found in the Anguttara Nikaya, which is the Numerical Sayings of the Buddha. It’s from the Sīha Sutta (Discourse on the Lion).
In Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation this same passage is: > It seems that we are actually impermanent, though we thought > ourselves permanent; it seems that we are actually transient, though > we thought ourselves everlasting; it seems that we are actually > non-eternal, though we thought ourselves eternal. The people saying these words are gods, who in Buddhism are not immortal, not creators, and not objects of worship, but simply long-lived and joyful beings who live in a kind of parallel dimension. Being long-lived and blessed with happiness, the gods tend to forget about death. As a result, they don’t think much about living life wisely and meaningfully. Here’s a longer quote from the sutta to put the gods’ words in perspective: > When a Realized One arises in the world—perfected, a fully > awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower > of the world, supreme guide for those who wish to train, teacher of > gods and humans, awakened, blessed—he teaches the Dhamma: ‘Such > is identity, such is the origin of identity, such is the cessation > of identity, such is the practice that leads to the cessation of> identity.’
>
> Now, there are gods who are long-lived, beautiful, and very happy, > lasting long in their divine palaces. When they hear this teaching > by the Realized One, they’re typically filled with fear, awe, and > terror. ‘Oh no! It turns out we’re impermanent, though we > thought we were permanent! It turns out we don’t last, though we > thought we were everlasting! It turns out we’re transient, though > we thought we were eternal! It turns out that we’re impermanent, > not lasting, transient, and included within identity.’>
> That’s how powerful is the Realized One in the world with its > gods, how illustrious and mighty. So this one is verified as been scriptural. I like this sutta because it applies the formula most often associated with the four noble truths to the question of identity-view — the concept that we have some kind of metaphysical self. There is a delusion of self, there are causes for that, there is a cessation of that delusion, and there’s a path leading to that cessation. Posted on March 9, 2019March 9, 2019Categories
Verified Buddha Quotes1 Comment on “It
seems that although we thought ourselves permanent, we are not. Although we thought ourselves settled, we are not. Although we thought we would last forever, we will not.” LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE ON VERIFYING TEACHINGS A few minutes ago I stumbled across the following words from Lama ZopaRinpoche:
> I think that people in the West don’t ask questions about whether > or not a teaching was taught by the Buddha or has references in the > teachings of the ancient valid pandits and yogis. For them it > doesn’t seem important to check the references. When Western > people listen to Dharma, they’re happy if it’s something that is > immediately beneficial to their life, to their mind, especially if > it’s related to their problems. It doesn’t matter whether it is > something that Buddha taught or a demon taught. They don’t > question or check. For them it is about getting some immediate > benefit to their mind when they listen; they will then stay. > Otherwise, after a few minutes they leave, especially during my > talks. But generally speaking, in the East, people are more careful > to examine whether something was taught by Buddha. They check the > references so that they can see whether or not they can trust the > practice, whether or not they can dedicate their life to this. They > think about the long run, which is very important. In the West, the > main concern is to immediately, right now, taste something sweet. > A Teaching on Vajrayogini>
I’m not sure whether people in Asia are actually better at verifying sources, but I appreciated his perspective on seeking immediate gratification from teachings. One of the things that the Buddha (apparently) taught was that we should seek to verify quotes in thescriptures
before taking them on board: > Without approval and without scorn, but carefully studying the > sentences word by word, one should trace them in the Discourses and > verify them by the Discipline. If they are neither traceable in the > Discourses nor verifiable by the Discipline, one must conclude thus: > ‘Certainly, this is not the Blessed One’s utterance; this has > been misunderstood by that bhikkhu — or by that community, or by > those elders, or by that elder.’ In that way, bhikkhus, you should> reject it.
> Maha-Parinibbana Sutta>
Posted on December 24, 2018December 24, 2018Categories
Other 1 Comment on Lama Zopa Rinpoche on verifying teachings “OUR LIFE IS SHAPED BY THE MIND; WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK.” See, “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.”
Posted on December 11, 2018December 11, 2018Categories
Fake Buddha Quotes
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comment on “Our life is shaped by the mind; we become what wethink.”
“THERE ARE THOSE WHO DISCOVER THEY CAN LEAVE BEHIND CONFUSEDREACTIONS…”
> “There are those who discover > they can leave behind confused reactions > and become patient as the earth; > unmoved by anger, > unshaken as a pillar, > unperturbed as a clear and quiet pool.” I was asked about this one earlier today, after a reader spotted it on the Facebook feed of Spirit Rock retreat center, who seem to have created a graphic of it (which has since been deleted, although I managed to retrieve it from my browser cache) attributing the quote to the Buddha, and giving Dhammapada verse 49 as the source. Obviously the person who asked me about it was suspicious. I was too, at least about parts of it. First, though, the attribution given is clearly wrong. Dhammapada verse 49 is about monks going from village to village as bees go fromflower to flower.
“Confused reactions” is also not exactly the kind of expression you get in the early Buddhist scriptures. It’s a term from modern psychology. The similes, though, are very traditional. For example verses 81 and 82 of the Dhammapada contain similar imagery in the sameorder:
> Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, even so the wise > are not affected by praise or blame.>
> On hearing the Teachings, the wise become perfectly purified, like a > lake deep, clear and still. My guess was that the quote in question was more likely to be a paraphrase or adaptation of these, or some other verse or verses, fromthe Dhammapada.
Dhammapada verse 95 was the obvious candidate: > There is no more worldly existence for the wise one who, like the > earth, resents nothing, who is firm as a high pillar and as pure as > a deep pool free from mud. (Buddharakkhita’s translation> )
And this turned out in fact to be the case. This is taken from Ajahn Munindo’s “A Dhammapada for Contemplation.” The title suggests that Munindo was aiming to produce an adaptation rather than a translation: a text that is more relatable than the moreliteral versions.
In this verse, for example, Munindo does an interesting treatment of the original term “samsara,” which literally means “faring on,” and which refers traditionally to the endless rounds of rebirth. Buddharakkhita rendered to this as “worldly existence.” Thanissaro renders samsara as “traveling on,” which is literal but not very helpful to the reader not familiar with Buddhism. Samsara is from a verb meaning “to go, flow, run, move along,” and a prefix, sam-, which means together. It has the meaning of “to go on endlessly,” or “to come again and again.” Munido renders this as “confused reactions,” which are of course to be abandoned. This a good way to shift our attention to the present-moment experience of the mind , and from the concept of rebirth (which is not here and not now). It’s worth pointing out that samsara is right here and right now, and that on a psychological scale it does involve the process of confused grasping and aversion, or “reacting,” in modern parlance. In terms of practice and reflection Munido’s framing of samsara is useful. It’s more an interpretation than a translation, though. Of course all translation involves interpretation to a degree, especially when it comes to terms like samsara, which are not part of the reader’s cultural frame of reference. Since this quote also takes great liberties with the overall structure and style of the Dhammapada verse, I have to say it doesn’t do a good job as a literal translation, although of course that a literal translation wasn’t Munindo’s intent. So I’m categorizing this as “fakish” rather than fake or genuine. This version of Dhammapada verse 95 is so different from the original that I really think it should be credited to Ajahn Munindo and not the Buddha. Posted on December 4, 2018December 20, 2018Categories
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a comment on “There are those who discover they can leave behind confused reactions…” “THE WAY TO HAPPINESS IS: KEEP YOUR HEART FREE FROM HATE, YOUR MIND FROM WORRY. LIVE SIMPLY, GIVE MUCH. FILL YOUR LIFE WITH LOVE. DO AS YOU WOULD BE DONE BY.” Stephen Feldman, one of my connections on Google Plus (the world’s best social media site, which Google is unfortunately pulling the plug on) brought this one to my attention. It’s one I’d never seenbefore.
It often surprises me the things that people take to be quotes from the Buddha. Then I remember that if you’ve no experience of the Buddhist scriptures then you’ve no idea of the patterns and language that the Buddha’s recorded as having used. Of course those records may be wrong. They probably are. But they’re all we have to go on. And if you’ve never read them you’ve no way of telling whether something is likely to be fake or not. Not all of “Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, give much. Fill your life with love. Do as you would be done by” is entirely different from the kind of thing you find in the early scriptures, but much of it is. I could imagine a short pithy statement like “Keep your heart free from hate” in a text like the Dhammapada. But “Fill your life with love” is far too contemporary and “Do as you would be done by” resembles the Christian scriptures much more than it does the Buddhist ones. The internet (or Google’s search results) are pretty much agreed that this quote is by Norman Vincent Peale, the author of “The Power of Positive Thinking,” so of course the quote isn’t by Norman Vincent Peale, the author of “The Power of Positive Thinking.” It’s instead from a 1904 book, “The Culture of Simplicity,” by Malcolm James McLeod, who was a Canadian presbyterian minister, educated at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and Princeton University in New Jersey. He appears to have been a damned handsome fellow, no doubt a result of his Scottish ancestry. Someone else has prefaced the words “The way to happiness is…” McLeod was inspired to write his book as a result of reading “The Simple Life” by the Rev. Charles Wagner of Paris. “Simplicity is spirituality; simplicity is power,” he says in the introduction. Here are some snippets from the Buddhist scriptures that cover some of the same territory as McLeod’s quote: * On keeping the heart free from hate: “He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. ‘May these beings be free from animosity, free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they look after themselves with ease!'” (AN 10.176)
* On keeping the mind free from worry: “Not being full of desire and attachment, he is not worried.” (SN 22.7)
* On living simple: “A monk, reflecting appropriately, uses the robe simply to counteract cold, to counteract heat, to counteract the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, & reptiles; simply for the purpose of covering the parts of the body that cause shame.” (MN 2)
* On giving: “If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of selfishness overcome their minds.” (Iti. 1.26)
* On filling your life with love: “Thus you should train yourselves: ‘Our awareness-release through good-will will be cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken. That’s how you should train yourselves.” (SN 20.5)
* On doing as you would be done by: “All tremble at violence; life is dear to all. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.” (Dhp 130)
You’ll notice that the style of these quotes is much more verbose. Also there are very few imperative statements in the early scriptures (“Do this, do that, do the other”), a few subjunctive statements (“He would/should do this, do that, do the other”) and lots of indicative statements (“He does this, does that, does the other.”) McLeod’s quote is full of imperatives, and that’s one reason it would stands out as probably not being from the Buddhist scriptures. The closest I’ve seen to the McLeod original (plus its added prefix) is the following quote, which is from the _Itivuttika_. You’ll notice that it’s partly been translated into the imperative (“Train in…”) although in the original Pali it’s in the subjunctive (_sikkheyya_, “One should train…”) , is framed in terms of what brings happiness, and covers themes of giving and love: > Train in acts of merit that bring long-lasting bliss — develop > giving, a life in tune, a mind of good-will. Developing these three > things that bring about bliss, the wise reappear in a world of bliss> unalloyed.
There’s an alternative translation here. Posted on November 24, 2018December 13, 2018Categories
Fake Buddha Quotes
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