Budhism Quotes

“Patience is the highest asceticism.”
― Buddha

“If someone is watching you, you can escape from him, but if no one is watching, you cannot escape from yourself.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“Há mais de dois mil e quinhentos anos nasceu no Nepal um homem chamado Siddharta Gautama, um príncipe pertencente a uma casta nobre e que vivia num palácio. Ao constatar, porém, que para lá do palácio a vida era feita de sofrimento, Siddharta abandonou tudo e foi para a Índia viver numa floresta como um asceta, dilacerado por uma pergunta: 'para quê viver quando tudo é dor?' Durante sete anos deambulou pela floresta em busca da resposta a essa pergunta. Cinco ascetas convenceram-no a jejuar, por acreditarem que a renúncia às necessidades do corpo criaria a energia espiritual que os conduziria à iluminação. Siddharta jejuou tanto que ficou esquelético e o seu umbigo tocou-lhe na coluna vertebral. No final, constatou que o corpo necessita de energia para alimentar a mente na sua busca. Decidiu, por isso, abandonar os caminhos extremos. Para ele, o verdadeiro caminho não era o da luxúria dos dois extremos. escolheu antes o caminho do meio, o do equilíbrio.
Um dia, após banhar-se no rio e ao comer um arroz-doce, sentou-se em meditação debaixo de uma figueira, uma árvore da iluminação, a que chamam Bodhi, e jurou que não sairia dali enquanto não atingisse a iluminação. Após quarenta e nove dias de meditação, chegou a noite em que alcançou finalmente a clarificação final de todas as suas dúvidas. Ele despertou por completo. Siddharta tornou-se Buda, o Iluminado.”
― José Rodrigues dos Santos, A Fórmula de Deus

“Usually when you listen to some statement, you hear it as a kind of echo of yourself. You are actually listening to your own opinion. If it agrees with your opinion you may accept it, but if it does not, you will reject it or you may not even really hear it.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“So try not to see something in particular; try not to achieve anything special. You already have everything in your own pure quality. If you understand this ultimate fact, there is no fear. There may be some difficulty, of course, but there is no fear.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“I Don't Have Time to Explain
(Sonnet 2466-2467)

I don't have time to explain basic science,
I don't have time to explain
why vaccines are crucial,
why the earth is not flat.

I don't have time to explain basic theology,
I don't have time to explain why
no religion is truer than another,
and why belief as coping mechanism is okay,
but belief mustn't be confused with truth.

For example, if you wanna talk facts,
most scientific religion is buddhism,
for much of buddhist literature is basic psychology,
sure, all religious meanderings occasionally
align with modern science, but no theology
is more aligned with modern science than buddhism -

likewise, most nonviolent religion is jainism,
to harm even a fly is sin in jainism -
and most charitable religion is sikhism,
nobody goes hungry where there is a sikh langar,
that too without being converted into a sikh.

There are two kinds of divinity in the world,
doctrinal divinity and human divinity -
doctrinal divinity is less holy, more prejudice,
whereas human divinity prioritizes humanity.

There are two kinds of truth in the world,
empirical truth and human truth -
empirical truth is all about facts,
human truth is more than facts -
human truth applies facts wisely among other
instruments to uplift human condition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop