1,014 books
—
1,760 voters
“There are a lot of things i wanted to do.
I wanted to become a teacher,
and an astronaught,
and a baker…
I wanted to go to a bunch of different donut shops
and ask for one of everything!
And I wanted to tell the ice-cream man
to give me one of everything, too!
I wish i could have five lives!
Then i could have been born in five different towns,
and eaten five lifetime’s worth of food,
and had five different careers,
and…
fallen in love with the same person, five times”
―
I wanted to become a teacher,
and an astronaught,
and a baker…
I wanted to go to a bunch of different donut shops
and ask for one of everything!
And I wanted to tell the ice-cream man
to give me one of everything, too!
I wish i could have five lives!
Then i could have been born in five different towns,
and eaten five lifetime’s worth of food,
and had five different careers,
and…
fallen in love with the same person, five times”
―
“Suppose a man threw into the sea a yoke with one hole in it, and the east wind carried it to the west, and the west wind carried it to the east, and the north wind carried it to the south, and the south wind carried it to the north. Suppose there were a blind turtle that came up once at the end of each century. What do you think, bhikkhus? Would that blind turtle put his neck into that yoke with one hole in it?"
"He might, venerable sir, sometime or other at the end of a long period."
"Bhikkhus, the blind turtle would sooner put his neck into that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool, once gone to perdition, would take to regain the human state, I say. Why is that? Because there is no practising of the Dhamma there, no practising of what is righteous, no doing of what is wholesome, no performance of merit. There mutual devouring prevails, and the slaughter of the weak.”
― The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya
"He might, venerable sir, sometime or other at the end of a long period."
"Bhikkhus, the blind turtle would sooner put his neck into that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool, once gone to perdition, would take to regain the human state, I say. Why is that? Because there is no practising of the Dhamma there, no practising of what is righteous, no doing of what is wholesome, no performance of merit. There mutual devouring prevails, and the slaughter of the weak.”
― The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya
“You cannot choose love, let love choose you”
―
―
“Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.”
―
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