Rick Hartin

“Among all the sutras I have expounded,
Lotus Sutra is the first and foremost!
If you are able to uphold the Lotus Sutra,
it means you are able to uphold the body of a Buddha!”

(LS 11: 3.35)
Lotus Sutra, Chapter 11, Section 3, Paragraph 35”
― Gautama Buddha, The Lotus Sutra

“Every day, I am thinking:
'How can I lead all living beings
to enter the unsurpassed way
so as to quickly acquire the body of a Buddha?"

(LS 16: 3.23)
Lotus Sutra, Chapter 16, Section 3, Paragraph 23”
― Buddha

“1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.”
― Miyamoto Musashi

“It is like a lighted torch whose flame can be distributed to ever so many other torches which people may bring along; and therewith they will cook food and dispel darkness, while the original torch itself remains burning ever the same. It is even so with the bliss of the Way.”
― Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni, The Sutra Of The Forty-Two Sections