English Buddha Thoughts

"The history of Sākya Muni's life is the strongest bulwark of his religion. As long as the human heart is capable of being touched by tales of heroic self-sacrifice, accompanied by purity and celestial benevolence of motive, it will cherish his memory."

"Gauṭama Buḍḍha, Sākya Muni, has ennobled the whole human race. His fame is our common inheritance. His Law is the law of Justice, providing for every good thought, word and deed its fair reward, for every evil one its proper punishment. His law is in harmony with the voices of Nature, and the evident equilibrium of the universe. It yields nothing to importunities or threats, can be neither coaxed nor bribed by offerings to abate or alter one jot or tittle of its inexorable course."

"There are established cases when, after his discourses, a great many of the listeners deserted him and the Blessed One said: “The seed has separated from the husk; the remaining community, strong in conviction, is established. It is well that the conceited ones have departed.”"

"According to the Pali Suttas, Buddha never claimed the omniscience which was attributed to him by his disciples and followers: “Those who told thee, Vaccha, that the Teacher Gotama knows all, sees all, and asserts his possession of limitless powers of foresight and knowledge and says, ‘In motion or immobility, in vigilance or sleep, always and in all, omniscience dwells in me,’ those people do not say what I said, they accuse me despite all truth.” (Majjhima-Nikaya)"

"The powers possessed by Buddha are not miraculous, because a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature. The supreme power of Buddha coordinates completely with the eternal order of things. His superhuman abilities are miraculous, inasmuch as the activities of a man must appear miraculous to the lower beings. To self-sacrificing heroes, to fighters for true knowledge, it is as natural to manifest their unusual achievements as for a bird to fly or for a fish to swim."

"Buddha, according to one text, “is only the elder of men, differing from them no more than as the hatched chick differs from later chicks of the same hen.” Knowledge uplifted him to a different order of beings, because the principle of differentiation lies in the depth of consciousness. The humanness of Gotama Buddha is especially underlined in the most ancient writings, where the following expression is met, “Gotama Buddha, the most perfect of bipeds.”"

"Throughout the entire Buddhist world the rocks on the roadsides, with the images of Maitreya , point out the approaching future. From the most ancient times until now this Image has been erected by Buddhists who know the approach of the New Era. In our day, venerable lamas, accompanied by disciples, painters, and sculptors, travel through the Buddhist countries, erecting new images of the symbol of aspirations toward the radiant future."

"India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all"

"Buddha, as the source, and Maitreya , as a universal hope, will unite the austere followers of the Teaching of the South with the multiformity of the North. That which is most essential for the immediate future will definitely manifest itself. Instead of swelling the Teaching with commentaries, it will again be restored to the beauty of the value of concise conviction. The new time of the Era of Maitreya is in need of conviction."

"He (Gautama Buddha) encapsulated his teachings in a single law: suffering arises from craving; the only way to be fully liberated from suffering is to be fully liberated from craving; and the only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is"

"Life in its entirety must be purified by the flame of achievement. The great Buddha, who preordained Maitreya, prescribed the path for the whole of existence. For those wise and clear covenants, the manifestation of the new evolution is calling. The demand for the purification of the Teaching is not accidental. The dates are approaching. The Image of Maitreya is ready to rise. All the Buddhas of the past have combined their wisdom of experience and have handed it on to the Blessed Coming One."

"If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether the electron's position changes with time, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether it is in motion, we must say 'no'. The Buddha has given such answers when interrogated as to the conditions of a man's self after his death; but they are not familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century science"