Genuine Buddha Quotes

[Aloka]

There are so many fake Buddha quotes floating around the internet which are attributed to the historical Buddha, that I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread here which contained some genuine short quotes from the suttas.

Here are two websites with translations of suttas from the Pali Canon:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/help.html#map

https://suttacentral.net/

Anyone like to make a start with a short sutta quote of their own choice?

[woodscooter]

Here's a favourite of mine. It's from the Juñha Sutta, in the Udana, the third book of the Khuddaka Nikaya. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit...4.04.than.html

The sutta is sometimes known as the 'yakkha blow' suttha. I won't re-tell the story here, just the Buddha's summary at the end. I think it shows how the cultivation of upekkha leads naturally to freedom.

"Whose mind, standing like rock, doesn't shake,
dispassionate for things that spark passion,
unprovoked by things that spark provocation:
When one's mind is developed like this,
from where can there come to him suffering & stress?"

[Aloka]

Here's another one. This is from the Anguttara Nikaya.

AN 5.198 - A Statement

"Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?

“It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will.

“A statement endowed with these five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people.”

https://suttacentral.net/en/an5.198

Note

In my Anguttara Nikaya Anthology - selected & translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi, this little sutta has the title "Well-Spoken Words".

[CedarTree]

Are we only coming from a Sutta perspective of Theravada? Leave us Mahayana folks out Especially us Zen devotees that although from traditions like Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery that may focus on Zazen we still love our Sutras!

From the Pali Canon:

"Now, then, monks, I exhort you: All fabrications are subject to decay. Bring about completion by being heedful."

-Buddhas Last Words

[Aloka]

Are we only coming from a Sutta perspective of Theravada? Leave us Mahayana folks out Especially us Zen devotees that although from traditions like Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery that may focus on Zazen we still love our Sutras!

Hi CT,

This is our "Discovering Buddha's Teachings" forum and generally, the first recorded teachings of the historical Buddha are considered to be in the Nikayas and the parallel Chinese Agamas. "Mahayana folks" are very welcome to give short quotes from those, accompanied by a URL link to the actual source of the quote.

(Its not meant to be a general chat thread).


Kind regards,

Aloka

[CedarTree]

Supreme Awakening!


Through the round of many births I roamed
without reward,
without rest,
seeking the house-builder.
Painful is birth
again & again.

House-builder, you're seen!
You will not build a house again.
All your rafters broken,
the ridge pole destroyed,
gone to the Unformed, the mind
has come to the end of craving.

— Dhp 153-4

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/buddha.html

[Olderon]

My favorite is from The Angulimala Sutta:

""I have stopped, Angulimala. Do you stop, too.""

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/.../wheel312.html

I think of it every time one who is addicted pronounces him/her- self "cured".

[srivijaya]

For me, it's this, as it sums up the entire path:

"Do you see, my disciples, any fetter, coarse or fine, which I have not asked you to discard?"

Majjhima Nikaya 66
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipi....066.than.html