1. The word “Buddha” means ‘one who is awake’. It is the experience of awakening to the truth of life that is offered in the Buddhist tradition.
2. The Buddha saw that human freedom must come from practicing a life of inner and outer balance, and he called this discovery the Middle Path.
3. The Buddha sat in the midst of these forces with his heart open and his mind clear until he could see to the depths of human consciousness, until he discovered a place of peace at the center of them all.
4. From the Buddha’s enlightenment, two great powers were awakened in him: transcendent wisdom and universal compassion.
5. His teachings, which the Buddha called the Dharma, or Way, are an invitation to follow the path of enlightenment.
6. There are a vast array of meditation practices to train the mind and the heart, including awareness of the breath and body, mindfulness of feelings and thoughts, practices of mantra and devotion, visualization and contemplative reflection, and practices leading to refined and profoundly expanded states of
consciousness.
7. Buddhist texts were originally recited and passed down orally for six hundred years before being written down.
8. Bodhisattvas are awakened beings who follow and teach in the spirit of the Buddha.
9. “With great perseverance he meditates, seeking freedom and happiness.”
10. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.
11. Speak and act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you.
12. Let no one deceive another or despise any state, let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.
13. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do? For your brother is like you. He wants to be happy. Never harm him and when you leave this life, you too will find happiness.
14. To associate not with the foolish, to be with the wise, to honor the worthy ones, this is a blessing supreme. To reside in a suitable location, to have good past deeds done, to set oneself in the right direction, this is a blessing supreme. To be well spoken, highly trained, well educated and highly
disciplined, this is a blessing supreme.
15. Be reverent and humble, content and grateful.
16. How joyful to keep company with the wise.
17. If you cannot find friend or master to go with you, travel on alone – like a king who has given away his kingdom, like an elephant in the forest. But if the traveler can find a virtuous and wise companion, let him go joyfully and overcome the dangers of the way.
18. Again and again, look within.
19. In this world hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and
inexhaustible.
20. Profound truth is not to be gained by mere reasoning, and is visible only to the wise.
21. The extinction of greed, the extinction of hate, the extinction of delusion: this, indeed, is called Nirvana.
22. The purpose of the Holy Life does not consist in acquiring alms, honor or fame, nor in gaining morality, concentration or the eye of knowledge. That unshakable deliverance of the heart: that, indeed, is the object of the Holy Life, that is its essence, that is its goal.
23. In this world the wise person becomes themselves a light, pure, shining, free.
24. This only is the Law, that all things are impermanent.
25. By your own efforts waken yourself, watch yourself, and live joyfully.
26. Love yourself and be awake – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the Way, then teach others and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself. You are your only master. Who else? Subdue yourself, and discover your master.
27. Having abandoned ill will and hatred, he dwells with a benevolent mind, sympathetic for the welfare of all living beings.
28. Get rid of the tendency to judge yourself above, below or equal to others.
29. Health, contentment and trust are your greatest possessions, and freedom your greatest joy.
30. The wise person should do good – that is the treasure which will not leave one.
31. The Buddha taught: Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is, in the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late.
32. Searching for truth I saw ‘inward peace’.
33. Do not be the judge of people; do not make assumptions about others. A person is destroyed by holding judgments about others.
34. Be ye lamps upon yourselves.
35. Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.
36. Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.
37. Your search among books, word upon word, may lead you to the depths of knowledge, but it is not the way to receive the reflection of your true self.
38. If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?