1) No one Can save us, but ourselves.
In a world filled with religions either placing their belief in god or god sent messengers, the Buddha said he was nothing more than a human being, plain and simple. You yourself are responsible for your own life, the future, the kind of work you do & the life you live, all depends on just you. In a world filled with beliefs in fate, past life karma and after death judgment, this was and is one of the profound teaching by the great teacher.
2) Hatred never ceases by hatred but by love alone.
It's impossible to stay happy and calm with hatred for people and their actions in your heart. That can never bring you at peace with yourself and others. And the only way out of this is by love, by forgiveness and by compassion. You cant hate someone and still be at peace, we all know this truth.
3) Doubt everything, find your own truth.
Don't believe things just because they are written in a holy book, or just because your family has been following it or just because it's been done that way from years. Put your own mind and bring it to test , use your life experiences, if you feel it is a thing that will help human life move forward towards peace, then accept it. or else reject it. Buddha asked his followers to test even him. (the Buddha himself).
4) If there is meaning in life, there has to be meaning in suffering.
All of us run just (remember the word 'just') on a illus nary thing called happiness, we believe we are here just to be happy andj pain is not for us, which is never possible. we understand this truth when reality hits us in the form of either a death of loved ones, a accident, finaicial loss, or relationship probles etc. Yes, We will have our share of suffering, pain, dis-comfort, dis-satisfaction and those are unavoidable not matter how much we all try to stop it. So, we have to accept both and then make peace with both of the things.
5) Death is inherent in all, find you own salvation.
No matter what we do, we will end up aging, we end up ill and will eventually die. No matter what we do,we will end up losing the people we love, things we are attached to. But when you know that everything is already lost, every minute with it will be precious. (this one is a bit hard to understand). But then, it's better we understand the truth at the start and live our life with diligence.
6) It's useless to answer questions that won't bring you close to truth.
When someone shoots a arrow in your heart, it's useless to stand their and ask, who shot the arrow, what was that person's cast, was he a black or white man, what bow did he use to shoot me, how far was the arrow shot from. It's better we understand the arrow has to be removed for our heart now to help us live more. So, some of the questions like existence of god, life after birth, life before birth were never answered by the Buddha because he knew they never lead us to truth. No matter what the answers for that questions are, the truth is, we all have anger, hatred, jealously, lust which wont let us stay at peace. These are the things most important to solve.
7) Compassion and Wisdom both go hand in hand.
Yes, Buddha believed we have to kind, compassionate& loving towards all living creatures, but he also placed emphasis on being wise, using your own life experiences to solve life questions and understanding truth so that it will eventually lead us to bliss is also very important.
8 ) Meditate, live purely, be quiet.
Any teaching of the Buddha has not been as much misunderstood and mistaken as meditation, it's not running away from life, or sitting in a cave, or not talking to anyone but its bhavana, (the pali word) which means looking into reality of things. Insight, which will lead us to truth. And Vipassana is just one of the way to Meditate NOT the only way. (vipassana itself means insight).
9 ) If you want your religion to grow, then you have to respect all religions.
Saying my religion will lead me to peace is fine, saying ONLY my religion will lead to peace is not the way. If we want our religion to grow we do have to respect every religion and all peoples belief on their own religion. (how many teachers, religions do you find that say this). When some people came down to Buddha to let him make his followers, he told them to go back and follow their own religion or come back after testing the Buddha's teachings.
10 ) To find the ultimate truth, you even have to let go of the Buddha himself and work out the salvation alone.
No Buddhism doesn't have a salvation through any god or any son of god too. Buddha always said he was just a teacher, and to find out the ultimiate truth we have to even leave him and work hard for finding the truth ourselves. The famous saying, the finger pointing to the moon is not the moon, holds true. You alone can find the truth about your life, understand that and thank the Buddha and leave him behind.
Thank You for reading all, I wish you all compassion and wisdom.
In a world filled with religions either placing their belief in god or god sent messengers, the Buddha said he was nothing more than a human being, plain and simple. You yourself are responsible for your own life, the future, the kind of work you do & the life you live, all depends on just you. In a world filled with beliefs in fate, past life karma and after death judgment, this was and is one of the profound teaching by the great teacher.
2) Hatred never ceases by hatred but by love alone.
It's impossible to stay happy and calm with hatred for people and their actions in your heart. That can never bring you at peace with yourself and others. And the only way out of this is by love, by forgiveness and by compassion. You cant hate someone and still be at peace, we all know this truth.
3) Doubt everything, find your own truth.
Don't believe things just because they are written in a holy book, or just because your family has been following it or just because it's been done that way from years. Put your own mind and bring it to test , use your life experiences, if you feel it is a thing that will help human life move forward towards peace, then accept it. or else reject it. Buddha asked his followers to test even him. (the Buddha himself).
4) If there is meaning in life, there has to be meaning in suffering.
All of us run just (remember the word 'just') on a illus nary thing called happiness, we believe we are here just to be happy andj pain is not for us, which is never possible. we understand this truth when reality hits us in the form of either a death of loved ones, a accident, finaicial loss, or relationship probles etc. Yes, We will have our share of suffering, pain, dis-comfort, dis-satisfaction and those are unavoidable not matter how much we all try to stop it. So, we have to accept both and then make peace with both of the things.
5) Death is inherent in all, find you own salvation.
No matter what we do, we will end up aging, we end up ill and will eventually die. No matter what we do,we will end up losing the people we love, things we are attached to. But when you know that everything is already lost, every minute with it will be precious. (this one is a bit hard to understand). But then, it's better we understand the truth at the start and live our life with diligence.
6) It's useless to answer questions that won't bring you close to truth.
When someone shoots a arrow in your heart, it's useless to stand their and ask, who shot the arrow, what was that person's cast, was he a black or white man, what bow did he use to shoot me, how far was the arrow shot from. It's better we understand the arrow has to be removed for our heart now to help us live more. So, some of the questions like existence of god, life after birth, life before birth were never answered by the Buddha because he knew they never lead us to truth. No matter what the answers for that questions are, the truth is, we all have anger, hatred, jealously, lust which wont let us stay at peace. These are the things most important to solve.
7) Compassion and Wisdom both go hand in hand.
Yes, Buddha believed we have to kind, compassionate& loving towards all living creatures, but he also placed emphasis on being wise, using your own life experiences to solve life questions and understanding truth so that it will eventually lead us to bliss is also very important.
8 ) Meditate, live purely, be quiet.
Any teaching of the Buddha has not been as much misunderstood and mistaken as meditation, it's not running away from life, or sitting in a cave, or not talking to anyone but its bhavana, (the pali word) which means looking into reality of things. Insight, which will lead us to truth. And Vipassana is just one of the way to Meditate NOT the only way. (vipassana itself means insight).
9 ) If you want your religion to grow, then you have to respect all religions.
Saying my religion will lead me to peace is fine, saying ONLY my religion will lead to peace is not the way. If we want our religion to grow we do have to respect every religion and all peoples belief on their own religion. (how many teachers, religions do you find that say this). When some people came down to Buddha to let him make his followers, he told them to go back and follow their own religion or come back after testing the Buddha's teachings.
10 ) To find the ultimate truth, you even have to let go of the Buddha himself and work out the salvation alone.
No Buddhism doesn't have a salvation through any god or any son of god too. Buddha always said he was just a teacher, and to find out the ultimiate truth we have to even leave him and work hard for finding the truth ourselves. The famous saying, the finger pointing to the moon is not the moon, holds true. You alone can find the truth about your life, understand that and thank the Buddha and leave him behind.
Thank You for reading all, I wish you all compassion and wisdom.
