The impact of Buddhism in the first millennium was felt right across east Asia. ibid.
The Buddha was a teacher who started this practice 2,500 years ago. Light at the Edge of the World: Science of the Mind, National Geographic 2002
There is something about the inherent tolerance of Buddhism that is incredibly attractive. It’s totally non-judgmental. There’s no notion of sin; there is no notion of good and evil. There is only ignorance and suffering. ibid.
The doctrine of the Buddha is taught with reference to two truths – conventional truth and ultimate truth.
Those who do not understand the difference between these two truths do not understand the profound essence of the doctrine of the Buddha. Nagarjuna, Root Verses of the Middle Way
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself. Thích Nhất Hạnh, Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment
A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise. Buddha, attributed
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. Buddha, attributed
To keep the body in good health is a duty ... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. Buddha, attributed
What is the appropriate behaviour for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood? Buddha, attributed
Let a man avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison. Buddha, attributed
Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds. Buddha, attributed
As a student of comparative religions, I believe that Buddhism is the most perfect one the world has even seen. The philosophy of the theory of evolution and the law of karma were far superior to any other creed. It was neither the history of religion nor the study of philosophy that first drew me to the world of Buddhist thought but my professional interest as a doctor. My task was to treat psychic suffering and it was this that impelled me to become acquainted with the views and methods of that great teacher of humanity, whose principal theme was the chain of suffering, old age, sickness and death. Dr Carl Jung
Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear. Shunryu Suzuki
Rise to the challenges that life presents you. You can’t develop genuine character and ability by sidestepping adversity and struggle. Daisaku Ikeda
Buddhism holds that everything is in constant flux. Thus the question is whether we are to accept change passively and be swept away by it or whether we are to take the lead and create positive changes on our own initiative. While conservatism and self-protection might be likened to winter, night, and death, the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize ideals evokes images of spring, morning, and birth. Daisaku Ikeda
How aware are we of our own inner life, our spirituality-something so intangible yet so priceless? How much effort do we make to perceive that which is not obvious, which can neither be seen nor heard? I believe the exploration and enrichment of the human spirit is what determines our very humanity. Such enrichment provides an inner compass that can lead civilizations to greatness. Daisaku Ikeda
Culture is an elevated expression of the inner voice which the different peoples of the Earth have heard in the depths of their being, a voice which conveys the vibrant compassion and wisdom of the cosmic life. For different cultures to engage in interaction is to catalyse each other’s souls and foster mutual understanding. Daisaku Ikeda
An important development in the Mahayana [was] that it came to separate nirvana from bodhi (‘awakening’ to the truth, Enlightenment), and to put a lower value on the former (Gombrich, 1992d). Originally nirvana and bodhi refer to the same thing; they merely use different metaphors for the experience. But the Mahayana tradition separated them and considered that nirvana referred only to the extinction of craving (passion and hatred), with the resultant escape from the cycle of rebirth. This interpretation ignores the third fire, delusion: the extinction of delusion is of course in the early texts identical with what can be positively expressed as gnosis, Enlightenment. Richard F Gombrich, How Buddhism Began
The Buddhist doctrine of impermanence includes the notion that there is no self ... It holds that the idea of a separate, individual self is an illusion, just another form of maya, an intellectual concept that has no reality. To cling to this idea of a separate self leads to the same pain and suffering (duhkha) as the adherence to any other fixed category of thought. Fritjof Capra, The Web of Life ch12
Of the great religions of history I prefer Buddhism, especially in its earliest forms because it has had the smallest element of persecution. Bertrand Russell
There are no absolutes ... Buddhism is all about that. You know – no absolutes, no centre to the universe, nothing but er nothingness. James Burke, Connections s3e3: Drop the Apple, BBC 1997
The wandering seeker of truth who challenged religion orthodoxy. Buddha: Genius of the Ancient World, BBC 2015
‘Believe nothing unless it agrees with your own reason.’ ibid.
The basic belief of Buddhism is a simple but profound truth: life is full of suffering. According to Buddhists, suffering is caused by desire and ignorance. But suffering can be eliminated through meditation, through study and through compassion. Decoding the Past s3e4: Tibetan Book of the Dead, History 2007
The goal of Buddhism is to step off the eternal wheel of Karma and thus be liberated from suffering. The Tibetan Book of the Dead promises a short-cut to liberation. ibid.
More than 6,000 monasteries and places of worship are said to have been looted, desiccated and destroyed in what the Chinese call ‘The peaceful liberation of Tibet’. Within the last few years the Chinese have dramatically increased political arrests and prison labour. Chris Everard, Illuminati I
Buddhism has a theory of conservation of consciousness that is comparable to the scientific principle of the conservation of energy. And that is you can do all kinds of things to energy; one thing you can’t do to energy is make it become nothing. And you can do all kinds of things to consciousness: it too is one of the core elements of the universe. You can’t destroy space, you can’t destroy energy and you can’t destroy consciousness. Dr Alan Wallace, author Contemplative Science
The Dalai Lama, for example, is entirely and easily recognizable to a secularist. In exactly the same way as a medieval princeling, he makes the claim ... that he himself is a hereditary king appointed by heaven itself. Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great p200
Dissenting sects within his faith are persecuted; his one-man rule in an Indian enclave is absolute; he makes absurd pronouncements about sex and diet and, when on his trips to Hollywood fund-raisers, anoints major donors like Steven Segal and Richard Gere as holy. ibid. p200
It was actually fascism and not socialism that the Buddha and the dharma required of them. ibid. p201
Things went from bad to worse once Japanese generals had mobilized their Zen-obedient zombies into complete obedience. The main- land of China became a killing field. ibid. p202
It was Buddhist and Shinto priests who were recruiting and training the suicide bombers, or Kamikaze. ibid. p203
Buddhist monk Lobsang Phuntsok … felt called to leave his life as a spiritual leader in the United States, and returned to the region of his birth with a dream of rescuing unwanted children. Tashi and the Monk, caption, 2014
All of us are basically abandoned … This is a community of love and compassion. ibid. Lobsang
She wets the bed and tries to hide it with blankets. ibid. teacher
When we decide to take a child, I have to think about it very deeply. It’s not just for a few months, it’s for a whole life. When I take a kid into the school, I promise to them that I will be their parent. ibid.
Raju, remember, always try to be a good straightforward human being. ibid. Lobsang