181 Guidelines for Buddhist Practice (Part Two)
Author Unknown
Those who merely praise and admire us are not true teachers. The real wise ones are those who can point out our mistakes, guide us in the right direction, and help us improve. It is through them that we can truly progress.
What you currently have will become someone else's upon your death, so why not give it to those who truly need it now?
Practicing for the sake of praise is like a flower trampled underfoot.
Living a day in vain, doing nothing, is like committing theft.
Being able to humble oneself is true nobility.
Making many connections means not hurting anyone.
Silence is the best response to slander.
Respecting others is a way to dignify yourself.
Having a selfless heart means having everything.
Hatred can never resolve hatred; only compassion can resolve hatred. This is an eternal truth.
Accepting fate is better than complaining. For unchangeable facts, accepting fate is the best solution.
Do not let the delusion of others trouble you, and do not let their ignorance cause you suffering.
If others speak ill of you, do not get angry or upset; if they speak well of you, do not be overly pleased. There is good within the bad and bad within the good—it depends on how you use it.
Even if you are clearly in the right, yet others adamantly claim you are wrong, you should still seek their forgiveness. The essence of practice lies in enduring all things and advancing in spite of apparent unfairness. Even when you are undeniably correct, seeking forgiveness from others is a part of the practice.
When your mistakes are revealed, do not lose your temper. Arguing or complaining will not hide or overcome your flaws.
Do not always feel unfortunate; there are many more suffering people in the world than you.
The foolish person always wants others to understand him; the wise person works hard to understand himself.
If you always consider others to be right and yourself wrong, you will have fewer worries.
Coming into this world is incidental, but leaving is inevitable. Therefore, you must remain constant in the face of change, and adapt to change while remaining constant.
Compassion is your best weapon.
Only by facing reality can you transcend reality.
Conscience is the most impartial judge; you can deceive others, but you can never deceive your own conscience.
Those who do not know how to love themselves cannot love others.
Studying Buddhism is essentially learning how to be a person.
When a virtuous person practices wrong methods, the wrong methods become correct; when a wicked person practices correct methods, the correct methods become wicked. Everything is created by the mind.
Sometimes we need to calmly ask ourselves what we are pursuing and why we are living.
Do not distance yourself from close friends over minor disputes, nor forget great kindnesses over minor grievances.
Being brave in accepting others' criticism helps adjust your own shortcomings.
Be grateful for what you have and for what you do not have.
Compassion is to always consider others' perspectives and to act for their benefit.
Learning Buddhism is not about seeking solace in death, but about living freely and transcending in the present moment.
The Buddha never forces others to do what they dislike; he only teaches what is good and what is bad. Good and evil are for oneself to choose, and LIFE is for oneself to manage.
Letting go means removing your discriminative mind, sense of right and wrong, gain and loss, and attachment.
Speak without hostility or harm, do not boast about your own abilities, and do not broadcast the faults of others. This will naturally turn enemies into friends.
Those who frequently point out others' faults are often not good themselves, as they do not take the time to reflect on their own behavior.
Disputes arise every day, if you don’t listen, they naturally disappear. Disputes arise every day, even if you don’t listen, they still exist. Disputes arise every day, what will you do about it?
True giving is to let go of your worries, anxieties, discriminations, and attachments.
If you truly love someone, you must tolerate their flaws.
To overcome the fear of death, you must accept the concept that everyone in the world will eventually die.
Of all the patients, doctors find it hardest to treat themselves. Of all sentient beings, those who are self-righteous are the hardest to save.
A donkey will never become a fine horse no matter how good the grass it eats. Similarly, practicing with attachment and discrimination, no matter how diligent, will not lead to enlightenment.
Those who understand the eternal truth will not grieve over birth and death, as these are inevitable.
Even though you may dislike someone, if you can still recognize their strengths and virtues, such a person with such cultivation is truly rare in this world.
If you can let everything be as it is, you are truly free in this world.
Always tell yourself, "I am the happiest person because I have encountered the Dharma; there is no other happiness besides this."
If you can repeat "I do not need to worry about this small matter" twenty-one times each day, you will find an incredible strength within yourself. Try it; it is very effective.
Face your inner conflicts and stains honestly, and do not deceive yourself.
Cause and effect have never owed us anything, so do not complain.
We indeed have virtues, but it is also necessary to keep some of them hidden; this is called self-restraint.
Do not engage in idle chatter when there is nothing to do, as disputes often arise from idle talk.
Most people spend their lives doing three things: deceiving themselves, deceiving others, and being deceived by others.
Those who overly admire themselves will not appreciate others' virtues.
Living for others' applause indicates a person who cannot withstand challenges.
The heart is the greatest deceiver; others can deceive you temporarily, but it will deceive you for a lifetime.
Bad children cause more worry for their parents. Therefore, for beings with deep karmic debts, we should extend more forgiveness and compassion, rather than abandoning or distancing ourselves from them.
As long as you are consciously at peace, all directions - east, west, south, north - are good. If there is one person not yet enlightened, do not escape yourself.
Live life with an ordinary mind, treat people and handle affairs with a sense of shame, and align the Buddha’s heart with a Bodhi mind.
When you cling to something, you only hold onto that; if you are willing to let go, you have the opportunity to choose something else. If the mind is stubbornly fixed on its own views and unwilling to let go, then its wisdom will only reach a certain level.
If others fear you, it is not a blessing; if others harm you, it is not an insult.
It’s not someone else that bothers me, but I bother myself with someone else’s words and actions
Do not deliberately misinterpret others' goodwill; you should think in positive terms.
It is natural for things in the world to not go as you wish.
My wealth does not come from having a lot, but from requiring very little.
Eating means you must eventually excrete; a person must learn to let go of attachments, or else face constipation.
Those who often think others are paying attention to them or hope for others' attention tend to live with more troubles.
I can cook for you, but I cannot eat for you. Each person eats their own food and faces their own life and death.
It’s easy to belittle others, but it’s difficult to find balance within oneself.
Humanity's greatest error lies in not daring to assume the heart of a saint.
You just live your, and do not need to mind others’ distortions and right or wrong.
If you are preparing to get married, here is a very important philosophical saying for you: "You must tolerate your partner's shortcomings; there is no absolutely happy and perfect marriage. Happiness comes from infinite tolerance and mutual respect."
If you can safely get through a day, that is a kind of blessing. How many people today will not see tomorrow's sun, how many people today have become disabled, how many people today have lost their freedom, how many people today have lost their families.
Right and wrong, gain and loss, can only be judged at the end.
You don’t have to argue with cause and effect, cause and effect never mislead people. You don’t have to argue with fate, fate is the fairest judge.
You have your view of LIFE, I have mine, I won’t interfere with you. As long as I can, I will influence you. If I can’t, then I will accept my fate.
If you wish to grasp eternity, you must control the present.
Never let harsh words come from your mouth, no matter how bad or evil someone is. The more you curse them, the more you pollute your own heart. You should regard them as your wise teacher.
Tomorrow, when you start your day, if someone argues with you, let them win. Winning or losing is just a matter of perspective. When you let the other person win, you do not lose anything. What does winning actually bring? What does losing actually cost you?
Most of our lives are wasted on grappling with words and language.
Do not often feel that you are being wronged. Instead, think that their treatment of you is already quite good. This is the essence of cultivation.
Others may violate cause and effect, harm us, hit us, or slander us. However, we must not harbor hatred towards them. Why? We must maintain our original nature and a pure heart.
When interacting with anyone, always ask yourself, what can I do that is useful to them? To benefit them. If I cannot benefit others with my personal morality, knowledge, and practice, it’s as if I owe a debt.
Becoming a monk is a lifelong commitment, while practicing Buddhism spans multiple lives and calamities.
Believing in Buddha, learning from Buddha, is not for oneself, but for all sentient beings in the sea of suffering.
Buddha does not save those without a karmic connection, those who cannot be saved, we regard them as Bodhisattvas.
If a person does not feel suffering, it is not easy for him to sympathize with others. If you want to learn the spirit of saving others from suffering and difficulty, you must first suffer.
When ordinary people endure in situations where the other party has more power, wealth, or strength, and they have no choice but to tolerate it, what kind of endurance is that? True endurance is when, even if someone bullies you or wrongs you, and they are in no way superior to you, and you have the strength to retaliate, you still choose to tolerate them. You understand that their nature is the same as yours, and they are merely confused for a moment or influenced by a harsh environment. There is no need to hold grudges against them. Being able to endure under such circumstances and with such a mindset is the true meaning of endurance.
If we look at it from the perspective of many lives and calamities, then among all sentient beings, who has not been my parent, brother, sister, or relative? Who has not been my enemy? If we talk about grace, everyone has grace with me; if we talk about grudges, everyone has grudges with me. In this way, do we still have any difference between grace and grudge, kinship and estrangement? Considering wisdom and foolishness, everyone has smart times and also foolish times. Smart people may become foolish, and foolish people may also become smart. The worst person has also done many good things and will not always be bad; good people have also done many bad things and may not always be good in the future. By reflecting on this repeatedly, the so-called grudges, kinship, wisdom, and foolishness, these many different concepts, will naturally fade away. This is definitely not chaos, nor is it ignorance of right and wrong, but rather to replace our biased views since the beginningless time with the concept of equality.
The world was never yours to begin with, so you don’t need to abandon it; what needs to be abandoned is all attachment. Everything is for my use, but not for my possession.
It’s better to forgive others yourself, don’t let others forgive you.
When you face things with a troubled mind, you will feel that everything is an obstacle, and the world will become ugly and hateful.
If you want to be the dragon and elephant of all Buddhas, first be the horse and ox of all sentient beings.
Although we cannot change the world around us, we can only change ourselves, facing everything with a compassionate heart and a wise heart.
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