Divinity: A Portrait of Human Spirituality

By Henry M. Piironen

Are you the type of person who seeks to extend the spiritual horizons, or who enjoys to learn deeply rooted wisdom from the ancient enlightened teachers? Do you find comfort from the guidance of the spiritually wise, or have you set spiritual goals to gain awareness of what the Ancient Asian wisdom traditions have to say? Do you find joy from opening the Bible or another spiritual book randomly and then contemplate on the teaching you just learned?

In this book, you will find 1361 citations and quotations from nine different spiritual scriptures in an assorted order, some containing multiple teachings in themselves, and if you are a spiritually conscious, lover of wisdom or otherwise a thoughtful person, you will find long companionship from this book. As a portrait of human spirituality, you will gain thorough access to the teachings in Buddhism: The Dhammapada, The Diamond Sutra, The Lankavatara Sutra; Christianity: The New Testament; Confucianism: Confucian Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Great Learning; Hinduism: The Bhagavad Gita; Taoism: Tao Te Ching.

What makes this book so significant is the amount of wisdom, enlightened awareness, power, clear sightedness, compassion and similarities between the scriptures, designed to give you also a perception of the universal nature of values, while deepening the roots of your awareness with enlightened realizations. Youll find yourself returning to this book again and again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450214094

Henry M. Piironen

Henry M. Piironen is a contemporary philosopher, who considers all the values, teachings and truths of religions to be universal. His artful choice of words echo the profoundness of the teachings of the ancient wisdom traditions to the contemporary ears with a challenge, while restating the original purpose of religions: Religious scriptures present spiritual paths of choices and consequences. The realizations in them are to enable the individual to rise into heightened awareness through consciousness yet in a carnal body. He’s the author of The Art of Perception: An Introduction to Information Reality, The Holy Life of Christianity: Over Five Hundred Teachings of the Holy Life in the New Testament Demystified, The Holy Life of Christianity: A Workbook for Demystifying the Christian Ethics of the Holy Life in the New Testament, Path of the Eternal Truth: The Practical Science and Contemporary Philosophy of What Buddha Himself Taught of the Path of the Enlightened in Dhammapada, Enlightened Life of Buddhism: A Workbook for Interpreting the 423 Teachings of Enlightenment in Dhammapada, The Transcendental Awareness of Buddha: A Workbook for Interpreting the Teachings in Lankavatara Sutra and Diamond Sutra, The Divine Krishna: A Workbook for Interpreting the Teachings in the Bhagavad Gita, The Undivided Wisdom of Confucius: A Workbook for Interpreting the Teachings in the Analects of Confucius, My Tao Te Ching: A Workbook for Interpreting the Teachings and Poems in Tao Te Ching, Divinity: A Portrait of Human Spirituality, and Zen and the Reality of Consciousness. Henry M. Piironen has also published numerous essays concerning the representational sense of reality, and the cultural continuums of mankind as a Platinum Level Expert Author at Ezinearticles.com for free.

Book preview

Subhuti, if a disciple takes pleasure in a narrow and exclusive form of doctrine, or is attached to false ideas as to an entity, a being, a living being, a personality, he cannot receive with profit the instruction of this Scripture nor can he find delight in its study. This Scripture is intended for those who are entering upon the path, as well as for those who are attaining the highest planes of spiritual wisdom. If a disciple zealously observes, studies and widely disseminates the knowledge of this Scripture, for such an one there will be cumulative merit, immeasurable, incomparable, illimitable, inconceivable. All such disciples will be endowed with transcendent spiritual wisdom and enlightenment. – The Diamond Sutra

For my sister Heidi, mother Aino and father Jukka;

Sincerely for Nina and Riikka

And for my friends: Vesa, Olli, Sebastian, Petri, Miro, Mariella, Veli, Maria, Mari, Mia, Juho, Risto, Juha, Samuli, Tahira, James, Tuuli, Iivo, Oskari, Tuomas K., Aino, Laura, Nanna, Anne, Anna, Heli, Ville, Akseli, Aatami, Tiina, Wanda, Aki, Mervi, Tuomo and Pauli

As for teachings: there are priests and popular preachers who are given to ritual and ceremony and who are skilled in various incantations and in the art of eloquence; they should not be honored nor reverently attended upon, for what one gains from them is emotional excitement and worldly enjoyment; it is not the Dharma. Such preachers, by their clever manipulation of words and phrases and various reasoning and incantations, being the mere prattle of a child, as far as one can make out and not at all in accordance with truth nor in unison with meaning, only serves to awaken sentiment and emotion, while it stupifies the mind. As he himself does not understand the meaning of all things, he only confuses the minds of his hearers with his dualistic views. Not understanding himself, that there is nothing but what is seen of the mind, and himself attached to the notion of self-nature in external things, and unable to know one path from another, he has no deliverance to offer others. Thus these priests and popular preachers who are clever in various incantations and skilled in the art of eloquence, themselves never being emancipated from such calamities as birth, old age, disease, sorrow, lamentation, pain and despair, lead the ignorant into bewilderment by means of their various words, phrases, examples, and conclusions. - The Lankavatara Sutra

Contents

1361 Quotations from Nine Spiritual Scriptures in an Assorted Order

References

1361 Quotations from Nine Spiritual Scriptures in an Assorted Order

Riches adorn a house, and virtue adorns the person. The mind is expanded, and the body is at ease. Therefore, the superior man must make his thoughts sincere. - The Great Learning

The knowers of the three Vedas, worshipping Me by yajna, drinking the Soma, and (thus) being purified from sin, pray for passage to heaven; reaching the holy world of the Lord of the devas, they enjoy in heaven the divine pleasures of the devas. Having enjoyed the vast Svarga-world, they enter the mortal world, on the exhaustion of their merit: Thus, abiding by the injunctions of the three (Vedas), desiring desires, they (constantly) come and go. -The Bhagavad Gita

The uncharitable do not go to the world of the gods; fools only do not praise liberality; a wise man rejoices in liberality, and through it becomes blessed in the other world. -The Dhammapada

Subhuti, the plane of thought to which the Buddhas attain and which the Tathagatas manifest, cannot be expressed in terms of reality or in terms of non-reality. Their utterances are neither extravagant nor chimerical; they are true, credible, immutable, but can never be expressed in the limits of words and doctrines. Then the Lord Buddha enquired of Subhuti, saying: Are Tathagatas to be recognised by the works they do and the effects they produce? Subhuti replied: No, Blessed One; a Buddha is not to be known by his works, else would a great world-conquering King be a Buddha. Then Lord Buddha said: Just so, Subhuti. It is not by a great show of erudition, nor by the building of anything, nor by the destruction of anything, that the Tathagatas are to be known. It is only within the deepest consciousness of Bodhisattvas through the self-realization of the Prajna Paramita, that the Tathagatas are to be realized. - The Lankavatara Sutra

The Master said, ’If good men were to govern a country in succession for a hundred years, they would be able to transform the violently bad, and dispense with capital punishments.’ True indeed is this saying! The Master said, If a truly royal ruler were to arise, it would still require a generation, and then virtue would prevail. -Confucian Analects

The Master said, The silent treasuring up of knowledge; learning without satiety; and instructing others without being wearied:-which one of these things belongs to me? -Confucian Analects

The Master said, Can men refuse to assent to the words of strict admonition? But it is reforming the conduct because of them which is valuable. Can men refuse to be pleased with words of gentle advice? But it is unfolding their aim which is valuable. If a man be pleased with these words, but does not unfold their aim, and assents to those, but does not reform his conduct, I can really do nothing with him. -Confucian Analects

Yuan Sze being made governor of his town by the Master, he gave him nine hundred measures of grain, but Sze declined them. The Master said, Do not decline them. May you not give them away in the neighborhoods, hamlets, towns, and villages? The Master, speaking of Chung-kung, said, If the calf of a brindled cow be red and homed, although men may not wish to use it, would the spirits of the mountains and rivers put it aside? -Confucian Analects

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. -The New Testament

Even though a Gatha (poem) be a thousand (of words), but made up of senseless words, one word of a Gatha is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet. -The Dhammapada

The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were-extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings. The Master said, When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them. -Confucian Analects

Why was it that the ancients prized this Tao so much? Was it not because it could be got by seeking for it, and the guilty could escape (from the stain of their guilt) by it? This is the reason why all under heaven consider it the most valuable thing. -Tao Teh King

When a reconciliation is effected (between two parties) after a great animosity, there is sure to be a grudge remaining (in the mind of the one who was wrong). And how can this be beneficial (to the other)? Therefore (to guard against this), the sage keeps the left-hand portion of the record of the engagement, and does not insist on the (speedy) fulfillment of it by the other party. (So), he who has the attributes (of the Tao) regards (only) the conditions of the engagement, while he who has not those attributes regards only the conditions favorable to himself. -Tao Teh King

Tsze-kung said, The faults of the superior man are like the eclipses of the sun and moon. He has his faults, and all men see them; he changes again, and all men look up to him. -Confucian Analects

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. -The New Testament

In the Book of Poetry, it is said, That peach tree, so delicate and elegant! How luxuriant is its foliage! This girl is going to her husband’s house. She will rightly order her household. Let the household be rightly ordered, and then the people of the state may be taught. - The Great Learning

Let no man ever look for what is pleasant, or what is unpleasant. Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is pain to see what is unpleasant. Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters. -The Dhammapada

The philosopher Tsang said, The officer may not be without breadth of mind and vigorous endurance. His burden is heavy and his course is long. Perfect virtue is the burden which he considers it is his to sustain;-is it not heavy? Only with death does his course stop;-is it not long? The Master said, It is by the Odes that the mind is aroused. It is by the Rules of Propriety that the character is established. It is from Music that the finish is received. -Confucian Analects

The perception of what is small is (the secret of) clear-sightedness; the guarding of what is soft and tender is (the secret of) strength. -Tao Teh King

He who says what is not, goes to hell; he also who, having done a thing, says I have not done it. After death both are equal, they are men with evil deeds in the next world. -The Dhammapada

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. -The New Testament

Let him admonish, let him teach, let him forbid what is improper!—he will be beloved of the good, by the bad he will be hated. -The Dhammapada

Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. -The New Testament

Tsze-lu asked about government. The Master said, Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs. He requested further instruction, and was answered, Be not weary in these things. Chung-kung, being chief minister to the head of the Chi family, asked about government. The Master said, Employ first the services of your various officers, pardon small faults, and raise to office men of virtue and talents. Chung-kung said, How shall I know the men of virtue and talent, so that I may raise them to office? He was answered, Raise to office those whom you know. As to those whom you do not know, will others neglect them? Tsze-lu said, The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done? The Master replied, What is necessary is to rectify names. So! indeed! said Tsze-lu. You are wide of the mark! Why must there be such rectification? The Master said, How uncultivated you are, Yu! A superior man, in regard to what he does not know, shows a cautious reserve. If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success. When affairs cannot be carried on to success, proprieties and music do not flourish. When proprieties and music do not flourish, punishments will not be properly awarded. When punishments are not properly awarded, the people do not know how to move hand or foot. Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately. What the superior man requires is just that in his words there may be nothing incorrect." -Confucian Analects

Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. -The New Testament

Confucius said. Ch’iu, the superior man hates those declining to say-’I want such and such a thing,’ and framing explanations for their conduct. I have heard that rulers of states and chiefs of families are not troubled lest their people should be few, but are troubled lest they should not keep their several places; that they are not troubled with fears of poverty, but are troubled with fears of a want of contented repose among the people in their several places. For when the people keep their several places, there will be no poverty; when harmony prevails, there will be no scarcity of people; and when there is such a contented repose, there will be no rebellious upsettings. So it is.-Therefore, if remoter people are not submissive, all the influences of civil culture and virtue are to be cultivated to attract them to be so; and when they have been so attracted, they must be made contented and tranquil. Now, here are you, Yu and Ch’iu, assisting your chief. Remoter people are not submissive, and, with your help, he cannot attract them to him. In his own territory there are divisions and downfalls, leavings and separations, and, with your help, he cannot preserve it. And yet he is planning these hostile movements within the state.-I am afraid that the sorrow of the Chi-sun family will not be on account of Chwan-yu, but will be found within the screen of their own court. -Confucian Analects

Fools of little understanding have themselves for their greatest enemies, for they do evil deeds which must bear bitter fruits. -The Dhammapada

The Master was put in fear in K’wang. He said, After the death of King Wan, was not the cause of truth lodged here in me? If Heaven had wished to let this cause of truth perish, then I, a future mortal! should not have got such a relation to that cause. While Heaven does not let the cause of truth perish, what can the people of K’wang do to me? A high officer asked Tsze-kung, saying, May we not say that your Master is a sage? How various is his ability! Tsze-kung said, Certainly Heaven has endowed him unlimitedly. He is about a sage. And, moreover, his ability is various. The Master heard of the conversation and said, Does the high officer know me? When I was young, my condition was low, and I acquired my ability in many things, but they were mean matters. Must the superior man have such variety of ability? He does not need variety of ability. Lao said, The Master said, ‘Having no official employment, I acquired many arts.’-Confucian Analects

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. -The New Testament

The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos. -Tao Teh King

The Lord Buddha yet again enquired of Subhuti, saying: What think you? May a Bodhisattva who has attained to absolute tranquility of mind thus meditate within himself: I have obtained the position of an Arhat? Subhuti replied, saying: No, Honored of the Worlds! And why? Because, in reality, there is no such condition synonymous with the term Arhat. If an Arhat thus meditates within himself, ‘I have obtained the condition of an Arhat,’ there would be the obvious occurrence to his mind of such arbitrary concepts as an entity, a being, a living being, a personality. When the Blessed One declared of me that in tranquility of mind, observance of the Dharma and spiritual perception, I was preeminent among the disciples, I did not think within myself: ‘I am free from desire, I am an Arhat.’ Had I thought thus, the Blessed One would not have declared concerning me: ‘Subhuti delights in the austerities of an Arhat.’ It was because I was perfectly tranquil and oblivious to all conditions, that the Lord Buddha declared: ‘Subhuti delights in the austerities practiced by the Arhats.’ The Lord Buddha added: "True, Subhuti! Enlightened disciples in the exercise of the Viya Paramita ought to maintain within themselves a pure and single mind; they should be unconscious of sensuous conditions and cultivate a mind that is independent of material circumstances. And why? Because, all sensuous conditions and material circumstances are only manifestations of mind and are alike dream-like and imaginary. – The Diamond Sutra

If a man’s thoughts are not dissipated, if his mind is not perplexed, if he has ceased to think of good or evil, then there is no fear for him while he is watchful. -The Dhammapada

Tsze-lu got Tsze-kao appointed governor of Pi. The Master said, You are injuring a man’s son. Tsze-lu said, There are, there, common people and officers; there are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain. Why must one read books before he can be considered to have learned? The Master said, It is on this account that I hate your glib-tongued people. -Confucian Analects

Tsze-chang asked what constituted intelligence. The Master said, He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are successful may be called intelligent indeed. Yea, he with whom neither soaking slander, nor startling statements, are successful, may be called farseeing. -Confucian Analects

After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit. -The Dhammapada

The Blessed Lord said: Again, O mighty-armed, listen to My supreme word, which I wishing your welfare, will tell thee who art delighted (to hear Me). Neither the hosts of devas, nor the great Rishis, know My origin, for in every way I am the source of all the devas and the great Rishis. He who knows Me, birthless and beginningless, the great Lord of worlds–he, among mortals, is undeluded, he is freed from all sins. Intellect, knowledge, non-delusion, forbearance, truth, restraint of the external senses, calmness of heart, happiness, misery, birth, death, fear, as well as fearlessness, non-injury, evenness, contentment, austerity, benevolence, good name, (as well as) ill-fame–(these) different kinds of qualities of beings arise from Me alone. The seven great Rishis as well as the four ancient manus, possessed of powers like Me (due to their thoughts being fixed on Me), were born of (My) mind; from them are these creatures in the world. He who in reality knows these manifold manifestations of My being and (this) yoga power of Mine, becomes established in the unshakable yoga; there is no doubt about it. I am the origin of all, from Me everything evolves–thus thinking, the wise worship Me with loving consciousness. With their minds wholly in Me, with their senses absorbed in Me, enlightening one another, and always speaking of Me, they are satisfied and delighted. To them, ever steadfast and serving Me with affection, I give that buddhiyoga by which they come unto Me. Out of mere compassion for them, I, abiding in their hearts, destroy the darkness (in them) born of ignorance, by the luminous lamp of knowledge. Arjuna said: The Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Abode, the Supreme Purifier, are You. All the Rishis, the deva-Rishi Narada as well as Asita, Devala, and Vyasa have declared You as the Eternal, the self-luminous Purusha, the first Deva, Birthless, and All-pervading. So also you yourself say to me. I regard all this that you say to me as true, O Keshava. Verily, O Bhagavan, neither the devas nor the Danavas know Your manifestation. Verily, you yourself know yourself by yourself, O Supreme Purusha, O Source of being, O Lord of beings, O Deva of Devas, O Ruler of the World. You should indeed speak, without reserve of Your divine attributes by which, filling all these worlds, you existest. How shall I, O Yogi, meditate ever to know You? In what things, O Bhagavan, are you to be thought of by me? Speak to me again in detail, O Janardana, of your yoga-powers and attributes; for I am never satiated in hearing the ambrosia (of Your speech). The Blessed Lord said: I shall speak to thee now, O best of the Kurus, of my divine attributes, according to their prominence; there is no end to the particulars of My manifestation. I am the Self, O Gudakesha, existent in the heart of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings. Of the Adityas, I am Vishnu; of luminaries, the radiant Sun; of the winds, I am Marichi; of the asterisms, the Moon. I am the Sama-Veda of the Vedas, and Vasava (Indra) of the gods; of the senses I am the mind and intelligence in living beings am I. And of the Rudras I am Shankara; of the Yakshas and Rakshasas, the Lord of wealth (Kubera); of the Vasus I am Pavaka; and of mountains, Meru am I. And of priests, O son of Pritha, know Me the chief, Brihaspati; of generals, I am Skanda; of bodies of water, I am the ocean. Of the great Rishis I am Bhrigu; of words I am the one syllable Om; of yajnas I am the yajna of japa (silent repetition); of immovable things the Himalaya. Of all trees (I am) the Ashvattha, and Narada of deva-Rishis; Chitraratha of Gandharvas am I, and the Muni Kapila of the perfected ones. Know me among horses as Uchchaisshravas, Amrita-born; of lordly elephants Airavata, and of men the king. Of weapons I am the thunderbolt, of cows I am Kamadhuk; I am the Kandarpa, the cause of offspring; of serpents I am Vasuki. And Ananta of snakes I am, I am Varuna of water-beings; and Aryaman of Pitris I am, I am Yama of controllers. And Prahlada am I of Diti’s progeny, of measurers I am Time; and of beasts I am the lord of beasts [lion], and Garuda of birds. Of purifiers I am the wind, Rama of warriors am I; of fishes I am the shark, of streams I am Jahnavi (the Ganga). Of manifestations I am the beginning, the middle and also the end; of all knowledges I am the knowledge of the self, and Vada of disputants. Of letters the letter A am I, and Dvandva of all compounds; I alone am the inexhaustible Time, I the Sustainer (by dispensing fruits of actions) All-formed. An I am the all-seizing Death, and the prosperity of those who are to be prosperous; of the feminine qualities (I am) Fame, Prosperity (or beauty, Inspiration, Memory, Intelligence, Constancy and Forbearance. Of Samas also I am the Brihat-Sama, of metres Gayatri am I; of months I am Margashirsha, of seasons the flowery season. I am the gambling of the fraudulent, I am the power of the powerful; I am victory, I am effort, I am sattwa of the sattwic. Of the Vrishnis I am Vasudeva; of the Pandavas, Dhananjaya; and also of the Munis I am Vyasa; of the sages, Ushanas the sage. Of punishers I am the sceptre; of those who seek to conquer, I am statesmanship; and also of things secret I am silence, and the knowledge of knowers am I. And whatsoever is the seed of all beings, that also am I, O Arjuna. There is no being, whether moving or unmoving, that can exist without Me. There is no end of My divine attributes, O scorcher of foes; but this is a brief statement by Me of the particulars of My divine attributes. Whatever being there is great, prosperous, or powerful, that know to be a product of a part of My splendour. Or what avails thee to know all this diversity, O Arjuna? (Know this that) I exist, supporting this whole world by a portion of Myself. -The Bhagavad Gita

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. -The New Testament

There are two ways in which the ceasing of the mind-system may take place: as regards form, and as regards continuation. The sense-organs function as regards form by the interaction of form, contact and grasping; and they cease to function when this contact is broken. As regards continuation,--when these interactions of form, contact and grasping cease, there is no more continuation of the seeing, hearing and other sense functions; with the ceasing of these sense functions, the discriminations, graspings and attachments of the discriminating-mind cease; and with their ceasing act and deed and their habit-energy cease, and there is no more accumulation of karma-defilement on the face of Universal Mind. - The Lankavatara Sutra

It is like the city of the Gandharvas which the unwitting take to be a real city though it is not so in fact. The city appears as in a vision owing to their attachment to the memory of a city preserved in the mind as a seed; the city can thus be said to be both existent and non-existent. In the same way, clinging to the memory of erroneous speculations and doctrines accumulated since beginningless time, they hold fast to such ideas as oneness and otherness, being and nonbeing, and their thoughts are not at all clear as to what after all is only seen of the mind. It is like a man dreaming in his sleep of a country that seems to be filled with various men, women, elephants, horses, cars, pedestrians, villages, towns, hamlets, cows, buffalos, mansions, woods, mountains, rivers and lakes, and who moves about in that city until he is awakened. As he lies half awake, he recalls the city of his dreams and reviews his experiences there; what do you think, Mahamati, is this dreamer who is letting his mind dwell upon the various unrealities he has seen in his dream,--is he to be considered wise or foolish? In the same way, the ignorant and simple-minded who are favorably influenced by the erroneous views of the philosophers do not recognize that the views that are influencing them are only dream-like ideas originating in the mind itself, and consequently they are held fast by their notions of oneness and otherness, of being and non-being. It is like a painter’s canvas on which the ignorant imagine they see the elevations and depressions of mountains and valleys. - The Lankavatara Sutra

Even an evil-doer sees happiness as long as his evil deed has not ripened; but when his evil deed has ripened, then does the evil-doer see evil. Even a good man sees evil days, as long as his good deed has not ripened; but when his good deed has ripened, then does the good man see happy days. -The Dhammapada

They depart with their thoughts well-collected, they are not happy in their abode; like swans who have left their lake, they leave their house and home. -The Dhammapada

Then said Mahamati to the Blessed One: Why is it that the ignorant are given up to discrimination and the wise are not? The Blessed One replied: It is because the ignorant cling to names, signs and ideas; as their minds move along these channels they feed on multiplicities of objects and fall into the notion of an ego-soul and what belongs to it; they make discriminations of good and bad among appearances and cling to the agreeable. As they thus cling there is a reversion to ignorance, and karma born of greed, anger and folly, is accumulated. As the accumulation of karma goes on they become imprisoned in a cocoon of discrimination and are thenceforth unable to free themselves from the round of birth and death. - The Lankavatara Sutra

There is no evil to which the mean man, dwelling retired, will not proceed, but when he sees a superior man, he instantly tries to disguise himself, concealing his evil, and displaying what is good. The other beholds him, as if he saw his heart and reins;-of what use is his disguise? This is an instance of the saying -What truly is within will be manifested without. Therefore, the superior man must be watchful over himself when he is alone. - The Great Learning

Then Mahamati said to the Blessed One: In the Scriptures mention is made of the Womb of Tathagatahood and it is taught that that which is born of it is by nature bright and pure, originally unspotted and endowed with the thirty-two marks of excellence. As it is described it is a precious gem but wrapped in a dirty garment soiled by greed, anger, folly and false-imagination. We are taught that this Buddha-nature immanent in every one is eternal, unchanging, auspicious. Is not this which is born of the Womb of Tathagatahood the same as the soul-substance that is taught by the philosophers? The Divine Atman as taught by them is also claimed to be eternal, inscrutable, unchanging, imperishable. Is there, or is there not a difference? The Blessed One replied: No, Mahamati, my Womb of Tathagatahood is not the same as the Divine Atman as taught by the philosophers. What I teach is Tathagatahood in the sense of Dharmakaya, Ultimate Oneness, Nirvana, emptiness, unbornness, unqualifiedness, devoid of will-effort. The reason why I teach the doctrine of Tathagatahood is to cause the ignorant and simple-minded to lay aside their fears as they listen to the teaching of egolessness and come to understand the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness. The religious teachings of the Tathagatas are just like a potter making various vessels by his own skill of hand with the aid of rod, water and thread, out of the one mass of clay, so the Tathagatas by their command of skillful means issuing from Noble Wisdom, by various terms, expressions, and symbols, preach the twofold egolessness in order to remove the last trace of discrimination that is preventing disciples from attaining a self-realization of Noble Wisdom. The doctrine of the Tathagata-womb is disclosed in order to awaken philosophers from their clinging to the notion of a Divine Atman as transcendental personality, so that their minds that have become attached to the imaginary notion of soul as being something self-existent, may be quickly awakened to a state of perfect enlightenment. All such notions as causation, succession, atoms, primary elements, that make up personality, personal soul, Supreme Spirit, Sovereign God, Creator, are all figments of the imagination and manifestations of mind. No, Mahamati, the Tathagata’s doctrine of the Womb of Tathagatahood is not the same as the philosopher’s Atman. - The Lankavatara Sutra

Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overwhelmed with pity and sorrowing, and whose eyes were dimmed with tears, Madhusudana spoke these words. The Blessed Lord said: In such a crisis, whence comes upon you, O Arjuna, this dejection, un- Arya-like, disgraceful, and contrary to the attainment of heaven? Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Pritha! Ill does it become you. Cast off this mean faintheartedness and arise, O scorcher of your enemies! Arjuna said: But how can I, in battle, O slayer of Madhu, fight with arrows against Bhishma and Drona, who are rather worthy to be worshipped, O destroyer of foes! Surely it would be better even to eat the bread of beggary in this life than to slay these great-souled masters. But if I kill them, even in this world, all my enjoyment of wealth and desires will be stained with blood. And indeed I can scarcely tell which will be better, that we should conquer them, or that they should conquer us. The very sons of Dhritarashtra–after slaying whom we should not care to live–stand facing us. With my nature overpowered by weak commiseration, with a mind in confusion about duty, I supplicate You. Say decided what is good for me. I am Your disciple. Instruct me who have taken refuge in You. I do not see anything to remove this sorrow which blasts my senses, even were I to obtain unrivalled and flourishing dominion over the earth, and mastery over the gods. Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to the Lord of the senses, Gudakesha, the scorcher of foes, said to Govinda, I shall not fight, and became silent. To him who was sorrowing in the midst of the two armies, Hrishikesha, as if smiling, O descendant of Bharata, spoke these words. The Blessed Lord said: You have been mourning for them who should not be mourned for. Yet you speak words of wisdom. The [truly] wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. It is not that I have never existed, nor you, nor these kings. Nor is it that we shall cease to exist in the future. As are childhood, youth, and old age, in this body, to the embodied soul, so also is the attaining of another body. Calm souls are not deluded thereat. Notions of heat and cold, of pain and pleasure, are born, O son of Kunti, only of the contact of the senses with their objects. They have a beginning and an end. They are impermanent in their nature. Bear them patiently, O descendant of Bharata. That calm man who is the same in pain and pleasure, whom these cannot disturb, alone is able, O great amongst men, to attain to immortality. The unreal never is. The real never is not. Men possessed of the knowledge of the Truth fully know both these. That by which all this is pervaded–That know for certain to be indestructible. None has the power to destroy this Immutable. Of this indwelling self–the ever-changeless, the indestructible, the illimitable–these bodies are said to have an end. Fight, therefore, O descendant of Bharata. He who takes the self to be the slayer, and he who takes it to be the slain, neither of these knows. It does not slay, nor is it slain. This is never born, nor does it die. It is not that, not having been, it again comes into being. [Or according to another view: It is not that having been, it again ceases to be.] This is unborn, eternal, changeless, ever-itself. It is not killed when the body is killed. He that knows this to be indestructible, changeless, without birth, and immutable, how is he, O son of Pritha, to slay or cause another to slay? Even as a man casts off worn-out clothes, and puts on others which are new, so the embodied casts off worn-out bodies, and enters into others which are new. This [self], weapons cut not; this, fire burns not; this, water wets not; and this, wind dries not. This self cannot be cut, nor burnt, nor wetted, nor dried. Changeless, all-pervading, unmoving, immovable, the self is eternal. This [self] is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing this to be such, you ought not to mourn. But if you should take this to have constant birth and death, even in that case, O mighty-armed, you ought not to mourn for this. Of that which is born, death is certain; of that which is dead, birth is certain. Over the unavoidable, therefore, you ought not to grieve. All beings are unmanifested in their beginning, O Bharata, manifested in their middle state, and unmanifested again in their end. What is there then to grieve about? Some look upon the self as marvelous. Others speak of it as wonderful. Others again hear of it as a wonder. And still others, though hearing, do not understand it at all. This, the indweller in the bodies of all, is ever indestructible, O descendant of Bharata. Therefore you ought not to mourn for any creature. Looking at your own dharma, also, you ought not to waver, for there is nothing higher for a kshatriya than a righteous war. Fortunate certainly are the kshatriyas, O son of Pritha, who are called to fight in such a battle that comes unsought as an open gate to heaven. But if you refuse to engage in this righteous warfare, then forfeiting your own dharma and honor, you shall incur sin. The world also will ever hold you in reprobation. To the honored, disrepute is surely worse than death. The great chariot-warriors will believe that you have withdrawn from the battle through fear. And you will be lightly esteemed by them who have thought much of you. your enemies also, cavilling at your great prowess, will say of you things that are not to be uttered. What could be more intolerable than this? Dying you gain heaven; conquering you enjoy the earth. Therefore, O son of Kunti, arise, resolved to fight Having made pain and pleasure, gain and loss, conquest and defeat, the same, engage then in battle. So shall you incur no sin. The wisdom of self-realization has been declared unto you. Hearken now to the wisdom of yoga, endued with which, O son of Pritha, you shall break through the bonds of karma. In this, there is no waste of the unfinished attempt, nor is there production of contrary results. Even very little of this dharma protects from the great terror. In this, O scion of Kuru, there is but a single one-pointed determination. The purposes of the undecided are innumerable and many-branching. O Partha, no set determination is formed in the minds of those that are deeply attached to pleasure and power, and whose discrimination is stolen away by the flowery words of the unwise, who are full of desires and look upon heaven as their highest goal and who, taking pleasure in the panegyric words of the Vedas, declare that there is nothing else. Their flowery words are exuberant with various specific rites as the means to pleasure and power and are the causes of [new] births as the result of their works [performed with desire]. The Vedas deal with the three gunas. Be free, O Arjuna, from the triad of the gunas, free from the pairs of opposites, ever-balanced, free from [the thought of] getting and keeping, and established in the self. To the Brahmin who has known the self, all the Vedas are of so much use as a reservoir is, when there is a flood everywhere. Your right is to work only; but never to the fruits thereof. Be not the producer of the fruits of [your] actions; neither let your attachment be towards inaction. Being steadfast in yoga, O Dhananjaya, perform actions, abandoning attachment, remaining unconcerned as regards success and failure. This evenness of mind [in regard to success and failure] is known as yoga. Word [with desire] is verily far inferior to that performed with the mind undisturbed by thoughts of results. O Dhananjaya, seek refuge in this evenness of mind. Wretched are they who act for results. Endued with this evenness of mind, one frees oneself in this life, alike from vice and virtue. Devote yourself, therefore, to this yoga. Yoga is the very dexterity of work. The wise, possessed of this evenness of mind, abandoning the fruits of their actions, freed for ever from the fetters of birth, go to that state which is beyond all evil. When your intellect crosses beyond the taint of illusion, then shall you attain to indifference, regarding things heard and things yet to be heard. When your intellect, tossed about by the conflict of opinions, has become immovable and firmly established in the self, then you shall attain self-realization. -The Bhagavad Gita

As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village. -The Dhammapada

Him I call indeed a Brahmana who utters true speech, instructive and free from harshness, so that he offend no one. -The Dhammapada

There are four kinds of Knowledge: Appearance-knowledge, relative-knowledge, perfect-knowledge, and Transcendental Intelligence. Appearance-knowledge belongs to the ignorant and simple-minded who are addicted to the notion of being and non-being, and who are frightened at the thought of being unborn. It is produced by the concordance of the triple combination and attaches itself to the multiplicities of objects; it is characterized by attainability and accumulation; it is subject to birth and destruction. Appearance-knowledge belongs to word-mongers who revel in discriminations, assertions and negations. Relative-knowledge belongs to the mind-world of the philosophers. It rises from the mind’s ability to consider the relations which appearances bear to each other and to the mind considering them, it rises from the mind’s ability to arrange, combine and analyze these relations by its powers of discursive logic and imagination, by reason of which it is able to peer into the meaning and significance of things. Perfect-knowledge belongs to the world of the Bodhisattvas who recognize that all things are but manifestations of mind; who clearly understand the emptiness, the un-bornness, the egolessness of all things; and who have entered into an understanding of the Five Dharmas, the twofold egolessness, and into the truth of imagelessness. Perfect-knowledge differentiates the Bodhisattva stages, and is the pathway and the entrance into the exalted state of self-realization of Noble Wisdom. Perfect-knowledge (jnana) belongs to the Bodhisattvas who are entirely free from the dualisms of being and non-being, no-birth and no-annihilation, all assertions and negations, and who, by reason of self-realization, have gained an insight into the truths of egolessness and imagelessness. They no longer discriminate the world as subject to causation: they regard the causation that rules the world as something like the fabled city of the Gandharvas. To them the world is like a vision and a dream, it is like the birth and death of a barren-woman’s child; to them there is nothing evolving and nothing disappearing. - The Lankavatara Sutra

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. -The New Testament

The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is damaged by lust: therefore a gift bestowed on those who are free from lust brings great reward. -The Dhammapada

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. -The New Testament

As many kinds of wreaths can be made from a heap of flowers, so many good things may be achieved by a mortal when once he is born. -The Dhammapada

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. -The New Testament

Mahamati, since the ignorant and simple-minded, not knowing that the world is only something seen of the mind itself, cling to the multitudinousness of external objects, cling to the notions of being and nonbeing, oneness and otherness, bothness and not-bothness, existence and non-existence, eternity and non-eternity, and think that they have a self-nature of their own, all of which rises from the discriminations of the mind and is perpetuated by habit-energy, and from which they are given over to false imagination. It is all like a mirage in which springs of water are seen as if they were real. They are thus imagined by animals who, made thirsty by the heat of the season, run after them. Animals, not knowing that the springs are a hallucination of their own minds, do not realize that there are no such springs. In the same way, Mahamati, the ignorant and simple-minded, their minds burning with the fires of greed, anger and folly, finding delight in a world of multitudinous forms, their thoughts obsessed with ideas of birth, growth and destruction, not well understanding what is meant by existent and non-existent, and being impressed by the erroneous discriminations and speculations since beginningless time, fall into the habit of grasping this and that and thereby becoming attached to them. - The Lankavatara Sutra

(The Tao) which originated all under the sky is to be considered as the mother of them all. When the mother is found, we know what her children should be. When one knows that he is his mother’s child, and proceeds to guard (the qualities of) the mother that belong to him, to the end of his life he will be free from all peril. -Tao Teh King

He by whom the world is not agitated and who cannot be agitated by the world, who is freed from joy, envy, fear, and anxiety–he is dear to Me. -The Bhagavad Gita

If a man make himself as he teaches others to be, then, being himself well subdued, he may subdue (others); one’s own self is indeed difficult to subdue. -The Dhammapada

One is the road that leads to wealth, another the road that leads to Nirvana; if the Bhikshu, the disciple of Buddha, has learnt this, he will not yearn for honour, he will strive after separation from the world. -The Dhammapada

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. -The New Testament

The Master said, The superior man, in the world, does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow. -Confucian Analects

Him I call indeed a Brahmana who has cut the strap and the thong, the chain with all that pertains to it, who has burst the bar, and is awakened. -The Dhammapada

Thy life has come to an end, thou art come near to death (Yama), there is no resting-place for thee on the road, and thou hast no provision for thy journey. -The Dhammapada

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. -The New Testament

The Master said, He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good. -Confucian Analects

"In the Book of Poetry, it is said, ‘In hewing an ax handle, in hewing an ax handle, the pattern is not far off. We grasp one ax handle to hew the other; and yet, if we look askance from the one to the other, we may consider them as apart. Therefore, the superior man governs men, according to their nature, with what is proper to them, and as soon