Words of Wisdom
"As the previous… Buddhas like a divine
skillful wise horse, a great elephant, did what had to be done,
accomplished all tasks, overcame all the burdens of the five
aggregates controlled by delusion and karma, fulfilled all their
aspirations by relinquishing their attachments, by speaking
immaculately divine words and liberating the minds of all from the
bondage of subtle delusions' impression, and who possess great
liberated transcendental wisdom, for the sake of all that lives, in
order to benefit all, in order to prevent famine, in order to
prevent mental and physical sicknesses, in order for living beings
to complete a Buddha's 37 realizations, and to receive the stage of
fully completed buddhahood… I …shall take the eight
Mahayana precepts…"
from "One-Day Mahayana Vow Ritual," trans. Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives
"Perfect Wisdom spreads her radiance… and is
worthy of worship. Spotless, the whole world cannot stain
her… In her we may find refuge; her works are most excellent;
she brings us safety under the sheltering wings of enlightenment.
She brings light to the blind, that all fears and calamities may be
dispelled… and she scatters the gloom and darkness of
delusion. She leads those who have gone astray to the right path.
She is omniscience; without beginning or end is Perfect Wisdom, who
has emptiness as her characteristic mark; she is mother of the
bodhisattvas &hellips; She cannot be struck down, the protector
of the unprotected, … the Perfect Wisdom of the Buddhas, she
turns the Wheel of the Law.
from "Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra," The
Buddhist Tradition, ed. by W.M.
Theodore De Bary
"For the last several years I have been looking at
the world's problems, including our own problem, the Tibetan
situation. I have been thinking about this and meeting with person
from different fields and in different countries. Basically all are
the same. I come from the East; most of you are Westerners. If I
look at you superficially, we are different, and if I put my
emphasis on that level, we grow more distant. If I look on you as
my own kind, as human beings like myself, with one nose, two eyes,
and so forth, then automatically that distance is gone. We are the
same human flesh. I want happiness; you also want happiness. From
that mutual recognition we can build respect adn real trust for
each other. From that can come cooperation adn harmony, and from
that we can stop many problems."
H.H. the
14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
|
