Select a linkBackABCDEFGHIKLMNOPRSTUVW

Buddhist Wisdom

Bad Motives

If one speaks and acts with a bad motive, all one’s speech and acts will be just as bad.

Bad Signs

If courts, places of entertainment, and liquor shops are crowded it is a bad sign.

Base and Ignoble

Some religious people have contempt for other’s religions. This is base and ignoble.

Be High-Minded

If you have a mean outlook and do base deeds, you will be mean and base.

If you have a noble outlook and do noble deeds, you will be noble.

Be Mindful

Bad thoughts occur spontaneously. Good thoughts occur only when the mind is alert; it is always good to be alert.

Beauty and Goodness

Goodness is apparent when compared with badness, just as beauty is apparent when compared with ugliness.

Behave Moderately

If you are too soft, you may be insulted. If you are too tough, you may make many enemies. Behaving moderately is better.

Even if those around you don’t love you, don’t let them hate you.

Beyond Their Ken

Many people don’t believe what others know. Because it is beyond their ken, they think that it is not true.

Blind

The blind cannot tell the right path from the wrong path.

Buddha Images

Images and pictures of the Buddha are just imitations of the physique of the Buddha.

Burmese sculptors make Buddha’s images in Burmese style; likewise Chinese and Indian sculptors carve in their own styles. The real intention is to make people think of the Buddha and adore him even more.

Images, pictures, and pagodas conceal the real Buddha; sermons conceal the real Dhamma; shameless monks conceal the real Sangha.

Buddha’s Dispensation

The laity will respect the Buddha’s dispensation only if the monks respect it, and if all Buddhists respect it, non-Buddhists will respect it.

Buddhist Culture

If we (Burmese) conduct ourselves according to our Buddhist culture, we will keep abreast of advanced countries.

Buddhist Monks Must Behave Well

Foreigners and modern young intellectuals will hold in contempt Buddhist monks who do not behave properly and live loosely. Devotees will also lose confidence in them. The monks will suffer from disgrace, and when they die they will go to Hell.

The female quail risks her life to guard her eggs. The mythical samari bird guards its feathers with its life. We Buddhist monks should maintain our moral precepts at the risk of our lives.

You, monks! If you can teach, and if you are weak in morality, you will be like a tree that does not bear sweet fruit. If you are good at preaching but cannot properly keep the precepts, you will be like the flowers with no fragrance.

Monks, if you receive alms from others and live the life of an average good person, you are not doing your duty satisfactorily.

Building Character

Character building should begin early in life. You cannot learn to build good character when you are advanced in age. It is hard to change old habits. Nowadays, people like cinemas, so Burmese children are becoming more like foreigners than true Burmese.

Busybodies

Some people interfere in affairs that are not their own.