Becoming a Good Human Being
- Our needs are few; our wants many.
- What is most important is to be grateful for what you've been given and repay in kind – to benefit others is to benefit ourselves.
- Do your utmost – no matter who gains or loses.
- Compassion has no enemies; wisdom, no vexations.
- The busiest have the most time; the diligent, the best health.
- The charitable are blessed; the virtuous, happy.
- Let the measure of your heart be great; the size of your ego, small.
- When you can let it go, then you can pick it up. At ease letting it go or picking it up – then you are truly free.
- Know yourself, know others; know when to advance, when to retreat; at all times maintain peace and equanimity in body and mind; know your blessings, use them wisely, strive to increase them; everywhere you go develop deep virtuous affinity with others.
- Able to pick it up and let it go, every year good fortune will surely follow; sow a field of blessings with wisdom, then everyday is a good day!
- Always keep your body and mind relaxed and meet everyone with a smile; relaxation makes your mind and body healthy, and a smile gathers friends and friendship.
- About to speak? Think for a moment. Slow your speech a bit. It's not that you should not speak, but rather that you should cherish what you say and choose your words with care.
- In daily living it is better to think: "fine if I can have it, no matter if I can't"; thus transform suffering to joy and live a life of serenity.
- The four contentments: mind at peace, body at rest, family in harmony, all enterprise at ease.
- When you wish for something, ask yourself these four questions: Is it needed? Is it wanted? Is it obtainable? Is it advisable?
- The four attitudes to take towards others: grateful, thankful, transforming, inspiring.
- The four steps in dealing with any problem: face it, accept it, deal with it, let it go.
- The four keys to good fortune: know what you are blessed with, cherish it, help it grow, and plant seeds for future blessings.
- If possible and permissible, seek after it; if impossible and forbidden, keep away from it.
- With gratitude we grow; repayment of kindness leads to success.
- Be thankful at every opportunity: good and bad fortune are both allies.
- Rejoice when you encounter good, praise it, encourage it to spread, but take care to learn with an open mind.
- More praise and less criticism! Cut down the karma that comes from what you say.
- An ordinary mind is a mind of utmost freedom, utmost joy.
- A true step on the path merits more than a hundred shallow words adorned with tinsel.
- The more you come to know your weaknesses, the faster you will grow, with your self-confidence unwavering.
- Look more, listen more; speak less, act fast; spend slow.
- Only after you encounter affliction and adversity will you summon the mind of diligence.
- Be solid and forthright; have a great open heart; be sure and steady in accomplishment, with vision penetrating and far-reaching.
Enjoying Work
- Busy but not in disarray; tired but not worn out.
- Be happy being busy! Even when you're tired, be joyful.
- Busy? No matter. No vexation. All is well.
- Work quickly, not anxiously; mind and body relaxed and unbound.
- Finish your work quickly, but in an orderly manner; don't become nervous trying to compete with time itself.
- Don't measure success and failure by wealth or poverty; work only to benefit yourself and others with all your heart and strength.
- Work hard and others may resent you, take up a task and risk criticism; compassion lies within harsh words, treasure buried deep within criticism.
- Be at ease in all encounters; give of yourself, as conditions permit.
- The three acts of success: accord with causes and conditions, act decisively when they arise, shape the future.
- Seize opportunity when it arises, create it when it doesn't exist; but when the time is not ripe, don't take unnecessary action.
- Life's ups and downs are the stuff of growth and development.
- Do what you have to do with wisdom; treat people with care and compassion.
- When you are off balance, always right yourself with wisdom, everywhere you go, use compassion to make life easy for others.
- Deep wisdom, great compassion: few vexations.
- Face whatever is in front of you, act with wisdom, treat people with compassion; forget benefit, harm, gain, and loss, and vexations will diminish.
- An ordinary mind bends to circumstances; a sage mind transforms circumstances.
- Big duck swims, big wake; little duck swims, little wake. No duck in the water? No wake at all.
- Can't move the mountain? Build a road! Road blocked? Start climbing! Can't climb? Shift your mind!
- True diligence doesn't mean placing your life at risk. It is simply unwavering persistence.
- A boat passes, its wake disappears; a bird flies, its shadow departs. Whether you gain or lose, succeed or fail – emotions do not stir: this is the great wisdom of freedom and liberation.
- Making life easier for others is making your life easier for yourself
- The noble one suffers mistreatment willingly; the fool is humiliated by what he suffers.
- Pressure usually comes from too much concern with what we encounter around us as well as how people judge us.
- Serve others with a mind of gratitude and reciprocity and you will be neither tired nor weary.
- Help others with the strength of your mind and body, with your wealth and wisdom – always and everywhere with a thankful mind.
Living Peacefully and Calmly
- The meaning of life lies in serving; the value of life in giving.
- The aim of life is to receive karmic retribution, fulfill vows, and make new ones.
- The value of life is not in duration but in contribution.
- The past is an illusion; the future, a dream; the present, essential.
- There is no need to dwell in the past, no necessity to worry about the future: the enduring present holds both past and future.
- Wisdom is not simply knowledge, nor experience, nor idle speculation; it is an attitude that transcends self-centeredness.
- Great accomplishment – complete humility; big ego – great insecurity.
- The superior settle their minds upon the Way; the average busy themselves with day to day living; the small-minded pursue fame, fortune and desire.
- You have a particular role and responsibility in life; act accordingly.
- In calmness and tranquility make good use of this wondrous day! Tomorrow will shine!
- Worry causes needless injury! Mindfulness brings security.
- Wealth is like flowing water, and giving like the digging of a well. Dig deeper and more water flows in; give more and wealth multiplies.
- Live life this way: the best plan anticipates the worst scenario.
- Even with a single breath remaining, hope is unlimited, and that is untold wealth.
- A bodhisattva saves others from hardship and suffering; a great bodhisattva takes on hardship and suffering itself.
- Three principles to transcend the suffering of birth, sickness and old age: a happy life, a healthy attitude towards sickness, hope in old age.
- Three principles to transcend death: don't seek it, don't fear it, don't wait for it.
- Death is neither a happy event nor a cause for mourning, but a call to practice our faith seriously.
- Every child is a little bodhisattva that helps his or her parents grow.
- With teenagers: use care, not worry; guidance, not control; communication, not authority.
- To truly love your children, give them your blessings rather than burden them with your worry!
- A couple's relationship should be based on mutual respect, not argument.
- Stop the litter, clutter and garbage! Always clean up and pick up what you can. These are virtuous acts.
- Insight comes from wisdom; good fortune, from merit.
- We love to grasp what we love and reject what we dislike; gain and loss, gain and loss – vexations are sure to come.
- Having few desires bring riches without worry.
- True suffering is a mind without peace or calm. Physical pain and illness are not necessarily suffering.
- Know clearly that an unsettled mind is trouble. Right then and there – recite "Homage to Guan Yin, Bodhisattva Avalokitesavara" to calm your mind.
- A rich man is content with what he has; a poor man accumulates and is never satisfied.
- Don’t control emotions by suppressing them; calm them with contemplation, reciting Buddha’s name, or prayer.
Happiness in this World
- Kind words on everyone's lips! Good deeds in everyone's heart! Good fortune in everyone's life!
- Let everyone speak kindly! Let everyone do good deeds! Let everyone's bad luck turn to good!
- If everyday, everyone spoke another kind word, did another good deed, then all of these little beneficial acts would turn into a great, great good.
- An urgent task needs immediate attention? Be ready now!
- Harmony with myself and others, harmony in mind and speech, and thus all will be blessed with joy and happiness.
- Harmony within and without, harmony in causes and conditions, and thus freedom, peace and tranquility will follow.
- Seek a peaceful mind, and you will find a peaceful refuge; treasure others and you will find fortune and happiness.
- Character creates wealth; giving creates savings.
- Offering yourself is cultivation; calming your mind is success.
- Great possessions don't necessarily bring satisfaction; few possessions don't necessarily lead to poverty.
- Right now you gather what you have planted; what you harvest tomorrow, you plant at this moment.
- The good are not lonely; the benevolent, happiest; ever and always help others and thus achieve the utmost happiness for yourself.
- If you wish to build good relationships with others, develop a broad mind, and become more tolerant and forgiving.
- When you change your way of thinking, what is around you will transform accordingly; nowhere in the world will you find absolute good or bad.
- The way to get along with others is to communicate effectively. When communication fails, compromise, when compromise fails, tolerate and forgive.
- The great must make allowance for the small; the small must be understanding toward the great.
- Devote all your heart and strength to your family; commit your whole life to the enterprise at hand.
- The best way to guard against greed is to give more, to extend yourself more, and to share more with others.
- Disputes are best settled by tolerance.
- Two great tasks lie before Buddhists: to bring grace and beauty to the land in which they live and to help sentient beings grow spiritually.
- Be a bottomless receptacle for the ills of the world; be a spotless mirror that reflects the world as it is.
- Wisdom comes at the moment when vexations perish from the mind; compassion is nothing more than sharing benefits with others.
- Look at yourself with contrition; at the world with gratitude.
- Purify your mind by curbing desire; refine your community with loving kindness for all.
