Sublime

“Beauty arises and passes away like all other phenomena. Fame and fortune are no different. Only the peace, joy, and freedom that are the fruits of meditation bring true happiness. Ambapali, cherish and take good care of all the moments left to you in this life. Do not lose yourself in forgetfulness or idle amusements.

The Buddha is in you, and the Buddha knows how to breathe and how to walk very beautifully. When you forget, you can ask the Buddha to come, and he will come, right away.

I teach that all things are impermanent and without a separate self. This I have learned from my own direct experience.

THE Buddha taught that there are three principal characteristics of human existence: impermanence, egolessness, and suffering (or dissatisfaction). The lives of all beings are marked by these three qualities. Recognizing these qualities to be real and true in our own experience helps us to relax with things as they are.

A Buddha is a person who has no more business to do and isn’t looking for anything. In doing nothing, in simply stopping, we can live freely and be true to ourselves, and our liberation will contribute to the liberation of all beings.

As Lao-tzu says, “The name that becomes a name / is not the Immortal Name.” (Taoteching: 1) But in this world, the Buddha teaches through names. In other worlds, the fragrance of flowers is used.

When the Buddha coined his famous phrase, he wasn’t saying that all of life is like being chained to a rock and having crows peck out your innards. What he really meant was something like, “Everything in the world is ultimately unsatisfying and unreliable because it won’t last.”