Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
If there is only empty space, with no suns nor planets in it, then space loses its substantiality.
Interpretation
Empty space loses its meaning without celestial bodies to define it.
This quote by Gautama Buddha emphasizes the idea that context gives substance to seemingly empty concepts. Just as empty space becomes meaningful through the presence of suns and planets, our understanding of life, existence, and purpose is shaped by the relationships and experiences we encounter in our surroundings.
In practice
In a lesson about perspective in art class, this quote can illustrate how the background enhances the subject.
Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit.
There are having flowers in Spring, breezes in Summer, moon in Autumn, snows in Winter. If there is nothing worrying over you, it will be the best seasons at all times.
Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.
When a wise man is advised of his errors, he will reflect on and improve his conduct. When his misconduct is pointed out, a foolish man will not only disregard the advice but rather repeat the same error.
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can't love only some of his children.
Strike the dog dead, it's but a critic!
Jesus Christ as only an example will crush you. You'll never be able to live up to it. But Jesus Christ as the Lamb will save you.
America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.
If you know that life is basically going to be horrendously difficult, at best, and all but unlivable at worst, or possibly even unlivable, do you go on? And the choice to go on is the only thing that I think can be called hope. Because if hope isn't forced to encounter the worst possibility, then it's a lie.
The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.
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