Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
One who previously made bad karma, but who reforms and creates good karma, brightens the world like the moon appearing from behind a cloud.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of transformation through positive actions, even after a history of negativity.
Gautama Buddha's quote suggests that individuals are not defined by their past actions, but rather by their capacity for change. By reforming from a path of bad karma and cultivating good karma, one can illuminate the world around them, similar to how the moon brightens the night sky once it emerges from behind clouds. This highlights the theme of redemption and the potential for growth and positivity in every individual.
In practice
In a motivational speech on personal growth and transformation.
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.
In spite of death, he felt the need of life and love. He felt that love saved him from despair, and that this love, under the menace of despair, had become still stronger and purer. The one mystery of death, still unsolved, had scarcely passed before his eyes, when another mystery had arisen, as insoluble, urging him to love and to life.
The poet Melvin B. Tolson once said "A civilization is judged only in its decline." That made sense to me. I would imagine the same is true for poets and tennis players.
I hated labels anyway. People didn't fit in slots--prostitute, housewife, saint--like sorting the mail. We were so mutable, fluid with fear and desire, ideals and angles, changeable as water.
Fate finds for every man; his share of misery.
To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world?
Sometimes I wonder what it's gonna take to find dignity.
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