The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (12)

Lots of people tell me it’s unspiritual to be concerned about Fake Buddha Quotes. The Buddha, surely, would not be troubled by such things? Surely he, as a really cool, chill guy, would just shrug it off?

From the scriptures we have it seems he wouldn’t. He was very concerned about being misquoted. It was a cause of disharmony, and would lead to the “disappearance of the true Dharma [teaching].” Misquote enough, and peoples’ understanding of the teachings drifts and warps, until what they’re doing can’t take them to enlightenment.

And so we get passages such as the following:… Read the rest of this article » “The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (12)”

The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (11)

Here’s a nice little sutta (discourse from the early scriptures) in which it’s made clear, once again, that the Buddha didn’t like being misquoted.

I create this particular series of posts — of which this is the eleventh — because so many people have told me over the years that the Buddha wouldn’t have cared about Fake Buddha Quotes.

In this particular case the Buddha doesn’t like Fake Buddha Quotes because misrepresenting him gives rise to arguments. That’s something that I’ve noticed here, in the comments, oddly enough.

Then Venerable Upāli went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to

… Read the rest of this article » “The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (11)”

Solved: The Mystery of a Fake Einstein Quote on Buddhism

There’s a supposed quote from Albert Einstein concerning Buddhism that floats around everywhere on the internet and is found in many books. It says:

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.

It’s not surprising that this quote should … Read the rest of this article » “Solved: The Mystery of a Fake Einstein Quote on Buddhism”

The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (10)

Lot of people have written to tell me that the Buddha wouldn’t be at all concerned about being misquoted or having words put in his mouth. Because he was, like, this chill dude who’d say, “Whatever, homie,” or something like that. Apparently the more spiritually advanced you are, the less you’re concerned about things like truth and accuracy.

Anyway, that’s nonsense, which is why I have this series called “The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes” where the Buddha makes it clear that him being misquoted is a big deal.

So here’s another one of those.

There’s a sutta in the … Read the rest of this article » “The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (10)”

“It is better to die fighting than to live as one vanquished”


I was asked about this quote some time ago, but got sidetracked and never wrote it up.

This is an interesting one, because it’s from a book by the Italian fascist reactionary writer, Julius Evola (1898 to 1974). I initially described him as a fascist, but it’s been pointed out to be that he was a critic of fascism.

From what little I’ve seen of his writings, he was profoundly antagonistic to democracy (aka “parliamentarian cancer”).

Because the superiority of superior men is expressed, among other things, in the fact that they are capable of discerning what truly is of

… Read the rest of this article » ““It is better to die fighting than to live as one vanquished””

The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (9)

The discourse I’m going to quote here is a kind of companion to another one that I’ve already dealt with, where the Buddha talks about how people will end up listening to teachings that are poetic and sound nice, but that aren’t the genuine teachings.

In that teaching, the Ani Sutta, the Buddha says that there are spiritual practitioners who “will listen to the utterance of such discourses which are literary compositions made by poets, witty words, witty letters, by people from outside, or the words of disciples” rather than the words of the Buddha, which are “profound, profound … Read the rest of this article » “The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (9)”

“Be kind to all creatures. This is the true religion.”

I’ve categorized this one — “Be kind to all creatures. This is the true religion” — as fake because I haven’t been able to find anything in the scriptures that matches it.

The closest I’ve been able to find in a Buddhist source is something in a text, “The Substance of the Vinaya,” that was translated fairly early on (perhaps 70 CE) into Chinese. Here’s Samuel Beal’s 1884 account from his “Buddhism In China”:

There is, however, another ancient document containing the ethical principles of his doctrine known in China, and, so far as the present writer knows, not mentioned

… Read the rest of this article » ““Be kind to all creatures. This is the true religion.””

My new book: “A Year of Buddha’s Wisdom”

Over the summer I wrote a book. The idea was presented to me by the publisher, who had decided that they needed a daily practice guide based on Buddhist teachings, and they wanted me essentially to fill in the blanks.

It turned out to be a bit more involved than that, because their original outline wasn’t realistic. So we worked together to create a new outline, and the book ended up having four components: brief guides to meditation, reflections, mantras, and — ta-da! — quotes from the Buddha.

In some cases I translated quotes myself. Sometimes I used or adapted … Read the rest of this article » “My new book: “A Year of Buddha’s Wisdom””

The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (8)

These two things, mendicants, lead to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching. What two? The words and phrases are misplaced, and the meaning is misinterpreted. When the words and phrases are misplaced, the meaning is misinterpreted. These two things lead to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching.

These two things lead to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching. What two? The words and phrases are well organized, and the meaning is correctly interpreted. When the words and phrases are well organized, the meaning is correctly interpreted. These two things lead to the continuation,

… Read the rest of this article » “The Buddha on Fake Buddha Quotes (8)”

“If hate worked I would teach you that.”

So far this quote, “If hate worked I would teach you that,” doesn’t seem to be very widespread. So far it’s shown up in a few social media posts, but not in any blog posts or books that I’ve found. Maybe we can stop this one in its tracks.

As soon as I saw this I knew which scripture it was a paraphrase of. In fact I may even have used the words above in order to explain that teaching.

In Aṅguttara Nikāya 2.19, the Buddha says:

It is possible to give up the unskillful [i.e., greed, hatred, and delusion].

… Read the rest of this article » ““If hate worked I would teach you that.””