Tag: origins unknown

Ugh. In investigating this quote, kindly passed on to me by one of my meditation students, I delved into an entire subculture devoted to saccharine quotes and trite parables, often rife with typos, poor grammar, and the kinds of abbreviations teenagers use in text messages.

This particular one turned up on a Facebook page called “Buddhism: Being truly human.”

What is the difference between “I like you” [and] “I love you”? Beautifully answered by Buddha. Buddha’s answer was so simple. When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.

It’s …

Read the rest of this article » ““When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.””

I don’t know the origin of this quote. It’s certainly not the Buddha, and the modern phrasing sounds more like Sharon Salzberg or Jack Kornfield. I even wondered if it might be something I’d written.

The Buddha certainly did encourage the development of kindness (metta) as the basic way or relating to others. In a conversation with Cunda, a silversmith, regarding how one purifies oneself, he said:

And how is one made pure in three ways by mental action? … He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. [He thinks,] ‘May these beings

…

Read the rest of this article » ““Kindness should be the natural way of life, not the exception.””

This one was passed on to me by Shira, who is on Tumblr. Does that make her a “Tumblrer”?

She was rightly suspicious, and wrote:

The first half reminds me of the Dhammapada (“Mind precedes all things” … at least in some translations.) The second half is wackville though, and I’m pretty sure the Buddha didn’t say it.

“Wackville” just about summed this one up. I’ve also found it on Twitter, incidentally.

So far …

Read the rest of this article » ““Since everything is a reflection of our minds, everything can be changed by our minds.””