Eastern Religious Philosophy Quotes
The first quotation that I would like to discuss is Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha was a great figure because one day on a trip to the city, he discovered that many people with in the city were suffering. He wanted to know why people had suffered that way they did so he chose to leave his life of luxury, abandon his family and live in the woods as one of them for several years. When doing he so he came to the conclusion that suffering can be avoided. He explains that ignorance and selfishness causes suffering.
Suffering is in part with Karma which means “action” or “deed”, karma reflects in the later life through the actions or deeds done right now. Quote: “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain? ” I like this quote because a person does have a choice to change their selfish ways, by understanding how it affects people, and how ignorance and selfishness can be locked away permanently through cleansing of the mind. Lao Tzu- “To know that you do not know is the best.
To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease. ” He believed that even the wisest if humans is still ignorant, and this quote show some reflection on that thought process. Tzu was very interested in how we should live ad different ways that a good society is governed. The quote reminds us that we can always be open to learning and discovering even when we think we have mastered something! Another thing that I would like to add is that Tzu believed that all enduring change is brought by weakness and not by strength; by submission and not intervention.
I feel that this means people bring about change on themselves. Selfishness and ignorance can blind us and we eventually have to submit to change. There were three great systems of thought dominate Chinese civilization: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The predominant system is the one founded by Confucius. He loved to learn and sought a better way and order of doing things. He believed that learning and knowledge must in a way be practical. Confucius – “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”
Confucius taught that to establish one’s own humane character was important and could be done by following positive role models from the past. People can always better themselves through learning and servicing others. It makes sense that a man who believes these principles would quote such a simplistic, yet profound statement. I chose this quote because it makes a huge point. I feel that this quote is related to karma in a way. I say this because things that a person does to another, can be done right back to them now or in the future.
Mencius “Seek and you will find, neglect and you will lose it” According to Mencius, he believed that the natural goodness of humans was perverted by circumstances. On the other hand he still believed that a person still had time to change their ways. He felt that every person had the potential to set aside the selfish ways, but in order to change they have to recover the lost mind and the forgotten heart. It is a matter of thinking naturally and following intuition and conscience.
