Reasons for Giving
"There are, O monks, eight reasons for giving. What eight? People may give out of affection; or in an angry mood; or out of stupidity; or out of fear; or with the thought: 'Such gifts have been given before by my father and grandfather and it was done by them before; hence it would be unworthy of me to give up this old family tradition'; or with the thought, 'By giviing this gift, I shall be reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world, after death'; or with the thought, 'When giving this gift, my heart will be glad, and happiness and joy will arise in me'; or one gives because it ennobles and adorns the mind."
(AN 8.33; IV 236-37)
'In the Buddha's Words' by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Where there is uprightness, wisdom is there, and where there is wisdom, uprightness is there. To the upright there is wisdom, to the wise there is uprightness, and wisdom and goodness are declared to be the best things in the world.
Digha Nikaya IV - 124Dispel all pretenses and smile
In a composed and tranquil manner.
Be respectful, wholesome, and sincere
As if the Buddha were standing before you.
- Venerable Master Jen-Chun
(Bodhi Monastery)
What I am unable to accomplish in this lifetime, I vow to push forward through countless future lives; What I am unable to accomplish personally, I pray for everyone to join forces to promote
Busy with nothing, growing old.
Within emptiness, weeping, laughing.
Intrinsically, there is no "I."
Life and death, thus cast aside. ~ Late Venerable Master Sheng Yen
Click here to read more about Late Ven. Master Sheng Yen.
Good can be easily done by the good;
Good is not easily done by the bad.
Evil is easily done by the bad;
Noble ones cannot do evil deeds.
---- The Buddha
When you are trained as a Buddhist, you don't think of Buddhism as a religion. You think of it as a type of science, a method of exploring your own experience through techniques that enable you to examine your actions and reactions in a nonjudgemental way, with a view toward recognizing, "Oh, this is how my mind works. This is what I need to do to experience happiness. This is what I should do to avoid unhappiness."
(Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, The Joy of Living.)
"Who does not want to suffer
Should do no evil deeds
Openly or in secret.
Do evil now, then later,
Try though you may to flee it,
Yet surely you will suffer. - The Buddha
(Page 179 "The Life of the Buddha" by Bhikkhu Nanamoli)
I think the Buddha had a very special understanding of what life is. He made it very simple: just bring your mind back to this moment. Don’t let the mind go any further than this. Then your mind will be very clear. When the mind is always in meditation, you can handle hardship, more than you know.
See what you see now. Do not try to see the future. In order to see clearly what you see now, you must clear the mind of distractions. In this country, we are taught how to think, but not how to stop relying on thinking. When you stop relying on thinking, there is no worry or fear, and there are no problems. The mind is the object, and the object is very clear when the mind stops depending on thinking. Learn to abide in conditions, not to abide in your wishes.
~ Master Ji Ru (Shifu) Lovingkindness is selfless love, the unconditional desire for others to be happy.
In Buddhist practice, lovingkindness is offered freely and without any expectation for personal reward or benefit. This kind of offering can be sensed by others as positive and wholesome. It is especially important to offer lovingkindness in times of personal hardship and poverty, in times of societal distress, and in times of human-caused or natural catastrophes.
Buddhism teaches one to be particularly alert to being unreservedly kind; it teaches one to make the giving of lovingkindness a practical, omnipresent habit. Always being kind is not only one of the most effective teachings for the benefit of others, but it also produces calm and peace in those who practice it.
~ Master Ji Ru (Shifu) The Heart Sutra says, “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.”
Form is nothing more than a sense faculty momentarily touching sense information. An enlightened being knows this emptiness of form, and lives, moment by moment, in suchness, free from form’s enticements. That is what we call detachment.
It is this detachment, this unbiased and fearless mind, which is the ground of compassion. Being fearless means that we do not shrink away from what needs to be done.
And this is what Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, bestows upon all beings to assist us: the gift of fearlessness, so that we may act with confidence and clarity from our innate and compassionate heart.
~ Master Ji Ru (Shifu) 
