Facebook Memory

Facebook memory of 2013 posted today

The Sutra of Forty-Two Sections 14th Feb 2000
When the World-honored had become Enlightened, he reflected thus:--"To abandon desire and rest in perfect quietude is the greatest of victories. To remain in a state of complete abstraction is to overcome the ways of all the evil ones." In the Royal Deer Park, he expounded the Doctrine of the Four Noble Truths, converting Kaundinya and four others, and thus manifesting the fruit of the Way. There were frequently monks who voiced their doubts and asked the Buddha to resolve them, so the World Honored taught and commanded them, until, one by one, they became Enlightened and, bringing their hands together in respectful agreement, prepared to follow the sacred commands.
36. The Buddha said:
It is hard for one to leave the grosser forms of incarnation and be born a human being.
It is harder for such a one to escape being a woman and be born a man.(man is superior over woman)
It is hard for such a one to be born with all his organs in perfect condition.
It is hard for such a one to be born in China (or Middle Kingdom).(Chinese, you are lucky.)
It is hard for such a one to be born directly into Buddhist surroundings.
It is hard for such a one to come in contact with the Way.
It is hard for such a one to cultivate faith in his mind.
It is hard for such a one to attain to the Bodhi-heart.
It is hard for such a one to attain to (the state where) nothing is practiced and nothing manifested.