As perfume to the flower
As perfume to the flower, so is kindness to speech. ~Katherine Francke
As perfume to the flower, so is kindness to speech. ~Katherine Francke
I wouldn’t want to change a thing about you. You’re perfect just the way you are.
Smile! Because you have just received a text message from someone hoping you are fine. The world is full of beauty when your heart is full of love. So start & end your day with love & smile in your heart. Have a peaceful day. ~smstosay
Sadness and happiness both are part of our everyday life. The world is so beautiful when you feel happiness inside you. On the other hand, life is too short for being sad. There is no point of living in a sad world. No matter what! So, don’t be sad even if it is your worst day. It’s not permanent. Everything will be OK again. Just have patient. ~Insbright
Everybody in this life has their challenges and difficulties.
That is part of our mortal test. The reason for some of these
trials cannot be readily understood except on the basis of faith
and hope because there is often a larger purpose which
we do not always understand. Peace comes through hope.
― James E. Faust
Most people dislike facing the true facts of life and prefer to lull themselves into a false sense of security by sweet dreaming and imagining. They mistake the shadow for the substance. They fail to realise that life is uncertain, but that death is certain. One way of understanding life is to face and understand death which is nothing more than a temporary end to a temporary existence. But many people do not like even to hear of the word ‘ death’. They forget that death will come, whether they like it or not. Recollections on death with the right mental attitude can give a person courage and calmness as well as an insight into the nature of existence.
Besides understanding death, we need a better understanding of our life. We are living a life that does not always proceed as smoothly as we would like it to. Very often, we face problems and difficulties. We should not be afraid of them because the penetration into the very nature of these problems and difficulties can provide us with a deeper insight into life. The worldly happiness in wealth, luxury, respectable positions in life which most people seek is an illusion. The fact that the sale of sleeping pills and tranquillizers, admissions to mental hospitals and suicide rates have increased in relation to modern material progress is enough testimony that we have to go beyond worldly, material pleasure to seek for real happiness. ~By Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda
Verse 115: Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who does not comprehend the Noble Dhamma (Dhammamuttamam), is a day in the life of one who comprehends the Noble Dhamma.
1. dhammamuttamam: the Noble Dhamma or the Highest Dhamma (the Nine Transcendentals). The Nine Transcendentals are: four Maggas, four Phalas and Nibbana.
The Story of Theri Bahuputtika
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (115) of this book, with reference to Bahuputtika, a mother of many children.
Once in Savatthi, there lived a couple, with their seven sons and seven daughters. All the children got married and the family was doing quite well. Then, the father died and the mother kept all the property without giving anything to the children. Her sons and daughters wanted the inheritance, so they said, to their mother, “What benefit do we get from our property? Can’t we make it multiply? Can’t we look after our mother?” They said such things again and again so their mother thought that her children would look after her, and she finally divided up the property without leaving anything for herself.
After the division of the property, she first went to stay with her eldest son, but her daughter-in-law complained and said, “She has come and stayed with us, as if she has given us two shares!”, and such other things. So, Bahuputtika went to stay with her second son, and the same things were said. Thus, she went from one son to another, from one daughter to the next; but none of them was willing to take her on for a long stretch of time and none paid her due respect.
The old lady was hurt and felt bitter against her children; she left her family and became a bhikkhuni. Because she was a mother of many children she came to he known as Bahuputtika. Bahuputika realized that she became a bhikkhuni only in her old age and that she must not be negligent, but must make use of the remaining period of her life to the utmost. So, for the whole night, she meditated on the Dhamma taught by the Buddha. The Buddha seeing her from the Jetavana monastery, through supernormal power, sent forth the radiance and appeared seated in front of her. Then the Buddha said to her, “The life of one who does not practise the Dhamma taught by me is useless, even if he were to live for a hundred years.”
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 115: Better than a hundred years in the life of a person who does not comprehend the Noble Dhamma (Dhammamuttamam), is a day in the life of one who comprehends the Noble Dhamma.
End of Chapter Eight: The Thousand (Sahassavagga)
Dhammapada Verse 115
Bahuputtikattheri Vatthu
Yo ca vassasatam jive
apassam dhammamuttamam1
ekaham jivitam seyyo
passato dhammamuttamam.
Source: Tipitaka
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day and night are always set on their body. —The Dhammapada