Some of the following quotations may be of interest and helpful for a person nearing the end of their life’s journey as they quietly reflect on life. These quotes have been selected from the Buddhist Hospice Trust website.
Serving People of all Religious Persuasions
The Buddhist Hospice Trust is not setting out to promote Buddhism per se, but aims to serve people of all religious persuasions, and none. We don’t see Buddhism as our destination, rather it is our point of departure for the growth of our hearts in service of whatever need we encounter, and in whatever way our hearts incline us to act, be it Buddhist or be it empty of ideological investment.
Peter Goble
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Compassion
We are always beginners in the art of compassion.
Christina Feldman
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Loving-Kindness and Compassion
The Buddha was joined by his own son, Rahula, a young boy. He advised him: “Cultivate Rahula, a meditation on loving-kindness, for by cultivating loving-kindness, ill will is banished forever. Cultivate, too, a meditation on compassion, for by cultivating compassion, you will find harm and cruelty disappear.”
Majjhima Nikaya
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Faith in the Truth
Accept my words only when you have examined them for yourselves; do not accept them simply because of the reverence you have for me. Those who only have faith in me and affection for me will not find the final freedom. But those who have faith in the truth and are determined on the path, they will find awakening.
Majjhima Nikaya
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Mind Only
Everything good and bad comes from your own mind.
To find something beyond the mind is impossible.
Bodhidharma
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Wisely Selfish
If you want to be wisely selfish, care for others.
Dalai Lama
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Enlightenment
Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.
Zen saying
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Look Within
If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it?
Dogen
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Seize the Day
There is a large wooden block (Han) hanging outside of every meditation hall (Zendo) in Zen centres and monasteries around the world, upon which are inscribed words like these:
“Great is the matter of birth and death.
Life slips quickly by.
Time waits for no one.
Wake up! Wake up!
Don’t waste a moment.
Death and grief are two messengers who call upon us to Wake up!”
Brad Hunter
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Focus on Reality
The aim of Zen is to focus the attention on reality itself, instead of on our intellectual and emotional reactions to reality – reality being the ever-changing, ever-growing, indefinable something known as ‘life’, which will never stop for a moment to fit it satisfactorily into any rigid system of pigeon-holes and ideas.
Alan Watts
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Avoid Aversion or Attachment
The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose.
Do not like, do not dislike, all then will be clear.
Make a hairbreadth difference and Heaven and Earth are set apart.
If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or
against. The struggle between ‘for’ and ‘against’ is the mind’s worst disease.
On Trust in the Heart. Zen Text
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Doing One’s Best
I have done my best. That is about all the philosophy of living that one needs.
Lin Yutang
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Immeasurable Love
Let the disciple cultivate love without measure towards all beings. Let him cultivate towards the whole world, above, below, around, a heart of love unstinted. … For in all the world this state of heart is best.
The Buddha
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True Refuge
Make an island of yourself,
make yourself your refuge;
there is no other refuge.
Make truth your island,
make truth your refuge;
there is no other refuge.
Digha Nikaya
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The Spiritual Life
Half the spiritual life consists of remembering
what we are up against and where we are going.
Ayya Khema
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No Regret
My religion is to live and die without regret.
Milarepa
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Amending Mistakes
By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom.
By defending our faults, we betray an unsound mind.
The Sutra of Hui Neng
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The Best Season in Life
Ten thousand flowers in spring,
the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter. If your mind isn’t clouded
by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.
Wu Men
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Mindfulness Is the Key
In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy
that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power
of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening.
Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice.
Thich Nhat Hanh
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Oneness
Accustomed long to contemplating love and compassion I have forgotten all difference between myself and others.
Milarepa
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Ultimate Reality
The morning glory which blooms for an hour
Differs not at heart from the giant pine,
Which lives for a thousand years.
Zen poem
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Kindness
My religion is very simple – my religion is kindness.
Dalai Lama
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Our True Refuge
Be a lantern to yourself and a refuge. Draw close to the light within yourself and seek no other shelter.
Buddhist Wisdom
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A Sceptical Attitude
Basically, the Buddhist attitude is that you should not accept certain things through sheer faith. And for that you need a sceptical attitude. Buddha himself made this clear to his followers. He said you should not accept those things I taught out of respect for me, but rather through investigation by yourself.
Dalai Lama
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The Gateless Gate
It can happen to you.
In a flashing moment something opens.
You are new all through.
You see the same un-same world with fresh eyes.
This universe-renewing power comes by grace, not logic.
Whatever you do or wherever you are seems to make little difference.
It doesn’t make sense. It makes you.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
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One Kind Word
One kind word will keep you warm for three winters.
Chinese Proverb
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Fortune and Misfortune
If fortune smiles, who doesn’t? If fortune doesn’t, who does?
Chinese Proverb
Source: https://buddhisthospice.org.uk/parables/
[Subheadings added by website designer.]
The Buddhist Hospice Trust
The following notes are from the Home page of the Buddhist Hospice Trust website:
“Be present, bear witness, and befriend…”
The Trust works through a network of volunteers to provide compassionate care and spiritual support for seriously ill, dying or bereaved people, their families, friends and carers.
We are a non-aligned, voluntary and autonomous association of Western Buddhists, open to ALL who want to join, want to help, or need any kind of help themselves. If you feel that we might have something to offer you then please do not hesitate to contact us at: the Buddhist Hospice Trust.
The Trust is a “hospice without walls”, i.e. no building or equipment. We don’t have in-patient services (beds) or provide nursing or palliative care. We can sometimes help by pointing to sources of specialist help in a particular locality.
Our volunteers make a commitment to ‘be present, bear witness, and befriend’ people who call on us for help. They will always be required to operate within a Code of Conduct. …
We’re also keen to hear from health and social care organisations … as well as from individual carers, nurses, social workers, chaplains, teachers, students, or researchers about issues of mutual interest or concern.
Our work is funded wholly by voluntary giving. …
The Buddhist Hospice Trust is registered with the Charity Commission No.298859
The Buddha opened his Dhammapada with the magnificent line, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”
And today, despite our technology and science, people are most insecure because they persist in thinking about and going after things that have no capacity to give them security.
An inspirational passage turns our thoughts to what is permanent, to those things that put a final end to insecurity.
In meditation, the passage becomes imprinted on our consciousness. As we drive it deeper and deeper, the words come to life within us, transforming all our thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds.
(Eknath Easwaran, Passage Meditation: A Complete Spiritual Practice)