Sidhartha Gautama: The Buddha (563-483 BCE)

Quotes on the Philosophy & Metaphysics of Buddhism
Metaphysical foundations of Nirvana (Truth), Karma (Interconnection)

Sabbadanam dhammadanam jinati

‘The gift of truth excels all other gifts.’ (Buddha)
The world is continuous flux and is impermanent. (Buddha)
Transient are conditioned things. Try to accomplish your aim with diligence. (Buddha’s last words)

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion.
It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering
both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious
sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as
a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. (Albert Einstein)

Introduction

On the Life of Buddha, Metaphysics & Philosophy of Buddhist Religion

Buddhism is a philosophy / religion based upon the teachings
of Siddhartha Gautama (566 - 486 B.C.). He was an Indian
prince born in Lumbini (a town situated in what is now Nepal), destined
for a privileged life.
According to legend for his life, before his birth, Gautama had
visited his mother during a vision, taking the form of a white elephant.
During the birth celebrations, a seer announced that this baby would
either become a great king or a great holy man. His father, wishing for
Gautama to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or
knowledge of human suffering.

At age 16, his father arranged his marriage to Yashodhara, a
cousin of the same age. She gave birth to a son, Rahula. Although his
father ensured that Gautama was provided with everything he could want
or need, Gautama was troubled and dissatisfied. At the age of 29,
Gautama was escorted on four subsequent visits outside of the palace.
Here Siddhartha came across an old crippled man, a sick man, a dead body
and an ascetic. This is known as the Four Passing Sights which
lead Siddhartha to recognise the reality of death and suffering and the
cyclical nature of human existence (samsara). He then left the palace,
abandoned his inheritance and became a wandering monk, seeking a
solution to an end of suffering. He began with the Yogic path and
although he reached high levels of meditative consciousness, he was not
satisfied.

He abandoned asceticism and realised the power of the Middle Way.
This is an important idea in Buddhist thought and practice. To seek
moderation and avoid the extremes of self-indulgence and
self-mortification. At the age of 35, meditating under a Bodhi tree,
Siddhartha reached Enlightenment, awakening to the true nature of
reality, which is Nirvana (Absolute Truth);

The dustless and stainless Eye of Truth (Dhamma-cakkhu) has
arisen.
He has seen Truth, has attained Truth, has known Truth, has penetrated into
Truth, has crossed over doubt, is without wavering.
Thus with right wisdom he sees it as it is (yatha bhutam) … The
Absolute Truth is Nibbana, which is Reality. (Buddha, from the
Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya)

Thus Siddhartha Gautama became known as the Buddha. ‘Buddha’ (from the ancient Indian languages of Pali and Sanksrit) means ‘one who has awakened‘. It is derived from the verbal root “budh”, meaning “to awaken” or “to be enlightened”, and “to comprehend”.

The Buddha taught that the nature of reality was impermanent and
interconnected. We suffer in life because of our desire to transient
things. Liberation from suffering may come by training the mind and
acting according to the laws of karma (cause and effect) i.e. with right
action, good things will come to you. This teaching is known as the Four Noble Truths:

Dukkha:
Suffering is everywhere
Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment
or misplaced desire (tanha) rooted in ignorance.

Nirodha: There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana
(the possibility of liberation exists for everyone).

Maggo: There is a path that leads out of
suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path (right view, right thought,
right speech, right conduct, right vocation, right effort, right
attention and right concentration).

(Based upon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha)

Metaphysics of Buddhism

Buddha was correct that The gift of truth excels all other gifts,
for only truth allows us to act wisely. This website is devoted to
explaining this fundamental Truth about Reality (Nirvana) from the
Metaphysical foundations of Space and Motion (not Time) and the Spherical Standing Wave Structure of Matter.

Buddha was very close to understanding Reality as he knew that Matter was both Impermanent and Interconnected; The world is continuous flux and is impermanent (Buddha) and as Fritjof Capra writes; The Eastern mystics see the universe as an inseparable web, whose interconnections are dynamic and not static (Capra).
This impermanence / flux is caused by the continual wave Motion of
Space (which causes both Matter and Time) and the Interconnection of all
things is due to the Spherical In and Out Waves which interact with all
other matter in the universe.

Read more on the Wave Structure of Matter as the Most Simple Science Theory of Reality.

We hope you enjoy the following quotes on Buddhism. This is a
long page, as I have sourced many interesting ideas and find a lot of
truth in Buddhism. Namaste.

Geoff Haselhurst, Karene Howie

Do not believe in anything simply because you have
heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and
rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written
in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the
authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions
because they have been handed down for many generations. But after
observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason
and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it
and live up to it. (Siddhartha Gautama - The Buddha), 563-483 B.C.

Buddhism Quotes on Buddha / Buddhism Religion

I will teach you the Truth and the Path leading to the Truth. (Buddha)

One is one’s own refuge, who else could be the refuge? ..The wise man makes an island of himself that no flood can overwhelm. (Buddha)

It is proper for you to doubt .. do not go upon report .. do not go upon tradition..do not go upon hearsay..’ (Buddha, Kalama Sutra)

Never by hatred is hatred appeased, but it is appeased by kindness. This is an eternal truth. (Buddha)

O Brahmana, it is just like a mountain
river, flowing far and swift, taking everything along with it; there is
no moment, no instant, no second when it stops flowing, but it goes on
flowing and continuing. So Brahmana, is human life, like a mountain
river. (Buddha)

‘Wherefore, brethren, thus must ye
train yourselves : Liberation of the will through love will develop, we
will often practice it, we will make it vehicle and base, take our stand
upon it, store it up, thoroughly set it going.’ (Buddha)

For the first time in the history of
the world, Buddhism proclaimed a salvation which each individual could
gain from him or herself, in this world, during this life, without any
least reference to God, or to gods either great or small. (Aldous Huxley)

The dustless and stainless Eye of Truth (Dhamma-cakkhu)
has arisen.
He has seen Truth, has attained Truth, has known Truth, has penetrated into
Truth, has crossed over doubt, is without wavering.
Thus with right wisdom he sees it as it is (yatha bhutam) (Ancient Buddhist texts)

The subtle waves are infinite, producing wondrous
sounds.
They follow those who should hear the Dharma’s discussion.
(Gaathaas in Praise of the Buddha Amitaabha, Composed by Dharma Teacher T’an-luan, 1978)

Criticism is the deliverance of the
human mind from entanglements and passions. It is freedom itself. This
is the true Buddhist standpoint. ( T.L.V Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism)

The Pali word kamma or the Sanskrit word karma (from the root kr to do) literally means ‘action’, ‘doing’.
But in the Buddhist theory of karma it has a specific meaning: it means
only ‘volitional action’ not all action. In Buddhist terminology karma
never means its effect; its effect is known as the ‘fruit’ or the
‘result’ of karma.

The theory of karma should not be
confused with so-called ‘moral justice’ or ‘reward and punishment’. The
idea of moral justice arises out of the conception of a supreme being, a
God, who sits in judgement, who is a law-giver and who decides what is
right and wrong.

The theory of karma is the theory of
cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has
nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment. Every
volitional action produces its effects or results. If a good action
produces good effects, it is not justice, or reward, meted out by
anybody or any power sitting in judgement of your action, but this is in
virtue of its own nature, its own law. This is not difficult to
understand. But what is difficult is that, according to karma theory,
the effects of a volitional action may continue to manifest themselves
even in a life after death. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)

..the Buddha’s metaphysical conception of the impermanence and interdependence of all things profoundly influences his teaching about the conduct of daily life and the nature of human salvation. (Collinson, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)

The Buddha taught an attitude of non-violence and
an awareness of community and relatedness among all things. He condemned
the rigid hierarchy of the Hindu estates, maintaining that inner virtue
rather than birth or rank is to be valued, and he welcomed followers,
both men and women, from all walks of life. (Cooper, 1996)

The impermanence of all forms is the starting point
of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that ‘all compounded things are
impermanent’, and that all suffering in the world arises from our trying
to cling to fixed forms- objects, people or ideas- instead of accepting
the world as it moves and changes. (Capra, The Tao of Physics, p211)

The most important characteristic of the Eastern
world view- one could almost say the essence of it- is the awareness of
the unity and mutual interrelation of all things and events, the
experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestations of a basic
oneness. All things are seen as interdependent and inseparable parts of
this cosmic whole; as different manifestations of the same ultimate
reality. (Capra, The Tao of Physics)

In Indian philosophy, the main terms used by Hindus
and Buddhists have dynamic connotations. The word Brahman is derived
from the Sanskrit root brih – to grow- and thus suggests a reality which
is dynamic and alive. The Rig Veda uses the term ‘Rita’ to express the
dynamic character of the universe, from the root ri- to move; its
original meaning in the Rig Veda being ‘the course of all things’, ‘the
order of nature’. The order of nature was conceived by the Vedic seers,
not as a static divine law, but as a dynamic principle which is inherent
in the universe. This idea is not unlike the Chinese conception of the
Tao - ‘the Way’- as the way in which the Universe works, i.e. the order
of Nature. Like the Vedic seers, the Chinese sages saw the world in
terms of flow and change. Both concepts, Rita and Tao, were later
brought down from their original cosmic level to the human and
interpreted in a moral sense; Rita as the universal law which all gods
and humans must obey and Tao as the right way of life. (Capra, The Tao of Physics)

The Eastern mystics see the universe as an
inseparable web, whose interconnections are dynamic and not static. The
cosmic web is alive; it moves and grows and changes continually. Modern
physics, too, has come to conceive of the universe as such a web of
relations and, like Eastern mysticism, has recognised that this web is
intrinsically dynamic. The dynamic aspect of matter arises in quantum
theory as a consequence of the wave-nature of subatomic particles, and
is even more essential in relativity theory, where the unification of
space and time implies that the being of matter cannot be separated from
its activity. The properties of subatomic particles can therefore only
be understood in a dynamic context; in terms of movement, interaction
and transformation. (Capra, The Tao of Physics, p213)

It is always a question of knowing and seeing, and
not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as
ehi-passika, inviting you to ‘come and see’, but not to come and
believe. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)

According to Buddhist philosophy there is no
permanent, unchanging spirit which can be considered ‘Self’ or ‘Soul’ or
‘Ego’, as opposed to matter, and that consciousness (vinnana) should
not be taken as ‘spirit’ in opposition to matter. This point has to be
emphasised, because a wrong notion that consciousness is a sort of Self
or Soul that continues as a permanent substance through life, has
persisted from the earliest time to the present day. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, p. 24)

All the factors of our lives subsist, then, in a web of mutual
causality. Our suffering is caused by the interplay of these factors, particularly
by the delusion, aversion and craving that arise from our misapprehension
of them. Hence, the Four Noble Truths: We create our own bondage by reifying
and clinging to what is by nature contingent and transient. Being caused
in this way, our suffering is not endemic. It can cease. The causal play
can be reversed. This is achieved by seeing the true nature of phenomena,
which is their radical interdependence. This is made possible by the cleansing
of perception through meditation and moral conduct. (Joanna Macy,
World as Lover, World as Self)


Confirming an intuitive sense I’ve always felt for the
interconnectedness of all things, the Buddhist doctrine has provided me
ways to understand the intricate web of co-arising that links one being
with all other beings, and to apprehend the reciprocities between
thought and action, self and universe. (Joanna Macy)

While all the worlds and planes of existence teem
with consciousness, human mentality presents a distinctive feature: the
capacity to choose, to change its karma. That is why a human life is
considered so rare and priceless a privilege. And that is why Buddhist
practice begins with meditation on the precious opportunity that a human
existence provides- the opportunity to wake up for the sake of all
beings. The Dharma vision of a co-arising world, alive with
consciousness, is a powerful inspiration for the healing of the Earth.
It helps us to see two important things: It shows us our profound
imbeddedness in the web of life, thus relieving us of our human
arrogance and loneliness. And, at the same time, it pinpoints our
distinctiveness as humans, the capacity for choice. (Joanna Macy)

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