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Buddha Quotes:

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

That's straight from the Heart Suttra, the translation I most like. Cambridge Zen Center was founded by a Korean monk and sticks pretty strictly to original tradition (I used to live in Boston so have been there) and has outposts across the US and world. To some extent Buddhism in the west has been polluted by the lefty happy changey fake compassion ... so it's important not to fluff up Zen with sugar or accept anything the left/west has added on top to make it fake. But if they haven't been totally corrupted by the left, which is possible since they are a strong tradition, they are a great place to start.

I recommend "Dropping Ashes on the Buddha" (just search on Amazon) which is a collection of talks the founder gave while teaching in the 70's ... it's very simple and not 'facts about religion' but Zen in daily practice - how to clear your mind, what's the nature of the mind, what's the nature of reality, how our mistakes about that nature cause us and others suffering. You can read it in 2 page increments ... it's not factual ... it's interactions with students.

https://cambridgezen.org/

The Buddha so far as I have seen, and if you don't accept the junk that's been piled on it or the left interpretations, was correct about everything. He also said 'If you don't experience what I am teaching as true, then throw it out.'

I know that many here, especially traditional Christians, often find Buddhism to be awful and bad and evil. They may only have contact with perverted versions of it, i.e. not original scripts. You have to be careful with Eastern stuff, not because in itself it's bad ... just that ... you have to go to the source. Just like there are a ton of fake Christian's peddling falsehood, same with Buddhism which has unfortunately been embraced most strongly by the left.

In a way, this is all you need to know, but ... to know it ... it's important to read and digest over many years (or not - it's possible to see through the dust in an instant ... just that few do) ... important to read and digest a lot from a lot of different sources, so long as they are valid. There is nothing mystical in what's below. In fact what it points out is that everything we believe to by non-mystical - that is, the conceptual - is as devoid of essence as anything else.

This Sutra is not about self hypnosis, nor is it designed to make you believe something. It is a training of the mind to stay always awake in the moment and never believe that what you're mind says is the Truth. That's not to say the conceptual, image making, image manipulating mind isn't a great tool for solving a problem like how to cut a tree down. It's just that ... it's only a tool - a bodily function really. If you examine your thoughts, you'll see that, you don't really 'think thoughts' ... you 'have thoughts'. You would never say " I circulate my blood" ... but yet we walk around thinking WE think our thoughts. There is no way out of the whale's belly but intentional consciousness and checking your mind. Not stopping your mind, but seeing it as a stream that is not you. A good Koan, though it's not part of the canonical koans ... is "what do your thoughts tell you? what do your feelings tell you." The answer is obvious but will blow your mind if you fully grasp it.

Anyway enough of my yakking ... this is the Heart Sutra (Kwan Um translation - there are MANY BAD TRANSLATIONS - that try to alter things to reflect modern new agey touchy feely political correctness.) This is pretty straight forward ... just an attempt to put into English what was originally in Sanskrit.

The Maha Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutra

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva
when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita
perceives that all five skandhas are empty
and is saved from all suffering and distress.
Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness form.
The same is true of feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
Shariputra,
all dharmas are marked with emptiness;
they do not appear or disappear,
are not tainted or pure,
do not increase or decrease.
Therefore, in emptiness no form, no feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch,
no object of mind;
no realm of eyes
and so forth until no realm of mind consciousness.
No ignorance and also no extinction of it,
and so forth until no old age and death
and also no extinction of them.
No suffering, no origination,
no stopping, no path, no cognition,
also no attainment with nothing to attain.
The Bodhisattva depends on Prajna Paramita
and the mind is no hindrance;
without any hindrance no fears exist.
Far apart from every perverted view one dwells in Nirvana.
In the three worlds
all Buddhas depend on Prajna Paramita
and attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.
Therefore know that Prajna Paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
is the great bright mantra,
is the utmost mantra,
is the supreme mantra
which is able to relieve all suffering
and is true, not false.
So proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra which says:
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.