World Philosophical Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
Buddhism

813 quote(s) | Page 11 / 33

B ut others are honorable, noble, wealthy, intelligent, or clever. This is the result of good and meritorious acts of benevolence and the performance of their duties to their parents in past lives.

quote 7945 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

B y performing vegetarian offerings on behalf of deceased fathers, mothers, and other relatives while making earnest supplication on their behalf, beings of Jambudvipa benefit both the living and the dead.

quote 7944 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

H e who inflicts violence on those who are unarmed, and offends those who are inoffensive, will soon come upon one of these ten states: Sharp pain, or disaster, bodily injury, serious illness, or derangement of mind, trouble from the government, or grave charges, loss of relatives, or loss of wealth, or houses destroyed by ravaging fire; upon dissolution of the body that ignorant man is born in hell.

quote 7943 | The Dhammapada
vv.137-140, translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita.

I f the three karmas are not all involved, and there is perhaps just one act of killing and one of stealing, then the person must enter the Thirty-six Hells.

quote 7942 | The Surangama Sutra
Book 8, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

I f the three karmas of body, mouth⁵⁰, and mind commit acts of killing, stealing, and lust, the person will enter the Eighteen Hells.

quote 7941 | The Surangama Sutra
Book 8, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

50 Words

M en and women in the future may fail to do good deeds and only do evil; may not believe in cause and effect; may indulge in sexual misconduct and false speech; may use divisive and harsh speech; and may slander the Great Vehicle. Beings with karma like that should certainly fall into bad destinies.

quote 7940 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

[9]Beings who usurp or damage the property of the Eternally Dwelling, who defile Bhikshus or Bhikshunis, who commit sexual-acts within the Sangharama, or who kill or harm beings, they will fall into the Relentless Hell where for billions of eons they will seek escape in vain.

quote 7939 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

B eings who shed the Buddha’s blood, slander the Triple Jewel⁴⁹, and do not venerate Sutras will fall into the Relentless Hell where for billions of eons they will seek escape in vain.

quote 7938 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

49 The Three Jewels.

B eings who are not filial to their parents, even to the extent of harming or killing them, will fall into the Relentless Hell where for billions of eons they will seek escape in vain.

quote 7937 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

P oisonless replied. These are beings of Jambudvipa who did evil deeds. They have just died and passed through forty-nine days without any surviving relatives doing any meritorious deeds on their behalf to rescue them from their distress. Besides that, during their lives they themselves didn’t plant any good causes. Now their own karma calls forth these hells. Their first task is to cross this sea. Ten thousand yojanas east of this sea is another sea in which they will undergo twice as much suffering. East of that sea is yet another sea where the sufferings are doubled still again. What the combined evil causes of the three karmic vehicles evoke is called the sea of karma. This is that place.

quote 7936 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

A n evil person who harms a sage is like one who raises his head and spits at heaven. Instead of reaching heaven, the spittle falls back on him. It is the same with someone who throws dust against the wind. Instead of going somewhere else, the dust returns to defile his own body. The sage can not be harmed. Misdeeds will inevitably destroy the doer.

quote 7935 | The Sutra in Forty-Two Sections
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

Y ou love my mind; I adore your good looks. Due to such causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of eons in sustained mutual entanglement.

quote 7934 | The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

Y ou owe me a life; I⁴⁸ must repay my debt to you. Due to such causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of eons in sustained cycle of birth and death.

quote 7933 | The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

47 ???????????????
48 “I” here and in the succeeding passage refers to any ordinary person.

I f while repaying his past debts⁴⁶ by undergoing rebirth as an animal, such a living being pays back more than he owed, he will then be reborn as a human to rectify the excess.

quote 7932 | The Surangama Sutra
Book 8, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

46 His past karmic debts

S uppose a person eats a sheep. The sheep dies and becomes a person; the person dies and becomes a sheep. The same applies in all rebirths among the ten categories. Through death after death and birth after birth, they eat each other.

quote 7931 | The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

A lthough each individual is reborn alone, those bound by common karma come to be born together and take revenge upon each other. So this condition persists endlessly and, until the effect of their evil karma is exhausted, there is no possibility of avoiding their enemies.

quote 7930 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

T he law of karma operates like a net stretched everywhere; in its meshes, it inevitably catches all offenders. The net woven of large and small ropes covers the whole world, from top to bottom, and those caught in it feel utterly helpless and tremble in fear. This net has been in existence from of old. How painful and heart-rending!

quote 7929 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

I n accordance with different acts of good and evil, people are destined to realms of bliss or suffering. Unalterably bound by their karma, they depart for those realms all alone. Having reached the other world, they cannot see each other. The law of good and evil naturally pursues them, and wherever they may be reborn, distance and darkness always separate them.

quote 7928 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

N ot knowing how to do good, they commit evil and do outrageous and unruly deeds. Later, they receive retribution, it is natural that they should be destined to evil realms. Demigods keep records of offenders’ acts and make sure that they are punished.

quote 7927 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

B eings should never think that minor bad deeds are unimportant or assume that they do not count as offenses. After death there will be retributions to undergo that cover all those details. Fathers and sons have the closest relationship, but their roads diverge and each must go his own way. Even if they met, neither would consent to undergo suffering in the other’s place.

quote 7926 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

G ood people do good deeds, and so enjoy pleasure after pleasure and proceed from light to greater light. Evildoers commit crimes, and so suffer pain after pain and wander from darkness to deeper darkness.

quote 7925 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

W hen wealthy and prosperous, they are happy and do not learn to be modest and virtuous . Consequently, their pomp and power are short-lived; when these are exhausted, they must undergo further afflictions. Their sufferings are bound to increase in time to come.

quote 7924 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

S uch is retribution in this world, but in the lives to come, punishment is longer and more severe for such evildoers. The suffering of transmigration through dark and dismal realms is comparable to the severest and most painful punishment ever enforced by law.

quote 7923 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

T he power of karma is extremely great. It rivals Mount Sumeru in its heights. It surpasses the great oceans in its depth. It obstructs the path leading to Sagehood. For that reason, beings should never think that minor bad deeds are unimportant or assume that they do not count as offenses. After death there will be retributions to undergo that cover all those details.

quote 7922 | The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva
Translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

P eople commit nothing but evil and fail to cultivate roots of virtue, and so it is natural that they all go to evil realms.

quote 7921 | The Sutra of Immeasurable Life
Translated by Hisao Inagaki.

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Wisdom and teachings ofBuddhism

Wisdom and teachings of
Buddhism