The Buddha in Daily Life Quotes

“The announcement that a train has been delayed, for example, can produce anger in one person, tears in another, and weary resignation in a third. Even so, it is usually very hard to accept that we suffer in direct proportion to our own inherent tendency to do so. But until we learn to accept that we become angry or upset not because of any external cause, such as our relationships with other people or our circumstances, but ultimately because of something that already exists within our own lives – the inherent cause – we can never begin to change that innate tendency and so become fundamentally happy. We”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“In short, whether our problems are sources of suffering or sources of growth depends entirely on our attitude, both to the problem and to ourselves.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“people in the world lack the nourishment to sustain a healthy life; that over 72 million people have been killed in armed conflicts this century, more than in all previous centuries put together; and that, since the end of the Second World War, there have been more than”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“The desire for romantic love is so strong in our society that it could be seen as having displaced religion as the main source of ‘spiritual’ fulfilment and, indeed, almost displaced it as the means to personal salvation. ‘Saved by the love of a good woman’ may be a cliché but, in many instances, it is only the love of another person, man or woman, that gives some people a sense of worth or any meaning to their lives. This way of thinking, however, also leads to the expectation that one’s partner will – nay, should – make one truly happy. This puts an intolerable strain on many relationships, as it is unrealistic to demand that one’s partner provide a continuous supply of Rapture when permanence and stability are the very qualities the world of Rapture simply does not possess. Perhaps this is one reason why so many marriages break down these days. The”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“Anger is the state of supreme self-centredness in which we believe that we are fundamentally better than other people and in which we delight in displaying this supposed superiority to the world.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“cogito ergo sum –”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“In other words, it is not so much our problems which cause us to suffer as our inability to overcome them.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“No one wants to suffer. But much as we would all like to live a totally happy life, suffering is an inescapable fact of our human existence. The observation that ‘Man is born unto trouble, as sparks fly upward’ may not have been much consolation to Job but, nevertheless, remains an uncomfortable truth. Generally speaking, suffering arises through our encounters with problems and difficulties; this is why much of our time is spent trying to avoid them, even though they are inherent in life. In trying to avoid problems, however, we are often simply putting off the inevitable to a future date, by which time the trouble has usually grown much more difficult to resolve. Personal relationships are a good example of this. The failure to tackle a problem between two people — a clash of desires, for instance – usually for fear of not knowing what the consequences will be, or perhaps simply because of a dislike of conflict, can very easily lead to a build-up of resentments which, when finally expressed, can be immensely destructive. The story of the ‘mild-mannered’ civil servant who, in 1987, was jailed for strangling his wife after twenty-six years of marriage, ostensibly because she simply moved his favourite mustard from its usual place at the dinner table, is an extreme, but true, example of this.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“We watched the selfsame scene on that long drive, Saw the magnificent purples, as one eye, Of those near mountains; saw the storm arrive; Laid up the sight in memory, you and I, As if for joint recallings, by and by. But our eye-records, like in hue and line, Had superimposed on them, that very day, Gravings on your side deep, but slight on mine! – Tending to sever us thenceforth alway; Mine commonplace; yours tragic, gruesome, grey. Here are two people supposedly sharing the same objective environment – the ‘near mountains’. Their life-states, however, are very different: during ‘that long drive’ the writer appears to have been in the state of Tranquillity or Humanity, and his companion in Hell. To the writer, therefore, the mountains were impressive but of no great significance, while to his companion they appeared Hellish. In short, the subjective reality experienced by this couple is, to all intents and purposes, of two different environments.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“Attack! Attack! Attack! That should be your motto until your life is totally transformed …”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“The real challenge, therefore, lies in sublimating our desires and reorientating them towards creative and valuable ends. Inevitably, this means recognizing that, although we can get a certain amount of short-term satisfaction from fulfilling our own selfish wants, ultimately our greatest happiness is inextricably bound up with the desire to work in some way, however apparently insignificant, for the happiness of our fellow men and women.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin

“when we are weak, our problems seem large, even insuperable; when we are strong, they appear to be small.”
― Richard G. Causton, The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin