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ผมนำคำบรรยายเป็นภาษาอังกฤษของคุณจักรภพ เพ็ญแข ที่ประชุมชมรมนักข่าวต่างประเทศ, กันยายน 2550 มาให้ท่านผู้อ่านได้อ่าน ต้นฉบับเดิมที่ผมได้รับมามีการเน้นข้อความ โดยทำเป็นตัวดำและขีดเส้นใต้ แต่ผมได้เอาออกทั้งการเน้นดำและขีดเส้นใต้ เพื่อให้ท่านผู้อ่านได้อ่านด้วยวินิจฉัยที่เป็นอิสระ
ทุกคำศัพท์ในบทความข้างล่างนี้ เมื่อดับเบิ้ลคลิก จะปรากฏคำแปลศัพท์ในหน้าต่างใหม่ จาก English - English Dictionary
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A Talk by Jakrapob Penkae
At the Foreign Correspondence Club
September 2007
Jonathan, moderator
We’re very lucky to have him here to give us an insight into the alternative view to the one being portrayed by the CNS and their plan to return Thailand to democracy
.………..
Jakrapob
Thank you, Jonathan. Distinguished members and friends, well, I just want to be more specific on what I have just been through so you understand my situation. I just got out of Khun Prem’s jail. It’s not a general jail. It’s Khun Prem’s jail. It’s Khun Prem’s direct way of communicating to the public that he’s not to be touched. Who is Khun Prem, whom he represents, …...represents him, would be a part of what we can discuss tonight because it involves the current and future of Thailand’s democracy as you know because most of you have been already quite knowledgeable about Thailand and its complex and unnecessary headaches and situations in Thai politics. Jonathan gave me a huge issue on “Democracy and Patronage System of Thailand” as a part of a discussion on Thailand’s democratization. I’ll try to handle it in the best possible way.
In fact, considering the current situation of Thailand, no topic can be more relevant to Thailand these days. Current political crisis in my opinion is the clash between democracy and patronage system directly. It’s a head-on clash, and this would change Thailand and its foundations. The stake is very high for both sides, I mean, democracy and patronage. And if you take the result of the August 19th referendum seriously, you are observing the clash between the 56% and the 41% of the entire population. Never before that such a high number of people came out to say that we no longer need your patronage. It’s simply democracy that we want, not someone to pad in the back, not someone to say that, well, “I’ll make your life a little better but you should feel most grateful to us.” It’s the time that real changes should be the national right of the people of Thailand, no less than most people in a more developed land. I believe we can see this in a life time, the complete change that has started at this very moment.
Well, however, we have started off as a country in patronage system. Most of you who read about Thailand and its brief history, because we decided to count our history 700 years ago and disregard the 300 years before that because it involved the southern complexity. That’s why the history was chosen to start 700 years ago in Sukhothai period where Sukhothai was the capital city of what would become Thailand. In Sukhothai, at least in one of the reigns of Sukhothai long history, we were led to know and believe that one of the Kings during Sukhothai period, King Ramkhamhaeng, at the time, to be more precisely “Great Brother” –er I’m sorry “Great Father Ramkhamhaeng” at the time because the idea of God-like monarch hasn’t arrived in this land yet during the Sukhothai period. So he was –or they were observed and regarded as “The Great Fathers” who could be benevolent to their people and gave the people what people needed at the time.
One of the noted examples was that Great Father Ramkhamhaeng, or King Ramkhamhaeng just to be in short, proposed to have a bell hung in front of his palace. And anybody with specific problems could come and ring the bell, and he or his people would come out and handle the problems. That was one of the first lessons the Thai students learn about Thai political regime that you have someone to depend upon. When we have problem, turn to someone who can help you. So before we know it, we are led into the patronage system because we ask about dependency before our own capability to do things. These are the very basic concept that makes Thai people different from many peoples around the world. So we started off like that. During the Sukhothai period we had Kings that did things like that. So people had duty to be loyal. People had duty to have faith in the system bestowed on them because that was the working system at the time and there was no competing system. In other word, there was not –there was no better idea how a kingdom could be run so that was the best system at the time.
Later on in Ayudhya period, that was the capital city of a land for 400 and some years. The God-like idea of monarch had been introduced with the Khmer civilization influence. The idea of a King as a demi-God, as a representative from the Hindu Gods and the Gods beyond these Hindu Gods had arrived in our land at the time. So the patronage system of helping people, or being dependable for people, had been changed into the state of protection. If you have loyalty to the King, unquestionable loyalty to the King, you would be protected. In order to show this protection more clearly, people who do otherwise must be punished. So this very system in Ayudhya period shows, or showed that there was an evolution of the system. Some people might call it regressive, some people would call it progressive. Whatever it might be in your opinion, it was a combination between the benevolence of the “Great Fathers” model and the “Great Leaders” model. In other words, Kings of Ayudhya were powerful and a concept of “power” were realized at the time that if people in power could be benevolent, you could benefit from that power as well. In other words, Ayudhya period taught Thai people to live with power, how to live with it, how to survive in it, and how not to be destroyed by it. But Ayudhya period also triggered the new relationships in our land, the master-slave relationship, the noble and commoners relationship. That was Ayudhya.
Then came Rattanakosin period. I would bypass the 12 years of Thonburi period. In Rattanakosin period in which we are now, the Chakri Dynasty was the starter of this so called Rattanakosin period. What it is is the combination of Ayudhya and the new skills of what I would like to call “knowledge management”. In other words, the glory of the Chief Father is combined with the power of Ayudhya period and the demi-God stature of the monarchs, has been added during Rattanakosin period with the so called “knowledge management”. Knowledge is power at the time, it was perceived so.
That’s why King Mongkut spoke English in his court. And he introduced science, and probably technologies, inventions, foreign goods that were completely unknown to Thai people at the time, as one of the sources of his power. King Mongkut was seen, not as a benevolent king, not as the best of Chief Father King, but as the Father of Science and Technology. He’s still regarded that way. So in other words, the system in Thailand has been to the point that leaders and rulers have been finding the best way possible at the time to convince people that they’re dependable. The source of their being dependable varies all the time like I described to you.
And then, here we are in the reign of the current King, King Bhumibhol or Rama IX. We have all of that combined. And because he reigns for so long of a time, 60 some years now, his being in Thailand has been promoted to the state of myth. People don’t know whether or not they’re talking about realities or belief about him. Because he reigns long enough that he could be all of those combined: the traditional King, the scientific King, the developing King, the working monarch, and now so, he can still be the guardian of the new invention to Thailand, democracy. So all of that have been in front of us that we have all those variables that we have to rearrange and put in a new order.
We missed some opportunities in the past like when Predee Panomyong, the civilian leader of the revolution of 1932, 2475 for Thai people, that the system was turned from absolute monarchy into constitutional monarchy. That was still in the reign of King Rama VII, King Prachathipok. Predee said later on, he seized power when he was 32 years old, and at the age of nearly 50, he was out of power completely and resided in Beijing for 10 years and then for the rest of his life in France. He never returned to Thailand, only his ashes. He said at the time that “When I had power, I don’t know what to do with it. When I grew up and know what to do with it, I no longer have power.” The idea of having things at a wrong time has been reminding us that we probably need a leader to rearrange all of that for us.
You see, all of that that I have said to you from the beginning, it leads to a strong belief among Thai people still that, with a benevolent reign like this, we don’t actually need democracy. We are led into believing that the best form of government is guided democracy, or democracy with His Majesty greatest guidance. It has a continual development of ideas and belief into the current situation in which I see as a clash or the clash between democracy and patronage system.
In other words, Thais are made to be comfortable with patronage system. We start to invent the term like ‘ไม่เป็นไร’ or ‘It doesn’t matter.’ or ‘It’s alright.’ because there’s no other way to say it. We invented the system of smiling anyway no matter what happens because smiles are the way out of a problem. There’s simply no other way at the time. And we invented some saying some belief like ‘ค่าของคนคือคนของใคร’ ‘A person’s value’s based on whom he belongs.’ something like that. So the ideas and the terms like these have been based on a feeling --the feeling that to be patronized is alright.
I went to the US as a student in 1992 and I could never understand at the time why people could be angered by being patronized. Some friends of mine responded angrily to me and to the people I saw them talking to, ‘Don’t patronize me.’ I never understood that because the state of being patronized is alright. The state of being flattered is fine because your life depends on others anyway. So to be patronized is not a sin, is not evil. But all that are coming to a big change. That’s why we are clashing now because there are enough people who come out and say that, ‘No, we don’t want it anymore of your damn patronage.’ The 41% that said no to the constitution drafted by the dictators and the dictators’ followers has been the result of the huge lobbying in the bureaucracy of heavy budget investment to turn the whole country to a ‘Yes’ country, you remember that; it’s just a week ago. And some even believe that there are some irregularities involved in the process of campaigning of the constitution or the counting of the votes.
But with all of that, big brother tactics combined, they got only 56%. And that includes the big billboards around Bangkok, and probably outside Bangkok too --but I haven’t seen any. But I saw a lot of them along the Don Muang Toll Way from the old airport that say something like “Well, we the Thai people have to join the same boat. We have the same fate, we join the same boat.” But what is remarkable is the name that was put at the end of the statement. It says ‘Yellow shirt people’. In other words, the ‘Yellow shirt people’ combined with all those tactics, you got only 56%. That is your big problem. Thailand is on the verge of change, if so. So what we’re talking about between democracy and patronage system is that people are coming out of age, I think.
I myself grew up in patronage system; I was pampered too. My father served in the air force and he later on became a commercial captain of Thai Airways when they first started the first bunch of local pilots. So he was paid in quite a high salary, enough to feed his family. And I wouldn’t have to go through the misery of life that he went through. He grew up in patronage system too. I treated my dinner for granted that they would always come to the table. I wouldn’t have a feeling of having dinner tonight and having nothing for tomorrow. But my father did experience all that. I grew up in that kind of system comfortably so. I started questioning the notion of patronage system later on when I became a full time journalist in a television, and started to probe Thailand and its society more seriously. I found that something is wrong. It took me years and some experience in the Taksin administration government to understand all of these.
Patronage system is problematic because it encourages inequality among individuals. And that’s the direct conflict to democracy. It encourages one person into thinking of depending on the other or others. It breeds endless number of slaves with a very limited number of masters. It prevents Thailand from coming out of age. That’s why, having been educated for so long of a time, having braved the world for so long of a time, never had any direct discrimination against any foreign cultures for so long of a time, many of us remain children. You can observe political fight in Thai politics and you would find most of them petty. It’s a child’s game –the way that they play of each other, or against each other. Because in a patronage system, you would remain children, you would remain somebody who depends on others. So no wonder pettiness is everywhere in Thailand.
You see one of the latest example happened to the Thai Rak Thai Party. You may have read the news. The election commission have a problem with the name of the new Thai Rak Thai Party. At the time Thai Rak Thai was transforming into a new party called ‘People’s Power Party’ or PPP. It was trying to play a trick of changing name or modifying name so people would know that it remains Thai Rak Thai. So they changed the name and the name was approved by the election commission. And then they found out that the modified name was abbreviated as TRT, just like Thai Rak Thai. They withdrew that endorsement, say that you can no longer use that name –it’s Thai Rak Thai again. My nightmare has returned. So in other words, this pettiness is a sample of how we play of each other in the 21st century.
So, Taksin, as Prime Minister that I came to work with and grew to like personally, came in and changed all that. Sleepwalkingly, Taksin has removed power patronage from the powers that be and turned it into public policies most people can benefit. I was with him so I knew that he didn’t launch those policies philosophically. He simply wanted to do his job. He wants to be liked. He wants to be loved. He wants to be a useful rich man. That’s simply the way he operates his money. But then his easy-going way has been in direct conflict with patronage system because it undid most of that –fast-- in only 5 years. People at grassroots started to feel that they have rights. They have the right to feel that they could be much better off than being a little better than last year. In other words, they simply was given a new choice. And Taksin didn’t do it to challenge anyone but some people felt challenged by what he did and what he has done.
When he won the election for the first time with the 377 seats in the Parliament of 500, it was never before and absolute majority. I could tell you behind the scene and off the microphone in future times that the private conversation that I –I’m sorry I couldn’t reveal tonight-- showed that there are some intimidation in the air right after the election result was known that Taksin won 377 seats among 500 in the Parliament. In other words, Taksin was not to be trusted because Taksin has violated the rules of being depending on others. He started to be a Prime Minister that doesn’t have to depend on anyone, and that is a sin in a patronage system. Taksin did right or wrong is up to the history to judge. You can drag him to court or you can…..justice –it doesn’t matter. But the matter is what he has put or imprinted in Thailand is something that people never felt before.
He almost did not do anything for the Bangkok people because he felt that they didn’t need him that much. If you ask Bangkok people, urbanized people, what Taksin had done to them, it could take them two weeks and they couldn’t come up with anything. But when you ask people at grassroots, they can cite ten items that they felt they were given under Taksin new system. Was Taksin patronizing them? In doing that, probably so, but he didn’t mean to do it that way. And I could tell you out of my personal observation of how he came up with that kind of policies. You know that he had planned that in the last two years of his second term, he would be in Thailand only 1/3 of the whole time. He would spend 2/3 of the last two years of his administration traveling the world. According to his word, he would be playing the role of ‘salesman’ for the country in the last two years, but he was deprived from that. He was overthrown while waiting to speak in the assembly in the United Nations. Right after the coup, September 19, 2006, we planned to launch a government in exile. But a telephone call from Bangkok changed all that. In my opinion, there was a mistake, we should have gone with a …… We should have made the CNS –the Surayut government—and the rest of them illegal. We should have made them illegitimate, like the Heng Samren Hun Sen regime of Cambodia years ago. We should have made that. But the telephone call changed all that. So what could we do? I am a small person in this vast entourage. I was at the time Deputy Secretary General to the Prime Minister –an equivalent to Deputy Chief of Staff in the President system of the US. But it was a small place so you could press for it. I would have pressed for government in exile. And if there would be a clash, a physical clash in Thailand –so be it.
So we’re talking in historical sense that even a Prime Minister who was put in power by the people, what he did was to release people from patronage system, but when the most crucial decision comes, even him, made the decision out of patronage system. So the deep root of the patronage system is here and it’s in direct conflict with democratization. We have to undo it. We have to personalize patronage system by saying that, well, who keeps patronizing people. And I believe that the time is near to do that. Once you were put in jail, it’s alright. We can do more time to realize your goal. It’s fine really.
The thing is that I was waiting for the second case that I’m charged with, the so called ‘wire tapping case’. On the 22nd of June, during our daily Sanam Luang protest stage, I was revealing a conversation of three people –a telephone conversation. Two of them were justice –one in the Supreme Court, one is in the Appeal Court. One was known to have a close relationship, presumably homosexual relationship with the powers that be. And they were talking to the sense that how we could manipulate the King’s statement to punish the Taksin administration and the Election Commissioners whom they believe to be siding with Taksin. And the rest of that is history if you follow the details in Thai news. In other words, they were forced to face the reality of how this patronage system which is the main element of aristocracy system of Thailand has been operated.
How they buddy each other and use this personal relationship which change things around. How they insult people by not endorsing the majority of the people. How they think that democracy has to be guided, still. So the tape itself would be a big case from now on. The police charge me and some of my colleagues of illegally wire tapping. It’s not the case. It was intentionally taped by the third person in the conversation that he would be coming out soon. He’s then the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office. So the case would be brought to court. My intention is not to approve whether or not I wiretapped, but I want to bring Khun Prem, General Prem, and the two judges to court. That would be my intention. Then I could be facing Khun Prem in court and ask him why such a great leader like himself decided to doubt the democracy like this. You were a great leader, Your Excellency, but you changed. So a once indispensable leader is now a leader at a very wrong time….. So Khun Prem symbolizes so many things. We learn from Khun Prem that a good person, when he gets real old --and it’s not the age that matters here, it’s the state of feeling old in the state of mind of not being adventurous anymore, of reversing to the old times, the good old times that he is comfortable with-- is no longer suitable to be influential the country.
So, I’m sorry I have so much of the time that I just want to say that the –what I found lately, in jail and out of jail, that democracy and patronage system are direct conflict. And the election which is upcoming on December 23rd would not resolve anything. The situation would be worse after the election because all of the tactics and covers would have been used up. And the real intention would be revealed why you couldn’t allow democracy in this country. When you went to Sanam Luang –if you did-- you would have the same feeling that I have that people in Thailand are no longer children. They are adults being forced into children’s costumes. They feel frustrated, physically and mentally, and they are struggling to get themselves out of that. I don’t know how they would come about but they will come. So I would end here. I hope that my opinions would attract some questions and some discussion after that. I would like to hear your opinion and your question so much. I want to know how you perceive Thailand because many of you have been in Thailand for so long of a time. Some of you are real Thailand lover –I don’t want to shatter that feeling. So I need to know what you actually feel about it at this point. Thank you very much.
Question :
At one point you said Thailand needed a leader to rearrange the current institutions at one point. I mean, you talk about the patronage system being unacceptable. Yet, you seem to think that Thailand can only be sorted out by a powerful leader –you’re referring to somebody like Khun Taksin that you worked underneath. Wasn’t it as much patronage under Taksin Shinawatra? Doesn’t he rely on patronage to bring people on board as well?
Answer :
It might not be him the leader I’m talking about. Actually, I should be referring to that as leadership instead of leader. What I meant to say is that things have been rearranged and put in the ‘right’ order by the force of the patronage system. But when people start to refuse that, they need a different kind of leadership to tell them to sing all these through. I don’t know any more than you do on what the new leadership would look like. But if you ask me, if I have to –to presume that I know and say something about it, I would say that the new leadership has to continue reducing the inequality of rights people in urbanized areas and the rest of the country have been put upon. In other words, the so called populist policies have to be the key to start making people believe that they have rights. And Khun Taksin, he’s reaching 60 now you know, and he’s quite a happy man, and he’s now happier than ever with the ‘Man City’. So I’m not even sure that Khun Taksin would want to take that role. He enjoys himself being a famous politician in Thailand. But according to him, if the owners don’t like what he did, a professional manager like him could be working for other companies. The kind of attitude is not really revolutionary. So the new leadership that I’m talking about is to be more revolutionary.
Question :
You’re talking about a leader being necessary. Isn’t it the best of thing if Thailand has fairly weak national leaders but start having much more dynamic politics at the local level? Beside you start waiting for a savior leader to come along. You’re surely thinking of the same sort of terms of patronage that was existing today.
Answer :
Oh no! I’m not waiting for the white knight to come and save all of us, no,no. What I’m saying is that this is the state of no white knight. I’m saying the opposite. This is the state of no white knight and yes the current state…..will not end like the May incident of 1992. There’s no one to end it because everyone is involved. You see that there’s no referee. So what would be happening from now on is really unknown. But I guess it would take -- it would take some people’s heavy hands, if you will. For example, to put it in a more tangible, touchable samples, appointed General Saprung’s attitudes, appoint Police General Sereepisut as Police Chief and you’ll see something. Actually you should have done that –they should have done that. They should have appointed the most dictatorial figures into positions that need to be democratized, and then we may see something that happens. When there was a revolution, the leaders of such incident is always unknown. So I don’t know who the leader.
Question :
Khun Jakrapob, something you said about –er—there was an attempt by Taksin to form a government in exile. I’m just curious, could you walk us through when he was planning to do so and when this call came from Thailand to ask him not to move ahead…..
Answer :
Well, I went to jail one time and I would try to refrain myself from doing the same thing again. Well what I could say here is –er—it was not him who came up with the idea of a government exile. It’s from some of us mean to it. And we informally approached certain countries, I don’t want to name countries, but not less than 10 countries on that same night, whether or not they would endorse our government in exile. And they said they would. .In other words, if he would have gone ahead with government exile, I think he would have succeeded. But that’s an ‘if’ clause. What do you call it? If certification? Who made that call–I’m sorry I couldn’t reveal right here but we….
Question :
Would his name begin with ‘P’?
Answer :
(Laugh) Well, it is very much in style, actually. Well, that call changed the idea he was considering it at the time. That was the time before he issued that emergency decree on MCOT, TV channel 9, the time you remember it, about 0920 pm. That was shortly before that. I was in Bangkok because we kind of knew that something would happen but he had to go any way. So he flew from New York to London. And it would be harder to form a government in exile in London as opposed to the United Nations. So I realized that he put an end to the idea but it didn’t come from him.
Question :
Khun Jakrapob, I forgot what you put the word exactly. You said something like ‘sleepwalkingness’ that –describing Taksin’s –what-er-evolution as hero of democracy, yah? Can you elaborate on that? Do you feel that he really had –I mean—was he really interested in promoting democracy in Thailand? And wasn’t he just monopolizing the patronage system? And if he did just sort of sleepwalk into this hero of democracy-er-image that you’re portraying here, I mean, is he really a democratic person? Is he a democratic politician really? And wasn’t this just a very accidental hero we’ve thought you’re promoting at the moment?
Answer :
He, he was a product, he is a product of patronage system and autocracy who tried to be more democratic than he might ever be. He battles all the time between being a liberal business person and a police officer. It is his internal conflict and you need to talk…..about that, not me. But the thing is that he’s good enough for me to work with because I need someone, we need someone to lead a way to the light at the end of the tunnel. If Thailand is deep in patronage system the way that the old timers had brought Thailand about, there’s no need for education. Why do we need to go to schools, I mean? To find some masters and you’ll do fine because you wouldn’t be allowed to show your education and your knowledge any way. If you want to have a country full of people with energy, and people who want to change things, you have to provide them with an equal time, I mean, of yourself, to express yourself in that society.
To answer Peter’s question, I believe that Khun Taksin has been trying to be democratic. People of his generation is hardly democratic. Even democratic fighters turn out to be very dictatorial when you work with them closely. Some democratic fighters in Thailand beat their wives. That’s terrible. What kind of democracy is that? So it is a battling between democracy and autocracy that he, along with the rest of his generation, has to do. I don’t presume to say what he is, but I’m saying that when I said he’s sleepwalking into changing policies, what I mean is that he did not intend to grasp power from the old patronage system. He did not know that the war was ongoing. He did not know that poor people have been owned by somebody else. That’s why he burst out some words without knowing how hurt it might be to people who heard it. He said at one point before I became spokesman. He said it. He said that I’m tired of this ‘poor man’s brokers’, people who talk about the poor and poverty all the time and didn’t do a damn thing about it. You know you couldn’t give people spirit instead of better life. You cannot give them projects that need results. So that’s how he operates his mind. That’s why I think that sometimes he’s sleepwalking in the sense that he did not know the impact of what he did. But he realized the impact of what he did later on. So what we’re talking about is a collective leadership actually. Taksin was not dictatorial. I was working with him. I would be the one who stepped away from him if he was. But he merely a person who stick to the gun and try to get the job done, no leader in Thailand was ever like that. So it was dictatorial in the minds of people because you stuck to your gun. You insisted that it had to be done under your leadership and that could be construed by some people as being dictatorial. But if you met him in person, you spend some time with him, you would know that he’s no –he’s not—he doesn’t have that grain in his body. So I’m not saying that he’s a superman but he’s better than the old leaders that I was told to respect. I would rather work underneath a half good commoner than an empty noble, you see.
Question (Simon) :
Khun Jakrapob, will you be contesting the upcoming election on December 23rd? If so which party will you be joining? And can you tell us anything about what that party stands for or may do to Thailand? If you decide that you will not be joining this election since you campaign against the constitution, will you be doing any other kind of action, …..or whatever, to, you know, make your political point?
Answer :
Well, thank you, Simon. We had 377 seats in the parliament and we was –we were overthrown. So maybe the victory in the election might not be the whole thing, or the whole point. So all of us, some of us who were campaigning at Sanam Luang are now considering whether or not we should be joining the election. If we would join the election, it means that we would need a new forum to reveal them all. The election campaign for us would be another Sanam Luang stage if we would join the election. But if we would not join the election, it would mean that we would find something outside the electoral process to do in order to protect the system itself if we can, the best way we can. We are not priding ourselves as being, you know, the guardian of anything, but we try, or we would try. The party we would belong, anything Thai Rak Thai, anything Thai Rak Thai. It could be called, you know, Thai Love Chinese, you know, I would belong to that party.
Question (Peter) :
Maybe I can throw a split question to both of you. From what we read, the PPP has lots of former Thai Rak Thai MPs and, I guess, enters the election campaign, something happens as a road runner. So, two-part question: (1) What do you think will be done to stop PPP from winning? And (2) What do you both think about the government or a government party led by Samak?
Answer :
Let me make sure that I got your question right. The first question, what would stop PPP from winning?
Question :
What is it to stop, what is going to be done to stop from winning?
Answer :
The tactics of the other side?
Question :
Yes. And the second one, what do you both think of a governing party or party in the government led by Samak. What sort of person do you think he is?
Answer :
Well, for the first question, they really try to –er –allocate more budget in Isarn. They had people like the former MP of Thai Rak Thai, Wiwattanachai Na Kalasin, coming out and declare that he would form the Isarn group and try to grasp as much votes as possible from PPP, or the former Thai Rak Thai party. This kind of tactics I don’t know –er –there could be a lot more. But I think that the main tactic would be to brand Taksin as an asshole –would be the major tactic. They would continue to do it and what else I think that covers it.
But for the second question, Samak came from the, the, well, if you use the western mode of thought, you would brand Samak as ultra righteous. But if you look closer at him and follow the stories, you would find that he just heavily in patronage system. I mean he is an ultra conservative who can surrender his position easily if asked that what he was….. But then he decided to defend Taksin this time in his early 70’s. He’s in his 70’s now you know. He’s no longer a young politician but he decided to jump in and defended Taksin this time.
วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 29 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2551
วันเสาร์ที่ 17 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2551
[14] ประวัติพระพุทธเจ้า (แปลศัพท์อังกฤษ – ไทย)
สวัสดีครับ
การศึกษาประวัติของพระพุทธเจ้า เป็นสิ่งดีงามในชีวิต และถือว่าเป็นการทำบุญอย่างหนึ่งด้วย เพราะการได้ซึมซับพระปัญญา และพระเมตตาของพระองค์ ย่อมนำมาสู่ความดีและความงามของชีวิต ซึ่งจะเกิดผลดีต่อทั้งตัวเองและผู้อื่นที่เราติดต่อสัมพันธ์ด้วย
หนังสือเรื่อง Story of the Buddha นำประวัติของพระพุทธเจ้ามาเขียนด้วยภาษาที่ง่าย ๆ มีความยาวเพียง 93 ตอนสั้น ๆ, 1 ตอนคือ 1 หน้าและมีภาพลายเส้นประกอบทุกหน้า, บางตอนอาจจะต่างไปจากที่คนไทยเราเคยศึกษามาบ้าง แต่ก็เป็นเรื่องที่น่ารับฟัง เช่น ตอนที่ 32 กล่าวถึงเด็กเลี้ยงแพะซึ่งผ่านมาเห็นเจ้าชายสิทธัตถะเป็นลมหมดสติจึงนำนมแพะให้พระองค์เสวย
คลิกอ่าน Story of the Buddha
ผมนำเนื้อหาทั้งหมดมาลงไว้ข้างล่างนี้ด้วย เมื่อท่านคลิกที่ศัพท์คำใด จะปรากฏคำแปลเป็นภาษาอังกฤษแสดงในหน้าต่างใหม่
1. The hero of our story is Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, who lived more than 2,500 years ago. His father was the Rajah of the Sakya clan, King Suddhodana, and his mother was Queen Maha Maya. They lived in India, in a city called Kapilavatthu, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
2. Siddhartha’s parents belonged to the Indian warrior caste. They lived in agreat palace in their capital city of Kapilavatthu, beneath the majestic mountainsof the Himalayas. Queen Maha Maya was beautiful, intelligent and good. KingSuddhodana was honoured and respected because he ruled well. Both of them were admired and loved by the people they ruled.
3. After many years, Queen Maha Maya became pregnant. She and her husbandwere very happy about it. On the full moon day in the month of May, she gave birth to a boy in Lumbini Park, while she was on her way to see her parents. Five days afer the prince’s birth the king asked five wise men to select a name for his son. They named him Siddhartha. This name means “the one whose wishes will be fulfilled”.
4. There had been much rejoicing at the birth of the prince, but two days afer hewas named, Queen Maha Maya died. Everybody was shocked and felt very sad. But the saddest person was, of course, her husband King Suddhodana. He was worried, too, because his wise advisers had predicted that if the prince saw someone old, someone sick, a dead person, and a monk, he would want to leave the palace and become a monk himself, instead of being a prince.
5. The Queen’s sister Prajapati Gotami took care of the baby prince with as much love as if he were her own son. Prince Siddhartha was a healthy and happy boy. He liked to learn and found it easy to study, and was the cleverest in his class and the best at games. He was always considerate to others and was popular among his friends.
6. The prince was kind to everyone. He was gentle with his horse and other animals. Because he was a prince his life was very easy, and he could have chosen to ignore the problems of others. But he felt sympathy for others. He knew that all creatures, including people, animals and all other living beings, like to be happy and don’t like suffering and pain.
7. Siddhartha always took care not to do anything harmful to any creature. He liked to help others. For example, one day the prince saw one of the town boys beating a snake with a stick. He immediately stopped the boy, and told him not to hurt the snake.
8. One day, Siddhartha was playing with his friends in the palace garden. One ofthe boys was his cousin, Prince Devadatta. While Siddhartha was gentle and kind,Devadatta was by nature cruel and liked to kill other creatures. While they wereplaying, Devadatta shot a swan with his bow and arrow. It was badly wounded. But Siddhartha took care of the swan until its wounds healed. When the swan was well again, he let it go free.
9. Siddhartha liked to watch what was happening and think about different things.One afternoon his father took him to the annual Ploughing Festival. The king started the ceremony by driving the first pair of beautifully decorated bullocks. Siddhartha sat down under a rose-apple tree and watched everyone. He noticed that while people were happily enjoying themselves, the bullocks had to work terribly hard and plough the field. They did not look happy at all.
10. Then Siddhartha noticed various other creatures around him. He saw a lizardeating ants. But soon a snake came, caught the lizard, and ate it. Then, suddenly a bird came down from the sky, picked up the snake and so it was eaten also. Siddhartha realised that all these creatures might think that they were happy for a while, but that they ended up suffering.
11. Siddhartha thought deeply about what he saw around him. He learned thatalthough he was happy, there was a lot of suffering in life. So he felt deep sympathy for all creatures. When the king and the maids noticed that the prince was not among the crowd, they went to look for him. They were surprised to find the prince sitting crossed-legged, in deep meditation.
12. The king did not want his son to think about deep things in life too much,because he remembered that the wise men had predicted that his son might one day want to leave the palace and become a monk. So, in order to distract him, the king built Siddhartha a beautiful palace with a lovely garden to play in. But this did not stop the prince from thinking about the suffering and unhappiness that he noticed around him.
13. Siddhartha grew up to be a handsome young man of great strength. He was now of an age to get married. To stop Siddhartha from thinking of leaving home, King Suddhodana arranged for him to be married to his own beautiful cousin, Princess Yasodhara.
14. Following the ancient tradition, Siddhartha had to prove how brave he was tobe worthy of Yasodhara. In the presence of her parents he was asked to tame a wild horse. Siddhartha tamed the horse not by beating it, as some suitors might, but by talking to the horse to calm it and stroking it gently. Yasodhara wanted to marry the prince, and no one else. They were married in a great ceremony. Both were only sixteen years old.
15. To stop the prince from thinking about unhappiness or leaving home, KingSuddhodana built a pleasure palace for Siddhartha and Yasodhara. Dancers andsingers were asked to entertain them, and only healthy and young people wereallowed into the palace and the palace garden. The king did not want Siddharthato know that everybody gets sick, grows old and will die. But in spite of the king’sefforts, the prince was not happy. He wanted to know what life was like for people who lived outside the palace walls.
16. Finally, the king allowed Siddhartha to go on short visits to the nearby towns.He went with his attendant, Channa. On his first visit Siddhartha saw a whitehaired, wrinkled man dressed in rags. Such a sight surprised him, as he had neverseen anyone old before. Channa explained to him that this man was old and thateveryone will be old one day. Siddhartha felt frightened by that and asked Channato take him back home. At night, he could not sleep and he kept on thinking aboutold age.
17. Although Siddhartha felt frightened by the vision of geing old, he wanted to see more of the world outside. On his next visit, he saw a man lying on the ground and moaning. Out of compassion, he rushed over to the man. Channa warned him that the man was sick and that everyone, even noble people like Siddhartha or the king could get sick.
18. On the third visit, Siddhartha and Channa saw four men carrying another manon a stretcher. Channa told Siddhartha that the man was dead and was going tobe cremated. He also said that no one can escape death, and told the prince thateveryone will die one day. When they returned to the palace, Siddhartha kept onthinking about what he had seen. Finally, he made a strong decision to find a wayout of the suffering of old age, sickness and death.
19. Some time later, while the prince was riding in the garden, he saw a man in ayellow robe. He noticed that the man looked very peaceful and happy. Channa explained to him that the man was a monk. The monk had left his family and given up his desire for pleasures to search for freedom from worldly suffering. The prince felt inspired by the sight of the monk and began to want to leave home to search for freedom in the same way. That day, his wife gave birth to a lovely baby boy. But Siddhartha could not rejoice, although he loved the boy, because he wanted to become a monk, and he realised that now it would be more difficult for him to leave home.
20. From the day when he decided that he wanted to leave the palace the princelost all interest in watching the dancing girls and other such pleasures. He kept onthinking instead about how to free himself and others from sickness, ageing anddeath. Finally, he decided he had to leave the palace and his family and become ahomeless monk, in order to understand life and what caused suffering.
21. One night, when everyone in the palace was asleep, Siddhartha asked Channato prepare his horse, Kanthaka. In the meantime he went into the room whereYasodhara and their newborn boy Rahula slept. He was filled with loving-kindness towards them and promised himself that he would come back to see them. But first he had to understand why all creatures suffer, and find out how they could escape from suffering.
22. In the silence of the night, Prince Siddhartha mounted Kanthaka. Accompanied by Channa, he left the palace and the city of Kapilavatthu. They stopped at a river some distance from the city and the prince took off his expensive dress and put on the robes of a monk. Then he told Channa to take the horse back to the palace. At first, both Channa and Kanthaka refused to go back, but Siddhartha insisted that he had to go on alone. With tears rolling down his face, Kanthaka watched as the prince walked out of sight.
23. So, at the age of 29, Siddhartha began the homeless life of a monk. FromKapilavatthu, he walked south to the city of Rajagaha, the capital of the Magadhacountry. The king of this country was named Bimbisara. The morning after Siddhartha arrived, he went to the city and obtained his meal for the day by begging.
24. After his meal, Siddhartha decided to go to the mountains where many hermitsand sages lived. On the way there, he came across a flock of sheep. Shepherds were driving the herd to Rajagaha to be sacrificed in a fire ceremony. One little lamb was injured. Out of compassion Siddhartha picked up the lamb and followed the shepherds back to the city.
25. In the city, the fire was burning on the altar, and King Bimbisara and a group of priests were chanting hymns. They all worshipped fire. When the leader of the fireworshippers lifted his sword to kill the first sheep, Siddhartha quickly stopped him. He asked the king not to let the worshippers destroy the lives of the poor animals. Then Siddhartha turned to the worshippers and told them: “Life is extremely precious. All living creatures want to live, just like people.”
26. He continued: “If people expect mercy, they should show mercy. By the law ofcause and effect (karma), those who kill others will, in turn, be killed. If we expect happiness in the future, we must not harm any creatures. Whoever sows suffering will reap the same fruits.” This speech completely changed the king’s mind, and the minds of the fire-worshippers. He stopped the killing ceremony and invited Siddhartha to stay and teach his people. But Siddhartha declined, as he had not yet found the truth he was seeking.
27. After Siddhartha left Rajagaha, he went to see a sage (wise person) named Alara Kalama. He stayed with the sage and studied diligently. Soon, he knew as much as his teacher. But although he had learned how to make his mind very calm, he still did not know the way to freedom from all suffering. So he thanked Alara Kalama and left to find another teacher.
28. Siddhartha then studied with a sage named Uddaka Ramaputta. He learned how to make his mind very still and empty of all thoughts and emotions. But he still did not understand the mystery of life and death, and did not find the complete freedom from suffering that he sought. Again, Siddhartha thanked his teacher and left. But, this time, he decided to find the ultimate truth by his own wisdom and effort.
29. In those days, there were many wandering monks who belonged to variouscults. They had left their families to become ascetics. They believed that by starving themselves or tormenting their bodies (asceticism) they would be reborn in heaven. Their belief was that the more they suffered in this life, the more pleasure they would receive in the future. So some ate extremely little food, some stood on one foot for a long time, and others slept on boards covered with sharp nails.
30. Siddhartha also tried to become an ascetic. He thought that if he practiced hard enough, he would become enlightened. So he found a place at Uruvela near a river and a village, where he could wash and obtain his daily food. There were five other men living there, and they became his companions. Like Siddhartha, they also practiced asceticism. Their names were Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji.
31. Siddhartha practiced various forms of asceticism for six years. He reduced hiseating more and more until he ate nothing at all. He became extremely thin, butstill he did not want to give up such practice. One day, while meditating alone, hefainted.
32. At that time, a shepherd boy with a goat walked by. He saw Siddhartha andrealised that without any food Siddhartha would die very soon. So he quickly fedhim some warm goat’s milk. Soon Siddhartha regained consciousness and beganto feel better. He realised that without the boy’s help, he would have died beforeattaining enlightenment.
33. From then on, Siddhartha began eating normally. Soon his health was completely restored. It was clear to him now that asceticism was not the way to enlightenment. However, his five friends continued with their ascetic practices. They thought that Siddhartha had become greedy and so they left him. One morning, a girl named Sujata offered Siddhartha some delicious milk-rice porridge and said to him: “May you be successful in obtaining your wishes!”
34. On the same day, Siddhartha accepted an offering of straw from a straw-peddler, made a seat from it and sat down to meditate under a large bodhi tree, facing east. He made a promise to himself: “I will not give up until I achieve my goal, until I find a way of freedom from suffering, for myself and all people.”
35. As he meditated, Siddhartha let go of all outside disturbances, and memories of pleasures from the past. He let go of all worldly thoughts and turned his mind to finding the ultimate truth about life. He asked himself: “How does suffering start? How can one be free from suffering?” At first many distracting images appeared in his mind. But finally his mind became very calm, like a pond of still water. In the calm of deep meditation, Siddhartha concentrated on how his own life had started.
36. First, Siddhartha remembered his previous lives. Next, he saw how beings arereborn according to the law of cause and effect, or karma. He saw that good deedslead away from suffering to peace and happiness and that bad deeds lead to moresuffering. Then he saw that the origin of suffering is being greedy, which arisesfrom thinking that we are more important than everybody else. Finally, he becamecompletely free from thinking in this way. This freedom is called nirvana. So, at the age of 35, Siddhartha became the Buddha, the Supreme Enlightened One.
37. After attaining the supreme enlightenment, the Buddha remained sitting inthe happiness of nirvana for several days. Later, a Brahmin, an upper caste man,came by the tree where the Buddha sat. He greeted the Buddha and asked: “Whatqualities does one have to have to be a true Brahmin and a noble person?” TheBuddha replied: “The true Brahmin must give up all evil. He must give up allconceit, pursue understanding and practice pure living. This way he will deserve to be called a Brahmin.”
38. After a long rest, the Buddha began to plan what to do in the future. He thought: “Although the Dharma (teaching) is deep and will be difficult for most people to understand, there are some who only have a little craving. Such people may be able to accept the Dharma. They are like the lotuses that extend their stalks from the bottom of the pond up in the air, to receive sunshine. So I should not hold this radiant truth a secret. I should make it known everywhere, so that all people can benefit from it.”
39. Then the Buddha thought: “Who should I teach first? The person must beinterested in the Dharma and quick to understand it.” First he thought of his oldteachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. But they had both died. Then heremembered his five ascetic friends, Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama andAssaji. When he found out that they were living at Sarnath, near Varanasi, he leftsoon afterwards to find them.
40. At Sarnath, when the five ascetics saw the Buddha coming, they decided not even to greet him or talk to him. They still thought that he was greedy and had given up his search for truth. But as he got closer, they realised that he was surrounded by a brilliant light and looked very noble. They were so astonished that they forgot about their previous decision. They greeted him, offered him some water and quickly prepared a seat.
41. After sitting down, the Buddha told them: “Monks! I have realised the truth ofthe end of suffering (nirvana), and the way to end suffering. If you learn and practice it, you will soon become enlightened. You must take responsibility for working to understand these things.” At first, the five monks doubted his words and asked him many questions. But finally they began to trust him and wanted to hear his teaching. And so the Buddha gave his first teaching to the five monks at Sarnath.
42. The Buddha taught them the Four Noble Truths. The first Noble Truth wasabout the fact that suffering exists. The second was about the cause of suffering;the third was that it is possible to end suffering; and the fourth explained the pathto be followed if you want to end suffering. During this first teaching, Kondannaunderstood everything and attained the first stage of enlightenment. Then he askedthe Buddha to ordain him as a monk. Soon the other four also joined the Buddha’s order. All five monks practiced diligently and with the help of the Buddha they soon became fully enlightened ones, or arahants.
43. The Buddha continued teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. After hearing theteachings Yasa, a young man from a wealthy family, and his best friends left home and became monks. Later, fifty young men from high-caste families also left theirhomes and joined the Buddha’s monastic community.
44. When the Buddha had sixty monks as his disciples (students) he held a meeting. He told them: “Go and spread the Dharma to other places, to give more people the chance of gaining freedom from suffering. Spread the Dharma so that human lives may be purified and brightened. There are people ready for the Dharma. They will be able to understand it. I myself will go to teach at Uruvela.”
45. After the Buddha sent out his sixty-arahant disciples for the first time, hetravelled to Magadha in the southeast, to Uruvela village. After hearing the Buddha’s teaching, many men left their homes and became monks. Later, more than 1,000 of them became fully enlightened arahants.
46. Then the Buddha took his arahant disciples to Rajagaha. He went to teach andenlighten King Bimbisara and his people, as he had previously promised the kinghe would. After hearing the Dharma, King Bimbisara took refuge in the Buddha and became his follower. Later, he donated Veluvana Park as a residence for the Buddha and the monks. Veluvana became the first Buddhist monastery.
47. One morning, on his way from Veluvana to beg for his daily alms food, theBuddha came across a young man named Sigala. The man was bowing to the east,south, west and north. Then he saluted the sky above and the earth below. Hefinished by scattering seeds in these six directions. The Buddha asked him why hedid such things. Sigala replied that his father, before he died, asked him to do thisritual daily, to protect himself from any evil that might happen to him.
48. The Buddha then explained to Sigala what his father had really meant. By asking him to bow in the six directions, his father really wanted him to remember, respect and be kind to all living beings in all directions. By doing this he would create good karma and he would be protected. Finally, the Buddha instructed Sigala not to kill, steal, be unfaithful to his wife, lie or take intoxicants. These are the training rules known as the Five Precepts.
49. During the Buddha’s stay near Rajagaha, there was a well-known teacher of one of the traditional schools. He had about two hundred students, and among them were Upatissa and Kolita. These two students were best friends. They wanted to learn more about life and death than their teacher had been able to teach them. So they agreed with each other that they would search for the highest knowledge, and as soon as one of them found it, he would share it with the other.
50. One morning Upatissa was walking towards Rajagaha. On the way there he met a monk who looked very peaceful and seemed to be free from all fear. This monk was the arahant Assaji, one of the five former ascetics. Upatissa went towards him and said: “Venerable master! Who is your teacher and what did he teach you?” The monk replied with a smile: “My teacher is a great sage of the Sakya clan. He is the Buddha, and I practice according to his teaching.”
51. Then Upatissa asked Venerable Assaji: “What is the teaching of the Buddha?”Assaji replied: “I will tell you the meaning of the Buddha’s teaching very briefly.The Buddha said that there is a cause for everything and he also taught how thingsdecay.” Upatissa was so clever that when he heard this he understood that whatever comes into existence will also decay, and he attained the first stage of enlightenment. Then he thanked Assaji, asked him where he might find the Buddha, and left.
52. After this encounter Upatissa was filled with happiness, and went straight tosee Kolita. He told Kolita what the noble monk Assaji had told him. Instantly, Kolita also understood the Buddha’s teaching and attained the first stage of enlightenment. Finally, the two friends went to see the Buddha. They asked him to accept them as monks and the Buddha agreed. After practicing diligently, they both attained arahantship. Later, they became the Buddha’s chief disciples and were known under their monks’ names as Sariputta and Moggallana.
53. When the Buddha was living at Rajagaha, a conference was held at Veluvana on the full moon of the third month of the year. One thousand two hundred and fifty monks attended the meeting. They were all arahants and all of them arrived on the same day.
54. On this special occasion, the Buddha told his disciples to practice and teachfollowing the same basic principles. The essence of this teaching was: do not doanything bad, do good and purify your mind.
55. When King Suddhodana learned that his son had become a Buddha and wasstaying at Rajagaha, he sent an officer to invite the Buddha to Kapilavatthu. TheBuddha promised to visit his family. So one day the Buddha took his disciples toKapilavatthu. They arrived in the evening and stayed in a garden outside the city. The next morning, the Buddha and his disciples went to the city to beg for alms food.
56. When the king found out that the prince was begging for food, he felt very angry and disappointed. He asked his driver to take him straight to the Buddha. When he saw the Buddha, he spoke to him in an angry way: “My son! Today you have done a most disgraceful thing to the royal family and me. Have your ancestors ever done such a thing? Have they ever accepted food like beggars?”
57. The Buddha spoke calmly to his angry father: “Father! I am not following thecustom of my worldly ancestors. I am following the tradition of the Buddhas of the past. All past Buddhas begged for food, to inspire people to follow the teachings. Then the Buddha explained some basics of the Dharma to the King. The King calmed down and asked the Buddha and his disciples to accept food at the palace.
58. In the palace, after finishing a delicious meal, the Buddha taught the Dharma to the king, his relatives, and other people. Then he took two of his senior disciples to see Yasodhara, the cousin he had married at the age of sixteen, and Rahula, his son. Yasodhara was very sad. The Buddha could see past lives, and he compassionately told her about the good actions she had done in the past and explained the Dharma to her.
59. Later Rahula, who was seven years old, was ordained by the Buddha and became the first novice in the Buddhist tradition. (A novice is someone who is in training but has not yet taken the full vows of a monk or nun.) Besides Rahula, the Buddha also converted his step-brother Nanda and several princes of the Sakya clan. Among them were his cousins Ananda and Devadatta.
60. Many years after he left Kapilavatthu, the Buddha went back to visit his fatherKing Suddhodana, who was very ill. The king was very happy to see the Buddhaagain and felt better. But because he was very old, he could no longer resist theillness, and two or three days later he passed away. Everyone felt deeply sad.
61. When King Suddhodana died, Lady Prajapati Gotami felt very sad. She andseveral other women decided to leave the worldly life and join the Buddha’s group of monks to practice the Dharma. So she led the women to see the Buddha. She asked him to accept them as nuns, but the Buddha refused. The women felt very disappointed and cried. But they did not give up their wish to become nuns.
62. When the Buddha was residing at the Mahavaha Monastery, Lady PrajapatiGotami and her group of women went to the monastery and told Ananda what hadhappened. Ananda felt compassion for them and promised to help them. He went to see the Buddha to ask him to be merciful and let the women join the monastic order. But the Buddha refused again.
63. Ananda then said: “I beg you, Lord Buddha, please do a favour to PrajapatiGotami and accept her and other women as nuns, because she has done you greatfavour in the past. She brought you up as her own son.” So finally the Buddha said: “Alright. If they are willing to follow the eight monastic rules I give them, they can leave home and become nuns.” Then he explained these rules to Ananda.
64. After leaving the Buddha, Ananda went to tell Lady Prajapati Gotami the goodnews. All the women were very happy and promised to observe the eight rules ofconduct that the Buddha gave them. Ananda then went back to the Buddha and told him that the women were happy to follow the rules. So Prajapati Gotami became the first Buddhist nun.
65. Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Ananda, his cousin, was the most devoted to him. So the Buddha selected him to be his close attendant. Another of the Buddha’s cousins also became a monk. His name was Devadatta. But he was envious of the Buddha and competed with him, trying to take over the leadership.
66. Devadatta was very conceited, and was jealous of the two chief disciples of theBuddha. So he left the Sangha (the order of monks and nuns) and made friendswith the crown-prince Ajatasattu, son of King Bimbisara. The prince built a private monastery for Devadatta. Devadatta then persuaded the prince to kill his father, King Bimbisara, and make himself king. The prince followed Devadatta’s evil scheme and starved his father to death so he could become king.
67. Now Devadatta felt very powerful, because the new king was his friend andsupporter. So he decided to kill the Buddha. One evening, while the Buddhawas walking past a rocky hill, Devadatta pushed a huge stone down the hillside,intending to kill the Buddha. But the rock suddenly broke into many pieces and only one sharp piece hit the Buddha, on his foot. The Buddha returned to the monastery and was treated by the famous physician Jivaka.
68. Although his evil plot had failed, Devadatta tried to kill the Buddha again. When the Buddha was on his daily alms-round at Rajagaha, Devadatta set loose a wild elephant. But as the wild elephant ran towards the Buddha, it became calm because of the Buddha’s enormous loving-kindness. After this incident, Devadatta gave up trying to kill the Buddha, but he still wanted to break up the Sangha.
69. To impress the other monks and nuns and disrupt the Sangha, Devadatta asked the Buddha to make stricter rules of conduct for the Sangha. He asked that monks not be allowed to sleep in houses or eat any meat. But the Buddha refused Devadatta’s proposal. He said: “If some monks prefer to sleep in the open or not eat meat, they are free to do so. But if they do not wish to live this way they do not have to.” Finally, the Buddha said: “Devadatta, if you try to break up the Sangha you will reap the evil fruits.”
70. Devadatta ignored the Buddha’s warning, led away a group of monks and made himself their leader. One day, when Devadatta was asleep, the Buddha’s chief disciple Sariputta came and warned the monks about the consequences of evil actions. The monks realised their mistake and returned to the Buddha. When Devadatta woke up he was so angry that he became ill. Eventually, he began to regret his actions, and he asked his servants to take him to see the Buddha. But he died unexpectedly on the way there.
71. The Buddha taught and converted people for forty-five years. He travelled todifferent kingdoms in India, always on foot. During the rainy seasons, he stayed atmonasteries built for him and the Sangha by different lay supporters. The placesthe Buddha stayed at most often were Veluvana, near Rajagaha, and Jetavana, nearSavatthi. During all these years, the Buddha worked hard every day to spread theteachings.
72. The Buddha usually got up before sunrise, took a bath, and then contemplatedon whom to teach. When he found someone ready to understand and accept theteaching, he would go and teach that person the same day. After sunrise, the Buddha went to beg for alms from people in the neighbourhood. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes with his monks. Some people also invited him to their homes to accept offerings. After the meal, he taught them the Dharma. Then he returned to the monastery.
73. Back at the monastery, the Buddha rested quietly in the hall, under a tree or in his room, waiting for the monks to return from their alms round. When all the monks and nuns had assembled in the hall he gave a Dharma talk or just encouraged them to practice the Dharma. Some monks also asked him for personal instructions for their Dharma practice. The Buddha then considered their natures and gave to each of them the individual advice that suited them best.
74. In the summertime, the people from the neighbourhood used to visit him in the evenings. Some came to offer him gifts, others to hear his teachings. The Buddha taught them the Dharma using skilful language, so that everyone would benefit. After the talk everyone would feel happy and satisfied.
75. After the people left, the Buddha usually took a bath. Then he would meditatefor some time. After that, he would instruct monks who came from other places. He helped them to understand the difficult parts of the Dharma and so made them very happy. At sunset, the Buddha usually went for a walk to refresh himself. After this he would again give talks to his monks. Late at night, distinguished people, such as kings, came for advice and instruction in the Dharma.
76. After this, the Buddha went to sleep, usually for four hours only. He slept onhis right side and woke up before sunrise. Then he entered into deep meditation toexplore the natures of his audience for that day.
77. The Buddha always worked very hard in propagating the Dharma. When he was not travelling, he spent time not only explaining the Dharma, but also in helping people to solve their daily problems. He was always willing to help people from any station in life, whether it was a housewife, a farmer, or just somebody in need of help.
78. The Buddha was never reluctant to answer difficult questions or explaincomplicated problems. He never felt irritated by the person asking questions, andalways was able to answer correctly. The Buddha always explained the Dharma ina way that was most suited to the natures of his listeners. He welcomed all people.Many who doubted him at first became convinced of the truth of his teaching. They then became his loyal disciples.
79. After 45 years of travelling and teaching, the Buddha had reached his eightiethyear. Although his mind was strong, he felt that his body was getting weaker. Herealised that his life was coming to an end. So he decided to go north to the foothills of the Himalayas, the region where he was born. He wished to enter the final nirvana, or freedom from suffering. On the way north, the Buddha and Ananda stopped in the Bamboo Grove Village, in the kingdom of Patali. The Buddha decided to stay there for the rainy season.
80. During his stay in the village the Buddha fell seriously ill. After he recovered,he told Ananda: “Ananda, by now the Sangha should know the way to practice, beable to check their practice and attain nirvana. I do not keep any secrets. With all my heart I wish the best for all the monks and nuns. I am an old man now. You should depend on yourselves. You should rely on the Dharma.”
81. In the morning, after eating, the Buddha went to the Pava Stupa to meditate.
He sat on a rock in the shade of a tree and investigated with his mind when he
would be due to pass away. He concluded that he would enter the final nirvana after three months. When he told this to Ananda, Ananda begged him: “Please stay and continue helping people to end suffering!” The Buddha replied: “Ananda, the life of the Buddha is drawing to its close. He will attain final nirvana three months from now. Death is unavoidable.”
82. Then the Buddha called the monks and gave them many important instructions. He encouraged them to practice his teaching for the benefit of all people in the world, and to help others to learn and practice the Dharma. He also encouraged them to serve as good examples for the people of the world. Finally he instructed: “All things must grow old and pass away. Study the truths I have taught you and put them into practice; guard your own minds; do not be careless, so that you can be freed from suffering and rebirth.”
83. One morning, to have a last look at the city of Vesali, the Buddha and Ananda went there to beg for alms. After that the Buddha and his disciples visited neighbouring villages, and the Buddha taught the Dharma to people. The Buddha also told his disciples that when anyone teaches them the Dharma, they should carefully verify it against the Dharma taught by the Buddha. He said that if it was not consistent with his teaching, they should reject it. Then they continued to the city of Pava and rested in the Mango garden, which belonged to Cunda, the son of a goldsmith.
84. The Buddha taught Cunda and his family. They gained confidence in the Dharma and took refuge in the Buddha and the Dharma. But the meal that Cunda offered to the Buddha contained a fungus that made the Buddha feel very ill. However, in spite of the pain, the Buddha and his disciples continued their journey to Kusinara. On the way they met a prince of the Malla clan. The Buddha taught him the way to live in peace. The prince then took refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (the Three Jewels), and offered two rolls of fine gold-coloured cloth to the Buddha. The Buddha kept one and gave the other to Ananda.
85. Finally the Buddha and Ananda arrived at the boundaries of Kusinara. When
they came to Salavana, a holiday resort of the royal clan of the Mallas, the Buddha
felt he could go no further. So he asked Ananda to prepare a place for him to lie down. Ananda took the Buddha’s outer robe and placed it on a bed between two big sala trees. The Buddha then lay down on his right side. He did not fall asleep, but rested to relieve his pain and fatigue. His mind remained as tranquil as it had ever been.
86. Ananda felt that the Buddha was really leaving him this time, and he felt deep
grief in his heart. So he left the Buddha, and went to an isolated place among trees
to cry. He thought: “Unlike the other monks, I still have not reached the stage of an arahant, and I shall lose my compassionate master forever, and be left alone.” His face became flooded with tears. When the other monks told the Buddha that Ananda was weeping in a hidden place, the Buddha asked them to bring Ananda back.
87. On Ananda’s return, the Buddha praised him in front of the other monks. He
told them: “Ananda has, at all times, been my most excellent attendant. He knew
how to arrange just the right time for me to meet with visitors. He always treated all visitors well.” Later, Ananda said to the Buddha: “Lord Buddha, please do not enter nirvana in such a small and unimportant place. Please select one of the large cities, such as Rajagaha or Vesali, and enter the final nirvana there. In those cities there are many rich and powerful people who are your disciples. They can take responsibility for your holy remains.”
88. The Buddha said to Ananda: “No Ananda, do not say that. This is not a small
and insignificant place. Long ago this was a prosperous city, and the residence of a
righteous king. Ananda, go to Kusinara and tell the king and the people that late
tonight the Buddha will enter the final nirvana in this forest. If they wish to, they
should come to see me before this time.” So Ananda went to Kusinara with several monks and told King Malla and his people what the Buddha had said.
89. When the people of Kusinara learnt that the Buddha was about to enter nirvana, they all felt very sad and cried. They said: “It is too early for the Buddha to enter final nirvana. The light of the world is going to be extinguished too soon!” Men, women and children, crying loudly, went to Salavana, where the Buddha was staying. They all hoped to see the Buddha one more time.
90. A wandering young man from an ascetic cult, whose name was Subhadda,
happened to be in Kusinara. When he learnt that the Buddha was about to enter the final nirvana, he decided to visit him. He wanted to ask the Buddha some questions that bothered him. He believed that only the Buddha would be able to give him a thorough explanation. So he went to Salavana, and asked Ananda to allow him to see the Buddha. However Ananda refused him permission, as he thought that the Buddha was too tired to see visitors.
91. But Subhadda was very anxious to see the Buddha and asked Ananda again
and again. When the Buddha heard them both talking, he knew Subhadda’s
good motivation. So he told Ananda to let Subhadda come in. Having listened to
Subhadda’s questions, the Buddha taught him until any problems in Subhadda’s
mind were cleared up. Subhadda gained confidence in the Buddha and the Dharma
and asked the Buddha to accept him as a monk. Thus Subhadda became the last
person to be ordained by the Buddha.
92. Later the Buddha gave the monks and nuns the last chance to ask any questions. He asked them if any of them still had doubts about the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. But none of them had any doubts about the Triple Gem. Finally the Buddha said to the monks: “Monks, this is the last time for me to talk to you. All things change. Work hard to gain your own salvation!”
93. The Buddha then entered into meditation, deeper and deeper, until his mind
was purely balanced and steadily focused. And then he passed away. Thus, the
Buddha, the Blessed One, had attained that final freedom known as nirvana. Soon
after the death of the Buddha a meeting of 500 arahants was held to collect together all his teachings. They were memorised and handed down from one generation of monks to the next. In this way, the teachings of the Buddha were not lost, and we can still hear them today.
[จาก: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/storybuddha.pdf ]
การศึกษาประวัติของพระพุทธเจ้า เป็นสิ่งดีงามในชีวิต และถือว่าเป็นการทำบุญอย่างหนึ่งด้วย เพราะการได้ซึมซับพระปัญญา และพระเมตตาของพระองค์ ย่อมนำมาสู่ความดีและความงามของชีวิต ซึ่งจะเกิดผลดีต่อทั้งตัวเองและผู้อื่นที่เราติดต่อสัมพันธ์ด้วย
หนังสือเรื่อง Story of the Buddha นำประวัติของพระพุทธเจ้ามาเขียนด้วยภาษาที่ง่าย ๆ มีความยาวเพียง 93 ตอนสั้น ๆ, 1 ตอนคือ 1 หน้าและมีภาพลายเส้นประกอบทุกหน้า, บางตอนอาจจะต่างไปจากที่คนไทยเราเคยศึกษามาบ้าง แต่ก็เป็นเรื่องที่น่ารับฟัง เช่น ตอนที่ 32 กล่าวถึงเด็กเลี้ยงแพะซึ่งผ่านมาเห็นเจ้าชายสิทธัตถะเป็นลมหมดสติจึงนำนมแพะให้พระองค์เสวย
คลิกอ่าน Story of the Buddha
ผมนำเนื้อหาทั้งหมดมาลงไว้ข้างล่างนี้ด้วย เมื่อท่านคลิกที่ศัพท์คำใด จะปรากฏคำแปลเป็นภาษาอังกฤษแสดงในหน้าต่างใหม่
1. The hero of our story is Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, who lived more than 2,500 years ago. His father was the Rajah of the Sakya clan, King Suddhodana, and his mother was Queen Maha Maya. They lived in India, in a city called Kapilavatthu, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
2. Siddhartha’s parents belonged to the Indian warrior caste. They lived in agreat palace in their capital city of Kapilavatthu, beneath the majestic mountainsof the Himalayas. Queen Maha Maya was beautiful, intelligent and good. KingSuddhodana was honoured and respected because he ruled well. Both of them were admired and loved by the people they ruled.
3. After many years, Queen Maha Maya became pregnant. She and her husbandwere very happy about it. On the full moon day in the month of May, she gave birth to a boy in Lumbini Park, while she was on her way to see her parents. Five days afer the prince’s birth the king asked five wise men to select a name for his son. They named him Siddhartha. This name means “the one whose wishes will be fulfilled”.
4. There had been much rejoicing at the birth of the prince, but two days afer hewas named, Queen Maha Maya died. Everybody was shocked and felt very sad. But the saddest person was, of course, her husband King Suddhodana. He was worried, too, because his wise advisers had predicted that if the prince saw someone old, someone sick, a dead person, and a monk, he would want to leave the palace and become a monk himself, instead of being a prince.
5. The Queen’s sister Prajapati Gotami took care of the baby prince with as much love as if he were her own son. Prince Siddhartha was a healthy and happy boy. He liked to learn and found it easy to study, and was the cleverest in his class and the best at games. He was always considerate to others and was popular among his friends.
6. The prince was kind to everyone. He was gentle with his horse and other animals. Because he was a prince his life was very easy, and he could have chosen to ignore the problems of others. But he felt sympathy for others. He knew that all creatures, including people, animals and all other living beings, like to be happy and don’t like suffering and pain.
7. Siddhartha always took care not to do anything harmful to any creature. He liked to help others. For example, one day the prince saw one of the town boys beating a snake with a stick. He immediately stopped the boy, and told him not to hurt the snake.
8. One day, Siddhartha was playing with his friends in the palace garden. One ofthe boys was his cousin, Prince Devadatta. While Siddhartha was gentle and kind,Devadatta was by nature cruel and liked to kill other creatures. While they wereplaying, Devadatta shot a swan with his bow and arrow. It was badly wounded. But Siddhartha took care of the swan until its wounds healed. When the swan was well again, he let it go free.
9. Siddhartha liked to watch what was happening and think about different things.One afternoon his father took him to the annual Ploughing Festival. The king started the ceremony by driving the first pair of beautifully decorated bullocks. Siddhartha sat down under a rose-apple tree and watched everyone. He noticed that while people were happily enjoying themselves, the bullocks had to work terribly hard and plough the field. They did not look happy at all.
10. Then Siddhartha noticed various other creatures around him. He saw a lizardeating ants. But soon a snake came, caught the lizard, and ate it. Then, suddenly a bird came down from the sky, picked up the snake and so it was eaten also. Siddhartha realised that all these creatures might think that they were happy for a while, but that they ended up suffering.
11. Siddhartha thought deeply about what he saw around him. He learned thatalthough he was happy, there was a lot of suffering in life. So he felt deep sympathy for all creatures. When the king and the maids noticed that the prince was not among the crowd, they went to look for him. They were surprised to find the prince sitting crossed-legged, in deep meditation.
12. The king did not want his son to think about deep things in life too much,because he remembered that the wise men had predicted that his son might one day want to leave the palace and become a monk. So, in order to distract him, the king built Siddhartha a beautiful palace with a lovely garden to play in. But this did not stop the prince from thinking about the suffering and unhappiness that he noticed around him.
13. Siddhartha grew up to be a handsome young man of great strength. He was now of an age to get married. To stop Siddhartha from thinking of leaving home, King Suddhodana arranged for him to be married to his own beautiful cousin, Princess Yasodhara.
14. Following the ancient tradition, Siddhartha had to prove how brave he was tobe worthy of Yasodhara. In the presence of her parents he was asked to tame a wild horse. Siddhartha tamed the horse not by beating it, as some suitors might, but by talking to the horse to calm it and stroking it gently. Yasodhara wanted to marry the prince, and no one else. They were married in a great ceremony. Both were only sixteen years old.
15. To stop the prince from thinking about unhappiness or leaving home, KingSuddhodana built a pleasure palace for Siddhartha and Yasodhara. Dancers andsingers were asked to entertain them, and only healthy and young people wereallowed into the palace and the palace garden. The king did not want Siddharthato know that everybody gets sick, grows old and will die. But in spite of the king’sefforts, the prince was not happy. He wanted to know what life was like for people who lived outside the palace walls.
16. Finally, the king allowed Siddhartha to go on short visits to the nearby towns.He went with his attendant, Channa. On his first visit Siddhartha saw a whitehaired, wrinkled man dressed in rags. Such a sight surprised him, as he had neverseen anyone old before. Channa explained to him that this man was old and thateveryone will be old one day. Siddhartha felt frightened by that and asked Channato take him back home. At night, he could not sleep and he kept on thinking aboutold age.
17. Although Siddhartha felt frightened by the vision of geing old, he wanted to see more of the world outside. On his next visit, he saw a man lying on the ground and moaning. Out of compassion, he rushed over to the man. Channa warned him that the man was sick and that everyone, even noble people like Siddhartha or the king could get sick.
18. On the third visit, Siddhartha and Channa saw four men carrying another manon a stretcher. Channa told Siddhartha that the man was dead and was going tobe cremated. He also said that no one can escape death, and told the prince thateveryone will die one day. When they returned to the palace, Siddhartha kept onthinking about what he had seen. Finally, he made a strong decision to find a wayout of the suffering of old age, sickness and death.
19. Some time later, while the prince was riding in the garden, he saw a man in ayellow robe. He noticed that the man looked very peaceful and happy. Channa explained to him that the man was a monk. The monk had left his family and given up his desire for pleasures to search for freedom from worldly suffering. The prince felt inspired by the sight of the monk and began to want to leave home to search for freedom in the same way. That day, his wife gave birth to a lovely baby boy. But Siddhartha could not rejoice, although he loved the boy, because he wanted to become a monk, and he realised that now it would be more difficult for him to leave home.
20. From the day when he decided that he wanted to leave the palace the princelost all interest in watching the dancing girls and other such pleasures. He kept onthinking instead about how to free himself and others from sickness, ageing anddeath. Finally, he decided he had to leave the palace and his family and become ahomeless monk, in order to understand life and what caused suffering.
21. One night, when everyone in the palace was asleep, Siddhartha asked Channato prepare his horse, Kanthaka. In the meantime he went into the room whereYasodhara and their newborn boy Rahula slept. He was filled with loving-kindness towards them and promised himself that he would come back to see them. But first he had to understand why all creatures suffer, and find out how they could escape from suffering.
22. In the silence of the night, Prince Siddhartha mounted Kanthaka. Accompanied by Channa, he left the palace and the city of Kapilavatthu. They stopped at a river some distance from the city and the prince took off his expensive dress and put on the robes of a monk. Then he told Channa to take the horse back to the palace. At first, both Channa and Kanthaka refused to go back, but Siddhartha insisted that he had to go on alone. With tears rolling down his face, Kanthaka watched as the prince walked out of sight.
23. So, at the age of 29, Siddhartha began the homeless life of a monk. FromKapilavatthu, he walked south to the city of Rajagaha, the capital of the Magadhacountry. The king of this country was named Bimbisara. The morning after Siddhartha arrived, he went to the city and obtained his meal for the day by begging.
24. After his meal, Siddhartha decided to go to the mountains where many hermitsand sages lived. On the way there, he came across a flock of sheep. Shepherds were driving the herd to Rajagaha to be sacrificed in a fire ceremony. One little lamb was injured. Out of compassion Siddhartha picked up the lamb and followed the shepherds back to the city.
25. In the city, the fire was burning on the altar, and King Bimbisara and a group of priests were chanting hymns. They all worshipped fire. When the leader of the fireworshippers lifted his sword to kill the first sheep, Siddhartha quickly stopped him. He asked the king not to let the worshippers destroy the lives of the poor animals. Then Siddhartha turned to the worshippers and told them: “Life is extremely precious. All living creatures want to live, just like people.”
26. He continued: “If people expect mercy, they should show mercy. By the law ofcause and effect (karma), those who kill others will, in turn, be killed. If we expect happiness in the future, we must not harm any creatures. Whoever sows suffering will reap the same fruits.” This speech completely changed the king’s mind, and the minds of the fire-worshippers. He stopped the killing ceremony and invited Siddhartha to stay and teach his people. But Siddhartha declined, as he had not yet found the truth he was seeking.
27. After Siddhartha left Rajagaha, he went to see a sage (wise person) named Alara Kalama. He stayed with the sage and studied diligently. Soon, he knew as much as his teacher. But although he had learned how to make his mind very calm, he still did not know the way to freedom from all suffering. So he thanked Alara Kalama and left to find another teacher.
28. Siddhartha then studied with a sage named Uddaka Ramaputta. He learned how to make his mind very still and empty of all thoughts and emotions. But he still did not understand the mystery of life and death, and did not find the complete freedom from suffering that he sought. Again, Siddhartha thanked his teacher and left. But, this time, he decided to find the ultimate truth by his own wisdom and effort.
29. In those days, there were many wandering monks who belonged to variouscults. They had left their families to become ascetics. They believed that by starving themselves or tormenting their bodies (asceticism) they would be reborn in heaven. Their belief was that the more they suffered in this life, the more pleasure they would receive in the future. So some ate extremely little food, some stood on one foot for a long time, and others slept on boards covered with sharp nails.
30. Siddhartha also tried to become an ascetic. He thought that if he practiced hard enough, he would become enlightened. So he found a place at Uruvela near a river and a village, where he could wash and obtain his daily food. There were five other men living there, and they became his companions. Like Siddhartha, they also practiced asceticism. Their names were Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji.
31. Siddhartha practiced various forms of asceticism for six years. He reduced hiseating more and more until he ate nothing at all. He became extremely thin, butstill he did not want to give up such practice. One day, while meditating alone, hefainted.
32. At that time, a shepherd boy with a goat walked by. He saw Siddhartha andrealised that without any food Siddhartha would die very soon. So he quickly fedhim some warm goat’s milk. Soon Siddhartha regained consciousness and beganto feel better. He realised that without the boy’s help, he would have died beforeattaining enlightenment.
33. From then on, Siddhartha began eating normally. Soon his health was completely restored. It was clear to him now that asceticism was not the way to enlightenment. However, his five friends continued with their ascetic practices. They thought that Siddhartha had become greedy and so they left him. One morning, a girl named Sujata offered Siddhartha some delicious milk-rice porridge and said to him: “May you be successful in obtaining your wishes!”
34. On the same day, Siddhartha accepted an offering of straw from a straw-peddler, made a seat from it and sat down to meditate under a large bodhi tree, facing east. He made a promise to himself: “I will not give up until I achieve my goal, until I find a way of freedom from suffering, for myself and all people.”
35. As he meditated, Siddhartha let go of all outside disturbances, and memories of pleasures from the past. He let go of all worldly thoughts and turned his mind to finding the ultimate truth about life. He asked himself: “How does suffering start? How can one be free from suffering?” At first many distracting images appeared in his mind. But finally his mind became very calm, like a pond of still water. In the calm of deep meditation, Siddhartha concentrated on how his own life had started.
36. First, Siddhartha remembered his previous lives. Next, he saw how beings arereborn according to the law of cause and effect, or karma. He saw that good deedslead away from suffering to peace and happiness and that bad deeds lead to moresuffering. Then he saw that the origin of suffering is being greedy, which arisesfrom thinking that we are more important than everybody else. Finally, he becamecompletely free from thinking in this way. This freedom is called nirvana. So, at the age of 35, Siddhartha became the Buddha, the Supreme Enlightened One.
37. After attaining the supreme enlightenment, the Buddha remained sitting inthe happiness of nirvana for several days. Later, a Brahmin, an upper caste man,came by the tree where the Buddha sat. He greeted the Buddha and asked: “Whatqualities does one have to have to be a true Brahmin and a noble person?” TheBuddha replied: “The true Brahmin must give up all evil. He must give up allconceit, pursue understanding and practice pure living. This way he will deserve to be called a Brahmin.”
38. After a long rest, the Buddha began to plan what to do in the future. He thought: “Although the Dharma (teaching) is deep and will be difficult for most people to understand, there are some who only have a little craving. Such people may be able to accept the Dharma. They are like the lotuses that extend their stalks from the bottom of the pond up in the air, to receive sunshine. So I should not hold this radiant truth a secret. I should make it known everywhere, so that all people can benefit from it.”
39. Then the Buddha thought: “Who should I teach first? The person must beinterested in the Dharma and quick to understand it.” First he thought of his oldteachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. But they had both died. Then heremembered his five ascetic friends, Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama andAssaji. When he found out that they were living at Sarnath, near Varanasi, he leftsoon afterwards to find them.
40. At Sarnath, when the five ascetics saw the Buddha coming, they decided not even to greet him or talk to him. They still thought that he was greedy and had given up his search for truth. But as he got closer, they realised that he was surrounded by a brilliant light and looked very noble. They were so astonished that they forgot about their previous decision. They greeted him, offered him some water and quickly prepared a seat.
41. After sitting down, the Buddha told them: “Monks! I have realised the truth ofthe end of suffering (nirvana), and the way to end suffering. If you learn and practice it, you will soon become enlightened. You must take responsibility for working to understand these things.” At first, the five monks doubted his words and asked him many questions. But finally they began to trust him and wanted to hear his teaching. And so the Buddha gave his first teaching to the five monks at Sarnath.
42. The Buddha taught them the Four Noble Truths. The first Noble Truth wasabout the fact that suffering exists. The second was about the cause of suffering;the third was that it is possible to end suffering; and the fourth explained the pathto be followed if you want to end suffering. During this first teaching, Kondannaunderstood everything and attained the first stage of enlightenment. Then he askedthe Buddha to ordain him as a monk. Soon the other four also joined the Buddha’s order. All five monks practiced diligently and with the help of the Buddha they soon became fully enlightened ones, or arahants.
43. The Buddha continued teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. After hearing theteachings Yasa, a young man from a wealthy family, and his best friends left home and became monks. Later, fifty young men from high-caste families also left theirhomes and joined the Buddha’s monastic community.
44. When the Buddha had sixty monks as his disciples (students) he held a meeting. He told them: “Go and spread the Dharma to other places, to give more people the chance of gaining freedom from suffering. Spread the Dharma so that human lives may be purified and brightened. There are people ready for the Dharma. They will be able to understand it. I myself will go to teach at Uruvela.”
45. After the Buddha sent out his sixty-arahant disciples for the first time, hetravelled to Magadha in the southeast, to Uruvela village. After hearing the Buddha’s teaching, many men left their homes and became monks. Later, more than 1,000 of them became fully enlightened arahants.
46. Then the Buddha took his arahant disciples to Rajagaha. He went to teach andenlighten King Bimbisara and his people, as he had previously promised the kinghe would. After hearing the Dharma, King Bimbisara took refuge in the Buddha and became his follower. Later, he donated Veluvana Park as a residence for the Buddha and the monks. Veluvana became the first Buddhist monastery.
47. One morning, on his way from Veluvana to beg for his daily alms food, theBuddha came across a young man named Sigala. The man was bowing to the east,south, west and north. Then he saluted the sky above and the earth below. Hefinished by scattering seeds in these six directions. The Buddha asked him why hedid such things. Sigala replied that his father, before he died, asked him to do thisritual daily, to protect himself from any evil that might happen to him.
48. The Buddha then explained to Sigala what his father had really meant. By asking him to bow in the six directions, his father really wanted him to remember, respect and be kind to all living beings in all directions. By doing this he would create good karma and he would be protected. Finally, the Buddha instructed Sigala not to kill, steal, be unfaithful to his wife, lie or take intoxicants. These are the training rules known as the Five Precepts.
49. During the Buddha’s stay near Rajagaha, there was a well-known teacher of one of the traditional schools. He had about two hundred students, and among them were Upatissa and Kolita. These two students were best friends. They wanted to learn more about life and death than their teacher had been able to teach them. So they agreed with each other that they would search for the highest knowledge, and as soon as one of them found it, he would share it with the other.
50. One morning Upatissa was walking towards Rajagaha. On the way there he met a monk who looked very peaceful and seemed to be free from all fear. This monk was the arahant Assaji, one of the five former ascetics. Upatissa went towards him and said: “Venerable master! Who is your teacher and what did he teach you?” The monk replied with a smile: “My teacher is a great sage of the Sakya clan. He is the Buddha, and I practice according to his teaching.”
51. Then Upatissa asked Venerable Assaji: “What is the teaching of the Buddha?”Assaji replied: “I will tell you the meaning of the Buddha’s teaching very briefly.The Buddha said that there is a cause for everything and he also taught how thingsdecay.” Upatissa was so clever that when he heard this he understood that whatever comes into existence will also decay, and he attained the first stage of enlightenment. Then he thanked Assaji, asked him where he might find the Buddha, and left.
52. After this encounter Upatissa was filled with happiness, and went straight tosee Kolita. He told Kolita what the noble monk Assaji had told him. Instantly, Kolita also understood the Buddha’s teaching and attained the first stage of enlightenment. Finally, the two friends went to see the Buddha. They asked him to accept them as monks and the Buddha agreed. After practicing diligently, they both attained arahantship. Later, they became the Buddha’s chief disciples and were known under their monks’ names as Sariputta and Moggallana.
53. When the Buddha was living at Rajagaha, a conference was held at Veluvana on the full moon of the third month of the year. One thousand two hundred and fifty monks attended the meeting. They were all arahants and all of them arrived on the same day.
54. On this special occasion, the Buddha told his disciples to practice and teachfollowing the same basic principles. The essence of this teaching was: do not doanything bad, do good and purify your mind.
55. When King Suddhodana learned that his son had become a Buddha and wasstaying at Rajagaha, he sent an officer to invite the Buddha to Kapilavatthu. TheBuddha promised to visit his family. So one day the Buddha took his disciples toKapilavatthu. They arrived in the evening and stayed in a garden outside the city. The next morning, the Buddha and his disciples went to the city to beg for alms food.
56. When the king found out that the prince was begging for food, he felt very angry and disappointed. He asked his driver to take him straight to the Buddha. When he saw the Buddha, he spoke to him in an angry way: “My son! Today you have done a most disgraceful thing to the royal family and me. Have your ancestors ever done such a thing? Have they ever accepted food like beggars?”
57. The Buddha spoke calmly to his angry father: “Father! I am not following thecustom of my worldly ancestors. I am following the tradition of the Buddhas of the past. All past Buddhas begged for food, to inspire people to follow the teachings. Then the Buddha explained some basics of the Dharma to the King. The King calmed down and asked the Buddha and his disciples to accept food at the palace.
58. In the palace, after finishing a delicious meal, the Buddha taught the Dharma to the king, his relatives, and other people. Then he took two of his senior disciples to see Yasodhara, the cousin he had married at the age of sixteen, and Rahula, his son. Yasodhara was very sad. The Buddha could see past lives, and he compassionately told her about the good actions she had done in the past and explained the Dharma to her.
59. Later Rahula, who was seven years old, was ordained by the Buddha and became the first novice in the Buddhist tradition. (A novice is someone who is in training but has not yet taken the full vows of a monk or nun.) Besides Rahula, the Buddha also converted his step-brother Nanda and several princes of the Sakya clan. Among them were his cousins Ananda and Devadatta.
60. Many years after he left Kapilavatthu, the Buddha went back to visit his fatherKing Suddhodana, who was very ill. The king was very happy to see the Buddhaagain and felt better. But because he was very old, he could no longer resist theillness, and two or three days later he passed away. Everyone felt deeply sad.
61. When King Suddhodana died, Lady Prajapati Gotami felt very sad. She andseveral other women decided to leave the worldly life and join the Buddha’s group of monks to practice the Dharma. So she led the women to see the Buddha. She asked him to accept them as nuns, but the Buddha refused. The women felt very disappointed and cried. But they did not give up their wish to become nuns.
62. When the Buddha was residing at the Mahavaha Monastery, Lady PrajapatiGotami and her group of women went to the monastery and told Ananda what hadhappened. Ananda felt compassion for them and promised to help them. He went to see the Buddha to ask him to be merciful and let the women join the monastic order. But the Buddha refused again.
63. Ananda then said: “I beg you, Lord Buddha, please do a favour to PrajapatiGotami and accept her and other women as nuns, because she has done you greatfavour in the past. She brought you up as her own son.” So finally the Buddha said: “Alright. If they are willing to follow the eight monastic rules I give them, they can leave home and become nuns.” Then he explained these rules to Ananda.
64. After leaving the Buddha, Ananda went to tell Lady Prajapati Gotami the goodnews. All the women were very happy and promised to observe the eight rules ofconduct that the Buddha gave them. Ananda then went back to the Buddha and told him that the women were happy to follow the rules. So Prajapati Gotami became the first Buddhist nun.
65. Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Ananda, his cousin, was the most devoted to him. So the Buddha selected him to be his close attendant. Another of the Buddha’s cousins also became a monk. His name was Devadatta. But he was envious of the Buddha and competed with him, trying to take over the leadership.
66. Devadatta was very conceited, and was jealous of the two chief disciples of theBuddha. So he left the Sangha (the order of monks and nuns) and made friendswith the crown-prince Ajatasattu, son of King Bimbisara. The prince built a private monastery for Devadatta. Devadatta then persuaded the prince to kill his father, King Bimbisara, and make himself king. The prince followed Devadatta’s evil scheme and starved his father to death so he could become king.
67. Now Devadatta felt very powerful, because the new king was his friend andsupporter. So he decided to kill the Buddha. One evening, while the Buddhawas walking past a rocky hill, Devadatta pushed a huge stone down the hillside,intending to kill the Buddha. But the rock suddenly broke into many pieces and only one sharp piece hit the Buddha, on his foot. The Buddha returned to the monastery and was treated by the famous physician Jivaka.
68. Although his evil plot had failed, Devadatta tried to kill the Buddha again. When the Buddha was on his daily alms-round at Rajagaha, Devadatta set loose a wild elephant. But as the wild elephant ran towards the Buddha, it became calm because of the Buddha’s enormous loving-kindness. After this incident, Devadatta gave up trying to kill the Buddha, but he still wanted to break up the Sangha.
69. To impress the other monks and nuns and disrupt the Sangha, Devadatta asked the Buddha to make stricter rules of conduct for the Sangha. He asked that monks not be allowed to sleep in houses or eat any meat. But the Buddha refused Devadatta’s proposal. He said: “If some monks prefer to sleep in the open or not eat meat, they are free to do so. But if they do not wish to live this way they do not have to.” Finally, the Buddha said: “Devadatta, if you try to break up the Sangha you will reap the evil fruits.”
70. Devadatta ignored the Buddha’s warning, led away a group of monks and made himself their leader. One day, when Devadatta was asleep, the Buddha’s chief disciple Sariputta came and warned the monks about the consequences of evil actions. The monks realised their mistake and returned to the Buddha. When Devadatta woke up he was so angry that he became ill. Eventually, he began to regret his actions, and he asked his servants to take him to see the Buddha. But he died unexpectedly on the way there.
71. The Buddha taught and converted people for forty-five years. He travelled todifferent kingdoms in India, always on foot. During the rainy seasons, he stayed atmonasteries built for him and the Sangha by different lay supporters. The placesthe Buddha stayed at most often were Veluvana, near Rajagaha, and Jetavana, nearSavatthi. During all these years, the Buddha worked hard every day to spread theteachings.
72. The Buddha usually got up before sunrise, took a bath, and then contemplatedon whom to teach. When he found someone ready to understand and accept theteaching, he would go and teach that person the same day. After sunrise, the Buddha went to beg for alms from people in the neighbourhood. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes with his monks. Some people also invited him to their homes to accept offerings. After the meal, he taught them the Dharma. Then he returned to the monastery.
73. Back at the monastery, the Buddha rested quietly in the hall, under a tree or in his room, waiting for the monks to return from their alms round. When all the monks and nuns had assembled in the hall he gave a Dharma talk or just encouraged them to practice the Dharma. Some monks also asked him for personal instructions for their Dharma practice. The Buddha then considered their natures and gave to each of them the individual advice that suited them best.
74. In the summertime, the people from the neighbourhood used to visit him in the evenings. Some came to offer him gifts, others to hear his teachings. The Buddha taught them the Dharma using skilful language, so that everyone would benefit. After the talk everyone would feel happy and satisfied.
75. After the people left, the Buddha usually took a bath. Then he would meditatefor some time. After that, he would instruct monks who came from other places. He helped them to understand the difficult parts of the Dharma and so made them very happy. At sunset, the Buddha usually went for a walk to refresh himself. After this he would again give talks to his monks. Late at night, distinguished people, such as kings, came for advice and instruction in the Dharma.
76. After this, the Buddha went to sleep, usually for four hours only. He slept onhis right side and woke up before sunrise. Then he entered into deep meditation toexplore the natures of his audience for that day.
77. The Buddha always worked very hard in propagating the Dharma. When he was not travelling, he spent time not only explaining the Dharma, but also in helping people to solve their daily problems. He was always willing to help people from any station in life, whether it was a housewife, a farmer, or just somebody in need of help.
78. The Buddha was never reluctant to answer difficult questions or explaincomplicated problems. He never felt irritated by the person asking questions, andalways was able to answer correctly. The Buddha always explained the Dharma ina way that was most suited to the natures of his listeners. He welcomed all people.Many who doubted him at first became convinced of the truth of his teaching. They then became his loyal disciples.
79. After 45 years of travelling and teaching, the Buddha had reached his eightiethyear. Although his mind was strong, he felt that his body was getting weaker. Herealised that his life was coming to an end. So he decided to go north to the foothills of the Himalayas, the region where he was born. He wished to enter the final nirvana, or freedom from suffering. On the way north, the Buddha and Ananda stopped in the Bamboo Grove Village, in the kingdom of Patali. The Buddha decided to stay there for the rainy season.
80. During his stay in the village the Buddha fell seriously ill. After he recovered,he told Ananda: “Ananda, by now the Sangha should know the way to practice, beable to check their practice and attain nirvana. I do not keep any secrets. With all my heart I wish the best for all the monks and nuns. I am an old man now. You should depend on yourselves. You should rely on the Dharma.”
81. In the morning, after eating, the Buddha went to the Pava Stupa to meditate.
He sat on a rock in the shade of a tree and investigated with his mind when he
would be due to pass away. He concluded that he would enter the final nirvana after three months. When he told this to Ananda, Ananda begged him: “Please stay and continue helping people to end suffering!” The Buddha replied: “Ananda, the life of the Buddha is drawing to its close. He will attain final nirvana three months from now. Death is unavoidable.”
82. Then the Buddha called the monks and gave them many important instructions. He encouraged them to practice his teaching for the benefit of all people in the world, and to help others to learn and practice the Dharma. He also encouraged them to serve as good examples for the people of the world. Finally he instructed: “All things must grow old and pass away. Study the truths I have taught you and put them into practice; guard your own minds; do not be careless, so that you can be freed from suffering and rebirth.”
83. One morning, to have a last look at the city of Vesali, the Buddha and Ananda went there to beg for alms. After that the Buddha and his disciples visited neighbouring villages, and the Buddha taught the Dharma to people. The Buddha also told his disciples that when anyone teaches them the Dharma, they should carefully verify it against the Dharma taught by the Buddha. He said that if it was not consistent with his teaching, they should reject it. Then they continued to the city of Pava and rested in the Mango garden, which belonged to Cunda, the son of a goldsmith.
84. The Buddha taught Cunda and his family. They gained confidence in the Dharma and took refuge in the Buddha and the Dharma. But the meal that Cunda offered to the Buddha contained a fungus that made the Buddha feel very ill. However, in spite of the pain, the Buddha and his disciples continued their journey to Kusinara. On the way they met a prince of the Malla clan. The Buddha taught him the way to live in peace. The prince then took refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (the Three Jewels), and offered two rolls of fine gold-coloured cloth to the Buddha. The Buddha kept one and gave the other to Ananda.
85. Finally the Buddha and Ananda arrived at the boundaries of Kusinara. When
they came to Salavana, a holiday resort of the royal clan of the Mallas, the Buddha
felt he could go no further. So he asked Ananda to prepare a place for him to lie down. Ananda took the Buddha’s outer robe and placed it on a bed between two big sala trees. The Buddha then lay down on his right side. He did not fall asleep, but rested to relieve his pain and fatigue. His mind remained as tranquil as it had ever been.
86. Ananda felt that the Buddha was really leaving him this time, and he felt deep
grief in his heart. So he left the Buddha, and went to an isolated place among trees
to cry. He thought: “Unlike the other monks, I still have not reached the stage of an arahant, and I shall lose my compassionate master forever, and be left alone.” His face became flooded with tears. When the other monks told the Buddha that Ananda was weeping in a hidden place, the Buddha asked them to bring Ananda back.
87. On Ananda’s return, the Buddha praised him in front of the other monks. He
told them: “Ananda has, at all times, been my most excellent attendant. He knew
how to arrange just the right time for me to meet with visitors. He always treated all visitors well.” Later, Ananda said to the Buddha: “Lord Buddha, please do not enter nirvana in such a small and unimportant place. Please select one of the large cities, such as Rajagaha or Vesali, and enter the final nirvana there. In those cities there are many rich and powerful people who are your disciples. They can take responsibility for your holy remains.”
88. The Buddha said to Ananda: “No Ananda, do not say that. This is not a small
and insignificant place. Long ago this was a prosperous city, and the residence of a
righteous king. Ananda, go to Kusinara and tell the king and the people that late
tonight the Buddha will enter the final nirvana in this forest. If they wish to, they
should come to see me before this time.” So Ananda went to Kusinara with several monks and told King Malla and his people what the Buddha had said.
89. When the people of Kusinara learnt that the Buddha was about to enter nirvana, they all felt very sad and cried. They said: “It is too early for the Buddha to enter final nirvana. The light of the world is going to be extinguished too soon!” Men, women and children, crying loudly, went to Salavana, where the Buddha was staying. They all hoped to see the Buddha one more time.
90. A wandering young man from an ascetic cult, whose name was Subhadda,
happened to be in Kusinara. When he learnt that the Buddha was about to enter the final nirvana, he decided to visit him. He wanted to ask the Buddha some questions that bothered him. He believed that only the Buddha would be able to give him a thorough explanation. So he went to Salavana, and asked Ananda to allow him to see the Buddha. However Ananda refused him permission, as he thought that the Buddha was too tired to see visitors.
91. But Subhadda was very anxious to see the Buddha and asked Ananda again
and again. When the Buddha heard them both talking, he knew Subhadda’s
good motivation. So he told Ananda to let Subhadda come in. Having listened to
Subhadda’s questions, the Buddha taught him until any problems in Subhadda’s
mind were cleared up. Subhadda gained confidence in the Buddha and the Dharma
and asked the Buddha to accept him as a monk. Thus Subhadda became the last
person to be ordained by the Buddha.
92. Later the Buddha gave the monks and nuns the last chance to ask any questions. He asked them if any of them still had doubts about the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. But none of them had any doubts about the Triple Gem. Finally the Buddha said to the monks: “Monks, this is the last time for me to talk to you. All things change. Work hard to gain your own salvation!”
93. The Buddha then entered into meditation, deeper and deeper, until his mind
was purely balanced and steadily focused. And then he passed away. Thus, the
Buddha, the Blessed One, had attained that final freedom known as nirvana. Soon
after the death of the Buddha a meeting of 500 arahants was held to collect together all his teachings. They were memorised and handed down from one generation of monks to the next. In this way, the teachings of the Buddha were not lost, and we can still hear them today.
[จาก: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/storybuddha.pdf ]
วันศุกร์ที่ 16 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2551
(13) The Mute Singer
The Mute Singer
(http://www.efl.net/caol.htm)
Every year at this time, the peasants began their long religious pilgrimage to Geed-leh, to visit the church there, and pray for God's help. They walked or rode in wagons; they crowded the roads leading to the holy town, for Geed-leh was famous in Poland as a place where God did miracles. The cool autumn days also brought many beggars to Geed-leh. The peasants gave away more of their money on such a religious holiday as this. Some of the beggars were blind, some had no feet or arms. Some were very old and seemed like lost children looking for their mothers.
There was one among them who was called "the Mute Singer". He was given this name because he could not speak. There was a time when he was able to sing, while playing his guitar. But he lost his voice. Now he played the guitar and sang, but no sounds came from his throat. His lips just moved with the music.
The Mute Singer was a tall, strange-looking man. His face and hands were brown, like the color of copper. He had white hair and a white beard: he looked like one of the wise men you read about in the Bible.
Early one morning I saw the Mute Singer washing himself at the river. He smiled and touched the ground with his hand, meaning that I should sit down. Then, he pointed his finger straight up, to tell me that he had a surprise for me.
Suddenly, he put his hand into the water and rubbed two of his fingers together, making a strange sound, exactly like the sound of a croaking frog. He did it many times, then he lightly hit the top of the water, sending little ripples of waves across the water to the other side.
Suddenly, everything around us seemed to be moving. I could not believe it was real. Thousands of frogs came racing toward us, jumping, and swimming... under the water and on top of the water. I began to shake with excitement.
The frogs crowded around us, I could see their heads and eyes showing above the top of the water.
The Mute Singer found some snails and cut them into small pieces and began to feed the frogs. They came closer and closer, and the Mute Singer started to play his guitar. As he did so, the frogs became quiet and listened. And then they, too, started to sing. Young frogs, old frogs... every one of them began to sing. I never heard anything like it. Not a frog moved: they all just sat and sang.
No one ever saw the Mute Singer at night. Nobody even knew where he slept. But during the day he could be found at the same place, sitting near the church and playing his guitar while his lips moved silently with the music.
Everybody liked the Mute Singer-the peasants as much as the beggars. People threw their pennies into the cups of the beggars sitting on the ground, asking for help. But not so with the Mute Singer. Into his cup, they dropped their pennies gently. He used the shell of a turtle as a cup. He got much more money than the others, but this did not trouble any of the beggars.
At the end of the day, the beggars crowded around the Mute Singer in front of the church. He took a clean white handkerchief from the pocket of his old coat, and put it smoothly on the ground. He made it seem like a religious ceremony. Then he put all his money on the clean white cloth, he made all the beggars do the same. Then he gave all the beggars an equal share of the money but kept nothing for himself.
Sadly, he looked around at the beggars, covered with dirt and disease. The sun was sinking fast and the peasants had all left the church area. The Mute Singer lowered his head and started to pray; the beggars were on their knees, joining him in prayer.
Then the Mute Singer began to play his guitar, moving his lips with the music. The beggars sat still and listened. The music cut deep into their hearts. It cut through their years of pain and suffering and loss of hope. It made them feel human again. Many of them cried, and with dried old hands wiped away their tears.
I heard a beggar say the Mute Singer was not a human being, but God dressed as a beggar. "If that is true," another answered, "he would not come as a beggar, but as a priest..."
One day, hundreds of new peasants entered the city. They were welcomed at the church by its religious leaders who dropped water on their heads and blessed them. Religious singing and church bells filled the air, as did the cries of the beggars asking for help.
As the peasants came out of the church, the Mute Singer began to play. The peasants crowded around him and dropped pennies into his cup. Suddenly, his fingers hit the wrong strings. He threw his arms into the air. His guitar fell to the ground and broke. One of the beggars caught the Mute Singer as he fell and held his beautiful head on his knees.
We carried him into my mother's empty barn and put him down gently. I held his hand and he slept a little, then opened his eyes and smiled weakly. He looked like a lost child.
The Mute Singer pointed to his chest and made the sign of the cross. A beggar said, "He wants me to give him the last rites. Can you get me a piece of bread?"
"But you are not a priest," I said.
"This is something any man would be glad to do for him, it is an emergency. But I am dirty, my clothes are dirty. Hurry, get some bread and a white shirt."
I ran out and got some bread. Next to my house was a synagogue, and in the dark I saw the rabbi's finest white shirt hanging to be dried. I took the shirt and hurried to the side of the dying Mute Singer.
The beggar put on the white shirt, and gave me a candle to hold. Then he got down close to the Mute Singer and said:"Hear me, my brother! Open your eyes if you can, so that you may see the sign of the cross made over you. Here is your Last Communion, a beggar's Communion of black bread."
The dying man looked at the beggar, smiled weakly and left us forever....
That night I had very strange dreams. In one dream, I saw something white moving slowly toward me. It was like a fog. But when it got very close it changed into the shape of a man. It was the Mute Singer still holding his guitar. Then two angels floated out of the dark into my dream: they fell to their knees before the Mute Singer, kissing his hands while he gently touched their heads. It was like what I had often seen in old religious paintings.
I slept badly. I felt something heavy, and it was hurting me. I awoke and saw that I was holding too hard against my chest, the shell of a turtle. It was the turtle shell which the Mute Singer used as a beggar's cup for money. He gave it to me while he lay dying.
Every year at this time, the peasants began their long religious pilgrimage to Geed-leh, to visit the church there, and pray for God's help. They walked or rode in wagons; they crowded the roads leading to the holy town, for Geed-leh was famous in Poland as a place where God did miracles. The cool autumn days also brought many beggars to Geed-leh. The peasants gave away more of their money on such a religious holiday as this. Some of the beggars were blind, some had no feet or arms. Some were very old and seemed like lost children looking for their mothers.
There was one among them who was called "the Mute Singer". He was given this name because he could not speak. There was a time when he was able to sing, while playing his guitar. But he lost his voice. Now he played the guitar and sang, but no sounds came from his throat. His lips just moved with the music.
The Mute Singer was a tall, strange-looking man. His face and hands were brown, like the color of copper. He had white hair and a white beard: he looked like one of the wise men you read about in the Bible.
Early one morning I saw the Mute Singer washing himself at the river. He smiled and touched the ground with his hand, meaning that I should sit down. Then, he pointed his finger straight up, to tell me that he had a surprise for me.
Suddenly, he put his hand into the water and rubbed two of his fingers together, making a strange sound, exactly like the sound of a croaking frog. He did it many times, then he lightly hit the top of the water, sending little ripples of waves across the water to the other side.
Suddenly, everything around us seemed to be moving. I could not believe it was real. Thousands of frogs came racing toward us, jumping, and swimming... under the water and on top of the water. I began to shake with excitement.
The frogs crowded around us, I could see their heads and eyes showing above the top of the water.
The Mute Singer found some snails and cut them into small pieces and began to feed the frogs. They came closer and closer, and the Mute Singer started to play his guitar. As he did so, the frogs became quiet and listened. And then they, too, started to sing. Young frogs, old frogs... every one of them began to sing. I never heard anything like it. Not a frog moved: they all just sat and sang.
No one ever saw the Mute Singer at night. Nobody even knew where he slept. But during the day he could be found at the same place, sitting near the church and playing his guitar while his lips moved silently with the music.
Everybody liked the Mute Singer-the peasants as much as the beggars. People threw their pennies into the cups of the beggars sitting on the ground, asking for help. But not so with the Mute Singer. Into his cup, they dropped their pennies gently. He used the shell of a turtle as a cup. He got much more money than the others, but this did not trouble any of the beggars.
At the end of the day, the beggars crowded around the Mute Singer in front of the church. He took a clean white handkerchief from the pocket of his old coat, and put it smoothly on the ground. He made it seem like a religious ceremony. Then he put all his money on the clean white cloth, he made all the beggars do the same. Then he gave all the beggars an equal share of the money but kept nothing for himself.
Sadly, he looked around at the beggars, covered with dirt and disease. The sun was sinking fast and the peasants had all left the church area. The Mute Singer lowered his head and started to pray; the beggars were on their knees, joining him in prayer.
Then the Mute Singer began to play his guitar, moving his lips with the music. The beggars sat still and listened. The music cut deep into their hearts. It cut through their years of pain and suffering and loss of hope. It made them feel human again. Many of them cried, and with dried old hands wiped away their tears.
I heard a beggar say the Mute Singer was not a human being, but God dressed as a beggar. "If that is true," another answered, "he would not come as a beggar, but as a priest..."
One day, hundreds of new peasants entered the city. They were welcomed at the church by its religious leaders who dropped water on their heads and blessed them. Religious singing and church bells filled the air, as did the cries of the beggars asking for help.
As the peasants came out of the church, the Mute Singer began to play. The peasants crowded around him and dropped pennies into his cup. Suddenly, his fingers hit the wrong strings. He threw his arms into the air. His guitar fell to the ground and broke. One of the beggars caught the Mute Singer as he fell and held his beautiful head on his knees.
We carried him into my mother's empty barn and put him down gently. I held his hand and he slept a little, then opened his eyes and smiled weakly. He looked like a lost child.
The Mute Singer pointed to his chest and made the sign of the cross. A beggar said, "He wants me to give him the last rites. Can you get me a piece of bread?"
"But you are not a priest," I said.
"This is something any man would be glad to do for him, it is an emergency. But I am dirty, my clothes are dirty. Hurry, get some bread and a white shirt."
I ran out and got some bread. Next to my house was a synagogue, and in the dark I saw the rabbi's finest white shirt hanging to be dried. I took the shirt and hurried to the side of the dying Mute Singer.
The beggar put on the white shirt, and gave me a candle to hold. Then he got down close to the Mute Singer and said:"Hear me, my brother! Open your eyes if you can, so that you may see the sign of the cross made over you. Here is your Last Communion, a beggar's Communion of black bread."
The dying man looked at the beggar, smiled weakly and left us forever....
That night I had very strange dreams. In one dream, I saw something white moving slowly toward me. It was like a fog. But when it got very close it changed into the shape of a man. It was the Mute Singer still holding his guitar. Then two angels floated out of the dark into my dream: they fell to their knees before the Mute Singer, kissing his hands while he gently touched their heads. It was like what I had often seen in old religious paintings.
I slept badly. I felt something heavy, and it was hurting me. I awoke and saw that I was holding too hard against my chest, the shell of a turtle. It was the turtle shell which the Mute Singer used as a beggar's cup for money. He gave it to me while he lay dying.
(http://www.efl.net/caol.htm)
Every year at this time, the peasants began their long religious pilgrimage to Geed-leh, to visit the church there, and pray for God's help. They walked or rode in wagons; they crowded the roads leading to the holy town, for Geed-leh was famous in Poland as a place where God did miracles. The cool autumn days also brought many beggars to Geed-leh. The peasants gave away more of their money on such a religious holiday as this. Some of the beggars were blind, some had no feet or arms. Some were very old and seemed like lost children looking for their mothers.
There was one among them who was called "the Mute Singer". He was given this name because he could not speak. There was a time when he was able to sing, while playing his guitar. But he lost his voice. Now he played the guitar and sang, but no sounds came from his throat. His lips just moved with the music.
The Mute Singer was a tall, strange-looking man. His face and hands were brown, like the color of copper. He had white hair and a white beard: he looked like one of the wise men you read about in the Bible.
Early one morning I saw the Mute Singer washing himself at the river. He smiled and touched the ground with his hand, meaning that I should sit down. Then, he pointed his finger straight up, to tell me that he had a surprise for me.
Suddenly, he put his hand into the water and rubbed two of his fingers together, making a strange sound, exactly like the sound of a croaking frog. He did it many times, then he lightly hit the top of the water, sending little ripples of waves across the water to the other side.
Suddenly, everything around us seemed to be moving. I could not believe it was real. Thousands of frogs came racing toward us, jumping, and swimming... under the water and on top of the water. I began to shake with excitement.
The frogs crowded around us, I could see their heads and eyes showing above the top of the water.
The Mute Singer found some snails and cut them into small pieces and began to feed the frogs. They came closer and closer, and the Mute Singer started to play his guitar. As he did so, the frogs became quiet and listened. And then they, too, started to sing. Young frogs, old frogs... every one of them began to sing. I never heard anything like it. Not a frog moved: they all just sat and sang.
No one ever saw the Mute Singer at night. Nobody even knew where he slept. But during the day he could be found at the same place, sitting near the church and playing his guitar while his lips moved silently with the music.
Everybody liked the Mute Singer-the peasants as much as the beggars. People threw their pennies into the cups of the beggars sitting on the ground, asking for help. But not so with the Mute Singer. Into his cup, they dropped their pennies gently. He used the shell of a turtle as a cup. He got much more money than the others, but this did not trouble any of the beggars.
At the end of the day, the beggars crowded around the Mute Singer in front of the church. He took a clean white handkerchief from the pocket of his old coat, and put it smoothly on the ground. He made it seem like a religious ceremony. Then he put all his money on the clean white cloth, he made all the beggars do the same. Then he gave all the beggars an equal share of the money but kept nothing for himself.
Sadly, he looked around at the beggars, covered with dirt and disease. The sun was sinking fast and the peasants had all left the church area. The Mute Singer lowered his head and started to pray; the beggars were on their knees, joining him in prayer.
Then the Mute Singer began to play his guitar, moving his lips with the music. The beggars sat still and listened. The music cut deep into their hearts. It cut through their years of pain and suffering and loss of hope. It made them feel human again. Many of them cried, and with dried old hands wiped away their tears.
I heard a beggar say the Mute Singer was not a human being, but God dressed as a beggar. "If that is true," another answered, "he would not come as a beggar, but as a priest..."
One day, hundreds of new peasants entered the city. They were welcomed at the church by its religious leaders who dropped water on their heads and blessed them. Religious singing and church bells filled the air, as did the cries of the beggars asking for help.
As the peasants came out of the church, the Mute Singer began to play. The peasants crowded around him and dropped pennies into his cup. Suddenly, his fingers hit the wrong strings. He threw his arms into the air. His guitar fell to the ground and broke. One of the beggars caught the Mute Singer as he fell and held his beautiful head on his knees.
We carried him into my mother's empty barn and put him down gently. I held his hand and he slept a little, then opened his eyes and smiled weakly. He looked like a lost child.
The Mute Singer pointed to his chest and made the sign of the cross. A beggar said, "He wants me to give him the last rites. Can you get me a piece of bread?"
"But you are not a priest," I said.
"This is something any man would be glad to do for him, it is an emergency. But I am dirty, my clothes are dirty. Hurry, get some bread and a white shirt."
I ran out and got some bread. Next to my house was a synagogue, and in the dark I saw the rabbi's finest white shirt hanging to be dried. I took the shirt and hurried to the side of the dying Mute Singer.
The beggar put on the white shirt, and gave me a candle to hold. Then he got down close to the Mute Singer and said:"Hear me, my brother! Open your eyes if you can, so that you may see the sign of the cross made over you. Here is your Last Communion, a beggar's Communion of black bread."
The dying man looked at the beggar, smiled weakly and left us forever....
That night I had very strange dreams. In one dream, I saw something white moving slowly toward me. It was like a fog. But when it got very close it changed into the shape of a man. It was the Mute Singer still holding his guitar. Then two angels floated out of the dark into my dream: they fell to their knees before the Mute Singer, kissing his hands while he gently touched their heads. It was like what I had often seen in old religious paintings.
I slept badly. I felt something heavy, and it was hurting me. I awoke and saw that I was holding too hard against my chest, the shell of a turtle. It was the turtle shell which the Mute Singer used as a beggar's cup for money. He gave it to me while he lay dying.
Every year at this time, the peasants began their long religious pilgrimage to Geed-leh, to visit the church there, and pray for God's help. They walked or rode in wagons; they crowded the roads leading to the holy town, for Geed-leh was famous in Poland as a place where God did miracles. The cool autumn days also brought many beggars to Geed-leh. The peasants gave away more of their money on such a religious holiday as this. Some of the beggars were blind, some had no feet or arms. Some were very old and seemed like lost children looking for their mothers.
There was one among them who was called "the Mute Singer". He was given this name because he could not speak. There was a time when he was able to sing, while playing his guitar. But he lost his voice. Now he played the guitar and sang, but no sounds came from his throat. His lips just moved with the music.
The Mute Singer was a tall, strange-looking man. His face and hands were brown, like the color of copper. He had white hair and a white beard: he looked like one of the wise men you read about in the Bible.
Early one morning I saw the Mute Singer washing himself at the river. He smiled and touched the ground with his hand, meaning that I should sit down. Then, he pointed his finger straight up, to tell me that he had a surprise for me.
Suddenly, he put his hand into the water and rubbed two of his fingers together, making a strange sound, exactly like the sound of a croaking frog. He did it many times, then he lightly hit the top of the water, sending little ripples of waves across the water to the other side.
Suddenly, everything around us seemed to be moving. I could not believe it was real. Thousands of frogs came racing toward us, jumping, and swimming... under the water and on top of the water. I began to shake with excitement.
The frogs crowded around us, I could see their heads and eyes showing above the top of the water.
The Mute Singer found some snails and cut them into small pieces and began to feed the frogs. They came closer and closer, and the Mute Singer started to play his guitar. As he did so, the frogs became quiet and listened. And then they, too, started to sing. Young frogs, old frogs... every one of them began to sing. I never heard anything like it. Not a frog moved: they all just sat and sang.
No one ever saw the Mute Singer at night. Nobody even knew where he slept. But during the day he could be found at the same place, sitting near the church and playing his guitar while his lips moved silently with the music.
Everybody liked the Mute Singer-the peasants as much as the beggars. People threw their pennies into the cups of the beggars sitting on the ground, asking for help. But not so with the Mute Singer. Into his cup, they dropped their pennies gently. He used the shell of a turtle as a cup. He got much more money than the others, but this did not trouble any of the beggars.
At the end of the day, the beggars crowded around the Mute Singer in front of the church. He took a clean white handkerchief from the pocket of his old coat, and put it smoothly on the ground. He made it seem like a religious ceremony. Then he put all his money on the clean white cloth, he made all the beggars do the same. Then he gave all the beggars an equal share of the money but kept nothing for himself.
Sadly, he looked around at the beggars, covered with dirt and disease. The sun was sinking fast and the peasants had all left the church area. The Mute Singer lowered his head and started to pray; the beggars were on their knees, joining him in prayer.
Then the Mute Singer began to play his guitar, moving his lips with the music. The beggars sat still and listened. The music cut deep into their hearts. It cut through their years of pain and suffering and loss of hope. It made them feel human again. Many of them cried, and with dried old hands wiped away their tears.
I heard a beggar say the Mute Singer was not a human being, but God dressed as a beggar. "If that is true," another answered, "he would not come as a beggar, but as a priest..."
One day, hundreds of new peasants entered the city. They were welcomed at the church by its religious leaders who dropped water on their heads and blessed them. Religious singing and church bells filled the air, as did the cries of the beggars asking for help.
As the peasants came out of the church, the Mute Singer began to play. The peasants crowded around him and dropped pennies into his cup. Suddenly, his fingers hit the wrong strings. He threw his arms into the air. His guitar fell to the ground and broke. One of the beggars caught the Mute Singer as he fell and held his beautiful head on his knees.
We carried him into my mother's empty barn and put him down gently. I held his hand and he slept a little, then opened his eyes and smiled weakly. He looked like a lost child.
The Mute Singer pointed to his chest and made the sign of the cross. A beggar said, "He wants me to give him the last rites. Can you get me a piece of bread?"
"But you are not a priest," I said.
"This is something any man would be glad to do for him, it is an emergency. But I am dirty, my clothes are dirty. Hurry, get some bread and a white shirt."
I ran out and got some bread. Next to my house was a synagogue, and in the dark I saw the rabbi's finest white shirt hanging to be dried. I took the shirt and hurried to the side of the dying Mute Singer.
The beggar put on the white shirt, and gave me a candle to hold. Then he got down close to the Mute Singer and said:"Hear me, my brother! Open your eyes if you can, so that you may see the sign of the cross made over you. Here is your Last Communion, a beggar's Communion of black bread."
The dying man looked at the beggar, smiled weakly and left us forever....
That night I had very strange dreams. In one dream, I saw something white moving slowly toward me. It was like a fog. But when it got very close it changed into the shape of a man. It was the Mute Singer still holding his guitar. Then two angels floated out of the dark into my dream: they fell to their knees before the Mute Singer, kissing his hands while he gently touched their heads. It was like what I had often seen in old religious paintings.
I slept badly. I felt something heavy, and it was hurting me. I awoke and saw that I was holding too hard against my chest, the shell of a turtle. It was the turtle shell which the Mute Singer used as a beggar's cup for money. He gave it to me while he lay dying.
วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 15 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2551
[12] รวม 'คำคม' แห่งความสำเร็จ
ดับเบิ้ลคลิกคำศัพท์ที่ต้องการทราบความหมาย
Anthony Robbins
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's
greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending
commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move
mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may
sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their
dreams from those who live in regret.
Anthony Robbins
I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying
the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I
now enjoy.
Anthony Robbins
The path to success is to take massive, determined action.
Anthony Robbins
It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute... that gives
meaning to our lives.
Anthony Robbins
Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command
when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.
Anthony Robbins
Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most
people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate
what they can achieve in a decade!
Anthony Robbins
The path to success is to take massive, determined action.
Anthony Robbins
You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do
what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Anthony Robbins
Action is the foundational key to all success.
Anthony Robbins
I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually
laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of
living I now enjoy.
Anthony Robbins
It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that
determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on,
what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will
determine your ultimate destiny.
Anthony Robbins
Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, 'Here is an
opportunity for you to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own
ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary.'
Anthony Robbins
Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions,
and as a result, they get better answers.
Success in life is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is usually the
result of experience. Experience is usually the result of bad judgement.
Anthony Robbins
What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a
function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about
who we are.
Anthony Robbins
The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if:
Anthony Robbins
Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have
the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning
that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.
Anthony Robbins
I've continued to recognize the power individuals have to change virtually
anything and everything in their lives in an instant. I've learned that the
resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting
for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright.
Anthony Robbins
We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it's
not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it's how we interpret those
events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in
the future.
Anthony Robbins
You see, it's never the environment; it's never the events of our lives, but the
meaning we attach to the events -- how we interpret them -- that shapes who we
are today and who we'll become tomorrow.
Anthony Robbins
It's not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those
events mean.
Anthony Robbins
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's
greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending
commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move
mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may
sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their
dreams from those who live in regret.
Anthony Robbins
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our
focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through
life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
Anthony Robbins
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
Anthony Robbins
Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and
deliberately reshape your daily experience of life.
Anthony Robbins
You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most
important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now?
Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have
been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this
decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.
Anthony Robbins
All personal breakthroughs being with a change in beliefs. So how do we
change? The most effective way is to get your brain to associate massive pain
to the old belief. You must feel deep in your gut that not only has this belief
cost you pain in the past, but it's costing you in the present and, ultimately, can
only bring you pain in the future. Then you must associate tremendous pleasure
to the idea of adopting a new, empowering belief.
Anthony Robbins
It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Anthony Robbins
It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that
determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on,
what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will
determine your ultimate destiny.
Anthony Robbins
More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not the conditions of our
lives, that determine our destiny.
Anthony Robbins
The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure that
as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create momentum. The most
important rules that I ever adopted to help me in achieving my goals were those
I learned from a very successful man who taught me to first write down the
goal, and then to never leave the site of setting a goal without firs taking some
form of positive action toward its attainment.
Anthony Robbins
You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do
what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Anthony Robbins
Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed
decision.
Anthony Robbins
Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are
simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only
reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow.
Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it's
who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your
goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.
Anthony Robbins
You clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving,
1. You're willing to take massive action,
2. You notice what's working or not, and
3. You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want,
using whatever life gives you along the way.
Anthony Robbins
We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view
is accurate or not.
Anthony Robbins
If you can't, you must. If you must, you can.
Anthony Robbins
Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to
raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight
years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thin was changing
what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer
accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things
that I aspired to becoming.
Anthony Robbins
Stephen Covey
Between stimulus and response, one has the freedom to choose.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When
you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it--immediately.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent
will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The
power to choose, to respond, to change.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to
sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
Dr. Stephen Covey
If you're proactive, you don't have to wait for circumstances or other people to
create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your
own.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure
in other areas. But can it really?...True effectiveness requires balance.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are
consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our
character.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle
it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Management works in the system. Leadership works on the system.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity minded. They
feed opportunities and starve problems.
Dr. Stephen Covey
One of the best ways to educate our hearts is to look at our interaction with
other people, because our relationships with others are fundamentally a
reflection of our relationship with ourselves.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Begin with the end in mind.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the
world.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But
this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are - or as we are
conditioned to see it.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Brian Tracy
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
Brian Tracy
I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more
chances. Be more active. Show up more often.
Brian Tracy
All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what
their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day
toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
Brian Tracy
If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you
must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.
Brian Tracy
Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and
farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your
thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.
Brian Tracy
Look for the good in every person and every situation. You'll almost always
find it.
Brian Tracy
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to
you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something
bigger and better than your current situation.
Brian Tracy
Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or
make excuses.
Brian Tracy
Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives
you a 1,000 percent Return on Energy!
Brian Tracy
Develop the winning edge; small differences in your performance can lead to
large differences in your results.
Brian Tracy
Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.
Brian Tracy
Everything you do is triggered by an emotion of either desire or fear.
Brian Tracy
Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.
Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?"
Brian Tracy
The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers.
Brian Tracy
If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of attraction
that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to do to be successful.
If you admire successful people, you create a positive force field of attraction
that draws you toward becoming more and more like the kinds of people that
you want to be like.
Brian Tracy
Imagine no limitations; decide what's right and desirable before you decide
what's possible.
Brian Tracy
No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from
scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who
have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve
our goals.
Brian Tracy
Your biggest opportunity probably lies under your own feet, in your current
job, industry, education, experience or interests.
Brian Tracy
The only real limitation on your abilities is the level of your desires. If you
want it badly enough, there are no limits on what you can achieve.
Brian Tracy
The more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek
opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you
desire.
Brian Tracy
A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling
confidence and personal power.
Brian Tracy
Always choose the future over the past. What do we do now?
Brian Tracy
Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than
any other.
Brian Tracy
Today the greatest single source of wealth is between your ears.
Brian Tracy
The way you give your name to others is a measure of how much you like and
respect yourself.
Brian Tracy
The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order
to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for
success.
Brian Tracy
It doesn't matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are
going.
Brian Tracy
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
Brian Tracy
Whatever you believe with feeling becomes your reality.
Brian Tracy
You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude
toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather
than allowing it to master you.
Brian Tracy
The more credit you give away, the more will come back to you. The more you
help others, the more they will want to help you.
Brian Tracy
Success equals goals; all else is commentary.
Brian Tracy
Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing
difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is
simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.
Brian Tracy
Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing.
If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of very part
of your life.
Brian Tracy
Jim Rohn
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead,
failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.
Jim Rohn
Learn to help people with more than just their jobs: help them with their lives.
Jim Rohn
Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him,
now you have a motivated idiot.
Jim Rohn
Success is 20% skills and 80% strategy. You might know how to read, but
more importantly, what's your plan to read?
Jim Rohn
Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are.
Jim Rohn
Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person we become.
Jim Rohn
The best motivation is self-motivation. The guy says, "I wish someone would
come by and turn me on." What if they don't show up? You've got to have a
better plan for your life.
Jim Rohn
Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don't go to the ocean with
a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won't laugh at you.
Jim Rohn
Either you run the day or the day runs you.
Jim Rohn
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a
fortune.
Jim Rohn
You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are
they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me
saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And
most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big
question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by
change.
Jim Rohn
Attitude is your acceptance of the natural laws, or your rejection of the natural
laws.
Jim Rohn
If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree.
Jim Rohn
Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
Jim Rohn
The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and
light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.
Jim Rohn
The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you
become.
Jim Rohn
To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what
could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?
Jim Rohn
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances,
the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you
have charge of.
Jim Rohn
Mark Victor Hansen
Now is the only time there is. Make your now wow, your minutes miracles, and
your days pay. Your life will have been magnificently lived and invested, and
when you die you will have made a difference.
Mark Victor Hansen
End your day by privately looking directly into your eyes in the mirror and
saying, 'I love you!' Do this for thirty days and watch how you transform.
Mark Victor Hansen
Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but
first you have to believe.
Mark Victor Hansen
The more goals you set - the more goals you get.
Mark Victor Hansen
Predetermine the objectives you want to accomplish. Think big, act big and set
out to accomplish big results.
Mark Victor Hansen
With vision, every person, organization and country can flourish. The Bible
says, 'Without vision we perish.'
Mark Victor Hansen
Big goals get big results. No goals gets no results or somebody else's results.
Every liability is just an asset in hiding.
Mark Victor Hansen
Focused mind power is one of the strongest forces on earth.
Mark Victor Hansen
Predetermine the objectives you want to accomplish. Think big, act big and set
out to accomplish big results.
Mark Victor Hansen
Set too many goals and keep adding more goals. Goals have a tendency to be
realized all at once.
Mark Victor Hansen
The majority of people meet with failure because they lack the persistence to
create new plans to take the place of failed plans.
Mark Victor Hansen
Thoughts and ideas are the source of all wealth, success, material gain, all great
discoveries, inventions and achievements.
Mark Victor Hansen
You don't become enormously successful without encountering some really
interesting problems.
Mark Victor Hansen
Goals are new, forward-moving objectives. They magnetize you towards them.
It's time to stop tiptoeing around the pool and jump into the deep end, head
first. It's time to think big, want more and achieve it all!
Mark Victor Hansen
Dale Carnegie
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your
character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others
think you are.
Dale Carnegie
Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.
Dale Carnegie
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time
you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well,
the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
Dale Carnegie
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
Dale Carnegie
Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get
interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds
of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.
Dale Carnegie
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the
surest stepping stones to success.
Dale Carnegie
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest
way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.
Dale Carnegie
If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work.
Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming
impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.
Dale Carnegie
It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing
that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
Dale Carnegie
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people
who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie
Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it
depends solely on what you think.
Dale Carnegie
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.
Dale Carnegie
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the
one who is willing to do and dare.
Dale Carnegie
The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different
way.
Dale Carnegie
NAPOLEON HILL
The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or
coming back with excuses.
Napoleon Hill
Action is the real measure of intelligence.
Napoleon Hill
Do it now! can affect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you
should do but don't feel like doing. It can keep you from procrastinating when
an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you do those things that you
want to do. It helps you seize those precious moments that, if lost, may never
be retrieved.
Napoleon Hill
Do not wait; the time will never be ''just right.'' Start where you stand, and work
with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be
found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill
The world has the habit of making room for the man whose actions show that
he knows where he is going.
Napoleon Hill
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an
equal or greater benefit.
Napoleon Hill
What ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
Napoleon Hill
The jack-of-all-trades seldom is good at any. Concentrate all of your efforts on
one definite chief aim.
Napoleon Hill
The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm
and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is
compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the
scorching sun.
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
Napoleon Hill
Who said it could not be done? And tell me what great victories does he have to
his credit which qualifies him to judge what can and can't be accomplished.
Napoleon Hill
Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a
keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.
Napoleon Hill
Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the
blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
Napoleon Hill
When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild
those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
Napoleon Hill
Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you
will be drawn toward it.
If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.
The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.
Napoleon Hill
Until you have learned to be tolerant with those who do not always agree with
you; until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those
whom you do not admire; until you have formed the habit of looking for the
good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor
happy.
Napoleon Hill
You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-
lost record of the referee.
Napoleon Hill
The battle is all over except the "shouting" when one knows what is wanted
and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.
Napoleon Hill
There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of
purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.
Napoleon Hill
Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to cut all sources of
retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind
known as a burning desire to win -- essential to success.
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to
succeed.
Napoleon Hill
Robert T. Kiyosaki
Please take note, Robert Kiyosaki's quotes are based from his Rich Dad book
series. If you have not read his books yet, you may not catch some of his
meanings behind the quotes. I would extremely advise you to read Rich Dad
Poor Dad. I had personally met up with Robert last time and learn a lot from
his books. By the way, you can get his book at bookstores near your place.
Your most expensive advice is the free advice you receive from your
financially struggling friends or relatives.
Robert Kiyosaki
Average investors are on the outside trying to look into the inside of the
company or property they are investing in.
Robert Kiyosaki
It's the investor who is risky, not the investment.
Robert Kiyosaki
The idea of working all your life, saving, and putting money into a retirement
account is a very slow plan.
Robert Kiyosaki
If you don't first handle fear and desire, and you get rich, you'll only be a high-
pay slave.
Robert Kiyosaki
To gain more abundance a person needs more skills and needs to be more
creative and cooperative.
Robert Kiyosaki
A business with a defined mission, a determined leader, and a qualified and
unified team begins to take shape as the sections of the B-I Triangle come
together. This is when the B-I Triangle becomes three-dimensional and turns
into a tetrahedron.
Robert Kiyosaki
One of the reasons I do not need a job or a paycheck is because rich dad trained
me to make money from nothing.
As you increase the number of investor controls you possess, you continue to
reduce your risk in the investment.
Robert Kiyosaki
The unique ability to take decisive action while maintaining focus on the
ultimate mission is what defines a true leader.
Robert Kiyosaki
The more simple you can make this subject (investing), the richer you can
become while reducing risk. But the challenge for most people is to invest the
time.
Robert Kiyosaki
Instead of labeling and discriminating against one or the other, we need to learn
to blend our gifts and complement our geniuses.
Robert Kiyosaki
There are many people who have big plans but their big plans never come true.
The reason is, too many people have big plans but fail to keep their small
agreements.
Robert Kiyosaki
By asking the question "How can I afford it?" your brain is put to work.
Robert Kiyosaki
Just as a fisherman must watch the ebb and flow of the tides, an investor and
businessperson must be keenly aware of the subtle shifts in cash flow.
Robert Kiyosaki
You can invest with less risk and make more money in the stock market. All
you have to do is not be an average investor. Intelligence is the ability to make
finer distinctions.
Robert Kiyosaki
So where in the old economy, content was king, in the new economy, context is
king.
Robert Kiyosaki
The biggest challenge you have is to challenge your own self-doubt and your
laziness.
Robert Kiyosaki
The word accounting comes from the word accountability. If you are going to
be rich, you need to be accountable for your money.
Robert Kiyosaki
If you want to retire young and retire rich, it is very important that your money
be like a bird dog, going out every day and bringing home more and more
assets.
Robert Kiyosaki
The boundaries of a person's reality often do not change until that person
forsakes what he or she feels confident in and then goes blindly with faith.
Robert Kiyosaki
One of the main reasons people are not rich is that they worry too much about
things that might never happen.
Robert Kiyosaki
A Little Inspirational Story To Share …
A Magic Lesson To Success
There was some time ago, in a city, there lived a couple who have a comfortable
life. Both of them are living happily married. They have a secure job, own a
house, car and those common needs you can imagine.
Basically, this couple does not need to worry much about their financial or
relationship needs. But after living the same life style for years, they realized that
their life seems to be so routine! It is so predictable that it seems like something is
missing for both of them.
Everyday, they wake up in the morning, go to work, come back from work, go
home, eat dinner (sometimes they have to dine outside) watch tv, wash car and go
back to sleep. The normal, typical daily stuff. With the money they earned
everyday, it would not be possible for them to go on vacation overseas a lot, go
safaris in Africa or take flying lessons. You know, the lifestyle of the richer group
for whom spending money is not a main concern.
What is missing!!? Their passion in life….
This is because they have not sought the passion in their life and with their current
financial situation, this is the type of enjoyment they can afford to spend on.
So one day, the wife voiced out that she has had enough; enough is enough of this
meaningless life, they need to find their passion in life, to enjoy life to the fullest
and be better off financially. They know they can achieve more, but do not know
why they are not achieving more. Achieving does not mean that they have to be
millionaires, but in every other aspects of life. The husband agreed, and so they set
off to find a better lifestyle and seek the passion for their life.
And amazingly, the husband is told by a successful friend of his, that there is a
magical success guru living in a far, far away land, on top of the highest mountain
where there is a cave. The guru lives in that cave.
The husband is excited with this news, and so after much discussion with his wife,
they make a decision. They decide to seek advice from the guru for the secrets of
success. They take their company leaves, save some money for traveling and off
they go.
After months of searching high and low with their determination to seek the
answer, finally they find the mountain where the guru lives.
Excited as they are, they make their climbs to the peak of the mountain. It is very
hard and tedious, but it is worth the effort. Finally, they are at the peak.
Overseeing the view of the world from the top of the mountain, they feel so
confident and a peace of mind. Now, their task is to find the guru. The hard part is:
Where could he be? They think.
Suddenly, they see an old man, sitting at the end of the mountain rock. It seems
very dangerous to sit there, because anyone can fall off anytime down the
mountain and break all the bones. Of course, anyone who falls off will probably
end up dead with broken bones.
So, the wife whispers to the guru, 'Excuse me, old man, are you the magical
success guru that helps people to be successful?'
The guru seems not to be hearing her whisper. He is still sitting quietly at the end
of the mountain rock without any movement.
The wife whispers again. Then, the old man turns around and stands up at the end
of the mountain rock. This is even more dangerous now, because anyone can lose
balance and fall off!
'Be careful, o'wise guru! You can fall down from the mountain rock if you stand
so near at the end of the edge!' they warn.
But the guru simply ignores what they say. In fact, he replies, 'If you want to speak
with me and learn from me, you have to come closer. Come and stand beside me
at the end of the mountain rock, my students-to-be.'
If they want to learn the secrets of success from the guru, they have to follow his
instruction. With a lot of fear, they come close to the guru. Now, the Guru is
standing in the middle with both of them standing on the left and right side of the
Guru. All 3 of them are facing outwards of the mountain, they are facing the down
slope of the mountain over looking the top of the world . They can fall down the
mountain at any time if they are not careful. The husband's and wife's hearts are
panting non-stop.
At this moment they feel so different, a feeling they never felt before, peace of
mind and yet full of anxiety. Looking down the land, they feel really confident.
And also a little bit afraid of falling off. It will break their bones if they fall down
the mountain.
The husband is thinking, 'Now what?'.
So, he asks the guru the million-dollar question,
'What is the secret of success, o'wise guru?'
The guru just smiles at them and replies, 'Look at the world beyond below, from
here.'
Following the instruction, both of them did as instructed, looking at the world
from the top of the mountain. They can see almost everything from the peak of the
mountain.
Suddenly, the guru pushes them off the mountain peak!! Unbelievable!
(Sad conclusion??)
Both of them fall.
When they fall, with so much fear of death, suddenly, they realize that they can
fly! And they fly…… because they have forgotten that they can fly all this
while...........
By Patric Chan
-------------------------------------------The End----------------------------------------------
Please take some time to digest the meaning of the story above,
and think what lessons are hidden behind the story.
Some people can 'fly' but they had forgotten how to 'fly'.
So they forgot.
Some people completely do not know they can 'fly'.
So they never did
Some people had 'flown' before, but forgot how to.
So they never remembered.
Some people know they can fly, but never try because they
are surrounded by F-E-A-R.
So they quit.
Some people want to see others 'fly' first before they 'fly'.
So they waited.
Some people wait for a mentor to teach them how to fly.
So they waited.
Some people 'flew' before and fell down, so they claimed
that 'flying' is dangerous and useless. So they whined and quitted.
But, some people are 'flying' everyday, looking from below the
sky, overseeing everyone who is not 'flying' just because they
took a step to fly……
I had taken my 'flying' lessons and fell many times.
But now, I have discovered my wings again.
Have you started 'flying' yet?
If you find this ebook inspirational and had help you in
any ways, I would appreciate it very much if you can send
a testimonial of what you feel about this book to me at
mailto:patric@esuccessmastery.com
In return, I would like to offer my sincere opinions and advice
if you have any questions you are seeking in success.
I may not reply you instantly due to the many emails I received, but I
Will try my very best to reply you.
Put your ideas and knowledge to work now, this very instant and
take massive action to achieve success!!
Resources
If you would like to know more about all the success coach information and
biography, all of their websites is provided here. This is how I would like to thank
them for creating such amazing quotes and articles to inspire you and me.
In name alphabetical order:
Anthony Robbins
http://www.anthonyrobbins.com
Brian Tracy
http://www.briantracy.com
Dale Carnegie
http://www.dalecarnegie.com
Dr. Steven Covey
http://www.franklincovey.com
Jim Rohn
http://www.jimrohn.com
Mark Victor Hansen
http://www.markvictorhansen.com
Napoleon Hill
http://www.naphill.org
Robert T Kiyosaki
http://www.richdad.com
Anthony Robbins
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's
greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending
commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move
mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may
sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their
dreams from those who live in regret.
Anthony Robbins
I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying
the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I
now enjoy.
Anthony Robbins
The path to success is to take massive, determined action.
Anthony Robbins
It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute... that gives
meaning to our lives.
Anthony Robbins
Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command
when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.
Anthony Robbins
Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most
people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate
what they can achieve in a decade!
Anthony Robbins
The path to success is to take massive, determined action.
Anthony Robbins
You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do
what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Anthony Robbins
Action is the foundational key to all success.
Anthony Robbins
I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually
laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of
living I now enjoy.
Anthony Robbins
It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that
determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on,
what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will
determine your ultimate destiny.
Anthony Robbins
Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, 'Here is an
opportunity for you to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own
ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary.'
Anthony Robbins
Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions,
and as a result, they get better answers.
Success in life is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is usually the
result of experience. Experience is usually the result of bad judgement.
Anthony Robbins
What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a
function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about
who we are.
Anthony Robbins
The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if:
Anthony Robbins
Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have
the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning
that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.
Anthony Robbins
I've continued to recognize the power individuals have to change virtually
anything and everything in their lives in an instant. I've learned that the
resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting
for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright.
Anthony Robbins
We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it's
not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it's how we interpret those
events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in
the future.
Anthony Robbins
You see, it's never the environment; it's never the events of our lives, but the
meaning we attach to the events -- how we interpret them -- that shapes who we
are today and who we'll become tomorrow.
Anthony Robbins
It's not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those
events mean.
Anthony Robbins
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's
greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending
commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move
mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may
sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their
dreams from those who live in regret.
Anthony Robbins
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our
focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through
life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
Anthony Robbins
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
Anthony Robbins
Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and
deliberately reshape your daily experience of life.
Anthony Robbins
You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most
important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now?
Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have
been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this
decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.
Anthony Robbins
All personal breakthroughs being with a change in beliefs. So how do we
change? The most effective way is to get your brain to associate massive pain
to the old belief. You must feel deep in your gut that not only has this belief
cost you pain in the past, but it's costing you in the present and, ultimately, can
only bring you pain in the future. Then you must associate tremendous pleasure
to the idea of adopting a new, empowering belief.
Anthony Robbins
It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Anthony Robbins
It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that
determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on,
what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will
determine your ultimate destiny.
Anthony Robbins
More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not the conditions of our
lives, that determine our destiny.
Anthony Robbins
The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure that
as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create momentum. The most
important rules that I ever adopted to help me in achieving my goals were those
I learned from a very successful man who taught me to first write down the
goal, and then to never leave the site of setting a goal without firs taking some
form of positive action toward its attainment.
Anthony Robbins
You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do
what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Anthony Robbins
Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed
decision.
Anthony Robbins
Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are
simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only
reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow.
Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it's
who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your
goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.
Anthony Robbins
You clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving,
1. You're willing to take massive action,
2. You notice what's working or not, and
3. You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want,
using whatever life gives you along the way.
Anthony Robbins
We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view
is accurate or not.
Anthony Robbins
If you can't, you must. If you must, you can.
Anthony Robbins
Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to
raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight
years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thin was changing
what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer
accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things
that I aspired to becoming.
Anthony Robbins
Stephen Covey
Between stimulus and response, one has the freedom to choose.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When
you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it--immediately.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent
will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The
power to choose, to respond, to change.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to
sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
Dr. Stephen Covey
If you're proactive, you don't have to wait for circumstances or other people to
create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your
own.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure
in other areas. But can it really?...True effectiveness requires balance.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are
consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our
character.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle
it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Management works in the system. Leadership works on the system.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity minded. They
feed opportunities and starve problems.
Dr. Stephen Covey
One of the best ways to educate our hearts is to look at our interaction with
other people, because our relationships with others are fundamentally a
reflection of our relationship with ourselves.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Begin with the end in mind.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the
world.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But
this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are - or as we are
conditioned to see it.
Dr. Stephen Covey
Brian Tracy
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
Brian Tracy
I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more
chances. Be more active. Show up more often.
Brian Tracy
All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what
their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day
toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
Brian Tracy
If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you
must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.
Brian Tracy
Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and
farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your
thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.
Brian Tracy
Look for the good in every person and every situation. You'll almost always
find it.
Brian Tracy
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to
you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something
bigger and better than your current situation.
Brian Tracy
Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or
make excuses.
Brian Tracy
Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives
you a 1,000 percent Return on Energy!
Brian Tracy
Develop the winning edge; small differences in your performance can lead to
large differences in your results.
Brian Tracy
Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.
Brian Tracy
Everything you do is triggered by an emotion of either desire or fear.
Brian Tracy
Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.
Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?"
Brian Tracy
The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers.
Brian Tracy
If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of attraction
that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to do to be successful.
If you admire successful people, you create a positive force field of attraction
that draws you toward becoming more and more like the kinds of people that
you want to be like.
Brian Tracy
Imagine no limitations; decide what's right and desirable before you decide
what's possible.
Brian Tracy
No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from
scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who
have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve
our goals.
Brian Tracy
Your biggest opportunity probably lies under your own feet, in your current
job, industry, education, experience or interests.
Brian Tracy
The only real limitation on your abilities is the level of your desires. If you
want it badly enough, there are no limits on what you can achieve.
Brian Tracy
The more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek
opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you
desire.
Brian Tracy
A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling
confidence and personal power.
Brian Tracy
Always choose the future over the past. What do we do now?
Brian Tracy
Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than
any other.
Brian Tracy
Today the greatest single source of wealth is between your ears.
Brian Tracy
The way you give your name to others is a measure of how much you like and
respect yourself.
Brian Tracy
The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order
to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for
success.
Brian Tracy
It doesn't matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are
going.
Brian Tracy
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
Brian Tracy
Whatever you believe with feeling becomes your reality.
Brian Tracy
You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude
toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather
than allowing it to master you.
Brian Tracy
The more credit you give away, the more will come back to you. The more you
help others, the more they will want to help you.
Brian Tracy
Success equals goals; all else is commentary.
Brian Tracy
Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing
difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is
simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.
Brian Tracy
Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing.
If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of very part
of your life.
Brian Tracy
Jim Rohn
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead,
failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.
Jim Rohn
Learn to help people with more than just their jobs: help them with their lives.
Jim Rohn
Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him,
now you have a motivated idiot.
Jim Rohn
Success is 20% skills and 80% strategy. You might know how to read, but
more importantly, what's your plan to read?
Jim Rohn
Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are.
Jim Rohn
Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person we become.
Jim Rohn
The best motivation is self-motivation. The guy says, "I wish someone would
come by and turn me on." What if they don't show up? You've got to have a
better plan for your life.
Jim Rohn
Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don't go to the ocean with
a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won't laugh at you.
Jim Rohn
Either you run the day or the day runs you.
Jim Rohn
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a
fortune.
Jim Rohn
You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are
they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me
saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And
most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big
question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by
change.
Jim Rohn
Attitude is your acceptance of the natural laws, or your rejection of the natural
laws.
Jim Rohn
If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree.
Jim Rohn
Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
Jim Rohn
The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and
light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.
Jim Rohn
The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you
become.
Jim Rohn
To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what
could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?
Jim Rohn
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances,
the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you
have charge of.
Jim Rohn
Mark Victor Hansen
Now is the only time there is. Make your now wow, your minutes miracles, and
your days pay. Your life will have been magnificently lived and invested, and
when you die you will have made a difference.
Mark Victor Hansen
End your day by privately looking directly into your eyes in the mirror and
saying, 'I love you!' Do this for thirty days and watch how you transform.
Mark Victor Hansen
Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but
first you have to believe.
Mark Victor Hansen
The more goals you set - the more goals you get.
Mark Victor Hansen
Predetermine the objectives you want to accomplish. Think big, act big and set
out to accomplish big results.
Mark Victor Hansen
With vision, every person, organization and country can flourish. The Bible
says, 'Without vision we perish.'
Mark Victor Hansen
Big goals get big results. No goals gets no results or somebody else's results.
Every liability is just an asset in hiding.
Mark Victor Hansen
Focused mind power is one of the strongest forces on earth.
Mark Victor Hansen
Predetermine the objectives you want to accomplish. Think big, act big and set
out to accomplish big results.
Mark Victor Hansen
Set too many goals and keep adding more goals. Goals have a tendency to be
realized all at once.
Mark Victor Hansen
The majority of people meet with failure because they lack the persistence to
create new plans to take the place of failed plans.
Mark Victor Hansen
Thoughts and ideas are the source of all wealth, success, material gain, all great
discoveries, inventions and achievements.
Mark Victor Hansen
You don't become enormously successful without encountering some really
interesting problems.
Mark Victor Hansen
Goals are new, forward-moving objectives. They magnetize you towards them.
It's time to stop tiptoeing around the pool and jump into the deep end, head
first. It's time to think big, want more and achieve it all!
Mark Victor Hansen
Dale Carnegie
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your
character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others
think you are.
Dale Carnegie
Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.
Dale Carnegie
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time
you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well,
the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
Dale Carnegie
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
Dale Carnegie
Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get
interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds
of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.
Dale Carnegie
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the
surest stepping stones to success.
Dale Carnegie
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest
way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.
Dale Carnegie
If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work.
Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming
impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.
Dale Carnegie
It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing
that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
Dale Carnegie
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people
who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie
Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it
depends solely on what you think.
Dale Carnegie
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.
Dale Carnegie
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the
one who is willing to do and dare.
Dale Carnegie
The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different
way.
Dale Carnegie
NAPOLEON HILL
The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or
coming back with excuses.
Napoleon Hill
Action is the real measure of intelligence.
Napoleon Hill
Do it now! can affect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you
should do but don't feel like doing. It can keep you from procrastinating when
an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you do those things that you
want to do. It helps you seize those precious moments that, if lost, may never
be retrieved.
Napoleon Hill
Do not wait; the time will never be ''just right.'' Start where you stand, and work
with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be
found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill
The world has the habit of making room for the man whose actions show that
he knows where he is going.
Napoleon Hill
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an
equal or greater benefit.
Napoleon Hill
What ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
Napoleon Hill
The jack-of-all-trades seldom is good at any. Concentrate all of your efforts on
one definite chief aim.
Napoleon Hill
The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm
and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is
compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the
scorching sun.
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
Napoleon Hill
Who said it could not be done? And tell me what great victories does he have to
his credit which qualifies him to judge what can and can't be accomplished.
Napoleon Hill
Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a
keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.
Napoleon Hill
Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the
blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
Napoleon Hill
When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild
those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
Napoleon Hill
Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you
will be drawn toward it.
If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.
The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.
Napoleon Hill
Until you have learned to be tolerant with those who do not always agree with
you; until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those
whom you do not admire; until you have formed the habit of looking for the
good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor
happy.
Napoleon Hill
You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-
lost record of the referee.
Napoleon Hill
The battle is all over except the "shouting" when one knows what is wanted
and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.
Napoleon Hill
There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of
purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.
Napoleon Hill
Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to cut all sources of
retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind
known as a burning desire to win -- essential to success.
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to
succeed.
Napoleon Hill
Robert T. Kiyosaki
Please take note, Robert Kiyosaki's quotes are based from his Rich Dad book
series. If you have not read his books yet, you may not catch some of his
meanings behind the quotes. I would extremely advise you to read Rich Dad
Poor Dad. I had personally met up with Robert last time and learn a lot from
his books. By the way, you can get his book at bookstores near your place.
Your most expensive advice is the free advice you receive from your
financially struggling friends or relatives.
Robert Kiyosaki
Average investors are on the outside trying to look into the inside of the
company or property they are investing in.
Robert Kiyosaki
It's the investor who is risky, not the investment.
Robert Kiyosaki
The idea of working all your life, saving, and putting money into a retirement
account is a very slow plan.
Robert Kiyosaki
If you don't first handle fear and desire, and you get rich, you'll only be a high-
pay slave.
Robert Kiyosaki
To gain more abundance a person needs more skills and needs to be more
creative and cooperative.
Robert Kiyosaki
A business with a defined mission, a determined leader, and a qualified and
unified team begins to take shape as the sections of the B-I Triangle come
together. This is when the B-I Triangle becomes three-dimensional and turns
into a tetrahedron.
Robert Kiyosaki
One of the reasons I do not need a job or a paycheck is because rich dad trained
me to make money from nothing.
As you increase the number of investor controls you possess, you continue to
reduce your risk in the investment.
Robert Kiyosaki
The unique ability to take decisive action while maintaining focus on the
ultimate mission is what defines a true leader.
Robert Kiyosaki
The more simple you can make this subject (investing), the richer you can
become while reducing risk. But the challenge for most people is to invest the
time.
Robert Kiyosaki
Instead of labeling and discriminating against one or the other, we need to learn
to blend our gifts and complement our geniuses.
Robert Kiyosaki
There are many people who have big plans but their big plans never come true.
The reason is, too many people have big plans but fail to keep their small
agreements.
Robert Kiyosaki
By asking the question "How can I afford it?" your brain is put to work.
Robert Kiyosaki
Just as a fisherman must watch the ebb and flow of the tides, an investor and
businessperson must be keenly aware of the subtle shifts in cash flow.
Robert Kiyosaki
You can invest with less risk and make more money in the stock market. All
you have to do is not be an average investor. Intelligence is the ability to make
finer distinctions.
Robert Kiyosaki
So where in the old economy, content was king, in the new economy, context is
king.
Robert Kiyosaki
The biggest challenge you have is to challenge your own self-doubt and your
laziness.
Robert Kiyosaki
The word accounting comes from the word accountability. If you are going to
be rich, you need to be accountable for your money.
Robert Kiyosaki
If you want to retire young and retire rich, it is very important that your money
be like a bird dog, going out every day and bringing home more and more
assets.
Robert Kiyosaki
The boundaries of a person's reality often do not change until that person
forsakes what he or she feels confident in and then goes blindly with faith.
Robert Kiyosaki
One of the main reasons people are not rich is that they worry too much about
things that might never happen.
Robert Kiyosaki
A Little Inspirational Story To Share …
A Magic Lesson To Success
There was some time ago, in a city, there lived a couple who have a comfortable
life. Both of them are living happily married. They have a secure job, own a
house, car and those common needs you can imagine.
Basically, this couple does not need to worry much about their financial or
relationship needs. But after living the same life style for years, they realized that
their life seems to be so routine! It is so predictable that it seems like something is
missing for both of them.
Everyday, they wake up in the morning, go to work, come back from work, go
home, eat dinner (sometimes they have to dine outside) watch tv, wash car and go
back to sleep. The normal, typical daily stuff. With the money they earned
everyday, it would not be possible for them to go on vacation overseas a lot, go
safaris in Africa or take flying lessons. You know, the lifestyle of the richer group
for whom spending money is not a main concern.
What is missing!!? Their passion in life….
This is because they have not sought the passion in their life and with their current
financial situation, this is the type of enjoyment they can afford to spend on.
So one day, the wife voiced out that she has had enough; enough is enough of this
meaningless life, they need to find their passion in life, to enjoy life to the fullest
and be better off financially. They know they can achieve more, but do not know
why they are not achieving more. Achieving does not mean that they have to be
millionaires, but in every other aspects of life. The husband agreed, and so they set
off to find a better lifestyle and seek the passion for their life.
And amazingly, the husband is told by a successful friend of his, that there is a
magical success guru living in a far, far away land, on top of the highest mountain
where there is a cave. The guru lives in that cave.
The husband is excited with this news, and so after much discussion with his wife,
they make a decision. They decide to seek advice from the guru for the secrets of
success. They take their company leaves, save some money for traveling and off
they go.
After months of searching high and low with their determination to seek the
answer, finally they find the mountain where the guru lives.
Excited as they are, they make their climbs to the peak of the mountain. It is very
hard and tedious, but it is worth the effort. Finally, they are at the peak.
Overseeing the view of the world from the top of the mountain, they feel so
confident and a peace of mind. Now, their task is to find the guru. The hard part is:
Where could he be? They think.
Suddenly, they see an old man, sitting at the end of the mountain rock. It seems
very dangerous to sit there, because anyone can fall off anytime down the
mountain and break all the bones. Of course, anyone who falls off will probably
end up dead with broken bones.
So, the wife whispers to the guru, 'Excuse me, old man, are you the magical
success guru that helps people to be successful?'
The guru seems not to be hearing her whisper. He is still sitting quietly at the end
of the mountain rock without any movement.
The wife whispers again. Then, the old man turns around and stands up at the end
of the mountain rock. This is even more dangerous now, because anyone can lose
balance and fall off!
'Be careful, o'wise guru! You can fall down from the mountain rock if you stand
so near at the end of the edge!' they warn.
But the guru simply ignores what they say. In fact, he replies, 'If you want to speak
with me and learn from me, you have to come closer. Come and stand beside me
at the end of the mountain rock, my students-to-be.'
If they want to learn the secrets of success from the guru, they have to follow his
instruction. With a lot of fear, they come close to the guru. Now, the Guru is
standing in the middle with both of them standing on the left and right side of the
Guru. All 3 of them are facing outwards of the mountain, they are facing the down
slope of the mountain over looking the top of the world . They can fall down the
mountain at any time if they are not careful. The husband's and wife's hearts are
panting non-stop.
At this moment they feel so different, a feeling they never felt before, peace of
mind and yet full of anxiety. Looking down the land, they feel really confident.
And also a little bit afraid of falling off. It will break their bones if they fall down
the mountain.
The husband is thinking, 'Now what?'.
So, he asks the guru the million-dollar question,
'What is the secret of success, o'wise guru?'
The guru just smiles at them and replies, 'Look at the world beyond below, from
here.'
Following the instruction, both of them did as instructed, looking at the world
from the top of the mountain. They can see almost everything from the peak of the
mountain.
Suddenly, the guru pushes them off the mountain peak!! Unbelievable!
(Sad conclusion??)
Both of them fall.
When they fall, with so much fear of death, suddenly, they realize that they can
fly! And they fly…… because they have forgotten that they can fly all this
while...........
By Patric Chan
-------------------------------------------The End----------------------------------------------
Please take some time to digest the meaning of the story above,
and think what lessons are hidden behind the story.
Some people can 'fly' but they had forgotten how to 'fly'.
So they forgot.
Some people completely do not know they can 'fly'.
So they never did
Some people had 'flown' before, but forgot how to.
So they never remembered.
Some people know they can fly, but never try because they
are surrounded by F-E-A-R.
So they quit.
Some people want to see others 'fly' first before they 'fly'.
So they waited.
Some people wait for a mentor to teach them how to fly.
So they waited.
Some people 'flew' before and fell down, so they claimed
that 'flying' is dangerous and useless. So they whined and quitted.
But, some people are 'flying' everyday, looking from below the
sky, overseeing everyone who is not 'flying' just because they
took a step to fly……
I had taken my 'flying' lessons and fell many times.
But now, I have discovered my wings again.
Have you started 'flying' yet?
If you find this ebook inspirational and had help you in
any ways, I would appreciate it very much if you can send
a testimonial of what you feel about this book to me at
mailto:patric@esuccessmastery.com
In return, I would like to offer my sincere opinions and advice
if you have any questions you are seeking in success.
I may not reply you instantly due to the many emails I received, but I
Will try my very best to reply you.
Put your ideas and knowledge to work now, this very instant and
take massive action to achieve success!!
Resources
If you would like to know more about all the success coach information and
biography, all of their websites is provided here. This is how I would like to thank
them for creating such amazing quotes and articles to inspire you and me.
In name alphabetical order:
Anthony Robbins
http://www.anthonyrobbins.com
Brian Tracy
http://www.briantracy.com
Dale Carnegie
http://www.dalecarnegie.com
Dr. Steven Covey
http://www.franklincovey.com
Jim Rohn
http://www.jimrohn.com
Mark Victor Hansen
http://www.markvictorhansen.com
Napoleon Hill
http://www.naphill.org
Robert T Kiyosaki
http://www.richdad.com
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