This quote from the great early American writer, Henry David Thoreau sounds very similar to something you'd hear said in Buddhism. Perhaps the similarity stems from Thoreau's transcendental beliefs. IMAGE CREDIT: www.quotablecards.com
~I bow to the Buddha within all beings~
12 comments:
We find similar observation in ancient Greek thinking.
Great quote. I think somewhere down the road, anyone who spends as much time with nature as Thoreau eventually reaches a Buddhist mindset :)
I often thought so too, when I read Thoreau.
It would be interesting to know if he came across such thinking on his own ? or whether he had some exposure with Eastern philosophy prior to his writing.
Either way I liked it , felt like Tao to me also.
Such a true sentiment. So many things are destroyed by our chase of them. It's hard though. I want to learn to live in the present moment, but I can't chase it. What can I do? If I keep doing what I am doing right now, I will continue doing what I'm doing.. which isn't living in the present moment.
Thoreau did study Buddhism! As did Emerson and Nietzche, and Nietzche studied Emerson and Thoreau but I don't know if they knew about Nietzche...
New to the practice, I wonder exactly why it costs anything?
http://arouda.blogspot.com/2012/02/fledgling-buddhist-seeks-downward.html
Apparently, Thoreau had the largest collection of Buddhist texts in America in the 1800s.
Thoreau is a favorite author of mine. Thank you for posting the quote. I've wondered if the similarities in Eastern and Western thinking all derive from Solomon? R. E. Sherman writes about that in Buddha and Jesus" Could Solomon Be the Missing Link"
Anon.
"monkey chases butterfly and
fatigues its weary mind"
Nice quote
rbThoreau translated the Lotus Sutra from French into English, to be more specific. I don't believe his practicing Buddhism is clear; however, he did take an interest in it.
This quote is by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
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