BE A LAMP UNTO YOURSELF
From
Joseph Goldstein in The Experience of Light
As the Buddha was dying, Ananda asked
who would be their teacher after death.
He replied to his disciples
“Be lamps unto yourselves.
Be refuges unto yourselves.
Take yourself no external refuge.
Hold fast to the truth as a lamp.
Hold fast to the truth as a refuge
Look not for a refuge in anyone besides yourselves.
And those, Ananda, who either now or after I am dead,
Shall be a lamp unto themselves,
Shall betake themselves as no external refuge,
But holding fast to the turn as their lamp,
Holding fast to the truth as their refuge,
shall not look for refuge to anyone else besides themselves.
It is they who shall reach to the very topmost height;
But the must be anxious to learn.”
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
TEACHER
Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and loving-kindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization’s guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. MORE
The Standing Buddha above is courtesy of The Buddha Gallery.com.
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