Helena Roerich Quotes

Said the Blessed One, “Distinguish between those who understand and those who agree. He who understands the Teaching will not tarry in applying it to life, he who agrees will nod and extol the Teaching as remarkable wisdom, but will not apply this wisdom to life. There are many who have agreed, but they are like a withered forest, fruitless and without shade. Only decay awaits them. Those who understand are few, but like a sponge they absorb the precious knowledge and are ready to cleanse the horrors of the world with the precious liquid. He who has understood cannot help applying the Teaching, because realizing goal-fitness he accepts it as a solution of life. Do not waste much time with the agreeing ones. Let them first demonstrate the application of the first call.”
Thus is attributed to the Blessed One the goal-fitting attitude to newcomers.

The future Buddha, Maitreya, as his name indicates, is the Buddha of compassion and love. This Bodhisattva, according to the power of his qualities, is often called Ajita—the Invincible.

... the Blessed One said to Ananda, ‘I am not the first Buddha who has come upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, embracing the Universe, an incomparable leader of men, a ruler of devas and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal truths, that I have taught you. He will establish his Law, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax, and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter. He will proclaim a righteous life, wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands while mine number many hundreds.’ “Ananda said, ‘How shall we know him?’ “The Blessed One said, ‘He will be known as Maitreya!’ ”

Buddha, directing all possibilities toward the affirmation of evolution, bade his disciples venerate the future Buddhas more than the Buddhas of the past. “Thus as the new moon is worshipped more than the full moon, so those who have faith in Me must reverence Bodhisattvas more than Buddhas.” History has not revealed to us elsewhere such a living example of self-denial. According to tradition, the Blessed One preordained the Bodhisattva Maitreya as his successor.

No teaching foresaw the future with such precision as Buddhism. Parallel with reverence for Buddha, Buddhism develops the veneration of Bodhisattvas—future Buddhas. According to the tradition, Gotama, before reaching the state of Buddha, had been a Bodhisattva for many centuries. The word Bodhisattva comprises two concepts: Bodhi—enlightenment or awakening, and Sattva—the essence. Who are these Bodhisattvas? The disciples of Buddhas, who voluntarily have renounced their personal liberation and, following the example of their Teachers, have entered upon a long, weary, thorny path of help to humanity. Such Bodhisattvas appear on Earth in the midst of the most varying conditions of life. Physically indistinguishable in any way from the rest of humanity, they differ completely in their psychology, constantly being the heralds of the principle of the common welfare.

Hundreds of millions of worshippers of Buddha are scattered throughout the world and each of them affirms: “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Teaching, I take refuge in the Sangha.”

Buddha disputed the conventional conception of God. Buddha denied the existence of an eternal and immutable soul. Buddha gave the teaching for every day. Buddha struggled forcefully against possessions. Buddha fought personally against the fanaticism of castes and the privileges of the classes. Buddha affirmed experienced, trustworthy knowledge and the value of labor. Buddha bade the study of the life of the Universe in its full reality. Buddha laid the foundations of the community, foreseeing the victory of the World Community.

Understanding the Teaching of Buddha, you realize whence emanates the assertion of the Buddhists — “Buddha is a man.” His teaching of Life is above all and every prejudice. The temple does not exist for him, but there is a place of assembly and a home of knowledge—the Tibetan du-khang and tsug-lag-khang.

Let us construct the foundations of Buddhism in its manifested covenants. The simple Teaching, equal in beauty to the Cosmos, will dispel every suggestion of idolatry, unworthy of the great Teacher of men. Knowledge was the leading path of all great Teachers. Knowledge will permit a free and vital approach to the great Teaching, as vitally real as is great Matter itself. We shall not introduce the latest complexities; we shall speak briefly about those foundations that cannot be denied. Joy to all peoples! Joy to all those who labor!

The law of fearlessness, the law of the renunciation of property, the law of the evaluation of labor, the law of the dignity of human personality, beyond castes and outer distinctions, the law of true knowledge, the law of love based upon self-knowledge, make of the covenants of the Teachers a continuous rainbow of the joy of humanity.

The Great Gotama gave to the world a complete Teaching of the perfect construction of life. Each attempt to make a god of the great revolutionist, leads to absurdity. Previous to Gotama there was, of course, a whole succession of those who bore the common welfare, but their teachings crumbled to dust in the course of millenniums. Therefore the Teaching of Gotama should be accepted as the first teaching of the laws of matter and the evolution of the world. Contemporary understanding of the community permits a wondrous bridge from Gotama Buddha up to the present time. We pronounce this formula neither for extolling nor for demeaning, but as an evident and immutable fact.

Life in its entirety must be purified by the flame of achievement. The great Buddha, who preordained Maitreya, prescribed the path for the whole of existence. For those wise and clear covenants, the manifestation of the new evolution is calling. The demand for the purification of the Teaching is not accidental. The dates are approaching. The Image of Maitreya is ready to rise. All the Buddhas of the past have combined their wisdom of experience and have handed it on to the Blessed Coming One.

Buddha, as the source, and Maitreya, as a universal hope, will unite the austere followers of the Teaching of the South with the multiformity of the North. That which is most essential for the immediate future will definitely manifest itself. Instead of swelling the Teaching with commentaries, it will again be restored to the beauty of the value of concise conviction. The new time of the Era of Maitreya is in need of conviction.

Throughout the entire Buddhist world the rocks on the roadsides, with the images of Maitreya, point out the approaching future. From the most ancient times until now this Image has been erected by Buddhists who know the approach of the New Era. In our day, venerable lamas, accompanied by disciples, painters, and sculptors, travel through the Buddhist countries, erecting new images of the symbol of aspirations toward the radiant future.

What qualities must a Bodhisattva possess? In the Teaching of Gotama Buddha and in the Teaching of Bodhisattva Maitreya, given by him to Asanga according to tradition in the fourth century (Mahayana-Sutralankara), the maximum development of energy, courage, patience, constancy of striving, and fearlessness was underlined first of all. Energy is the basis of everything, for it alone contains all possibilities.