Where does it come from?
“Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.”
The Buddha
I have found this quote on the Net. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a reference for it. So if you do know which sutta/sutra it has been extracted from, I’d appreciate you let me know.
What does it mean to me?
First I need to explain that in the context of the quote I interpret the word ‘truth’ as ‘Dharma’. Now ‘Dharma’ can itself mean many things, but here I will give it the general meaning of the Teachings of the Buddha, which lead to awakening. In other words I could rephrase the quote thus:
“Those who have failed to seek a way to awaken have failed their life as a human being.”
A blunt statement perhaps, but one intended to disturb, to provoke, to encourage. One full of empathy towards those whose last breath on their death bed is one of regrets for a life wasted away.
In a positive sense this quote means life: seek the truth and you will have found the purpose of your life. Indeed there is nothing else worth doing for as the Buddha reminds us ‘the Dharma has only one taste: the taste of freedom.’
So you can see that this quote means a lot to me, in fact I will go as far as saying it means everything to me.
More to come...