Fake Buddha Quote: “When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.”
I’m not really going to post one of these every day. My title is as fake as the following quote.
“When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.”
I came across this on Twitter today, tweeted by Buddha_Bones: “RT @Sharon_Phoenix “When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.” ~Buddha”
This can be found in various books attributed to Jack Kornfield, the Buddha, and Shunryu Suzuki. As far as I can tell, those words first crop up in Saddhatissa’s “Before He Was Buddha: The Life of Siddhartha” (page 92) I don’t have the book and Google only offers a snippet view, so I’m not sure whether Saddhatissa puts those words into the Buddha’s mouth, or whether they are words that Saddhatissa says and someone else has mistaken them as the Buddha’s. If you have a copy of this book, please do let me know.
Like many Fake Buddha Quotes, this one has a nice sentiment. The Buddha often talked about the virtue of words being true and kind, but the language of “changing the world” is not something the Buddha is recorded as using.
13 Responses to “Fake Buddha Quote: “When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.””
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You’re currently reading “Fake Buddha Quote: “When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.”,” an entry on Bodhipaksa's blog, bodhi tree swaying
Published: Nov 21 2009
What a great idea this theme is! I shall look forward to more. Alas, me and the big fella are not in possession of the title you mention so no clarification from this quarter. Thanks again, what a ripping wheeze.
I think this might be a fake, too:
“Suffering, if it does not diminish love will transport you to the furthest shore.”
http://egregores.blogspot.com/2009/11/fake-buddha-quote.html
That goes beyond fake, and deep into the whole new category of Bullshit Buddha Quote.
[...] buddha quotes bodhipaksa here does a noble deed – he throws light on a fake buddha quote: “when words are both true and kind, they can change our [...]
[...] My friend and former meditation teacher Bodhipaksa has recently been collecting and commenting upon interesting “Fake Buddha Quotes.” This has been a source of occasional comedy, sometimes frustration, and also a bit of wonder. Why is it that people coin these fake new quotes? Why do others pick them up and spread them, unchecked, across the web and other networks? Why are some, like Bodhipaksa and myself, a bit frustrated with them? First a couple of those quotes (click the link for Bodhipaksa’s comments): “When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.” (from here) [...]
‘why do others pick them up and spread them …’ – Probably for the same reason that some or much of the Christian (and other) scripture has been changed and manipulated by scribes, translators and others. Most are well meaning, that is, they have right intention. Basically though, most of us are unlearned in in translating from Pali. So we rely on other translators. I ask how does a Buddhist know any of the scripture is true, or, at least, what Gotama intended? What I mean is, all of the Buddhist scripture is translated from Pali which is taken from oral tradition. (And the Buddhist document written during the first council and taken to Sri Lanka is apparently written in a Sri Lankan dialect.) This is dicey at best to get the right intention (Gotama’s). From my studies this is why Theravada, the way of the elders, came about. They refused to deviate from the dhamma of Gotama. As a result the Mahayana tradition came about. The point being, when anything is translated many different meanings will develop. Look up the word ‘love’ in your dictionary and see how many meanings are listed for it. Now imagine being a scholar translating this information 400, 1000, or 2500 hundred years from now from English to the current language. Much has to be considered for a proper translation.
What is the quote from then? Or is it entirely made up? Even if someone else made it up, it is still a quote from someone, right? Haha. I like the quote a great deal, personally, whether from Buddha or not.
Hi, Steel.
I’m glad you asked. Even though I said in the article that the quote is from Saddhatissa’s “Before He Was Buddha,” which is true, I’ve now been able to take a look at the book and have found that the quote, which is in a sidebar, is from Jack Kornfield’s “Buddha’s Little Instruction Book” (1994).
If I remember correctly, this isn’t the only quote from BLIB that has become a Fake Buddha Quote. BLIB contains Jack Kornfield’s paraphrasings of Buddhist teachings, expressed very poetically and beautifully, but they are his words and not the Buddha’s. I guess the title throws people off, and sets them up to expect that what they’re reading is quotes from from Buddha rather than Jack’s poetry.
Many quotations attributed to Buddha sound so stilted, I wonder about the translations from Pali to English. Maybe if they were more poetic and less slavish, they would hew more to Jack Kornfield’s paraphrasings in “Buddha’s Little Instruction Book.”
Is that a possibility or just wishful thinking on my part?
I’m all for poetry, as long as the translation isn’t basically “making stuff up,” which is the case with a number of translations — such as Thomas Byrom’s or Anne Bancroft’s “translations” of the Dhammapada.
Actually the criterion is not whether some words can change the world. I don’t think the Buddha cared if words can change the world. He only cared for skillful action and verbal action was one of those. When it came to verbal action, the Buddha was very mindful of how he would speak and there is a very interesting truth table that helps making this decision.
1. If a statement is not true (and unpleasant), don’t say it.
2. If a statement is true but unpleasant to the listener, he would not say it.
3. If a statement is true and pleasant to the listener, he will teach it.
Notice that the possibility of a statement being untrue and yet pleasant is not even considered! Skill in speech is as important as skill in action. But what the Buddha finally taught is skill in mental action (or volition).
Interesting to ponder about the Dhamma in different directions. It just feels so consistent, beautiful and amazing!
You’ve kind of mangled the Buddha’s advice, I’m afraid. One of the key texts here is the Abhaya Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya, which is actually about how it is OK to say something “true but unpleasant to the listener”: “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, but unendearing & disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them.”
You say “Notice that the possibility of a statement being untrue and yet pleasant is not even considered,” and yet that’s covered in the Abhaya Sutta as well: “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.”
It’s one of my favorite suttas.
Of course you probably meant “not even considered” as “not even considered as appropriate” which is of course entirely true.