Friday, November 27, 2009

Fake "Buddha" Quote?

This one has been making the rounds on teh internets recently:

"Suffering, if it does not diminish love will transport you to the furthest shore."

It appears to come from a cnn.com article from several days ago: Huston Smith's Painful Spiritual Odyssey, by John Blake (dated November 23, 2009). According to the article, Smith "recalled" the above words as "a quote from Buddha".

This just doesn't sound right to me. I'd be willing to bet that this is at best a very sloppy paraphrase. Maybe the Buddha might have come up with this if he ever worked for Hallmark Cards. Otherwise, not so much. But I can believe that Smith tried to pawn it off on some reporter as the real thing.

"WAKE UP!!" (The End. The Doors. Live. '67. Toronto.)





This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end of our elaborate plans
The end of everything that stands
The end

No safety or surprise
The end
I'll never look into your eyes again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need of some
...stranger's hand
In a desperate land

Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway West, baby

Ride the snake
Ride the snake
To the lake
To the lake

The ancient lake, baby
The snake is long
Seven miles
Ride the snake

He's old
And his skin is cold
The West is the best
The West is the best
Get here and we'll do the rest

The blue bus is calling us
The blue bus is calling us
Driver, where are you taking us?

The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on

He took a face from the
...ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall

He went into the room where his
...sister lived
And then he paid a visit to his brother
And then he walked on down the hall
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
Father?
Yes, son?
I want to kill you.
Mother,
I want to fuck you.

Come on baby, take a chance with us
Come on baby, take a chance with us
Come on baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end

It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me

The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end