Is this quote from Pali canon?

[Lafko]

Hi everyone. I found this Buddha quote (or so it is claimed to be one) in the book of Matthieu Ricard.
Can someone please tell me if it is a real Buddha quote from Palo canon?

Those whom summer’s heat tortures yearn for the full moon of autumn
Without even fearing the idea
That a hundred days of their life will then have passed forever.

[Danny]

This sounds like a https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/ @Bodhipaksa

[Bodhipaksa]

It sounds far too flowery for a straight translation from the EBTs. It could of course be a flowery translation. I’d doubt it’s genuine, but I’d be interested to hear if this combination of concepts is found somewhere in the scriptures.

[Bodhipaksa]

I suppose it could be a recasting of Dhp 286. There’s a vague resemblance in that both concern the seasons and mortality:

“Here I will stay for the rains; here for winter, here the summer”; thus the fool thinks, not realizing the danger [of death].

[Bodhipaksa]

Ricard’s book, “Happiness” is a translation of one he wrote in French, “Plaidoyer pour le bonheur.” Presumably the quote has been translated from French as well. Unfortunately Google Books doesn’t have a preview, and amazon.fr doesn’t let you see that far into the book (chapter 18 in the French edition."

Anyone have a copy of the French title?

[Lafko]

Lafko

I have this book in polish. So I searched on the internet and download the English version and checked - it is the same quote.
So I pressume that in French version is similar

[Lafko]

I checked on this page. There is nothing about this quote.

[AurelijusVijunas]

@Bodhipaksa

Anyone have a copy of the French title?

Yes, I have it, but the endnotes give no source.

Ceux que torturent les chaleurs de l’été
Languissent après le clair de lune automnal,
Sans même être effrayés à l’idée.
Qu’alors cent jours de leur vie seront à jamais passés.

Bouddha Shakyamuni

[AurelijusVijunas]

It’s from the chapter on impermanence in Jigmé Lingpa’s Treasury of Special Qualities - volume 1, chapter 2, verse 5 in the Padmakara Translation Committee’s edition.

I can’t imagine why Ricard attributes the verse to “Shakyamuni Buddha” for Jigmé Lingpa makes no pretence that the verses are by anyone but himself.

Verses 4-6

For those who flock so carefree in the wholesome vales of higher realms,
The hunter lies in wait, his weapon in his hand,
Conspiring how to rob them of their lives.
He thinks and thinks of it and has no other thoughts.

Tormented by the summer’s heat, beings sigh with pleasure
In the clear light of the autumn moon.
They do not think, and it does not alarm them
That a hundred of their days has passed away.

A powerful bowman’s shaft is swift indeed,
But not as swift as pretas moving on the earth.
The pretas in the air are swifter still,
And swifter yet the gods of sun and moon.
But swiftest of them all is human life.

[Bodhipaksa]

@AurelijusVijunas

It’s from the chapter on impermanence in Jigmé Lingpa’s Treasury of Special Qualities - volume 1, chapter 2, verse 5 in the Padmakara Translation Committee’s edition.

A million blessings upon you, AurelijusVijunas. You’ve just written my next Fake Buddha Quotes (or Fausses citations de Bouddha) post for me.

It is very odd that Ricard misattributed this quote.

[Lafko]

Thank you so much for this!