Is "To Forgive is the only way to forget" an authentic quote of the Buddha?

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I doubt it -- I expected it ought to be listed in https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/ if I could say that without being harsh.

There is something pretty like it, IMO, though not as quotable, in the Dhammapada -- e.g. this translation:

  1. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.
  2. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.
  3. "He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.
  4. "He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those who do not harbor such thoughts still their hatred.
  5. Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is a law eternal.
  6. There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die. But those who do realize this settle their quarrels.

After a while you begin to guess whether a quote is "fake" -- partly from knowing the prose style of the suttas a bit, and partly from knowing what themes the Buddha does and doesn't talk about.

The Buddha doesn't talk about "forgiveness" exactly -- more about other themes including:

  • Don't take injury "personally"
  • Don't "accept" (e.g. participate in receiving or giving) insults
  • Don't get angry (nor hostile) in the first place
  • Feel kindness, be kind, towards other people -- kindness, but also equanimity, and seeing good in them, and not wanting to hurt them

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