If that's the case you're right and I'm completely wrong about that quote. I don't pretend to be a Buddhist so you're more likely to be right than me. I have not bothered to verify this as of this writing.

Another famous quote that everybody gets wrong because they cut it short:

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder"

That quote means separation is good for couples, but almost nobody knows the actual quote:

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder for those nearer"

This is saying distance destroys relationships and you will look for affection from someone who is available.

The fact that there was an original version of a quote doesn't make the original version any more "true," so I've never quite understood the instinct of people to use it as some kind of gotcha.

Indeed, if anything it seems like in general the opposite would be true, if common culture adapts a quote to more accurately fit their reality (irrespective of whether this particular quote is "true" or not).

(Also, I can't find any source for your claim, despite plenty of articles on the source of the phrase, such as https://quotes.yourdictionary.com/articles/who-said-absence-..., so I'm guessing that's a myth.)

Well shit :)

I didn't mean it as a gotcha, just that people will mangle quotes to support whatever idea they're trying to argue. Ironically it seems I have accidentally done the same thing.

The actual quote from who? That sounds like something that was retroactively added - like how people say the full version of "Great minds think alike" is actually "Great minds think alike, small minds rarely differ." It's an aphorism. There is no definitive source.