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DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
True self is non-self, the awareness that the self is made of only non-self elements. There is no separation between self and other and everything is interconnected. Once you are aware of that you are no longer caught in the idea that you are a separate entity.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
2
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
edited November 2017
We do not say that because things are empty they do not exist; we say that because things exist they are empty.
@ele said: @Karasti, Which book of Thich Nhat Hanh's is this quote from?
When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending. Thich Nhat Hanh
Thanks in advance.
Thanks, @ele for the quote. I needed that. There's a lot more meanness going around these days from people out on the street and in the workplace. Maybe due to all the Fake Views, maybe due to a general uprise in Philistinism.
Desire and attachment will not change overnight, but desire becomes less ordinary as we redirect our worldly yearning toward the aspiration to become enlightened for the benefit of others. At the same time, we don’t abandon the ordinary objects of our desires – relationships, wealth, fame – but our attachment to them lessens as we contemplate their impermanence. Not rejecting them, rejoicing in our fortune when they arise, yet recognizing that they won’t last, we begin to build qualities of spiritual maturity. As our attachment slowly decreases, harmful actions that would normally result from attachment are reduced. We create less negative karma, more fortunate karma, and the mind’s positive qualities gradually increase.
~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
From "Now is the knowing" By Ajahn Sumedho of the Thai Forest School ( page 57 ):
"So when we abide in the emptiness of our mind we're moving away, not getting rid of things but no longer absorbing into conditions....This is the Buddhist way to enlightenment; going towards Nibbana, inclining towards the spaciousness or emptiness of mind rather than being born and caught up in conditions."
From "How to practice" by the Dalai Lama ( page 173 ):
"The faulty defilments that pollute the mind - such as ignorance, lust and hatred - are temporary, and therefore seperable from the mind. Once these defilements are understood to be superficial and not in the minds basic nature, we see that the deep nature of mind is clear light, emptiness."
"Training this mind... actually there's nothing much to this mind. It's simply radiant in and of itself. It's naturally peaceful. Why the mind doesn't feel peaceful right now is because it gets lost in its own moods. There's nothing to mind itself. It simply abides in its natural state, that's all. That sometimes the mind feels peaceful and other times not peaceful is because it has been tricked by these moods..."
"Thoughts are like clouds. Even though the clouds sometimes seem to cover the entire sky, if you take a plane you can go beyond them into a vast space that is never even touched by the clouds. The clouds of our ordinary thoughts are just temporary and changing, whilst the deeper nature of our mind is unchanging, like the infinite space of the sky."
"Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves." Nagarjuna
4
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
"In emptiness teachings, the self is seen as valid when viewed as a mere name or label designated in dependence upon relatively characterized mind and body parts and this account poses no problem. The conventional self is a useful and necessary characterization and not the target of negation. It is the inherent existence of a self as a separate and owner of a mind and body complex that is refuted."
Susan Kahn - Psychotherapist and teacher of the Madhyamaka (Nagarjuna's school of the Middle Way)
2
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
"Whatever is dependently co-arisen that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation is itself the Middle Way."
Nagarjuna
3
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
“Understanding's the heartwood
of well-spoken words;
concentration, the heartwood
of learning & understanding.
When a person is hasty & heedless
his discernment & learning
don't grow.
While those who delight
in the doctrines taught by the noble ones,
are unexcelled
in word, action, & mind.
They, established in
calm,
composure, &
concentration,
have reached
what discernment & learning
have as their heartwood.”
@federica said:
“Understanding's the heartwood
of well-spoken words;
concentration, the heartwood
of learning & understanding.
When a person is hasty & heedless
his discernment & learning
don't grow.
While those who delight
in the doctrines taught by the noble ones,
are unexcelled
in word, action, & mind.
They, established in
calm,
composure, &
concentration,
have reached
what discernment & learning
have as their heartwood.”
heartwood.this is offtopic.what came to mind was a creative idea--which i believe is not new--is find a piece of wood and carve a heart shape object.paint it with the letter b.the symbolic meaning could be--b-heart and heart-b.but on topic,good quote.
There is no fixed time frame for coming to truly recognize the faulty nature of any given affliction. Sometimes it might take five or ten years just to arrive at a real awareness of their faulty nature. But in reality, the recognition itself can happen in a brief instant, His Holiness said. It takes different people different lengths of time to come to that moment of real recognition.
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
"Be done with doubt and indecision,
And embrace your practice with all your heart.
Shake off lethargy, dullness and laziness,
And strive always with enthusiasm and joy."
Atisha
7
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
edited November 2017
"All is possible when emptiness is possible.
Nothing is possible when emptiness is impossible"
Nagarjuna - The Mulamadhyamakakarika
There is no difference at all
Between Nirvana and Samsara.
There is no difference at all
Between Samsara and Nirvana.
Bliss consists in the cessation of all thought.
In the quiescence of plurality.
No separate reality was preached at all,
Nowhere and none by Buddha!
Nagarjuna - Analysis of Causality and of Nirvana verses 19 and 24
Sorry, I've sort of been on a Nagarjuna kick lately.
‘I have realized the unborn reality.
If you've not realized the unborn reality,
Then you must maintain concern for karma, cause and effect.
I've understood samsara and nirvana are not two.
If you've not understood samsara and nirvana as not two,
Then you must meditate on the union of the two truths.
I'm fully trained in the inseparability of self and other.
If you're not fully trained in the inseparability of self and other,
Then you must never be separate from bodhichitta.
Realization naturally dawns for me.
If realization hasn't naturally dawned for you,
Then you must never be separate from discriminating awareness.
There is no meditation and postmeditation for me.
If there is still meditation and postmeditation for you,
Then you must practice the path of means in a solitary place.’
P426 ‘The Hundred Thousands Songs of Milarepa’
A new translation by Christopher Stagg published by . Shambhala.
3
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
The peace of Śūnyatā,
The emptiness of all things,
Nothing exists in itself,
The wind is windless.
~
Thoughts dependently arise
And so, cannot be found.
Thoughts are trees and stones,
And thought is but a name.
~
As a subject needs an object,
There can be no true subject.
With objects marked by subjects,
There can be no true mark.
~
Dependently arisen,
Nothing is ultimately located.
All along, fractured activity
Was a village of words.
~
Still, a wind appears,
And leaves stir and rustle,
And a bird takes flight,
And this is not nothing.
~
The two truths and their unity,
Conventional and ultimate,
When apprehended finely,
Clear away all duality.
~
Insight becomes the means
To deconstruct the deception
That things self-exist.
To see the illusion dispels it.
~
Then, to directly behold
The emptiness of entities,
The entire, mere convention
Of the phenomenal world.
~
Freedom from thingness,
A heart without stones.
Compassion unfettered,
As like a spring morning.
I think what he his trying to say is here is your re-birth laid out before you, I will give you opportunities on your journey and the tools to fulfil the experiences you have asked for but like the story of the horse, I can take you to water but I can't make you drink.
0
CarlitaBastian please! Save us!United StatesVeteran
The fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech,
But knowing how to be forbearing- that makes one victorious.
The worse of the two is he who, when abused, retaliates.
One who does not retaliate wins a battle hard to win.
Knowing that the other person is angry, one who remains mindful and calm
Acts for his own best interest and for the other's interest, too.
He is a healer of both himself and the other person also.
He is thought a fool only by those who do not understand the Dhamma.
Dhammapada
As a river rushes to the sea,
As the sun and moon glide across the mountains of the west,
As days and nights, hours and moments flee,
Life flows away, inexorably.
~ Guru Rinpoche
3
CarlitaBastian please! Save us!United StatesVeteran
He satisfied himself with what little he earned.
He did not wish to get anything more.
He did not notice the priceless gem
Fastened inside his garment.
These verses are part of a story told by Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and other disciples in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. It is about a man whose friend gives him a jewel while he is asleep. Not realizing he has this treasure, the man returns to his ordinary life, desperate to make a living and satisfy his ordinary desires. The story shows how we live when we forget about the jewel of Buddha nature we carry with us.
The fourth Patriarch Tao-hsin attained liberation during the following exchange with Seng-t'san, his predecessor.
He came to him and asked:
'What is the method of liberation?'
'Who binds you?' asked Seng-t'san.
'No one binds me,' said the pupil.
'Why then,' said the master, 'do you seek liberation?'
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited December 2017
All quiet on the Western Front"..... Not a Buddhist quote, ok.... Just tumbleweed in the forum right now... Only me online!
3
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited December 2017
I came across this this morning...
There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires.
It is in the nature of things that joy arises in the mind of one free from remorse.
Did you know there is a site called Real Buddha Quotes which gives Sutra references for where each quote comes from? It seems a good reaction to all the fake quotes around.
One small act of charity (dana paramita) is said to be equal to countless acts of charity. No one can measure the effects of a single act of giving, for its repercussions are beyond our limited imagination.
—Taitetsu Unno, “Three Grapefruits”
An act of giving is of most benefit when one gives something of value, carefully, with one’s own hand, while showing respect, and with a view that something wholesome will come of it.
"Don't be an arahant, don't be a bodhisattva, don't be anything at all—if you are anything at all you will suffer.” —Ajahn Chah
2
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
"The ultimate truth is absolutely objective."
Introduction to the Mulamadhyamakakarika-Nagarjunas Middle Way by Mark Siderits and Shoryu Katsura.
CarlitaBastian please! Save us!United StatesVeteran
“What is non-self, Anatta? It means impermanence. If things are impermanent, they don’t remain the same things forever. We should learn how to look at life as streams of being, and not as separate entities.You of this moment are no longer you of a minute ago. There is no permanent entity within us, there is only a stream of being.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh
“Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule.”
— Milarepa
The instructed disciple of the Noble Ones does not regard material shape as self, or self as having material shape, or material shape as being in the self, or the self as being in material shape.
Nor does he regard feeling, perception, the impulses, or consciousness in any of these ways.
He comprehends each of these aggregates as it really is, that it is impermanent, suffering, not self, compounded, woeful.
He does not approach them, grasp after them or determine “Self for me” - and this for a long time conduces to his welfare and happiness.
The instructed disciple of the Noble Ones beholds of material shape, feeling, perception, the impulses, or consciousness: “This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self”.
So that when the material shape, feeling, perception, the impulses, or consciousness change and become otherwise there arise not from him grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation, and despair.
Adapted from the Samyuta Nikaya - translated by L. Feer
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Harmful beings are everywhere, like space itself.
Impossible it is that all should be suppressed.
But let this angry mind alone be overthrown,
And it's as though all foes had been subdued.
I do not fight with the world
The world fights with me
Buddha
2
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
edited February 2018
To be or not to be - both are wrong views. To inter-be is better.
Thich Nhat Hanh The Buddhist Understanding of Reality (Winter retreat 2008)
I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
For one with compassion, even his enemies will turn into friends,
Without compassion, even his friends turn into enemies.
With compassion, one has all Dharmas,
Without compassion, one has no Dharma at all.
~ Shabkar
A king's robe or an old blanket can keep you warm.
A gold throne or the bare ground can be your seat.
A grand palace or a mud hut can be your shelter.
A jewelled plate or a wooden pot can hold your food.
The external world does not destroy your inner peace,
But your attachment and aversion will.
Comments
True self is non-self, the awareness that the self is made of only non-self elements. There is no separation between self and other and everything is interconnected. Once you are aware of that you are no longer caught in the idea that you are a separate entity.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
We do not say that because things are empty they do not exist; we say that because things exist they are empty.
-- Prasangika-Madhiyamaka saying
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
-Yogi Berra
Thanks, @ele for the quote. I needed that. There's a lot more meanness going around these days from people out on the street and in the workplace. Maybe due to all the Fake Views, maybe due to a general uprise in Philistinism.
Still working on ideas for some sort of cure...
Desire and attachment will not change overnight, but desire becomes less ordinary as we redirect our worldly yearning toward the aspiration to become enlightened for the benefit of others. At the same time, we don’t abandon the ordinary objects of our desires – relationships, wealth, fame – but our attachment to them lessens as we contemplate their impermanence. Not rejecting them, rejoicing in our fortune when they arise, yet recognizing that they won’t last, we begin to build qualities of spiritual maturity. As our attachment slowly decreases, harmful actions that would normally result from attachment are reduced. We create less negative karma, more fortunate karma, and the mind’s positive qualities gradually increase.
~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
From "Breath by Breath" by Larry Rosenberg ( page 129 )
"Emptiness is the crown jewel of Buddhism. If everything is constantly changing, then nothing has a substantial core with any degree of endurance."
The four dharma seals - the four characteristics which reflect true Buddhist teaching:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Dharma_Seals
From "Now is the knowing" By Ajahn Sumedho of the Thai Forest School ( page 57 ):
"So when we abide in the emptiness of our mind we're moving away, not getting rid of things but no longer absorbing into conditions....This is the Buddhist way to enlightenment; going towards Nibbana, inclining towards the spaciousness or emptiness of mind rather than being born and caught up in conditions."
From "How to practice" by the Dalai Lama ( page 173 ):
"The faulty defilments that pollute the mind - such as ignorance, lust and hatred - are temporary, and therefore seperable from the mind. Once these defilements are understood to be superficial and not in the minds basic nature, we see that the deep nature of mind is clear light, emptiness."
From "Training this mind" by Ajahn Chah:
"Training this mind... actually there's nothing much to this mind. It's simply radiant in and of itself. It's naturally peaceful. Why the mind doesn't feel peaceful right now is because it gets lost in its own moods. There's nothing to mind itself. It simply abides in its natural state, that's all. That sometimes the mind feels peaceful and other times not peaceful is because it has been tricked by these moods..."
http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Training_this_Mind1.php
Sogyal Rinpoche:
"Thoughts are like clouds. Even though the clouds sometimes seem to cover the entire sky, if you take a plane you can go beyond them into a vast space that is never even touched by the clouds. The clouds of our ordinary thoughts are just temporary and changing, whilst the deeper nature of our mind is unchanging, like the infinite space of the sky."
http://sogyalrinpoche.org/videos/finding-your-balance-with-the-sky-like-nature-of-mind
"Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves." Nagarjuna
"In emptiness teachings, the self is seen as valid when viewed as a mere name or label designated in dependence upon relatively characterized mind and body parts and this account poses no problem. The conventional self is a useful and necessary characterization and not the target of negation. It is the inherent existence of a self as a separate and owner of a mind and body complex that is refuted."
Susan Kahn - Psychotherapist and teacher of the Madhyamaka (Nagarjuna's school of the Middle Way)
"Whatever is dependently co-arisen that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation is itself the Middle Way."
Nagarjuna
“Understanding's the heartwood
of well-spoken words;
concentration, the heartwood
of learning & understanding.
When a person is hasty & heedless
his discernment & learning
don't grow.
While those who delight
in the doctrines taught by the noble ones,
are unexcelled
in word, action, & mind.
They, established in
calm,
composure, &
concentration,
have reached
what discernment & learning
have as their heartwood.”
The Buddha
heartwood.this is offtopic.what came to mind was a creative idea--which i believe is not new--is find a piece of wood and carve a heart shape object.paint it with the letter b.the symbolic meaning could be--b-heart and heart-b.but on topic,good quote.
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde
"Be done with doubt and indecision,
And embrace your practice with all your heart.
Shake off lethargy, dullness and laziness,
And strive always with enthusiasm and joy."
"All is possible when emptiness is possible.
Nothing is possible when emptiness is impossible"
Nagarjuna - The Mulamadhyamakakarika
There is no difference at all
Between Nirvana and Samsara.
There is no difference at all
Between Samsara and Nirvana.
Bliss consists in the cessation of all thought.
In the quiescence of plurality.
No separate reality was preached at all,
Nowhere and none by Buddha!
Nagarjuna - Analysis of Causality and of Nirvana verses 19 and 24
Sorry, I've sort of been on a Nagarjuna kick lately.
Part of Milarepa's key instructions to Megon Repa
‘I have realized the unborn reality.
If you've not realized the unborn reality,
Then you must maintain concern for karma, cause and effect.
I've understood samsara and nirvana are not two.
If you've not understood samsara and nirvana as not two,
Then you must meditate on the union of the two truths.
I'm fully trained in the inseparability of self and other.
If you're not fully trained in the inseparability of self and other,
Then you must never be separate from bodhichitta.
Realization naturally dawns for me.
If realization hasn't naturally dawned for you,
Then you must never be separate from discriminating awareness.
There is no meditation and postmeditation for me.
If there is still meditation and postmeditation for you,
Then you must practice the path of means in a solitary place.’
P426 ‘The Hundred Thousands Songs of Milarepa’
A new translation by Christopher Stagg published by . Shambhala.
The peace of Śūnyatā,
The emptiness of all things,
Nothing exists in itself,
The wind is windless.
~
Thoughts dependently arise
And so, cannot be found.
Thoughts are trees and stones,
And thought is but a name.
~
As a subject needs an object,
There can be no true subject.
With objects marked by subjects,
There can be no true mark.
~
Dependently arisen,
Nothing is ultimately located.
All along, fractured activity
Was a village of words.
~
Still, a wind appears,
And leaves stir and rustle,
And a bird takes flight,
And this is not nothing.
~
The two truths and their unity,
Conventional and ultimate,
When apprehended finely,
Clear away all duality.
~
Insight becomes the means
To deconstruct the deception
That things self-exist.
To see the illusion dispels it.
~
Then, to directly behold
The emptiness of entities,
The entire, mere convention
Of the phenomenal world.
~
Freedom from thingness,
A heart without stones.
Compassion unfettered,
As like a spring morning.
I think what he his trying to say is here is your re-birth laid out before you, I will give you opportunities on your journey and the tools to fulfil the experiences you have asked for but like the story of the horse, I can take you to water but I can't make you drink.
The fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech,
But knowing how to be forbearing- that makes one victorious.
The worse of the two is he who, when abused, retaliates.
One who does not retaliate wins a battle hard to win.
Knowing that the other person is angry, one who remains mindful and calm
Acts for his own best interest and for the other's interest, too.
He is a healer of both himself and the other person also.
He is thought a fool only by those who do not understand the Dhamma.
Dhammapada
The greatest prayer is patience.
As a river rushes to the sea,
As the sun and moon glide across the mountains of the west,
As days and nights, hours and moments flee,
Life flows away, inexorably.
~ Guru Rinpoche
He satisfied himself with what little he earned.
He did not wish to get anything more.
He did not notice the priceless gem
Fastened inside his garment.
These verses are part of a story told by Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and other disciples in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. It is about a man whose friend gives him a jewel while he is asleep. Not realizing he has this treasure, the man returns to his ordinary life, desperate to make a living and satisfy his ordinary desires. The story shows how we live when we forget about the jewel of Buddha nature we carry with us.
The fourth Patriarch Tao-hsin attained liberation during the following exchange with Seng-t'san, his predecessor.
He came to him and asked:
All quiet on the Western Front"..... Not a Buddhist quote, ok.... Just tumbleweed in the forum right now... Only me online!
I came across this this morning...
Did you know there is a site called Real Buddha Quotes which gives Sutra references for where each quote comes from? It seems a good reaction to all the fake quotes around.
One small act of charity (dana paramita) is said to be equal to countless acts of charity. No one can measure the effects of a single act of giving, for its repercussions are beyond our limited imagination.
—Taitetsu Unno, “Three Grapefruits”
An act of giving is of most benefit when one gives something of value, carefully, with one’s own hand, while showing respect, and with a view that something wholesome will come of it.
—Andrew Olendzki, “The Wisdom of Giving”
"Don't be an arahant, don't be a bodhisattva, don't be anything at all—if you are anything at all you will suffer.” —Ajahn Chah
"The ultimate truth is absolutely objective."
Introduction to the Mulamadhyamakakarika-Nagarjunas Middle Way by Mark Siderits and Shoryu Katsura.
Silence is “ ”“What is non-self, Anatta? It means impermanence. If things are impermanent, they don’t remain the same things forever. We should learn how to look at life as streams of being, and not as separate entities.You of this moment are no longer you of a minute ago. There is no permanent entity within us, there is only a stream of being.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh
“Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule.”
— Milarepa
To avoid all evil,
To cultivate good,
And to cleanse one's mind.
This is the teaching of the Buddhas.
Dhammapada 183
^^
The instructed disciple of the Noble Ones does not regard material shape as self, or self as having material shape, or material shape as being in the self, or the self as being in material shape.
Nor does he regard feeling, perception, the impulses, or consciousness in any of these ways.
He comprehends each of these aggregates as it really is, that it is impermanent, suffering, not self, compounded, woeful.
He does not approach them, grasp after them or determine “Self for me” - and this for a long time conduces to his welfare and happiness.
The instructed disciple of the Noble Ones beholds of material shape, feeling, perception, the impulses, or consciousness: “This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self”.
So that when the material shape, feeling, perception, the impulses, or consciousness change and become otherwise there arise not from him grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation, and despair.
Adapted from the Samyuta Nikaya - translated by L. Feer
Harmful beings are everywhere, like space itself.
Impossible it is that all should be suppressed.
But let this angry mind alone be overthrown,
And it's as though all foes had been subdued.
Bodhicaryavatara: The Way of the Bodhisattva.
I do not fight with the world
The world fights with me
Buddha
To be or not to be - both are wrong views. To inter-be is better.
"One hour and then another.
Inexorably march, step by step.
Whenever I meet you, we each smile.
But who is it who drags your corpse around?"
~Chan~
Without inner peace, how do we make real peace ?
I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
"Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others"
For one with compassion, even his enemies will turn into friends,
Without compassion, even his friends turn into enemies.
With compassion, one has all Dharmas,
Without compassion, one has no Dharma at all.
~ Shabkar
“Real wisdom is the ability to understand the incredible extent to which you bullshit yourself every single moment of every day.”
― Brad Warner
Great quote @ScottPen and so true!
I often think the person we lie to the most when breaking the fourth precept is ourself.
Oh man @Bunks , I dunno about "we," but I know about me. And methinks I can relate.
~ Chamtrul Rinpoche