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"Never waste time and energy wishing you were somewhere else, doing something else. Accept your situation and realize that you are where you are doing what you are doing for a very specific reason. Realise that nothing is by chance, that you have certain lessons to learn, and that the situation you are in has been given to you to enable you to learn those lessons as quickly as possible, so that you can move onward and upward along this spiritual path."
~ Eileen Caddy
"No matter how frustrated you may feel, there is always a way out. In every situation that arises, we choose to be powerful or powerless. It may not always feel like it, but it is a choice. And there are consequences for these choices in terms of the results we get, and the subsequent increase or decrease in our power and influence. If we choose powerlessness, it is often because we doubt there is any other option."
~ Blaine Lee
"When we experience the pain of another person, we instinctively want to take away that pain. But by taking away the other person’s pain, we also take away his or her opportunity to grow. To be truly compassionate, we must be able to share another person’s suffering and pain - knowing there is nothing we can do to relieve it and that we are not responsible for it, and yet knowing and understanding what that pain feels like."
~ John Gray
"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend ... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present - love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure - the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth."
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach
"When mystics use the word love, they use it very carefully - in the deeply spiritual sense, where to love is to know; to love is to act. If you really love, from the depths of your Consciousness, that love gives you a native wisdom. You perceive the needs of others intuitively and clearly, with detachment from any personal desires; and you know how to act creatively to meet those needs, dexterously surmounting any obstacle that comes in the way. Such is the immense, driving power of love."
~ Eknath Easwaran
"Therefore, when I say that ‘I love,’ it is not I who love, but in reality Love who acts through me. Love is not so much something I do as something that I am. Love is not a doing but a state of being - a relatedness, a connectedness to another mortal, an identification with her or him that simply flows within me and through me, independent of my intentions or my efforts."
~ Robert A. Johnson
"Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, but do not be disheartened. The source they come from is eternal, growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you and this whole world is springing up from it."
~ Jelaluddin Rumi
"We don't always know what makes us happy. We know, instead, what we think SHOULD. We are baffled and confused when our attempts at happiness fail...We are mute when it comes to naming accurately our own preferences, delights, gifts, talents. The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people's expectations. The tongue of the original self is the language of the heart."
~ Julie Cameron
"We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves. The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse comes from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what it means to be perfect and never measuring up to that ideal. Our image of perfection is the reason we reject ourselves the way we are, and why we don't accept others the way they are."
~ Don Miguel Ruiz
"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be silent if no birds sang except the best."
~ Henry Van Dyke
"In the sweet territory of silence we touch the mystery. It’s the place of reflection and contemplation, and it’s the place where we can connect with the deep knowing, to the deep wisdom way."
~ Angeles Arrien
"The men who have had the most to give their fellow men are those who have enriched their hearts and minds in solitude."
~ Joel Hillebrand
"Learning to be aware of feelings, how they arise and how to use them creatively so they guide us to happiness, is an essential lifetime skill."
~ Joan Borysenko
"Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing."
~ Eckhart Tolle
"The great Western disease is, ‘I'll be happy when… when I get the money, when I get a BMW, when I get this job.’ Well, the reality is, you never get to when. The only way to find happiness is to understand that happiness is not out there. It's in here. And happiness is not next week. It's now."
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil though, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure though, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
Holding on the anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love. This is the eternal rule.
There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.
Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone by others. Consider only what by oneself is done or undone.
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth.
Learn from, but so not dwell in the past be prepared for, but do not dream of the future live in the present by concentrating your mind on the present moment.
To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
All that we are is a result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
To keep the body in good health is a duty; otherwise the mind is not strong and clear.
Neither fire nor wind, birth no death can erase our good deeds.
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Ego, this gigantic devil has caused troubles for many lifetimes. Remember this enemy; exterminate it quickly.
Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.
"This is one of the sad conditions of life, that experience is not transmissible. No man will learn from the suffering of another; he must suffer himself."
~ James H. Aughey
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.
~ William Blake, Laughing Song
“Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You're able to benefit from the unique viewpoints of others, without being crippled by your own judgment.”
~ Ralph Marston
"Experience is no more transferable in morals than in art."
~ James Anthony Froude,
"A chuckle a day may not keep the doctor away, but it sure does make those times in life's wanting room a little more bearable."
~ Anne Wilson Schaef
“Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.”
~ Anne Wilson Schaef
“Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail.”
~ Anne Wilson Schaef
“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
~ Albert Einstein
“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
“If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart.”
Like all things in your life, forgiveness is a choice. By making the choice to grant unconditional forgiveness, you will have brought yourself one step closer to living a life of fulfillment, joy, and deep inner peace.
"However many holy words you read, how many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act upon them?"
~ The Buddha
"Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong."
~ Oscar Wilde
"The only alternative to prevent the net from becoming a mere market place is to create alternative websites, sharing and exchanging one's personal thoughts and insights. There are millions of spiritual seekers and religious people all over the world. Imagine the changes and possibilities if all of them would build their own sites! Start now!"
~ Hans Taeger
"Atheism is a non-prophet organization."
~ author unknown
"Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom."
~ Colton
"Enlightenment cannot be described, only experienced."
~ author unknown
"Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination."
~ Roy M. Goodman
"Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world."
~ R. D. Laing
"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."
~ Lao Tzu
"Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved."
~ Van Kaam
"With imagination we can capture infinity. With love we can make infinity worth imagining."
~ Brian Henke
"It's not just philosophy, not just words; it's knowing how the mind functions; only then can you develop loving-kindness; only then can you become a spiritual person."
~ Lama Thubten Yeshe
"I think that people are born mystics - we are all mystics as children, but it's taken away from us as we grow older. It's taken away subtly by education which trains the left brain and ignores the right brain. They take away your crayons right when you need them most - at puberty. When you should be getting to your cosmic soul they give you football and shopping-malls."
"Shantideva mentions specific instances when it is advisable to remain like a mindless piece of wood. We can do this when our mind is very distracted or when the thought arises to belittle, slander, or abuse others. If pride, haughtiness or the intention to find fault with others arises, we can also remain impassive until our deluded motivation fades. Feeling pretentious, thinking to deceive others and wishing to praise our own qualities, wealth, or possessions are all occasions when it is wise to pretend that we are made out of wood. Whenever we have the desire to blame others, speak harshly or cause disruption we should practice this technique of non-reaction."
Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath.
“Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation … Questions are the key that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.”
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“Nothing is lost upon a man who is bent upon growth; nothing wasted on one who is always preparing for … life by keeping eyes, mind and heart open to nature, men, books, experience … and what he gathers serves him at unexpected moments in unforeseen ways.”
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
"And remember, we all stumble, every one of us .This is why it is good to go hand in hand."
~ E. K. Brough
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves."
~ Carl Jung
"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
"If you think you are too small to make a difference try sleeping with a mosquito."
~ The 14th Dalai Lama
"Love and concern for all are not things some of us are born with and others are not. Rather, they are results of what we do with our minds: We can choose to transform our minds so that they embody love, or we can allow them to develop habits & false concepts of separation."
When the Buddha said, "Do not pursue the past," he was telling us not to be overwhelmed by the past. He did not mean that we should stop looking at the past in order to observe it deeply. When we review the past and observe it deeply, if we are standing firmly in the present, we are not overwhelmed by it. The materials of the past which make up the present become clear when they express themselves in the present. We can learn from them. If we observe these materials deeply, we can arrive at a new understanding of them. That is called "looking again at something old in order to learn something new." If we know that the past also lies in the present, we understand that we are able to change the past by transforming the present. The ghosts of the past, which follow us into the present, also belong to the present moment. To observe them deeply, recognize their nature, and transform them, is to transform the past.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Our Appointment with Life
It is a great turning point in our spiritual lives when we go from an intellectual appreciaiton of a path to the heartfelt confidence that says, "Yes, it is possible to awaken. I can, too." A tremendous joy accompanies this confidence. When we place our hearts upon this practice, the teachings come alive. That turning point, which transforms an abstract concept of a spiritual path into our own personal path, is faith.
~ Sharon Salzberg
This enlightenment of the Buddha's was profound and brilliant, accurate and powerful, and also warm and compassionate. It was like the sun behind the clouds. Anyone who has taken off in an airplane on a grim and gloomy day knows that beyond the cloud cover the sun is always shining. Even at night the sun is shining, but then we can't see it because the earth is in the way, and probably our pillow also. The buddha explained that behind the cloud cover of thoughts - including very heavy clouds of emotionally charged thoughts backed up by entrenched habitual patterns - there is continual warm, bright, loving intelligence constantly shining. And even though in the midst of thoughts, emotions, and habitual patterns, intelligence may become dulled and confused, it is still this intelligence in the midst of the thoughts and emotions and habits that make them so very captivating, so resourceful and various, so inexhaustible.
~ Samuel Bercholz, Entering the Stream
A good spiritual friend who will help us to stay on the path, with whom we can discuss our difficulties frankly, sure of a compassionate response, provides an important support system which is often lacking. Although people live and practice together, one-upmanship often comes between them. A really good friend is like a mountain guide. The spiritual path is like climbing a mountain: we don't really know what we will find at the summit. We have only heard that it is beautiful, everybody is happy there, the view is magnificent and the air unpolluted. If we have a guide who has already climbed the mountain, he can help us avoid falling into a crevasse, or slipping on loose stones, or getting off the path. The one common antidote for all our hindrances is noble friends and noble conversations, which are health food for the mind.
“The habit of ignoring our present moments in favor of others yet to come leads directly to a pervasive lack of awareness of the web of life in which we are embedded. This includes a lack of awareness and understanding of our own mind and how it influences our perceptions and our actions. It severely limits our perspective on what it means to be a person and how we are connected to each other and the world around us. Religion has traditionally been the domain of such fundamental inquiries within a spiritual framework, but mindfulness has little to do with religion, except in the most fundamental meaning of the word, as an attempt to appreciate the deep mystery of being alive and to acknowledge being vitally connected to all that exists.”
"Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seems to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That people are here for the sake of other people. Above all, for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends. And also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others people, both living and dead. And how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. And I am still receiving."
"What infinite energies are wasted steeling oneself against crisis that seldom comes: the strength to move mountains; and yet it is perhaps this very waste, this torturous wait for things that never happen, which prepares the way and allows one to accept with sinister serenity the beast at last in view."
Only compassion is therapeutic - because all that is ill in man is because of lack of love. All that is wrong with man is somewhere associated with love. He has not been able to love, or he has not been able to receive love. He has not been able to share his being. That′s the misery. That creates all sorts of complexes inside.
When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual discipline, they often think that somehow they're going to improve, which is a sort of subtle aggression against who they really are. It's a bit like saying, "If I jog, I'll be a much better person." "If I could only get a nicer house, I'd be a better person." "If I could meditate and calm down, I'd be a better person"...
But loving-kindness - maitri - toward ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change ourselves. Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That's the ground, that's what we study, that's what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
~ Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness
"Whenever you try to exert control over the natural ebb and flow of life, you end up either frustrated or disappointed- because it can't be controlled. Whenever you apply effort to trying to relax and slow down, you produce the opposite effect. Whenever you try to dictate the outcome of your meditation you negate its most wondrous benefit- the pleasure of simply being."
"Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots."
[Hoosier Farmer]
"Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope."
[Henry Wheeler Shaw]
"Love never asks what benefit it will derive from love. Love from its very nature is a disinterested thing. It loves for the creature’s sake it loves, and for nothing else."
[C. H. Spurgeon]
"We look forward to the time when the power to love of will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."
[William Gladstone]
"Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both - is a blessing. "
[Donna Hedges]
"Part of obedience to the Golden Rule is knowing how to respond once you've behaved in an unloving way."
[Doug McIntosh]
"Love is doing what is best for a person regardless of the cost or response." [R. Robert Flatt]
"Do all the good that you can, in all the places you can, in all the ways that you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, for as long as you can."
~ John Wesley
"The greatest emotion is love. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest gift is your own life. The greatest pleasure is CHOCOLATE! The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is that there's always something new to learn. The greatest virtue is temperance. The greatest meditation is a peaceful mind. The greatest practice is to be kind. The greatest challenge is to let go. The greatest wisdom is to be in the NOW."
~ Pablo Valle
"Be kind to people whether they deserve your kindness or not. If your kindness reaches the deserving good for you if your kindness reaches the undeserving take joy in your compassion."
~ James Fadiman
"It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, aquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and selfinterest are the traits of sucess. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second."
~ John Steinbeck
"Doing the good deeds is like the grass in the garden. You don't see its growth. But, it does by days. Doing the wicked deeds is like the hone. You don't see its damage. But, it does by days."
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.
Author: Martin Luther King
Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world.
Author: Frank Warren
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
Author: Albert Schweitzer
In the world of ideas it is the emotionally insecure who censure others while remaining prisoners of constricting ideologies and mindsets. Unable to handle too much knowledge, they find comfort in these narrow confines. It remains to the adventurous and unguarded that broad vistas open.
Author: Norman W. Turner
I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, as a messenger of wonder, as an architect of peace.
Author: Diane Ackerman
Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.
Author: Helen Keller
Even the smallest thing that we do for the sake of others can bring about a great transformation in society. We may not get to see the change at once, but every good action certainly has its reward. So we should try and act in such a way that our actions will benefit others. Even a smile is extremely valuable! And a smile costs us nothing. Unfortunately, these days people often smile and laugh to ridicule others. This is not desirable. Instead, we should laugh at our own faults and follies.
Author: Amma
When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative [enough] to wake a person up.
Author: Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
“Steadfast benevolence, sustained by the wisdom that anything other than benevolence is painful, protects the mind from all afflictions.”
Author: Sylvia Boorstein
The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.
Author: Pema Chodron
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.
“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
“Life on earth is a whole, yet it expresses itself in unique time-bound bodies, microscopic or visible, plant or animal, extinct or living. So there can be no one place to be. There can be no one way to be, no one way to practice, no one way to learn, no one way to love, no one way to grow or to heal, no one way to live, no one way to feel, no one thing to know or be known. The particulars count.”
“You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.”
Favourable circumstances may be pleasant, but they rarely strengthen one's character. The greater the person, the greater the adversity he or she has overcome.
~ Anon - from a mini book I got free today with my purchases
“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
"The mental suffering you create is always some form of non-acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement. The intensity of the suffering depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment."
~ Eckhart Tolle
"Integrated meditation practice is like a healthy diet which is indispensable for maintaining your vitality and resistance to disease. Likewise, a balanced meditative practice in the course of a socially engaged way of life heightens your psychological immune system, so that you are less vulnerable to mental imbalances of all kinds."
~ Alan Wallace
"When one past thought has ceased and a future thought has not yet risen, in that gap, in between, isn’t there a consciousness of the present moment; fresh, virgin, unaltered by even a hair’s breadth of a concept, a luminous, naked awareness? Well, that's what naturally peaceful awareness is. "
The emergence and blossoming of understanding, love, and intelligence has nothing to do with any tradition, no matter how ancient or impressive--it has nothing to do with time. It happens on its own when a human being questions, wonders, inquires, listens, and looks without getting stuck in fear, pleasure, and pain. When self-concern is quiet, in abeyance, heaven and earth are open.
Author: Toni Packer
There is no energy more powerful than love. Love creates miracles, heals all wounds, and purifies all lower energies. You cannot give love away, for the more you give, the more you will receive in return. When you choose love you bring about the Highest good for yourself and others. With love you can transform or be transparent to people's emotions and thoughts, neutralize "negative" energy, and harmonize with all life in the universe. Offering love is always the right choice.
Author: Unknown
The greatest emotion is love. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest gift is your own life. The greatest pleasure is CHOCOLATE! The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is that there's always something new to learn. The greatest virtue is temperance. The greatest meditation is a peaceful mind. The greatest practice is to be kind. The greatest challenge is to let go. The greatest wisdom is to be in the NOW.
Author: Pablo Valle
To be affectionately detached -- that is a power. That is a wisdom. That is a love greater than any emotional love, a love born of understanding.
Author: Gurudeva
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.”
Author: Black Elk
“If you have patience, then you’ll also have love. Patience leads to love. If you forcefully open the petals of a bud, you won’t be able to enjoy its beauty and fragrance. Only when it blossoms by following its natural course, will the beauty and fragrance of a flower unfold.”
Author: Amma
“Pure love is the best medicine for the modern world. This is what is lacking in all societies. The root cause of all problems, from personal problems to global problems is the absence of love. Love is the binding factor, the unifying factor. Love creates the feeling of oneness among people. It unifies a nation and its people. Love creates a sense of unity while hatred causes division. Egotism and hatred cuts people’s minds into pieces. Love should rule. There is no problem which love cannot solve.”
We cannot get rid of suffering by saying, "I will not suffer." We cannot eliminate attachment by saying, "I will not be attached to anything," nor eliminate aggression by saying, "I will never become angry." Yet, we do want to get rid of suffering and the disturbing emotions that are the immediate cause of suffering.
The Buddha taught that to eliminate these states, which are really the results of the primary confusion of our belief in a personal self, we must get rid of the fundamental cause.
But we cannot simply say, "I will not believe in the personal self." The only way to eliminate suffering is to actually recognize the experience of a self as a misconception, which we do by proving directly to ourselves that there is no such personal self. We must actually realise this. Once we do, then automatically the misconception of a self and our fixation on that "self" will disappear.
Only by directly experiencing selflessness can we end the process of confused projection. This is why the Buddha emphasized meditation on selflessness or egolessness (emptiness).
However, to meditate on egolessness, we must undertake a process that begins with a conceptual understanding of egolessness; then, based on that understanding, there can be meditation, and finally realization.
No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve in quality as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing it is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.
Comments
~ Eileen Caddy
"No matter how frustrated you may feel, there is always a way out. In every situation that arises, we choose to be powerful or powerless. It may not always feel like it, but it is a choice. And there are consequences for these choices in terms of the results we get, and the subsequent increase or decrease in our power and influence. If we choose powerlessness, it is often because we doubt there is any other option."
~ Blaine Lee
"When we experience the pain of another person, we instinctively want to take away that pain. But by taking away the other person’s pain, we also take away his or her opportunity to grow. To be truly compassionate, we must be able to share another person’s suffering and pain - knowing there is nothing we can do to relieve it and that we are not responsible for it, and yet knowing and understanding what that pain feels like."
~ John Gray
"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend ... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present - love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure - the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth."
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach
"When mystics use the word love, they use it very carefully - in the deeply spiritual sense, where to love is to know; to love is to act. If you really love, from the depths of your Consciousness, that love gives you a native wisdom. You perceive the needs of others intuitively and clearly, with detachment from any personal desires; and you know how to act creatively to meet those needs, dexterously surmounting any obstacle that comes in the way. Such is the immense, driving power of love."
~ Eknath Easwaran
"Therefore, when I say that ‘I love,’ it is not I who love, but in reality Love who acts through me. Love is not so much something I do as something that I am. Love is not a doing but a state of being - a relatedness, a connectedness to another mortal, an identification with her or him that simply flows within me and through me, independent of my intentions or my efforts."
~ Robert A. Johnson
"Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, but do not be disheartened. The source they come from is eternal, growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you and this whole world is springing up from it."
~ Jelaluddin Rumi
"We don't always know what makes us happy. We know, instead, what we think SHOULD. We are baffled and confused when our attempts at happiness fail...We are mute when it comes to naming accurately our own preferences, delights, gifts, talents. The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people's expectations. The tongue of the original self is the language of the heart."
~ Julie Cameron
"We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves. The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse comes from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what it means to be perfect and never measuring up to that ideal. Our image of perfection is the reason we reject ourselves the way we are, and why we don't accept others the way they are."
~ Don Miguel Ruiz
"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be silent if no birds sang except the best."
~ Henry Van Dyke
"In the sweet territory of silence we touch the mystery. It’s the place of reflection and contemplation, and it’s the place where we can connect with the deep knowing, to the deep wisdom way."
~ Angeles Arrien
"The men who have had the most to give their fellow men are those who have enriched their hearts and minds in solitude."
~ Joel Hillebrand
"Learning to be aware of feelings, how they arise and how to use them creatively so they guide us to happiness, is an essential lifetime skill."
~ Joan Borysenko
"Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing."
~ Eckhart Tolle
"The great Western disease is, ‘I'll be happy when… when I get the money, when I get a BMW, when I get this job.’ Well, the reality is, you never get to when. The only way to find happiness is to understand that happiness is not out there. It's in here. And happiness is not next week. It's now."
~ Marshall Goldsmith
Have a good one!
All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil though, pain follows him.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure though, happiness follows him
like a shadow that never leaves him.
Holding on the anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it
at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love.
This is the eternal rule.
There is no fire like passion,
there is no shark like hatred,
there is no snare like folly,
there is no torrent like greed.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire,
men cannot live without a spiritual life.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.
Words have the power to both destroy and heal.
When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone by others.
Consider only what by oneself is done or undone.
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart
give yourself to it.
Three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth.
Learn from, but so not dwell in the past
be prepared for, but do not dream of the future
live in the present by concentrating your mind on the present moment.
To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own
in the midst of abundance.
All that we are is a result of what we have thought.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought,
pain follows him.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought,
happiness follows him
like a shadow that never leaves him.
To keep the body in good health is a duty;
otherwise the mind is not strong and clear.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Our deeds, good or evil, follow us like shadows.
Neither fire nor wind,
birth no death can erase our good deeds.
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth,
so virtue appears from good deeds,
and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.
To walk safely through the maze of human life
one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
The secret of health for both mind and body
is not to mourn the past,
not to worry about the future,
or not to anticipate troubles,
but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Ego, this gigantic devil
has caused troubles for many lifetimes.
Remember this enemy;
exterminate it quickly.
Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts
of resentment are cherished in the mind.
Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts
of resentment are forgotten.
Come from here -
http://www.highonlife1.com/buddha_wisdom.htm
Cheers
~ James H. Aughey
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.
~ William Blake, Laughing Song
“Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You're able to benefit from the unique viewpoints of others, without being crippled by your own judgment.”
~ Ralph Marston
"Experience is no more transferable in morals than in art."
~ James Anthony Froude,
"A chuckle a day may not keep the doctor away, but it sure does make those times in life's wanting room a little more bearable."
~ Anne Wilson Schaef
“Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.”
~ Anne Wilson Schaef
“Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail.”
~ Anne Wilson Schaef
“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
~ Albert Einstein
“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
~ Elbert Hubbard
Have a good one!
~ Socrates
http://tinyurl.com/7v9s4hy
Tosses up a few!
~ www.abundance-and-happine...uotes.html
~ The Buddha
"Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong."
~ Oscar Wilde
"The only alternative to prevent the net from becoming a mere market place is to create alternative websites, sharing and exchanging one's personal thoughts and insights. There are millions of spiritual seekers and religious people all over the world. Imagine the changes and possibilities if all of them would build their own sites! Start now!"
~ Hans Taeger
"Atheism is a non-prophet organization."
~ author unknown
"Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom."
~ Colton
"Enlightenment cannot be described, only experienced."
~ author unknown
"Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination."
~ Roy M. Goodman
"Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world."
~ R. D. Laing
"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."
~ Lao Tzu
"Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved."
~ Van Kaam
"With imagination we can capture infinity. With love we can make infinity worth imagining."
~ Brian Henke
"It's not just philosophy, not just words; it's knowing how the mind functions; only then can you develop loving-kindness; only then can you become a spiritual person."
~ Lama Thubten Yeshe
"I think that people are born mystics - we are all mystics as children, but it's taken away from us as we grow older. It's taken away subtly by education which trains the left brain and ignores the right brain. They take away your crayons right when you need them most - at puberty. When you should be getting to your cosmic soul they give you football and shopping-malls."
~ Matthew Fox
Come from this rather large collection -
http://www.iol.ie/~taeger/wisdomqu/wisdomq2.html
Enjoy!
~ Galbraith's Law
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Meaningful to Behold
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4493.Eckhart_Tolle
~ Anon - or at least I can't find it on the web ...
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Much more at this site -
http://www.bluebuddha.com.au/p/thich-nhat-hanh-quotes.html
Have a good one!
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“Nothing is lost upon a man who is bent upon growth; nothing wasted on one who is always preparing for … life by keeping eyes, mind and heart open to nature, men, books, experience … and what he gathers serves him at unexpected moments in unforeseen ways.”
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
"And remember, we all stumble, every one of us .This is why it is good to go hand in hand."
~ E. K. Brough
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves."
~ Carl Jung
"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
~ Elbert Hubbard
They come from this page -
http://www.consciouslivingfoundation.org/quote-general_quotations.htm
~ William S. Burroughs
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
"If you think you are too small to make a difference try sleeping with a mosquito."
~ The 14th Dalai Lama
"Love and concern for all are not things some of us are born with and others are not. Rather, they are results of what we do with our minds: We can choose to transform our minds so that they embody love, or we can allow them to develop habits & false concepts of separation."
~ Sharon Salzberg
Come from this site -
http://carolhansengrey.com/articles/Quotes/Spiritual_Quotes.html
Also an interestin links page!
~ Lorne Ladner
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Art-Compassion-Discovering/dp/0060750529
~ Thomas Macaulay
If we know that the past also lies in the present, we understand that we are able to change the past by transforming the present. The ghosts of the past, which follow us into the present, also belong to the present moment. To observe them deeply, recognize their nature, and transform them, is to transform the past.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Our Appointment with Life
It is a great turning point in our spiritual lives when we go from an intellectual appreciaiton of a path to the heartfelt confidence that says, "Yes, it is possible to awaken. I can, too." A tremendous joy accompanies this confidence. When we place our hearts upon this practice, the teachings come alive. That turning point, which transforms an abstract concept of a spiritual path into our own personal path, is faith.
~ Sharon Salzberg
This enlightenment of the Buddha's was profound and brilliant, accurate and powerful, and also warm and compassionate. It was like the sun behind the clouds. Anyone who has taken off in an airplane on a grim and gloomy day knows that beyond the cloud cover the sun is always shining. Even at night the sun is shining, but then we can't see it because the earth is in the way, and probably our pillow also. The buddha explained that behind the cloud cover of thoughts - including very heavy clouds of emotionally charged thoughts backed up by entrenched habitual patterns - there is continual warm, bright, loving intelligence constantly shining. And even though in the midst of thoughts, emotions, and habitual patterns, intelligence may become dulled and confused, it is still this intelligence in the midst of the thoughts and emotions and habits that make them so very captivating, so resourceful and various, so inexhaustible.
~ Samuel Bercholz, Entering the Stream
A good spiritual friend who will help us to stay on the path, with whom we can discuss our difficulties frankly, sure of a compassionate response, provides an important support system which is often lacking. Although people live and practice together, one-upmanship often comes between them. A really good friend is like a mountain guide. The spiritual path is like climbing a mountain: we don't really know what we will find at the summit. We have only heard that it is beautiful, everybody is happy there, the view is magnificent and the air unpolluted. If we have a guide who has already climbed the mountain, he can help us avoid falling into a crevasse, or slipping on loose stones, or getting off the path. The one common antidote for all our hindrances is noble friends and noble conversations, which are health food for the mind.
~ Ayya Khema
Cheers
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
~ H. Jackson Brown
MORE in here -
http://www.quotegarden.com/happiness.html
Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others people, both living and dead. And how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. And I am still receiving."
~ Albert Einstein
Who is it from?
Cheers
@thread:
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught
~From "On Friendship" by Khalil Gibran
Reminds me of this one I think I saw on a fridge magnet -
Lord help me 2 be the person my dog thinks I am.
Cheers
~ John O’Donohue
Comes from this page -
http://www.satrakshita.com/compassion.htm
When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual discipline, they often think that somehow they're going to improve, which is a sort of subtle aggression against who they really are. It's a bit like saying, "If I jog, I'll be a much better person." "If I could only get a nicer house, I'd be a better person." "If I could meditate and calm down, I'd be a better person"...
But loving-kindness - maitri - toward ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change ourselves. Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That's the
ground, that's what we study, that's what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
~ Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness
~ Paul Wilson, The Quiet
Comes from this page -
http://www.learning-modern-meditation.com/meditation-quotes.html
Have a good one!
~ Hugh Sidey
[Hoosier Farmer]
"Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope."
[Henry Wheeler Shaw]
"Love never asks what benefit it will derive from love.
Love from its very nature is a disinterested thing.
It loves for the creature’s sake it loves, and for nothing else."
[C. H. Spurgeon]
"We look forward to the time when the power to love of will replace the love of power.
Then will our world know the blessings of peace."
[William Gladstone]
"Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family.
Having both - is a blessing. "
[Donna Hedges]
"Part of obedience to the Golden Rule is knowing how to respond once you've behaved
in an unloving way."
[Doug McIntosh]
"Love is doing what is best for a person regardless of the cost or response."
[R. Robert Flatt]
They come from this page -
http://www.hopetriumphant.com/love_quotes.htm
Cheers
~ John Wesley
"The greatest emotion is love. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest gift is your own life. The greatest pleasure is CHOCOLATE! The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is that there's always something new to learn. The greatest virtue is temperance. The greatest meditation is a peaceful mind. The greatest practice is to be kind. The greatest challenge is to let go. The greatest wisdom is to be in the NOW."
~ Pablo Valle
"Be kind to people whether they deserve your kindness or not. If your kindness reaches the deserving good for you if your kindness reaches the undeserving take joy in your compassion."
~ James Fadiman
"It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, aquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and selfinterest are the traits of sucess. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second."
~ John Steinbeck
"Doing the good deeds is like the grass in the garden. You don't see its growth. But, it does by days. Doing the wicked deeds is like the hone. You don't see its damage. But, it does by days."
~ Buddha
Come from this huge site! -
http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtue/82-kindness/quotes
Enjoy!
~ Dalai Lama
For more of the Dalai Lama, try this page -
http://rudyh.org/dalai-lama-quotes-quotations.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/570218.Dalai_Lama_XIV
Monty Python
http://tinyurl.com/9v5pzxp
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.
Author: Martin Luther King
Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world.
Author: Frank Warren
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
Author: Albert Schweitzer
In the world of ideas it is the emotionally insecure who censure others while remaining prisoners of constricting ideologies and mindsets. Unable to handle too much knowledge, they find comfort in these narrow confines. It remains to the adventurous and unguarded that broad vistas open.
Author: Norman W. Turner
I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, as a messenger of wonder, as an architect of peace.
Author: Diane Ackerman
Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.
Author: Helen Keller
Even the smallest thing that we do for the sake of others can bring about a great transformation in society. We may not get to see the change at once, but every good action certainly has its reward. So we should try and act in such a way that our actions will benefit others. Even a smile is extremely valuable! And a smile costs us nothing. Unfortunately, these days people often smile and laugh to ridicule others. This is not desirable. Instead, we should laugh at our own faults and follies.
Author: Amma
When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative [enough] to wake a person up.
Author: Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
“Steadfast benevolence, sustained by the wisdom that anything other than benevolence is painful, protects the mind from all afflictions.”
Author: Sylvia Boorstein
The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.
Author: Pema Chodron
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.
Author: Buddha
That's ONLY a portion of the quotes -
http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtues/22-compassion
Have a good one!
“Life on earth is a whole, yet it expresses itself in unique time-bound bodies, microscopic or visible, plant or animal, extinct or living. So there can be no one place to be. There can be no one way to be, no one way to practice, no one way to learn, no one way to love, no one way to grow or to heal, no one way to live, no one way to feel, no one thing to know or be known. The particulars count.”
“You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.”
For more -
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/8750.Jon_Kabat_Zinn
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3826&Itemid=0
http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtues/60-gratitude
~ Anon - from a mini book I got free today with my purchases
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
"The mental suffering you create is always some form of non-acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement. The intensity of the suffering depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment."
~ Eckhart Tolle
"Integrated meditation practice is like a healthy diet which is indispensable for maintaining your vitality and resistance to disease. Likewise, a balanced meditative practice in the course of a socially engaged way of life heightens your psychological immune system, so that you are less vulnerable to mental imbalances of all kinds."
~ Alan Wallace
"When one past thought has ceased and a future thought has not yet risen, in that gap, in between, isn’t there a consciousness of the present moment; fresh, virgin, unaltered by even a hair’s breadth of a concept, a luminous, naked awareness? Well, that's what naturally peaceful awareness is. "
~ Sogyal Rinpoche
More on this page -
http://www.thewayofmeditation.com.au/quotes.html
It looks an excellent site ...
Have a good one!
~ Anon
a few of my favorite quotes
"When you get to the end of your rope,tie a knot and hold on"
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain."
-unknown
"Never regret anything that made you smile."
"Temptations will always ring your doorbell but opportunity will only knock ONCE"
"You only live once"
Glad you like them!
I love the one about learning to dance in the rain
Cheers
Author: Toni Packer
There is no energy more powerful than love. Love creates miracles, heals all wounds, and purifies all lower energies. You cannot give love away, for the more you give, the more you will receive in return. When you choose love you bring about the Highest good for yourself and others. With love you can transform or be transparent to people's emotions and thoughts, neutralize "negative" energy, and harmonize with all life in the universe. Offering love is always the right choice.
Author: Unknown
The greatest emotion is love. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest gift is your own life. The greatest pleasure is CHOCOLATE! The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is that there's always something new to learn. The greatest virtue is temperance. The greatest meditation is a peaceful mind. The greatest practice is to be kind. The greatest challenge is to let go. The greatest wisdom is to be in the NOW.
Author: Pablo Valle
To be affectionately detached -- that is a power. That is a wisdom. That is a love greater than any emotional love, a love born of understanding.
Author: Gurudeva
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.”
Author: Black Elk
“If you have patience, then you’ll also have love. Patience leads to love. If you forcefully open the petals of a bud, you won’t be able to enjoy its beauty and fragrance. Only when it blossoms by following its natural course, will the beauty and fragrance of a flower unfold.”
Author: Amma
“Pure love is the best medicine for the modern world. This is what is lacking in all societies. The root cause of all problems, from personal problems to global problems is the absence of love. Love is the binding factor, the unifying factor. Love creates the feeling of oneness among people. It unifies a nation and its people. Love creates a sense of unity while hatred causes division. Egotism and hatred cuts people’s minds into pieces. Love should rule. There is no problem which love cannot solve.”
Author: Amma
All come from wisdom comomns
The Buddha taught that to eliminate these states, which are really the results of the primary confusion of our belief in a personal self, we must get rid of the fundamental cause.
But we cannot simply say, "I will not believe in the personal self." The only way to eliminate suffering is to actually recognize the experience of a self as a misconception, which we do by proving directly to ourselves that there is no such personal self. We must actually realise this. Once we do, then automatically the misconception of a self and our fixation on that "self" will disappear.
Only by directly experiencing selflessness can we end the process of confused projection. This is why the Buddha emphasized meditation on selflessness or egolessness (emptiness).
However, to meditate on egolessness, we must undertake a process that begins with a conceptual understanding of egolessness; then, based on that understanding, there can be meditation, and finally realization.
~ Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
along, or that the whole object of playing it is to reach the finale. The point
of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the
same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed
in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.
Alan Watts
http://www.livinglifefully.com/life.html