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Buddhist quotes

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Comments

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    You think!! Stop thinking…..and live…..experience things with the heart.
    You’re constantly think, think, think, think, think….
    Stop this thinking and then you will live in a world of experience yeah?
    And then things just fall into place because there is a natural movement of all things.
    And all that you do then is just go with the flow.
    And then you don’t have to ask all these questions….

    Ajahn Martin (scolding a student who was asking too many questions)

    JeroenlobsterKotishka
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    Most questions are easily answered with a little thought. The problem is most of us over think it. Good quote @Bunks

    Jeroen
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    Oh no, it’s Leo! You didn’t really expect us to watch that hour long video did you @lobster

    DairyLama
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    @Kerome up to you. I did not watch much of it.
    When someone spends an hour on his thoughts on not overthinking, we can infer quite a lot …

    David
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    True! I think his goal for people from his community, for them to become sages was somewhat ambitious…

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “If you prefer smoke over fire
    then get up now and leave.
    For I do not intend to perfume
    your mind's clothing
    with more sooty knowledge.

    No, I have something else in mind.
    Today I hold a flame in my left hand
    and a sword in my right.
    There will be no damage control today.

    For God is in a mood
    to plunder your riches and
    fling you nakedly
    into such breathtaking poverty
    that all that will be left of you
    will be a tendency to shine.

    So don't just sit around this flame
    choking on your mind.
    For this is no campfire song
    to mindlessly mantra yourself to sleep with.

    Jump now into the space
    between thoughts
    and exit this dream
    before I burn the damn place down.”
    ― Adyashanti

    lobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “If you think that people should be nice to one another, then by
    all means be nice. But when you project that belief onto the
    people and the world around you as if it were an objective reality,
    or worse still, as if it were their job to be nice to you, you put
    yourself at odds with what is, and suffering will surely follow.”
    ― Adyashanti, The Way of Liberation

    Bunkslobster
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    True! I think his goal for people from his community, for them to become sages was somewhat ambitious…

    If you have sage and union staffing, it must be Christmas. Jingle All The Way …

    God Bless Us, Every One.
    Bodhi TinyTim

    [ahem] … and now back to the quotes

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “It is much like when you have a dream at night and are identified with some character and think you are different from all the others. When you wake up from your dream in the morning, you realize that you are not the character in the dream. You are the dreamer. Everything in the dream came from you. This is a metaphor for spiritual awakening, because when you wake up spiritually, you realize you are not the body-mind. But what is usually missed is that you are the ultimate source of the entire dream. I think this is pretty easy to understand. In one sense, you see that you are not anyone, but in the other, you realize that you are the source of all.”
    ― Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

    Bunks
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @Kerome said:
    “It is much like when you have a dream at night and are identified with some character and think you are different from all the others. When you wake up from your dream in the morning, you realize that you are not the character in the dream. You are the dreamer. Everything in the dream came from you. This is a metaphor for spiritual awakening, because when you wake up spiritually, you realize you are not the body-mind. But what is usually missed is that you are the ultimate source of the entire dream. I think this is pretty easy to understand. In one sense, you see that you are not anyone, but in the other, you realize that you are the source of all.”
    ― Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

    Reminds me of:

    Wisdom tells me I am nothing
    Love tells me I am everything
    Between the two my life flows

    • Nisargadatta Maharaj
    lobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “The freedom that’s discovered isn’t, “I have attained enlightenment.” The freedom is, “My God, there is nobody here to be enlightened. Therefore, there is nobody there to be unenlightened.” That’s the light. Only the concept “me” thinks it needs enlightenment, freedom, liberation, and emancipation. It thinks it needs to find God or get a Ferrari—it’s all the same thing when you get right down to it.”
    ― Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited July 2021

    Yeah, I had just posted and then realised I hadn't copied the right quote and then my daughter started yelling so... Lol. Anywho...

    "I had a discussion with a great master in Japan, and we were talking about the various people who are working to translate the Zen books into English, and he said, ‘That’s a waste of time. If you really understand Zen, you can use any book. You could use the Bible. You could use Alice in Wonderland. You could use the dictionary, because the sound of the rain needs no translation.'”

    – Alan Watts

    lobsterJeroen
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Meditative self-inquiry is the art of asking a spiritually powerful question. And a question that is spiritually powerful always points us back to ourselves. Because the most important thing that leads to spiritual awakening is to discover who and what we are—to wake up from this dream state, this trance state of identification with ego. And for this awakening to occur, there needs to be some transformative energy that can flash into consciousness. It needs to be an energy that is actually powerful enough to awaken consciousness out of its trance of separateness into the truth of our being. Inquiry is an active engagement with our own experience that can cultivate this flash of spiritual insight.”
    ― Adyashanti, True Meditation: Discover the Freedom of Pure Awareness

    lobsterDavid
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “My speaking is meant to shake you awake, not to tell you how to dream better.”
    ― Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

    BunkslobsterDavid
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited July 2021

    "The group is always wrong"
    Sangharikshita

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    In the case of Sangharikshita, the individual was wrong. Not about everything obviously.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/21/sangharakshita-guru-triratna-buddhist-dark-secrets

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited August 2021

    “There is no witness, there is just witnessing.”
    — Adyashanti, The Way of Liberation

    “The self is the process!”
    — anonymous

    “The mind is a wave on the ocean, endlessly waving.”
    — anonymous

    BunksDavid
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    "Compassion is not sitting in your room; it’s actually very active and engaging,”

    • Brother Phap Dung
    Bunks
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    edited August 2021

    You could use Alice in Wonderland.

    Seems like a plan …

    “Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

    “I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone: “so I can’t take more.”

    “You mean you ca’n’t take less,” said the Hatter: “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Sentient Being Oceania Veteran

    Not so much a quote ...a story....an oldie but goodie

    "A monk decides to meditate alone. Away from his monastery, he takes a boat and goes to the middle of the lake, closes his eyes and begins to meditate.
    After a few hours of unperturbed silence, he suddenly feels the blow of another boat hitting his. With his eyes still closed, he feels his anger rising and, when he opens his eyes, he is ready to shout at the boatman who dared to disturb his meditation.
    But when he opened his eyes, saw that it was an empty boat, not tied up, floating in the middle of the lake ...

    At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization and understands that anger is within him; it simply needs to hit an external object to provoke it.
    After that, whenever he meets someone who irritates or provokes his anger, he remembers; the other person is just an empty boat.
    Anger is inside me."

    ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

    BunksDavid
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretence. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”
    ― Adyashanti

    Bunkslobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “We realize--often quite suddenly--that our sense of self, which has been formed and constructed out of our ideas, beliefs and images, is not really who we are. It doesn't define us, it has no center.”
    ― Adyashanti, The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Let go of all ideas and images in your mind, they come and go and aren’t even generated by you. So why pay so much attention to your imagination when reality is for the realizing right now?”
    ― Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing

    DavidBunks
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited August 2021

    The point is that we can dissolve the sense of dualism between us and them, between this and that, between here and there, by moving toward what we find difficult and wish to push away.

    Pema Chodron

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “All that is necessary to awaken to yourself as the radiant emptiness of spirit is to stop seeking something more or better or different, and to turn your attention inward to the awake silence that you are.”
    ― Adyashanti

    Bunks
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    By learning to remain balanced in the face of everything experienced inside, one develops detachment towards all that one encounters in external situations as well. However, this detachment is not escapism or indifference to the problems of the world.

    Goenka

    lobsterBunksShoshin1David
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “As I often tell my students, the person you’ll have the hardest time opening to and truly loving without reserve is yourself. Once you can do that, you can love the whole universe unconditionally.”
    ― Adyashanti, Falling Into Grace

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Confusion, I was taught, is the beginning of understanding,”
    ― Yongey Mingyur, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

    lobsterBunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited August 2021

    “I began to see that when the pace of external of material progress exceeded the development of inner knowledge, people seemed to suffer deep emotional conflicts without any internal method of dealing with them. An abundance of material items provides such a variety of external distractions that people lose the connection to their inner lives.”
    ― Yongey Mingyur, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

    Jeffrey
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    The only thing we have to do is die.
    Everything else is a choice.

    Venerable Thubten Chodron

    Shoshin1
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    80% of the practice is knowing you should let go of something but you are not able to.

    Ajahn Chah

    (This gives me hope…..) =)

    JeroenShoshin1lobsterDavid
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited August 2021

    “You know death is coming. That is certain. You don’t know when. Every day makes the time that remains shorter. And there is nothing you can do to help. Your body won’t help you. Your possessions won’t help you. Your friends and family won’t help you. Only the spiritual path remains, it is the only thing that makes sense.”

    — Atisha, around 1000 AD, slightly paraphrased

    BunksDavid
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    edited August 2021

    Happy indeed we live,
    friendly amidst the hostility.
    Amidst hostile people,
    we dwell free from hatred.

    Dhammapada 15.197

    lobsterShoshin1DavidKotishka
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    "Thinking ‘my group,’ ‘their group’ on the basis of religion, on the basis of color, on the basis of social status—all this is old thinking. We have to think [in terms] of one humanity… That’s my number one commitment: to promote a sense of oneness of seven billion human beings.”

    • H. H. The Dalai Lama at the Mind and Life Institute
    federicalobsterBunks
  • Recognizing that difficult emotions are common to all humans also seems to arouse immediate feelings of empathy with others. We share our emotions: they are part of our collective karma, the human condition.

    —Wes Nisker, “It’s Only Natural”

    Shoshin1lobsterBunksDavid
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    This body of mine will disintegrate, but my actions will continue me. In my daily life, I always practice to see my continuation all around me. We don’t need to wait until the total dissolution of this body to continue - we continue in every moment. If you think that I am only this body, then you have not truly seen me. When you look at my friends, you see my continuation. When you see someone walking with mindfulness and compassion, you know he is my continuation. I don’t see why we have to say “I will die,” because I can already see myself in you, in other people, and in future generations.

    Even when the cloud is not there, it continues as snow or rain. It is impossible for a cloud to die. It can become rain or ice, but it cannot become nothing. The cloud does not need to have a soul in order to continue. There’s no beginning and no end. I will never die. There will be a dissolution of this body, but that does not mean my death. I will continue, always.

    • Thich Nhat Hanh
    JeffreyJeroen
  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Sentient Being Oceania Veteran
    edited September 2021

    "Say not that this is yours and that is mine
    Just say this came to you and that to me
    So we may not regret the fading shine
    Of all the glorious things that ceased to be"

    ~Ven. Narada Thera~ (The Way to Nibbana)

    lobsterBunksKotishka
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited September 2021

    That's the most beautiful thing I have read, in a long time.

  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Sentient Being Oceania Veteran

    "Mindfulness is the ability to use attention and awareness together in an optimal way"

    ~Culadasa~

    KotishkalobsterDavid
  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Sentient Being Oceania Veteran

    Holding on to anger is like picking up a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else;


    ....you are the one who gets burned...
    ~Buddhaghosa~

    Bunkslobster
  • Even our worst failures and misdeeds point us in the right direction.

    —Kurt Spellmeyer, “Helpless, Not Hopeless”

    lobsterBunksShoshin1
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    May all creatures, all living things,
    all beings one and all,
    experience good fortune only.
    May they not fall into harm.

    AN 4.67

    Shoshin1
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion.”

    ― Dalai Lama

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.”

    – Dalai Lama

    Bunks
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

    ― Dalai Lama

    Bunks
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran

    The true person is not anyone in particular;
    But like the deep, blue colour
    Of the limitless sky,
    It is everyone,
    Everywhere in the world.

    Dogen Zenji

    BunksWalker
  • "The worse it gets, the better I feel."

    Ajahn Sona

    (?!)

    Bunkslobster
  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Sentient Being Oceania Veteran

    "You cannot catch hold of it, nor can you get rid of it...In not being able to get it, you get it...When you speak it's silent...When you're silent it speaks"

    ~Chan Poem~

    WalkerBunkslobster
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    @コチシカ said:
    "The worse it gets, the better I feel."
    Ajahn Sona

    Tee Hee!
    Strangely enough awareness is opened by intensity:

    In pain, there is your awareness
    Loud noise, there is your awareness
    Beautiful sight to behold. Where is your awareness? Right there.
    Day dreaming of past, future or what if, there is your delusion/attention/awareness.
    Now how are we overwhelmed by touch, taste, smell?
    The sense of being wanders from awareness to awareness …

    Kotishka
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