Every country has faults. In one it's too cold; in another too hot, or there's famine, or sickness, or crime, or the government is corrupt. The practitioner should not be attached to any of these countries and their various evils. - Tso Chan
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None of us is ever unemployed. We always have a job to do. We are sent into life for one task: to enrich the lives of others. - Eknath Easwaran
These five remembrances, are recorded in a Sutra (text) called Subjects For Contemplation (Upajjhatthana Sutta)
Real spiritual progress starts with selfless service. - Swami Sivananda
Buddhism in general, and Zen in particular, is not concerned with the content of thoughts or feelings, except to recognize that they are the cause of confusion, emotional paralysis, and pain. In and of themselves, thoughts are no big deal, except when we make a big deal out of them, creating a dualistic separation from reality, which is a wordy way to say ‘a problem.’ - Karen Maezen Miller
You have within you all the materials for getting wisdom. There is a vast magazine of power within. It wants kindling. Wake up now! - Swami Sivananda
In a Buddhist text called the Abhidharma the Buddha uses the metaphor of a kingdom saying that each one of us is the king or queen of our own private country. As rulers we are assisted by various ministers who are there to guide us. This means that we must ensure that the various ministries are doing their jobs properly. For example . . .
Is my Minister of Health active in keeping my body at an optimal level? Is my Minister of Religious Affairs directing me to continue spiritual evolution? Is my Minister of Defense protecting me from associating with unwholesome individuals? Is my Minister of Justice guiding me to act with compassion toward the less fortunate? Is my Minister of the Environment prompting me to care skillfully for our planet? Is my Minister of Finance enabling me to manage money properly? Is my Minister of Education directing me toward continuous study and learning? The Buddha, of course, is using the kingdom metaphor as a reminder to keep our minds clear and clean rather than be overwhelmed by negative thinking and harmful emotions. It is very singular how little men seem to realize that they are not caught in the grip of a mechanism from which there is no escape, but that the treadmill is one upon which they remain merely because they have not noticed that it fails to take them up to a higher level. - Bertrand Russell
In many ways abusive speech is a more profound form of harming others than is physical violence, for its impact goes deeper. - Glenn H. Mullin
A wind blowing over a sandalwood forest smells sweet,
but blowing over manure it smells foul. Likewise whether your companions are positive or negative, your lifestyle is affected accordingly. Therefore it is important to choose wisely. - Dalai Lama 7th |
Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
April 2021
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