Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. - Thich Nhat Hanh
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There’s nothing wrong with acquisitions, but there’s something wrong with thinking they’ll bring you happiness. - Alan Wallace
"I think so. Dignity is key. Most people now die in a drug induced state, and in some cases, this interferes with dignity. In the past, a lot of people died in pain, but that wasn’t necessarily bad. A great example is Epicurus. He died in enormous pain, yet he endured and died with tranquility. This was essential to his teaching: do not fear death. These days, the overwhelming issue is not dying in pain, not being a burden to anybody else. So. there’s a sense that you should drug people, pacify them. Yet there are people in the modern age who have done other things – Freud, for instance. He had twenty-seven operations for cancer of the mouth and refused to take painkillers because, he said, he’d rather think in pain than not think at all."
- Simon Critchley. professor and chair of philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York (from an interview with Andrea MIller and published in her book Awakening Heart) We tend to believe that what we see about us is not only real but permanent. This is not true. - Richard Hittleman
One should not pry into the faults of others, what they've done and left undone. Consider instead what you yourself have done and left undone. - Dhammapada
People today do not want to have meritorious achievements. Instead, they become opportunists and try to rely on their good luck to achieve something without hard work.
- Hsing Yun If we continue to think that everything will remain just as it is, then we will be just like rich people still discussing their business projects on their deathbeds! - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Long before the phrase entered our vocabulary, the Buddha stressed the vital importance of spiritual social distancing. He strongly urged us to journey through life with one or two good spiritual companions, people who raise our spiritual vibration. On the flip side, he said if you can't find such people, then walk alone. Here is the Buddha's wisdom on walking and wandering alone if you can't find someone who will support or increase your vibration:
For a sociable person there are allurements; on the heels of allurement, this pain. Seeing allurement's drawback, wander alone like a rhinoceros. Free from longing, finding no pleasure in the world's sport, love, or sensual bliss, abstaining from adornment, speaking the truth, wander alone like a rhinoceros. If you gain a mature companion, a fellow traveler, right-living & wise, overcoming all dangers go with them, gratified, mindful. If you don't gain a mature companion, a fellow traveler, right-living & wise, wander alone like a king renouncing his kingdom, like the elephant in the Matanga wilds, his herd. We praise companionship—yes! Those on a par, or better, should be chosen as friends. If they're not to be found, living faultlessly, wander alone like a rhinoceros. - Khaggavisana Sutta: A Rhinoceros Note that the Buddha dos endorse companionship but it must be the right kind: "those on par or better" than yourself. |
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
May 2020
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