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It’s clear that we like to do the easy thing and to ignore the long-term consequences. Thus, the problem of suffering is really a problem of short-sightedness. - Alex Kakuyo
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Give of yourself. You can always give something, even if it is only kindness.
- Anne Frank
- Anne Frank
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Don’t invite the future. Don’t pursue the past. Let go of the present. Relax right now. - Gampoa
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I believe the purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts. - Dalai Lama 14th
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We can work to be willing to let go of everything that puts us in conflict with others. This is a beautiful gesture. This is the skill and art needed to live in our world in an elegant way; one that amplifies goodness rather than weighs the world down by decreasing goodness. - Ajahn Sumano Bhikkhu
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I recently attended (12/21/22) a retirement celebration for a man who had directed the HOW Foundation in Tulsa, a center devoted to helping men break free from addiction. Seated across the table from me was a man, ‘Vince’, who told me he’d been clean and sober for six years. Among the ripple effects of his addiction issue were time spent in prison and the erosion of family life. His first two years of working toward sobriety were “very hard” he told me.
I asked Vince if it was still hard and he said “not at all” adding this observation: “However, I know there’s a beast in my mind but I have him in a cage. Every now and then he shakes the cage but I simply tell him to ‘calm down’ and then it’s all good.” His reference to a beast in the mind is highly helpful for meditators. All of us have a mind which is much like a beast: erratic, volatile, angry, inconsistent, constantly twitching. Like Vince, we need to be aware of the beast’s presence, contain him in a cage and, whenever he begins to shake the cage, we need to offer him the instruction to calm down.
I asked Vince if it was still hard and he said “not at all” adding this observation: “However, I know there’s a beast in my mind but I have him in a cage. Every now and then he shakes the cage but I simply tell him to ‘calm down’ and then it’s all good.” His reference to a beast in the mind is highly helpful for meditators. All of us have a mind which is much like a beast: erratic, volatile, angry, inconsistent, constantly twitching. Like Vince, we need to be aware of the beast’s presence, contain him in a cage and, whenever he begins to shake the cage, we need to offer him the instruction to calm down.
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We want to learn how not to be attached to self and others. - Hsuan Hua
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The word ‘discouragement’ comes from old French where it originally meant ‘cause to lose courage.’ Though discouragement is a common human condition, it does not have to happen. Sometimes we merely have to remind ourselves it’s not necessary. So, do not be discouraged because you life isn’t easy. Do not be discouraged because you have tried and failed. Do not be discouraged when you’re ill. Do not be discouraged over another’s success. Do not be discourged when suffering comes your way. Instead, simply commit to moving forward in spite of how you feel or in spite of how things presently look in your life. That defuses and disables discouragement. - Victor M. Parachin
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We have to stop clinging to the conditioned path and learn to be open to the unconditioned path. - Tenzin Palmo
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Meditation is a pattern in which we are fixed enough to create stability of ground, and at the same time open enough so that we can shift. In other words, so that transformation is possible. - Martine Batchelor