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Meditation helps us sit with powerful emotions yet avoid two extremes—being overcome or defined by them, or trying to push them away. - Sharon Salzberg
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Knowledge is power. But is it? Personally I think this popular maxim is grossly misleading. Nevertheless, knowledge that leads to self-understanding is invaluable because it empowers us to live a life that is not dictated by the mechanism of our unconscious. - Georg Feuerstein
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It's completely lacking dogma, doctrine, and the inflexibility which come with those spiritual vices. The Buddha himself said: Do not believe in anything (simply) because you have heard it; Do not believe in traditions, because they been handed down for many generations; Do not believe in anything, because it is spoken and rumored by many; Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books; But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
Here's what modern Buddhist thinker, Dr. Ambedkar writes about this novel spiritual approach: “Buddha wanted his religion to remain evergreen and serviceable at all times. That is why he gave liberty to his followers to chip and chop as the necessities of the case required. No other religious teacher has shown such courage. They were afraid of permitting repair, because the liberty to repair may be used to demolish the structure they had reared. Buddha had no such fear. He was sure of his foundation. He knew that even the most violent iconoclast will not be able to destroy the core of his religion.”
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To compensate for wrongs you have committeds, increase your good deeds. for example, give more to charity than you normally do, acknowledging to yourself that the additional money is to help you atone. - Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
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For the sake of world peace, if you find that the doctrines of your faith contain something that is intolerant of the other groups or in contradiction with the promotion of world peace, then you should make new interpretations of these relevant doctrines because every wholesome religion should get along peacefully with other groups so that it can influence human kind on earth to stay far away from the causes of war. - Sheng Yen
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The mind can turn a confused life into one of wisdom; ignorant behavior into sensible demeanor. - Hsing Yun
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Our conduct in life should be like the flow of water. When meeting a mountain, water turns. When meeting the shore, water turns. When meetings a stone water turns. In meeting obstacles, I turn. - Hsing Yun
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Knowing he is nearing the end of his life, Venerable Thich Nhat Han (he turned 94 on Oct 11th) he he instructed his community not to build a traditional memorial stupa for his remains after he dies:
“Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase, lock me inside and limit who I am. I know this will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure that you put a sign on it that says, ‘I am not in here.’ In addition, you can also put another sign that says, ‘I am not out there either,’ and a third sign that says, ‘If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps.’”
“Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase, lock me inside and limit who I am. I know this will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure that you put a sign on it that says, ‘I am not in here.’ In addition, you can also put another sign that says, ‘I am not out there either,’ and a third sign that says, ‘If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps.’”
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You are what you think. You become what you think about. You can create the life you want, simply by thinking the right thoughts. - Deb Peterson
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Being happy or unhappy is just a matter of switching thoughts. - Hsing Yun