Zen Buddhists say: "...that an oak tree is brought into creation by two forces at the same time. Obviously, there is the acorn from which it all begins, the seeds which holds all the promise and potential, which grows into the tree. Everybody can see that. But only a few can recognize that there is another force operating here as well - the future tree itself, which wants so badly to exist that it pulls the acorn into being, drawing the seedling forth with longing out of the void, guiding the evolution from nothingness to maturity. In this respect, say the Zen Buddhists, it is the oak tree that creates the very acorn from which it was born."
Illness or disease is only Nature's warning that filth has accumulated in some portion or other of the body; and it would surely be the part of wisdom to allow Nature to remove the filth, instead of covering it up with the help of medicines.
-Mahatma Gandhi, 1921
Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.
-Siddhārtha Gautama
He who lives for pleasure only, his senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his food, idle, and weak, him Māra, the tempter, will certainly overthrow, as the wind throws down a weak tree. He who lives without looking for pleasures, his senses well-controlled, moderate in his food, faithful and strong, him Māra will certainly not overthrow, any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain.
-The Dhammapada. Translated from Pāli by F. Max Müller, Vol.X, Part I, of the Sacred Books of the East. Oxford, 1881.
If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.
-Lao Tzu
You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
-The Buddha
The true delight of the soul lies in love, harmony, and beauty, the outcome of which is wisdom, calm and peace; the more constant they are the greater is the satisfaction of the soul.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan - The Mysticism of Sound and Music
We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.
-Rumi
The things we touch have no permanence. My master would say, there is nothing we can hold onto in the world. Only by letting go can we truely possess what is real.
-Master Li Mu Bai in the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
A Hindu saint, who was visiting river Ganges to take bath, found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled and asked. "Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?" Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, "Because we lose our calm, we shout." "But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner," asked the saint. Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples. Finally the saint explained... "When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance. What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small…" The saint continued, "When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other." He looked at his disciples and said. "So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, Do not say words that distance each other more, Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.
Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.
-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this... and attaining enlightenment is the least of your problems.
-Zen Judaism by Someone Clever
A tree that is unbending, is easily broken.
-Lao Tzu
The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.
-Rumi
God has no religion.
-Gandhi
Happiness and suffering can be divided into two main categories: mental and physical. Of the two, it’s the mind that exerts the greatest influence over us. So long as we’re not ill or lacking basic necessities, and our body is content, we virtually ignore it. The mind, however, registers everything that happens to us, no matter how small. Therefore, we should focus our efforts on bringing about mental peace.
-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."
-Confucius
When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred.
-Madara Uchina to Sasuke Uchina, Naruto Shippuden, Episode 152 Somber News
You are not a drop of of water in the ocean, you are the ocean in a single drop.
-Rumi
Stop being so small, you are the universe in ecstatic motion.
-Rumi
As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound.
-B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life, Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, better known as B.K.S. Iyengar, was the founder of the style of yoga known as "Iyengar Yoga" and was considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world.
Vengeance makes you go mad. It turns you into someone you don’t recognize anymore.
-Naruto, Episode 200 Naruto’s Plea, Begging before the Raikage to not kill his friend Sasuke
The sage does not criticize others, does not boast and is humble and simple, despite having a vast knowledge.
-Unknown
The weak are dominated by their ego, the wise dominate their ego, and the intelligent are in a constant struggle against their ego.
-Hamza Yusuf
To become an Initiate, one has to endure a "magical ritual", in which, the soul is momentarily liberated... and can contemplate, on one side, ones physical-animal life, and on the other side, ones spiritual life...
-Samael Aun Weor
Question on a forum:
As one awakens in this lifetime, in the next life time will they lose their memory upon incarnation about their past life?
Answer:
According to the Bardo Thodol, as defined by the Dalai Lama, yes. The ego, or personality, being a part of the physical body, dies with the rest of our physical remains, as they are associated with the physical brain. We take with us only our actions (karma). That which continues on is an aspect of consciousness referred to as the Subtle Mind, cleansed and ready for reincarnation. What we did of a karmic nature, however, during the previous incarnation, should still be accessible in the Akashic records. And in times of stress during a karmic situation, we may get glimpses of those past incarnations. Some believe otherwise, as in the traditional concept of the Soul, that is often found in Western religious tenets.
-Robert Merritt
As long as space endures, and as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.
- Shantideva
VENUS JUST ASKED ME
Perhaps for just one minute out of the day,
It may be of value to torture yourself with thoughts like,
“I should be doing a hell of a lot more with my life than I am -
Because I’m so damn talented.”
But remember, for just one minute out of the day.
With all the rest of your time, it would be best
To try looking upon your self more as God does.
For He knows your true royal nature.
God is never confused and can see only Himself in you.
My dear, Venus just leaned down and asked me to tell you a secret,
To confess She’s just a mirror who has been stealing
Your light and music for centuries.
She knows, as does Hafiz,
You are the sole heir to the King.
-Hafez, 14th century poet
Master Po: What do you look for beyond the sea grasshopper?
Caine: That part of me I know little of. The past, in which I was born.
Master Po: Then someday you must seek it.
Caine: Is it good to seek the past, Master Po? Does it not rob the present?
Master Po: If a man dwells on the past he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past he robs the future. The seeds of our destiny our nutured by the roots of our past.
-Kung Fu TV Series, Season 1, Episode 4
The true purpose [of Zen] is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes... Emotionally we have many problems, but these problems are not actual problems; they are something created by our self-centered ideas or views. When we realize the everlasting truth of “everything changes” and find our composure in it, we find ourselves in Nirvana.
-Shunryu Suzuki
Let me start right off, since my life has had a lot to do with “Buddhism,” which seems highly religious, by saying that what I am going to share with you is not the religion of “Buddhism” but the experience of “buddhasm,” the full release into joy that happens when we come face-to-face with the real reality. Our goal here is not to “believe in Buddhism,” not to “be religious,” not to join a cult or subscribe to a theory.
Our goal is to gain the clarity of mindful awareness and the joy of real freedom—no matter what our religion, belief system, or cultural membership.
I call that deep experience a “buddhasm.” And yes, I purposefully associate it with an orgasm, the blissful transport that every animal approaches with fear and trembling yet craves as a peak experience of life.
~ Robert A.F. Thurman via Elephant Journal
This body is not me; I am not caught in this body, I am life without boundaries, I have never been born and I have never died. Over there, the wide ocean and the sky with many galaxies all manifests from the basis of consciousness. Since beginningless time I have always been free. Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out. Birth and death are only a game of hide-and-seek. So smile to me and take my hand and wave good-bye. Tomorrow we shall meet again or even before. We shall always be meeting again at the true source. Always meeting again on the myriad paths of life.
-Thích Nhất Hạnh, No Death, No Fear
We love and admire Tibet because Tibet is the guardian, custodian, preserver, developer, and utilizer of these great enlightenment teachings.
Originally, all the teachings came from what the Tibetans call the Noble Country, Aryavarta, the country of the noble beings. These beings followed the Buddhist tradition and achieved nobility in the spiritual sense, they were selfless beings-beings who did not live enclosed within their own personal, egocentric perspective but lived within a multiperspectival world.
The perspectives of the others were to them as important as, or more important than, the perspective of the self. The noble being realized the meaning and the reality of selflessness.
A noble person is defined by the Buddha not in terms of social class or race or nationality or sex or religion but by whether you perceive things only from your own perspective or whether you perceive them simultaneously from all others' perspectives.”
-Robert Thurman, Quote from The Jewel Tree of Tibet
When the senses are stalled, when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not, that say the wise is the highest state. This calm of the senses and the mind has been defined as yoga. One who attains it is freed from delusion.
-Katha Upanishad
If there is peace in your mind you will find peace with everybody. If your mind is agitated you will find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see this inner peace reflected everywhere else. You are this peace. You are happiness, find out. Where else will you find peace if not within you?
-Papaji
MANTRA OF UNIFICATION
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the soul control the outer form,
And life, and all events,
And bring to light the Love
That underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
-From the work of Alice A. Bailey, Djwhal Khul, The Tibetan