If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. HH Dalai Lama

 

Spiritual Quotes 3

Imagine vividly a situation where you have acted badly, one about which you
feel guilty, and about which you wince even to think of it.

Then, as you breathe in, accept total responsibility for your actions in
that particular situation, without in any way trying to justify your
behavior. Acknowledge exactly what you have done wrong, and wholeheartedly
ask for forgiveness. Now, as you breathe out, send out reconciliation,
forgiveness, healing, and understanding.

So you breathe in blame, and breathe out the undoing of harm; you breathe in
responsibility, breathe out healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

This exercise is particularly powerful and may give you the courage to go to
see the person whom you have wronged, and the strength and willingness to
talk to him or her directly and actually ask for forgiveness from the depths
of your heart.



Sogyal Rinpoche

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


What really matters is not just the practice of sitting but far more the
state of mind you find yourself in after meditation. It is this calm and
centered state of mind you should prolong through everything you do. I like
the Zen story in which the disciple asked his master:

"Master, how do you put enlightenment into action? How do you practice it in
everyday life?"
"By eating and by sleeping," replied the master.
"But Master, everybody sleeps and everybody eats."
"But not everybody eats when they eat, and not everybody sleeps when they
sleep."
From this comes the famous Zen saying, "When I eat, I eat; when I sleep, I
sleep."

To eat when you eat and sleep when you sleep means to be completely present
in all your actions, with none of the distractions of ego to stop you from
being there. This is integration.


Sogyal Rinpoche

 

EASY TO DO
are things that are bad and harmful to oneself.
But exceedingly difficult to do are things that are
good and beneficial.

--The Buddha
(from "The Dhammapada," No. 163)

BARE ATTENTION BRINGS order into the clutter that collects in those untidy little hidden corners of the mind. As you achieve clear comprehension in the midst of life's ordinary activities, you gain the ability to remain rational and peaceful while you throw the penetrating light of mindfulness into those irrational mental nooks and crannies. You start to see the extent to which you are responsible for your own mental suffering. You see your own miseries, fears and tensions as self generated. You see the way you cause your own suffering, weakness and limitations. And the more deeply you understand these mental processes, the less hold they have on you.

-- Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
(from "Mindfulness in Plain English,"
Wisdom Books, 1995)

 

THE BUDDHA MADE IT CLEAR that there is no way to run from suffering. You can run as fast and far as you can, and it will still be there with you. Instead, he said we need to stay exactly where we are and cultivate the power of awareness, the Great Awareness, mahasati. And only in that way, right here where we are, can we free ourselves from suffering.

--Ajahn Jumnien
(from "Holy Impermanence, Holy Suffering,
Holy Selflessness," in "Inquiring Mind,"
Vol. 15, No. 1, Fall 1998)

There is nothing to trust from seeking happiness outside; you will only
become exhausted with suffering, which is without satisfaction and without
end......"


Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
( the Tibetan Lama I met in retreat for three months January to
end March 99 in USA, )


"Always aim at complete harmony of thought
and word and deed. Always aim at purifying
your thoughts and everything will be well."


-Mohandas K. Gandhi

 

Just as no pleasures can bring delight
To someone whose body is ablaze with fire,
Nor can the great compassionate ones be pleased
When harm is done to sentient beings.........

Shantideva (8th C Buddhist saint)


For as long as space remains And as long as sentient beings remain Until then may I too remain To dispel the suffering of all beings.

Shantideva

 

When walking just walk,
When sitting just sit,
Above all, don't wobble... 

 

Yun-Men/Ummon (d.949) 


The thought of liking problems should arise naturally, like the thought of
liking ice-cream or the thought of liking music...


---Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

Buddhist Index