No
matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can always set our
compass to our highest intentions in the present moment. Perhaps it is
nothing more than being in a heated conversation with another person and
stopping to take a breath and ask yourself, “What is my highest
intention in this moment?”
—Jack Kornfield, "Set the Compass of Your Heart"
If
we are to close the gap between ideal and actuality—between the
envisaged aim of striving and the lived experience of our everyday
lives—it is necessary for us to pay greater heed to the task of
repetition.
—Bhikkhu Bodhi, "Vision and Routine"
Altruism, Assertiveness,
Beauty, Bravery, Brevity, Charity, Cheerfulness, Clarity, Cleanliness,
Compassion, Commitment, Confidence, Concentration, Consideration,
Contentment, Cooperation, Courage, Courtesy, Creativity, Curiosity,
Detachment, Determination, Devotion, Discretion, Education, Empathy,
Endurance, Energy, Enthusiasm, Faith, Flexibility, Focus, Forgiveness,
Freedom, Friendliness, Generosity, Gentleness, Grace, Gratitude, Happiness,
Helpfulness, Honesty, Honor, Hope, Hospitality, Humility, Idealism,
Imagination, Immaculacy, Independence, Industry, Initiative, Integrity,
Joy, Justice, Kindness, Knowledge, Love, Loyalty, Meekness, Mercy,
Moderation, Modesty, Nobility, Non-Violence, Obedience, Optimism,
Patience, Peace, Perseverance, Prayerfulness, Prudence, Purity,
Radiance, Reliability, Remembrance, Resilience, Resourcefulness,
Respect, Responsibility, Reverence, Sacrifice, Self-Control,
Self-Discipline, Selflessness, Serenity, Servitude, Silence, Sincerity,
Steadfastness, Strength, Tolerance, Thoughtfulness, Thrift, Tranquility,
Trustworthiness, Truthfulness, Understanding, Unity, Will-Power,
Wisdom, Wonder, Zeal
When
a distraught mother asked [the Buddha] to heal the dead child she
carried in her arms, he did not perform a miracle, but instead
instructed her to bring him a mustard seed from a house where no one had
ever died. She returned from her search without the seed, but with the
knowledge that death is universal.
—The Buddha, "Who is the Buddha?"
Just
play with the silence for a moment. Instead of using it as expectancy,
waiting for something to happen, flip it just slightly and just be in
it. Are you really here or are you just waiting for the next thing? It’s
interesting to see where we are in relation to times; whether we’re
always just between what just happened and what happened next, or
whether we can just be here now.
So, let’s just find our way here to be together. If you’re feeling
agitated, just notice the agitation. If you’re warm, be warm. If you’re
cold, be cold. If you’re overly full, be overly full. Be it, whatever it
is, but put it all in the context of a quiet space, because there’s a
secret in that, and it’s worth playing with it.
That there’s a place that we can be inside of ourselves, inside of the
universe, in which and from which we can appreciate the delight in life.
Where we can still have equanimity, and quality of presence, and the
quietness of peace.
If
cosmologists themselves are a manifestation of the same universe that
they study, then with them the universe is comprehending itself. When we
come to see the universe in a new way, the universe is itself coming to
see itself in a new way.
—David Loy, "In Search of the Sacred"
If
we train ourselves to reach for a snack or pick up the phone to
text-message whenever we feel frightened or bored, this is definitely
training. The next time we feel uncomfortable we will also tend to reach
for some comfort outside ourselves, eventually establishing a deeply
ingrained habit, another brick in the wall of our mental prison.
—Gaylon Ferguson, "Fruitless Labor"
Accept your concrete individuality, and having done that, then you may also realize you are blessed just as you are.
—Ruben L. F. Habito, "Be Still & Know"
Emptiness
refers to the absence of something that, for some reason, one expects
to find—as when we say a glass, normally used to hold liquids, is empty
even though it is full of air. The point is not that there is nothing
there at all, but rather that what is there differs from your
expectations.
— William S. Cobb, "The Game of Go"
You are listening as well as you can to the universe, and often you will see that when things start to happen a certain way, your mind will focus in on that because you’re looking for patterns, which we call ‘synchronicity’.
Often you will just get caught in your desire to find a pattern that will give you an external validation for what you’re doing. You just end up using the universe again to do it to yourself.
So stay with your truth from moment to moment, and get the clues wherever you can. I mean, I’ll open up the Chuang-tzu and read something when I have a question, and if it doesn’t feel good, I say, “Well, that was interesting,” and I close it. If it feels like what I wanted to do anyway, I say, “Ohhh, wow, synchronicity!” And I do it, so I’ve learned that I’m a complete phony anyway, so I might as well just honor it and get on with it.
A deeper equanimity comes when we learn how to be with our life as it is, not as we would like it to be.
—Eliot Fintushel, "Something to Offer"
Walls
and fences cannot instruct the grasses and trees to actualize spring,
yet they reveal the spiritual without intention, just by being what they
are. So too with mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and stars.
—Dogen, "Everything is Holy"
Every
moment is a unique view of a unique territory, both of which unfold in
perpetual motion. Because of the continual flux of it all, holding on to
anything that has happened is futile, while being open to what happens
next is crucial.
—Andrew Olendzki, "This Moment is Unique"
Truth
is one of the vehicles for deepening spiritual awareness through
another human being, and if there is a license for that in the
relationship, in any relationship – with guru, with friend, with lover,
with whatever it is – it is an absolutely optimum way of coming into a
liquid spiritual relationship with another person. But it’s very, very
delicate because people feel very vulnerable. They have parts of their
mind that are cut off, that the idea that’s been socialized is, “If I
show this part of me, I would not be acceptable.” And the ability to
risk that, finally you learn how to have your truth available.
So truth is one of the exciting vehicles to work with in a relationship.
And what I’ve learned is to use my lecturer role to make my truth as
available as I possibly could, and what I find is people say to me,
“Thank you for being so truthful. It makes it easier for me to be
truthful about myself, because you’ve done that.” And I think well,
it’s a cheap price to offer yourself up for that purpose, if that in
itself starts to help other people.
We
know not to get caught in the past or the future, but in order to be in
the Now, we also have to let go of the present. The Now is not confined
by relative clock time, yet it is also not pure timelessness.
—Loch Kelly, "When Am I?"
If
suffering and awakening form a single weather-system, as many a wise
person has come to know, then when storms come, perhaps we can accept
them with less dread and aversion, and more trust, and even hope.
— Henry Shukman, "Beautiful Storm"
I will learn to cherish beings of bad nature
And those pressed by strong sins and sufferings
As if I had found a precious
Treasure very difficult to find.
—Geshe Langri Thangpa, "Breaking the Habit of Selfishness"
