Via Daily Dharma: You Are Enough

Allow yourself to let go of the idea that who you are already isn’t enough, and realize this deep acceptance is the path to real freedom.

—Mark Van Buren, “Brief Teachings”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 18, 2018

To live consciously you must have the courage to go inside yourself to find out who you really are, to understand that behind all of the masks of individual differences you are a being of beauty, of love, of awareness.

When Christ said, “The kingdom of heaven is within” he wasn’t just putting you on. When Buddha said, “Each person is the Buddha,” he was saying the same thing. Until you can allow your own beauty, your own dignity, your own being, you cannot free another.

So if I were giving people one instruction, I would say work on yourself. Have compassion for yourself. Allow yourself to be beautiful and all the rest will follow.

 - Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Subtle Means of Mindfulness

What makes mindfulness so potent a medicine is not the power of a single cataclysmic event, but the imperceptible way it permeates the everyday activities that shape our lives.

—Joseph Loizzo, “Science of Enlightenment”

Via Purple Buddha Project / 9 Motivational Quotes to Make your Day Positively Shine

Life Quotes of the Day Admit it. You aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the “normal people” as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like “Have a nice day” and “Weather’s awful today, eh?”, you yearn inside to say forbidden things like “Tell me something that makes you cry” or “What do you think deja vu is for?”. Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others. - Timothy Leary Self-consciousness makes us see ourselves double, and we make the double image for two selves - mental and material, controlling and controlled, reflective and spontaneous. Thus instead of suffering we suffer about suffering, and suffer about suffering about suffering. - Alan W. Watts When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny. - Paulo Coelho It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn’t depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn’t depend on how long you’ve held on to the old view. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn’t matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn’t see before. Its never too late to take a moment to look - Sharon Salzberg Just as we cannot live without water, so are joy and peace essential for our inner fulfillment. We may not even be aware that we are searching for something. It manifests only in our restlessness as we move from here to there, trying out different friends, different ideas, different jobs, different countries. Whatever we attempt is a reflection of our inner thirst, which we hope to quench in all these external ways. What we are looking for lies within us, and if we gave out time and energy to an interior search, we would come across it much faster, since that is the only place where it is to be found. - Ayya Khema Within the framework of the Buddhist Path, reflecting on suffering has tremendous importance because by realizing the nature of suffering, you will develop greater resolve to put an end to the causes of suffering and the unwholesome deeds which lead to suffering. And it will increase your enthusiasm for engaging in wholesome actions and deeds which lead to happiness and joy. - Dalai Lama People give flowers as a present because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone who tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower in the field, you’ll keep it forever. That is what the forest taught me. That you will never be mine, and that is why I will never lose you. - Paulo Coelho Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge & harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul. Get even with people…but not those who have hurt us, forget them, instead get even with those who have helped us. - Steve Maraboli I mean, if you were to find a shattered mirror, find all the pieces, all the shards and all the tiny chips, and have whatever skill and patience it took to put all that broken glass back together so that it was complete once again, the restored mirror would still be spiderwebbed with cracks, it would still be a useless glued version of its former self, which could show only fragmented reflections of anyone looking into it. Some things are beyond repair. And that was me. - Elizabeth Wurtzel ​

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Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Forget to Laugh

Sometimes sheer silliness is the best solution to seriousness.

—Pamela D. Winfield, “Ha Ha Zen”

Via Daily Dharma: Cultivate Confidence in Yourself

Letting go of inferiority awakens our capacity for appreciative joy and reclaims the confidence so necessary to travel this path of awakening.

—Christina Feldman, “Long Journey to a Bow”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 15, 2018

In our relationships, how much can we allow them to become new, and how much do we cling to what they used to be yesterday?

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Unselfish Generosity

To give unselfishly is at least momentarily to be free of ourselves, free of greed and attachments, resentments and hatreds, habitual and isolating acts of self-protection.

—Dale S. Wright, “The Bodhisattva’s Gift”

Via Daily Dharma: Welcome the Ongoing Flow of Emotions

We don’t have to attach so much meaning to what arises, and we also don’t have to identify with our emotions so strongly. All we need to do is allow ourselves to experience the energy—and in time it will move through you.

—Pema Chödrön, “Meditating with Emotions”

Via Lionsroar / Forum: Do You Believe in Miracles?

Forum: Do You Believe in Miracles?

Judy Lief, Ari Goldfield, and Glenn Wallis debate the supernatural in Buddhism.

Ari Goldfield: The main point is to work with the mind. The teachings talk about the common siddhis, or powers, and the extraordinary siddhis. The common siddhis are what we would call supernatural powers—flying, walking through walls, and so forth. The extraordinary siddhi is bodhichitta, to realize the true nature of mind and to practice love and compassion. That’s the real power we are looking for when we enter the dharma. The real miracle is when you can work with negative emotions by practicing on the path, and discover compassion and wisdom, the true nature of mind. Beyond that, it’s good not to pre-judge, because if you’re open to things and do not reject the possibility of other people having these experiences, one’s own experience becomes broader, and one becomes able to relate and connect with others with less judgment.

Via Lionsroar / Four Steps to Magical Powers

Four Steps to Magical Powers

Before you fully embark on the path of the bodhisattvas and buddhas, says Chan master Sheng Yen, you must first practice the four steps to magical powers. What are these steps and what are the magical powers you need?

In both the early Buddhist and Mahayana traditions, there are records of supernatural powers being used. But what did the Buddha do when he was hungry? Did he conjure up a feast or have one catered by a deity? No, he walked around with his alms bowl begging for food. After he attained buddhahood, he walked from village to village spreading the dharma. He didn’t fly through the air. He didn’t magically erect monasteries but instead relied on laypeople to build them and to sew robes for the sangha. Before entering parinirvana, he received an offering of food that was tainted. You would think that he would have used his supernatural powers to know the food was bad, but instead he ate it and became very sick. So even though the Buddha possessed supernatural powers, he did not use them in self-centered ways.

Via Daily Dharma: Take a Chance on Peace

A good community is needed to help us resist the unwholesome ways of our time. Mindful living protects us and helps us go in the direction of peace. With the support of friends in the practice, peace has a chance.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Fertile Soil of Sangha”

Via Daily Dharma: Nothing but Awareness

Awareness is nothing special. It’s natural. In fact, it may be the most natural—the only natural—thing there is.

—Andrew Olendzki, “Keep It Simple”

Via Daily Dharma: What Really Is the Present Moment?

The present moment is not defined solely by letting go of past and future, nor by accepting and appreciating what arises right now, but by choosing in this very moment how we make sense of the world.

—Jack Petranker, “The Present Moment”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 11, 2018

Over the years, in working with people who are grieving, I’ve encouraged them first of all to surrender to the experience of their pain. To counteract our natural tendency to turn away from pain, we open to it as fully as possible and allow our hearts to break. We must take enough time to remember our losses – be they friends or loved ones passed away, the death of long-held hopes or dreams, the loss of homes, careers, or countries, or health we may never get back again. Rather than close ourselves to grief, it helps to realize that we only grieve for what we love.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Opposing Selfishness

Our goal is to help people think like Buddhists—to get rid of the poisons of the mind and selfish opinions. It’s not to judge but rather to see the other side of a situation, and to see the other side of people.

—Interview with Mauricio Hondaku by Marie Scarles, “Meet a Sangha: Nambei Honganji, Brazil Betsuin”

Via Daily Dharma: Find Your Home Within

Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught that that is not our real home. Our real home is inner peace.

—Ajahn Chah, “Our Real Home”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 8, 2018

When meditation works as it should, it will be a natural part of your being. There will no longer be anything apart from you to have faith in. Hope starts the journey, faith sustains it, but it ends beyond both hope and faith.  

- Ram Dass -