The energy of the mind is the essence of life.
Some people consider the practice of love and compassion is only related to religious practice and if they are not interested in religion they neglect these inner values. But love and compassion are qualities that human beings require just to live together.
In today’s interconnected and globalized world, it is now commonplace for people of dissimilar world views, faiths and races to live side by side. It is a matter of great urgency, therefore, that we find ways to cooperate with one another in a spirit of mutual acceptance and respect.
There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
Humor enables us to deal with and overcome many of the most painful and difficult situations in our lives.
When action comes out of nothing it creates no karma.
Once in a while, you will see someone really drippy. The person has to stare at the teacher all the time with that devoted and disgusting and sick look. It's boring, misplaced devotionalism.
My family is Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and Catholic. I don't believe in man-made religions.
The general notions about human understanding. . . which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of, or new. Even in our own culture, they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom.
Feeling sorry for yourself for one single minute is okay, but spend all your remaining time on solutions.
What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.
My father is an atheist. My mother is Buddhist. They encouraged my siblings and me to take the best part of other religions to make our own belief system.
A sick body with a good heart is more beneficial to future lives than a fit, healthy body that is used for self-cherishing.
Just as a mother would protect with her life her own son, her only son, so one should cultivate an unbounded mind towards all beings, and loving-kindness towards all the world. One should cultivate an unbounded mind, above and below and across, without obstruction, without enmity, without rivalry. Standing, or going, or seated, or lying down, as long as one is free from drowsiness, one should practice this mindfulness. This, they say, is the holy state here.
To utter pleasant words without practicing them, is like a fine flower without fragrance.
People who truly follow the Way would do well to conceal the fact that they are Buddhists.
All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.
With gentleness overcome anger. With generosity overcome meanness. With truth overcome deceit.
Of what I know, I have told you only a little. Why have I not told you the rest? Because it would not lead you to Nirvana.
Have big dreams but focus only on what you can control: your own thoughts, words and actions. This was Gandhi's way. . . in the words of Buddhist poet Gary Snyder, our job is to move the world a millionth of an inch.