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Words Of Wisdom {Page Twelve}
Mirroring The Universe
I maintain that every substance involves in its present state all its past and future states and even expresses the whole universe according to its point of view, since nothing is so far from anything else that there is no relation between them. This expression would be particularly complete, however, with regard to the relations to the parts of its own body, which it expresses more immediately. Consequently, nothing happens to the substance except out of its own being and in virtue of its own laws, provided that we add the concurrence of God. It perceives other things because it expresses them naturally, having from the start been created in such a way that it can do this in a series of events, accommodating itself as called for, and it is in this agreement imposed from the beginning that consists what is called the action of one substance upon another. With regard to corporeal substances, I hold that mass, when we mean by this what is divisible, is a pure phenomenon; that every substance has a true unity in the strictness of metaphysics; that it is indivisible, ingenerable, and incorruptible; that all matter must be full of animated or, at least, living substances; that generation and corruption are only transformations from the little to the great, and vice versa; that there is no particle of matter in which is not found a world with an infinity of creatures organized as well as brought together.
~G. W. Leibniz~
Among those who follow Tao, there are those who say that if there are gods, then everyone is a god. You are god. There is nothing in the sky, and no one lives your life but you. ~Tao~
If you cannot be a poet, be the poem. ~David Carradine~
All beings are by nature Buddha, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddha. ~Hakuin Zenj~
Whatever you are doing, twenty-four hours a day, in all your various activities, there is something that transcends the Buddhas and Zen Masters; but as soon as you want to understand it, it's not there. As soon as you try to gather your attention on it, you have already turned away from it. That is why I say you see but cannot do anything about it. ~Foyan~
Creation is neither good nor bad; it is as it is. It is the human mind which puts all sorts of constructions on it, seeing things from its own angle and interpreting them to suit its own interests.
~Sri Ramana Maharshi~
Time is as precious as diamonds for those who are wise, but is as worthless as a handful of mud for those who don't make use of it. ~Master Cheng Yen~
Life can be really lived only if you live it naturally. If you impose artificial commandments over it, you will destroy it. ~Osho~
When you are deluded, you are used by your body. When you are enlightened, you use your body. ~Bunan~
The universal is present in the individual. Just so, liberation comes from recognizing the subtle in the gross, the unity in diversity, the similarity in differences, the truth in untruth, the light in darkness, the life in death. This is real liberation. ~Nityananda~
If you are spiritually sharp, you can open your eyes and see as soon as you hear me tell you about this. Have not people of immeasurable
greatness said this truth is not comprehensible by thought, and that it is where knowledge does not reach? Were it not like this, how could it be called enlightened truth? Nowadays, however, people just present interpretations and views, making up rationalizations; they have never learned to be thus, and have never reached this state. ~Foyan~
God fits the back to the burden. ~Scots proverb~
Whatever burdens you are carrying, leave them at the end of your bed before you sleep, entrusting them to your spiritual allies and asking for help to take them up with better heart on the morrow. ~Caitlin Matthews~
Although a suspicious mind is bad, still it is wrong to cling to what you shouldn't believe in, or to fail to ask about a truth you should seek. ~Dogen~
As we let go, the energy that has been tied up in the various places of resistance is released. Whoosh! Life opens up, surges through, moves, expands, and suddenly we see possibilities that weren't available before. ~Cheri Huber~
In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water. ~Genjo Koan~
The truth doesn't give hope, it gives understanding... I claim also that all ceremonials are superfluous for spiritual growth... When you want to search the truth, you have to exceed the limitations of the human mind and heart widely and find it there, and this truth is within yourself. ~J. Krishnamurti~
Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion. ~The Dalai Lama~
Suddenly one day everything is empty like space, and you are aware of one principle pervading all the 10,000 things. You know then that your heart is so vast that it can never be measured. ~Daikaku~
If people with a potential for enlightenment are willing to see in this way, they must investigate most deeply and examine most closely; all of a sudden they will gain mastery of it and have no further doubt. The reason you do not understand is just because you are taken away by random thoughts twenty-four hours a day. Since you want to learn business, you fall in love with things you see and fondly pursue things you read; over time, you get continuously involved. How can you manage to work on enlightenment then? ~Foyan~
We are the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of endless possibilities. ~Rudyard Kipling~
By observing with a quiet and still mind, one can perceive the origin of things. This calm insight into the origin of desire ends desire naturally. When there is no center to give rise to desire, one sees things as they originally are. ~Lao Zi~
In each journey of your life you must be where you are. You may only be passing through on your way to somewhere else seemingly more important, nevertheless, there is purpose in where you are right now. ~Tzvi Freeman~
The realm of reality is as vast as cosmic space; it is the knowing mind of sentient beings that is small. Just as long as you do not become egotistic and selfish, you will be ever sated with the spiritual food of nirvana. ~Pao-chih~
Whenever you seek Zen, your mind ground must be even and straight, and your mind and speech must be in accord. Since your mind and speech are straightforward, your states are thus consistent from start to finish, without any petty details. ~Foyan~
Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded. But once mastered, no one can help you as much, not even your father or your mother. ~Dhammapada~
The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker. ~Helen Keller~
When we demand the rights and freedoms we so cherish, we should also be aware of our responsibilities. If we accept that the others have an equal right to peace and happiness as ourselves, do we not have a responsibility to help those in need? ~The Dalai Lama~
When you are present, here, in this moment, awareness and attention settled into the breath, the breath nurturing and nourishing the body and the mind, the heart open, expansive, accepting� you know that this is who you are. This is your true self, your essential nature. This conscious, compassionate awareness feels right, feels true, feels "so," feels good, there is a sense of well-being, peace, comfort. Here we wish to stay. ~Cheri Huber~
Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. ~Chuang-tzu~
Anger is the only thing to put off till tomorrow. ~Slovakian Proverb~
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe~
To know when to act and when to refrain from action, what is right action and what is wrong, what brings security, what brings freedom and what bondage: these are the signs of a sattvic intellect. ~Bhagavad Gita~
Resistance does not mean walls and fences, nonresistance does not mean open space. If you can understand in this way, mind and matter are fundamentally the same. ~Tsu-hsin~
The whole of existence is in a very relaxed movement - movement there is, certainly, but it is utterly relaxed. Trees are growing and birds are chirping and rivers are flowing, stars are moving: everything is going in a very relaxed way... no hurry, no haste, no worry, and no waste, except man. ~Osho~
When you speak of a path, where are you now? And where do you want to go? If these are known, then we can talk of a path. Know first where you are and what you are. There is nothing to be reached. There is no goal to be reached. There is nothing to be attained. The conception that there is a goal and a path to it is wrong. We are the goal or peace always. You are the Self. You exist always. ~Sri Ramana Maharshi~
Don't cling to anything and don't reject anything. Let come what comes, and accomodate yourself to that, whatever it is. If good mental images arise, that is fine. If bad mental images arise, that is fine, too. Look on all of it as equal, and make yourself comfortable with whatever happens. Don't fight with what you experience, just observe it all mindfully. ~Bhante Henepola Gunaratana~
He is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen. ~Bhagavad Gita~
You should not practice ideas of impermanence, suffering, impurity, and selflessness as though they are real objects like stones or rocks but look instead for the meaning. You should use expedient means in every place and cultivate the ideas of permanence, happiness, and purity for the sake of all beings. If you do this, you will be like the one who sees a gem in the muddied water among the stones and rocks and waits for the water to settle before he skillfully plucks it out. It is the same with cultivating the idea of the self as with permanence, happiness, and purity. ~Mahaparinirvana Sutra~
If you really want to be blissful you have to drop likes and dislikes. Then you have to learn a different language to commune with existence. Whatsoever happens, enjoy it. Don't bring your likes and dislikes. Your life can be a continuous dance, a celebration; otherwise you will live in hell. ~Osho~
As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again.
~Dhammapada~
Our life is frittered away by detail,
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify! I say let your affairs be two or three and not a hundred or a thousand. ~Henry David Thoreau~
A simple way to open up the potential that lies beyond the conscious self is with joy. With unbounded joy it is possible to reach the unbounded self. ~Tzvi Freeman~
Birth is an expression complete this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring. ~Genjo Koan~
The fool tries to control his mind. How can he ever succeed?� Mastery always comes naturally To the man who is wise And who loves himself. ~Ashtavakra Gita~
Just look away from all that happens in your mind and bring it to the feeling "I am". The "I am" is not a direction. It is the negation of all direction. Ultimately even the "I am" will have to go, for you need not keep on asserting what is obvious. ~Nisargadatta Maharaj~
The image of an extinguished fire carried no connotations of annihilation for the early Buddhists. Rather, the aspects of fire that to them had significance for the mind-fire analogy are these: Fire, when burning, is in a state of agitation, dependence, attachment, and entrapment�both clinging and being stuck to its sustenance. Extinguished, it becomes calm, independent, indeterminate, and unattached: It lets go of its sustenance and is released. ~Thanissaro Bhikkhu~
Difficulties and obstacles, if properly understood and used, can turn out to be an unexpected source of strength. ~Sogyal Rinpoche~
Wisdom is a weapon with which a man may ward off destruction; It is an inner fortress which no enemy can assail.� Wisdom will harness the mind, diverting it From wrong and directing it toward right. ~Tirukkural~
Self-knowledge cannot be gathered through anybody, through any book, through any confession, psychology, or psycho-analyst. It has to be found by yourself, because it is your life. ~J. Krishnamurti~
Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better. ~King Whitney Jr.~
Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don't try to figure anything out.
Don't try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest. ~Tilopa~
The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side. ~Bhante Henepola Gunaratana~
In one who has gone the full distance, is free from sorrow, is fully released in all respects, has abandoned all bonds: no fever is found. ~Dhammapada~
When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace. Nothing real, nothing absent. Not holding on to reality, not getting stuck in the void, you are
neither holy or wise, just an ordinary fellow who has completed his work. ~Pang Yun~
The clouds that wander through the sky have no roots, no home, Nor do the distinctive thoughts floating through the mind. Once the Self-mind is seen,� Discrimination stops. ~Tilopa~
Take no pleasure in worldly talk; Take delight in what passes beyond the world. Cause good qualities to grow in others In the same way (you wish them) for yourself. ~Nagarjuna~
On the higher levels of spirituality, heaven and earth are one and the same. For the truly righteous man, a stone is as valuable as a sacred book. ~Isaac Bashevis~
Who once was heedless, but later is not, brightens the world like the moon set free from a cloud.� His evil done deed is replaced with skillfulness: he brightens the world� like the moon set free from a cloud. ~Dhammapada~
The body will be turned by the power of the spiritual consciousness into a true and fit and perfectly responsive instrument of the Spirit. ~Sri Aurobindo~
The fever of passion exists not for him who has completed the journey, who is sorrowless and wholly set free, and has broken all ties. ~Dhammapada~
And inside you is your real freedom, because your consciousness cannot be touched by anybody else. You are the only master of your being. ~Osho~
Today I contemplated the principle of being at peace whatever circumstances are encountered. The sense of rest is still with me. This purpose does not admit any slackening. How could I get sick and tired of things due to old age? ~Wu Yubi~
How I long to pray with sincere Christians in their churches and bow and prostrate with devoted Muslims in their mosques! All religions are glorious! Yet if I display too much freedom, every religious community will become angry with me. Therefore, take me secretly into the sanctuary of every tradition without exception, and I will worship ceaselessly with all humanity, day and night. ~Ramakrishna~
Mixtures
Once we ate from the tree of knowing good with evil, our world became a place of compounds and mixtures. You will not find beauty without ugliness, joy without sorrow, pleasure without pain. You cannot invent a thing that will provide benefit without threat of harm, or a man on this earth who does only good without fault.
Wherever you will find one form of good, you will find another sort of evil. And where that evil does not lie, another will take its place. Rare it is, so rare, to find pure and simple goodness in a single being.
Therefore, do not reject any thing for the harm it may render, nor despise any man for the ugliness within him. Rather, use each thing towards the purpose G-d conceived it for, and learn from each man all he has to offer. ~Tzvi Freeman~
Sitting
Cat sits in the sun.
Dog sits in the grass.
Turtle sits on a rock.
Frogs sit on the lily pad.
Why aren't people so smart?
Those who follow Tao are fond of pointing out the wisdom of animals. When they see a cat sitting motionless in the sun�or a turtle who stretches her head upward in a still pose, they say that these animals are meditating. They know how to be still and conserve their internal energy. They do not dissipate themselves in useless activity but instead withdraw into themselves to recharge.
It is only people who label meditation as some sort of odd religious activity. This is not the actual case. Something like meditation happens when we sleep, or when we are absorbed in reading a book, or when we "daydream" and become so lost in a thought or an image that we do not notice what is going on around us.
There is no reason to think of meditation as something out of the ordinary. Quite the opposite. Meditation is the purest and most natural expression we can have. When you next look at a cat or a dog sitting still, and admire the naturalness of their actions, think then of your own life. � �
Don't meditate because it is a part of your schedule or is demanded by your particular philosophy. Meditate because this is natural. ~Deng Ming-Dao~
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