#buddhism

[S]he believed that the Buddhists were right–that if you want, you will suffer; if you love, you will grieve. (68) ↗

— Anne Lamott

#buddhism #desire #grief #love #suffering

Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. ↗

— Bodhidharma

#enlightenment #mind #zen #enlightenment

Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate. ↗

— Huang Po

#dharma #enlightenment #mind #spirituality #zen

Once again, we are reminded that awakening, or enlightenment is not the property of Buddhism, any more than Truth is the property of Christianity. Neither the Buddha nor the Christ belongs exclusively to the communities that were founded in their names. They belong to all people of goodwill, all who are attentive to the secret which lives in the depths of their breath and their consciousness. (14) ↗

— Jean-Yves Leloup

#awakening #breath #buddhism #christianity #community

I cannot say this too strongly: Do not compare yourselves to others. Be true to who you are, and continue to learn with all your might. ↗

— Daisaku Ikeda

#comparison #individuality #success #buddhism

Through countless births in the cycle of existence I have run, not finding although seeking the builder of this house; and again and again I faced the suffering of new birth. Oh housebuilder! Now you are seen. You shall not build a house again for me. All your beams are broken, the ridgepole is shattered. The mind has become freed from conditioning: the end of craving has been reached. ↗

— Gautama Buddha

#deus #house #buddhism

The use of market values and technology as a social barometer has devalued the worth of individuals, rendered irrelevant the quality of their lives, and stunted their creativity. ↗

— Sulak Sivaraksa

#capitalism #economics #sociology #sociology

Birth is okay and death is okay, if we know that they are only concepts in our mind. Reality transcends both birth and death. ↗

— Thich Nhat Hanh

#buddhism #death #death

It's hard to know whether to laugh or to cry at the human predicament. Here we are with so much wisdom and tenderness, and—without even knowing it—we cover it over to protect ourselves from insecurity. Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego. ↗

— Pema Chödrön

#confusion #humanity #experience

Knowing life's purpose would invest everything one did with meaning. ↗

— Kentetsu Takamori

#inspirational #religious #inspirational