some quotes

thus i have heard ...

As it is:

mind creates the world

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, 
and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: 
with our mind we create the world.
gautauma buddha
  
Everything that appears is but a manifestation of mind. 
Padmasambhava

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.
We cannot change it without changing our thinking.
Albert Einstein
 
 
People are about as happy
as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

self

The cessation of the sense of self is peace.
Ajahn Sumedho
 
Why are you unhappy? 
Because most everything you think and do 
is for yourself —
and there isn't one.
Wei Wu Wei 

Trust in yourself ... 
not in the one that you think you should be, 
but in the one that you are.
Maezumi Roshi
  
To be calm 
is the highest achievement of the self.
Zen teaching
  
Any view or teaching that encompasses self 
makes awakening unattainable. 
Zen teaching
  
A fool sees himself as another, 
but a wise man sees others as himself.
Dogen

Cherishing others
Dalai Lama source

The fundamental delusion of humanity 
is to suppose
that i am here and you are out there.
Yasutani Roshi

The “voice in my head” is not who I am. 
Who am I then? The one who sees that.
Eckhart Tolle

Life is the dancer and you are the dance.
Eckhart Tolle

The eye with which I see God 
is the same eye with which God sees me.
Meister Eckhart

One day your entire way of life ends. 
it's a kind of death.
 Andre Agassi, after retirement.

Just because i didn't choose my life 
doesn't mean i can't take ownership of it.
Andre Agassi

Egoic mind has become like a sinking ship. If you don't get off, you will go down with it. The collective egoic mind is the most dangerously insane and desctructive entity ever to inhabit this planet.
Ekhart Tolle

knowing self

All you really have to do is to know who you are, to know yourself.
Not intellectually, not physically, but consciously. 
When you see yourself consciously as God, you will see the whole universe as your Self.
Robert Adams
 
The 'I' that is aware -- to which we refer when we say 'I am aware' -- is the same 'I' that knows that I am aware. The 'I' that is known is the 'I' that knows, just as the sun that illuminates is the sun that is illuminated. Only awareness is aware of awareness.
Robert Supira
 
The eye with which I see God
is the same eye with which God sees me.
Meister Eckhart
 
There's no difference between what is seen
and the mind that sees it.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
 
A human being is a storytelling machine.
The Self is a story.
Paul Brookes
 
In meditation, using intuitive awareness or mindfulness as the means,
Buddha is the knower.
As a matter of fact, it is not even a knower, it is not a person,
it is the knowing.
Ajahn Sumedho
 
You are trying to find yourself in nouns, 
While you are actually a verb.
@CrazyPolymath
 
The things that trouble our spirits are within us already in meditation,
we must face them, accept them, and set them aside one by one.
Chistpher L. Bennett
 
So whatever storms come brewing up in the mind, remember:
It's just an event in your awareness, 
and there's an awareness surrounding it, outside of the storm.
Learn how to give more weight to that awareness than to the storms.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

reality

The reason why the universe is eternal
is that it does not live for itself, 
it gives life to others as it transforms.
Lao Tzu

The opposite of a great truth is also a truth.
Zen teaching

At the still-point in the center of the circle
one can see the infinite in all things.
Chuang-tzu

If you understand, things are just as they are;
If you do not understand, things are just as they are.
Zen teaching
Words cannot show truth. 
Speech cannot point into nature. 
Mu Mun

Two Levels of Truth
Lama Chime Rinpoche source 

Everything we call real 
is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.
Neils Bohr, physicist

Space Time source

anger

anger is the energy which people use in order to act.
but when you are angry you are not lucid, 
and you might do wrong things.
so compassion is another energy.
source?

suffering

The obstacle is the path.
Zen teaching; Tibetan buddhism practice

the lotus grows out of the mud
it needs the lotus to grow
you cannot grow a lotus on marble.
suffering is the mud.
Thich Nhat Hanh
  
we can always learn from our suffering
through mindfulness and concentration, 
and many positive things can come out of that.
Thich Nhat Hanh

happiness and suffering support each other,
they inter-are
like the right and the left — they support each other.
Thich Nhat Hanh

People have a hard time letting go of suffering.
Out of a fear of the unknown, 
they prefer suffering that is familiar.
Thich Nhat Hanh

You can't spread who you are without being broken first.
Sometimes, when you've been broken into pieces, you come back
and give much more to people. You can see my scars
and they're key to me making a difference in other lives now.
You cant have any wounds in this game that don't leave scars.
They never quite heal but they make you who you are.
Andre Agassi

The same parts of the brain are activated 
for emotional pain as for physical pain.
PsyBlog source

Practice

The obstacle is the path.
Zen teaching; Tibetan buddhism practice

Real practice has no purpose or direction,
so it can include everything that comes.
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

moving through the world

As a bee gathering nectar 
does not harm or disturb the color and fragrance of the flower; 
so do the wise move through the world.
gautauma buddha

Water which is too pure, has no fish.
Zen teaching

Be content with what you have. 
Rejoice in the way things are.
Zen teaching

All conditioned things are impermanent.
Work out your own salvation with diligence.
gautama buddha, at his paranirvana
 
Truth is Truth, the rest is politics. 
Zen teaching
     
If I had just a little bit of wisdom 
I should walk the great path 
and fear only straying from it.
Lao Tzu

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Do what you do and give the fruits of your actions to me.
Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

Be aware of all that is and dwell in the infinite.
Chuang-tzu
  
He who speaks does not know; he who knows does not speak.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

May we exist like a lotus
at home in the muddy water.
Thus we bow to life as it is.
Zen teaching

Don't invent the future.
@Buddhism_Now
  
It is in the nature of the mind 
that the more we cultivate and familiarize 
    ourselves with positive emotions, 
the more powerful they become.
Dalai Lama

when the mind is muddled, 
no-action is better than wrong-action.
Suzaji source

Teaching without words and working without doing 
are understood by very few.
Lao Tzu

Everything will come, exactly as it does.
Zen teaching

Renew yourself completely every day;
do it again, and again, and forever again.
Zen teaching

The obstacle is the path.
Zen teaching, Tibetan buddhism practice
Care about what other people think 
and you will always be their prisoner.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
 realised the positive side is, some people i trust,
 and so i do care what they think .. and so then
 i am happy to be in their care!   :D

My teachings are easy to understand and put into practice, 
yet your intellect will never grasp them.
Lao Tzu

Treat every moment as your last.
It is not preparation for something else.
Shunryu Suzuki
  
To guard your mind, guard your awareness. 
Shantideva

I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters.
Ching-yuan after enlightenment
 
Before enlightenment: chopping wood, carrying water.
After enlightenment: chopping wood, carrying water.
Zen teaching

Still water has no mind to receive the image of the migrating geese.
Zen teaching

You may have a million desires to be in other places, doing other things.
But you are not there, you are here.
Zen teaching

Knowing our life today is the Buddha life, we don't pass the day vainly. 
Takashina Rosen

Who is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. 
Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life.
Taoist teaching
  
Chaos is inherent in all compounded things.
Strive on with diligence.
Zen teaching

Be content with the moment and be willing to follow the flow;
then there will be no room for grief or joy.
Chuang-tzu

There is nowhere to arrive except the present moment.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Trying to see thru things in the way 
before starting my new destiny. But i'm good.
my sister

There has to be change; 
otherwise reality would become extinct.
Cliff Pickover source

being human is wild 
it's like you're the steward 
of an embarrassing and unpredictable animal 
and you are also the animal.
@neotenomie on Twitter 12 march 2017

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust

Americans ask, 
    Who am I? What do I want? and Do I feel like doing this? 
Asians, she says, ask: 
    Where are we? Whose house is that? What is the way?
Gish Jen, in Arthur Dobrin, Is There a Difference Between Psyches East and West? source
I had noticed this myself --
When i would hear Western travelers talking, they are
    I liked this. I didn't like that. I did this. I had a good/bad time.
And Asians are like
    I saw my auntie there. I helped my friend get to ...  The bus schedule changed, it is now ...
tometaxu

“Some of us exist in between places.”
youtube video on transgender

compassion

Whenever we can, we should exert ourselves to strengthen our loving-kindness.
@TulkuThondup

You’re a human, I’m a human. 
We’re breathing the same air. We have the same problems. 
We’re trying to get through our day. 
Why throw a log in the road of somebody 
who has a different set of difficulties in life?
David Letterman

I am reminded
that love is work.
I am reminded
that to love
is to commit oneself to doing the work
that love requires.
@DeRay

non-violence

... why the monks in Vietnam immolated themselves by fire. ...
it's not a suicide, because in a difficult situation like vietnam,
to make your voice heard is difficult.
so sometimes you have to burn yourself alive for your voice to be heard around.
so it is out of compassion that you do that.
it is an act of love, not of despair
jesus christ died in the same spirit, out of love.
Thích Nhat Hanh
on self-immolation:
    interview with Oprah Winfrey, SuperSoulSunday 

the only way we can end war, 
is through communication between people.
Thích Nhat Hanh

The practice of peace and reconciliation 
is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.
Thích Nhat Hanh

listening

compassionate, deep listening
you listen for only one purpose, to help the person empty their heart.
listening with compassion, you help them to suffer less.
this can bring transformation and healing.
Thích Nhat Hanh

speaking

Beware of the anger of the mouth,
Master your words,
Let them serve truth.
the buddha? dhammapada?

When you have realized understanding,
even one word is too much.
Zen teaching
  
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
Zen teaching

When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much.
Zen teaching

meditation

meditation is being with yourself, whether sitting, or in daily life.

You should sit and meditate for 20 minutes; 
unless you're too busy,
 then you should sit and meditate for an hour.
Zen teaching

darling, i am here for you.
darling, i know you are there.
// third - when your beloved is suffering:
darling, i know you suffer, that is why i am here for you.
// fourth - when you believe your suffering is caused by your beloved one:
darling, i suffer. i try my best to practice. please help me.
// you go to the person and practice that.
  
even if your beloved is not present, you can still practice this. 
Thích Nhat Hanh

mindfulness

 
Just breathe. It is here only. It is now only. 
source

Mindfulness is not thinking, this is one of the reasons it is so powerful
Trevor Leggett

traditions

Zen is not interested in high-flown statements; 
it wants its pupil to bite their apple and not discuss it.
Ann Bancroft

Religion easily becomes a cultural tradition rather than a living experience.
Ajahn Sumedho source

transformation

Negative thoughts are like pebbles in your shoe.
the only real way to get rid of them is to take your shoe off.
Aparna Nancheria

Touch the hole in your life, and there flowers will bloom.
Zen teaching

I tell you, my agonised crying is no different at all from my joyful singing.
Zen master Routan