Author: Posts

When you keep your heart and mind open, you feel and emanate a sense of immense well-being.  This feeling gives you a sense of being fully human.  You want to be with friends when they’re in trouble and you will become a real help to the poor aching earth that supports us.

Accept what comes your way without doubt and without fear of it.  Trust your inner knowing.  This knowing will never betray you; such trust will dissolve all fear and regret.  This trust and knowing is all you need to resolve all inner conflicts you may have.

Shining the light on yourself will never boost your eminence.  If you cling to things like your work, you create nothing that endures.  Realize the other as yourself and you as the other and learn to let go, you will find peace and happiness in your life.

If we can bring ourselves to set aside pride and follow the examples of good men, good fortune will result.  If we associate with people sharing the same views and come together in full public knowledge, without selfish motives, then you are in harmony with the times.

Quote: What you need is always right there in front of you.

What we struggle with all our lives are just ordinary experiences.  Everything is unpredictable, so we need to stop struggling against the nature of reality.  Life does continually go up and down.  Recognize this to be real and true and you will be able to relax with things as they are.

Fate, we think is a force that interferes with our lives, wrecking things at the worst moments.  Yet what we call fate is nothing more than the consequences of our own actions.  Each time we act we create a chain of events that is tied to us completely.

There is a powerful force which exists that is always available to you.  When clarity and purity are cultivated, it reveals itself.  When sincerity is unconditional, it unveils itself.  If you are willing to live by it, you will see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary things.

If we remain at the mercy of moods, of hope and of fear aroused by the outer world, we lose our inner consistency of character.  Such experiences are not merely effects produced by the outside world, but consequences evoked by your own nature. 

Quote: Compassion is what connects all things.

We can let the circumstances of life harden us so that we become more resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us.  We always have that choice.

By withdrawing into the sanctity of our minds, we can know ourselves.  This effort cannot be accomplished by others.  It can only be accomplished through ongoing contemplation.   Only we can enter this core of our being that reveals the secrets of life. 

When inner worth mounts with great force, there is danger when this force comes to power you may forget to ask what is right and being intent on movement may not wait for the right time.  Great power and force must be indissolubly united with what is right.

Unless you accept yourself, you cannot let go of yourself.  Be like the forces of nature when it blows there is only wind; when it rains there is only rain, when the clouds pass the sun shines.  Open yourself, trust your natural responses and everything will fall onto place.

Quote: I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.

Open yourself up to the continually changing, impermanent and dynamic nature of your own being and of reality.  You will increase your capacity to love and to care about other people.  You begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently.

With the emergence of great possibilities comes the need for responsibilities, but if you diverge from your life path to explore new vistas, remember to return at appropriate times.  Remember, only you can decide how to arrange your life.

We cannot keep a past moment, the present moment cannot be held, the moment of the future cannot be caught.  We are possessed by ideas of the past, preoccupied with images of the future, but we overlook the plain truth of the present moment. 

When your work has ended, look back on your conduct and the consequences of your actions.  If the effects are good, then good fortune will result.  It is only by the consequences of your actions and the fruit of your labors that you can judge what to expect.

Quote: Be careful you might catch yourself smiling.

Our common understanding is that the best way to live is to try to avoid all pain and just be comfortable.  A more interesting and joyful approach is to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet.

Self-cultivation means steady gradual progress.   To stop prematurely would be more disastrous than not to have started at all.  We may see very little happening, but be patient and we will see what the accumulation of our effort yields.

We are taught to distinguish good from evil, agreement from disagreement, causing us conflict and anger.  Having no desires and accepting things as they are will give you peace, but you must share this idea with others, for we are all part of them and they are all part of us.

After finishing your own tasks use your strength in the service of others.  Help where help is needed but weigh carefully how much you can accept without doing harm.  Only when this delicacy of feeling exists can you give yourself unconditionally, without hesitation.

Quote: If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.

A good place to start a self-cultivation practice is right now.  Do not wait for the right time, right teacher, just start right now.  Even if you feel depressed, tired or too addicted to your habits, then the time to start is right now.

A valley is void, yet it is productive and positive.  The idea of void contains all possibilities, it should not scare you.  Investigate it with your whole being.  This way the void is not frightening but a constant companion, filled with endless possibilities.

Embrace simplicity and integrity, consume only the needs of your body and soul.  Allow your love and concern for others define your essentiality.  If this is not enough, stay in the center of the circle and let all things take their course; thusly you will benefit a hundredfold.

Words have influence only when they are pertinent and clearly related to definite circumstances.  Your words must be supported by your entire conduct.  If your words and conduct are not in accord and not consistent, they will have no effect.

Quote: Is this action good for me or somebody else?  If not, don’t do it.

We can never avoid uncertainty by trying to control the uncontrollable or looking for security and predictability and always wanting to be comfortable and safe.  Practice using your tools of loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.  This will awaken your tender heart.

Meditation is not something reserved for spiritual seekers.  Meditation is a process of discovery, of slowly exploring how you function as a human being.  It is for everybody and especially helpful in troubled times.  Seek out a teacher and practice diligently.

Study the teachings of the ancients, dissolve all concepts of duality, pour yourself out in service to others.  Gently eliminating all obstacles to your own understanding, this will be helpful in maintaining your own sincerity. 

If you have great obstacles to overcome, you can accomplish this by perseverance.  Even though it may be arduous, you will succeed.  If you know the difficulties and remain persevering, the difficult task is achieved in the end. 

Quote: It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

We already have everything we need.  We cling to out identities of jealousy, anger and addictions.  They are like clouds blocking the sun, all the time the warmth and brilliance is right there. We don’t need to change.  Just be who you are, just look at yourself differently.

We crave entertainment, events do not even have to be actual.  All this is subjective and relative, but true reality lies in withdraw from the swirling variation of the outside world.  If we slowly put away the layers of subjectivity, we will enter into a silence that feels perfect and whole.

Keep your words in harmony with your actions, this way you will be genuine.  If you want to know this, look inside your heart.  This practice of talking and acting from the feeling inside your heart will keep you genuine.

If we are to lead others, we first must learn to serve.  We must remain accessible and responsive to the views of those we lead. At the same time, we must have firm principles so that we do not vacillate when there is only a question of current opinion.

Quote: Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it. 

When we feel ready to give up, healing can be found in the tenderness of pain itself.  In there, reach out to touch your genuine heart of sadness.  This heart is always there for us, it can be brought to the light any time and it will glow as brilliantly as if nothing happened.

What personal aspects prevent you from being independent?  This doesn’t mean that you won’t join others, but do so as an individual who cooperates just as much as necessary.  In this way you will never be lost in a group and you will never fear being alone.

Improve yourself for the sake of the world, thus the whole truth of the universe will be revealed.  To seek this truth, practice in your daily life and share it with others.  The highest virtue we can exercise is to accept the responsibility of discovering the whole truth.

When times are bad, submit to them and remain quiet.  It may be impossible to counteract the conditions of the time.  It is not cowardice, but wisdom to submit and avoid actions.  A law of nature is at work, evil is not destructive to the good alone, but inevitably destroys itself as well.

Quote: The best portion of a good man’s life is his little nameless, unencumbered acts of kindness and of love.

We can think beyond our own little cocoon and help the troubled world.  Not only will our friends and family benefit, even our enemies will feel the effects of peace.   We have no choice but do what we can rather than living in unconscious self-absorption.  

When we join with others the accomplishments are greater than what we can achieve on our own.  One must be careful not to lose one’s own personality when joining with others, the idea is integration not assimilation.  No matter what is achieved we each walk our path individually.

Attachments prevent the growth of ones’ true being.  Don’t be attached to anything and you can relate to all with an unstructured attitude.  Because of this attitude your existence will benefit all things.

In order to bring others together there must be a leader to serve as the center of a group.  The leader must be collected within himself.  Only such a collective moral force can unite the world and great achievements will be the result.                                                                                                                       

Quote: Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thomas Edison