Author: Posts

Everyday there is aggression throughout the world and that pain goes on and on.  Ask yourself, “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”  When things get edgy, take time to ask yourself, “Am I going to practice peace or am I going to war?”

Only when wisdom, courage, timing and perseverance are combined can one have a sound basis for initiative.  Initiative must be guided by both intellect and experience. We can only learn this from others and we must test what we learn in the world.   

Living life is easy if you don’t cling to good and bad.  Let go of preferences and everything will become clear.  A natural person has two attributes: awareness and action.  We cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of the world; we all need to increase our service along with our understanding.

If you are faced with a superior foe, it would be hopeless to fight him.  An orderly retreat is the correct procedure.  It is by no means a sign of strength or courage to engage in a hopeless struggle regardless of circumstances.

Quote:  Peacefulness is the natural seed of a violent world.

When we act out or tell someone off there is some relief for the moment, but it doesn’t last.  If we surrender and drop the story line, there is tenderness under all that harshness.  Being kind to ourselves, we become kind to others.  This will bring us the relief we want.

Unify all areas of your life and unify all distinctions into a whole.  There cannot be diversity within unity. When our consciousness is unified there is only brightness, all else disperses.  This way you can embody all things.

We cannot attain clarity and simplicity by avoiding the world.  Do your work, take care of others, practice virtue without expecting it of others and when you understand the higher truths, retain an ordinary manner.  This is true clarity, true simplicity, true living.

Your only salvation when you are entangled in conflict is to be clear headed and outwardly strong.  This will enable you to meet your opponent halfway.  To carry the conflict to the end, even though you are right, will have bad effects for you because the enmity is then perpetuated.

Quote: How do we make every day better?

To be fearless is not really to overcome fear, it’s to come to know its nature.  To do this develop compassion for yourself and not always wanting things to work out on your own terms, begin to relax, befriend your feelings and learn to relate to them.

Influencing others requires perception.  We need to know when to act, when to be passive, when others are receptive to us and when they will not listen.  This takes experience of course, so just keep practicing or make a game for yourself out of it.

Practice the four cardinal virtues.  Firstly, reverence for all life, love and respect for all beings and things.  The second natural sincerity, honesty, simplicity, and faithfulness.  Thirdly, kindness, and being gentle with yourself and others.  The fourth service to others with no expectation of reward.

 Our independence should not be based on rigidity and immobility of character, but by keeping abreast of the times and changing with them.  What endures is the unswerving directive, the inner law of your being, which determines all your actions.

Quote: An act done to another is done to yourself.

When we think something is going to bring pleasure or misery, we don’t know.  Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.  We don’t know if it is the end of a story or the beginning of a great adventure.

Spiritual attainment lies in the ordinary everyday things you do and the only way to describe it is by comparing it to ordinary things.  If you regard spirituality as extraordinary, then it remains outside yourself -a myth, a fantasy, an unnamable quantity.  But, once you know it, it is part of your daily life.

Give yourself up to whatever the moment brings, there is nothing to hold onto.  Let go of illusions, offer no resistance to things.  Don’t think about your actions, just flow from the core of your being, hold nothing back from life.

True greatness depends on being in harmony with what is right and doing things in harmony with the established order.  We should go on quietly and perseveringly working at the removal of resistance, then success will come.  The less power you apply outwardly the greater the effect.

Quote: A man has no ears for that to which experience has given him no access. Nietzsche

Practicing being gentle with yourself helps awaken your genuine heart.  This compassion, this clarity, this openness, is like something we have forgotten.  Lightening up in your practice, sitting there being gentle with yourself, you are rediscovering something.

We must understand how the past affects us, we should keep the present rich and full of satisfying experiences and devote some time each day to building the future.  We should consider the whole of our time when deciding how to spend our lives.

Don’t be totally absorbed in your own needs, take the needs of all people as your own.  Be good to those who are good, also be good to those absorbed in their own needs. Wise people trust those who trust, they also trust those who are not trustworthy.   

You can only judge what to expect by the consequences of your actions and the fruit of your labors, then when your work has ended good fortune will follow.  Look back on whether your conduct and the resulting consequences were good.

Quote: The heart is the soul locked up inside the body, the principle of light enclosed in the dark.

Things come together and they fall apart.  We think the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is things never really get solved.  The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen, room for grief, for relief, for misery and for joy.

When life presents an opportunity, we must be ready to seize it without hesitation or inhibition.  This action will be appropriate if it accords with the time and place.  Position is useless and opportunities will pass you by without awareness. 

By letting things go their own way, everything will happen as it should, nothing can be gained by interfering.  Accept things, freely extend your goodwill and virtue in every direction regardless of circumstances, you will be able to embrace all things as part of the harmonious oneness.

Increase and decrease come of their own time.  In a time of scanty resources, you must simplify.  This will give you the inner strength for further undertakings.  Draw on the strength of your inner attitude for what lacks externally.  Even with slender means the sentiment of the heart can be expressed.

Quote: Compassion is both a force in the universe as well as a human experience.

Some say our journey is up the mountain but, in reality, the mountain points down.  Instead of transcending suffering we explore the reality of unpredictability of insecurity and pain.  This awakens us from fear and there we discover the love and compassion that will not die.

We need to let ourselves go, enter freely into the process of nature and become absorbed in it.  This way we will have success, the sequence of things will be as evident as the coming of the sun and the moon and everything will be as it should be.  

We can know the world, but first we must know ourselves.  We can do this without going anywhere.  Live a quiet, simple life, free of ideas and concepts.  Find contentment in the practice of undiscriminating virtue.  This will become a sanctuary for yourself and all beings.

To create an influence, your words must have power and can only do so if they are based on something that is real.  Words have influence only when they are supported by your entire conduct, are pertinent and clearly related to definite circumstances. 

Quote: Compassion is what connects all things.

Ancient teachings keep reminding us of who we are and what we can do.  They help us notice we are in a nest of old food, excrement and stale air.  When we were young, we had longings to leave the nest and fly like an eagle, in order to fly.  You must let go of everything. 

As we shape the situations in our lives, we must be aware of the form we want things to take.  The closer it comes to completion, the harder it is to change and more definite it becomes.  Beauty or ugliness, utility or failure comes from this process of shaping.  

There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend ourselves, no greater misfortune than having an enemy.  Whoever can see through the fear will always be safe.  If you understand this, peace and harmony naturally arise.

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

Quote:  “We have nothing to fear but, fear itself”. I would say, “not even that”. President Roosevelt

The more you open your heart, the more challenges come along that make you want to shut it.  The more you practice loving kindness, the more you see something about yourself. You cannot do this work in a safety zone; you must go about living your life like everyone else.

In the midst of an extreme situation, the wise are patient.  Whether the situation is illness, calamity or your own anger, know that healing always follows upheaval, because no matter how extreme the situation is, it will change.

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place, because the mind is the governing aspect of human life.  To correct your mind, stop thinking and clinging to things, avoid daydreaming and allow your original insight to emerge.  Then your mind will be clear.

Energy that is renewing itself must be allowed to reinforce itself by rest.  The return of health after illness, the return of understanding after estrangement, both must be treated tenderly and with care at the beginning so that the return may lead to flowering.

Quote: To simply say that we choose a new reality is not enough.

Do not shut anyone out of our hearts and don’t make the other into an enemy. When we open our hearts, we can’t make things completely right or completely wrong anymore.  Trying to find absolute rights and wrongs is a trick we play on ourselves to feel secure and comfortable.

When disaster strikes, we can do nothing other than accept it.  It alters the course of our actions and thinking.  Even though disasters will change us, they will pass. We must keep to our deeper convictions and remember our goals and not get caught up in the chaos.

Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are, realize nothing is lacking and the world will be yours.  Simply avoid being attached to what you see and think, relinquish the notion that you are separate from the universe.  Then you will be able to see through all illusions and be aware of everything.

When times are bad, submit to the times 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 focus of our awareness becomes the reality of our world.