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Meditation Seed Thoughts Think not lightly of evil, saying, "It will not come to me." Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the fool, gathering it little by little, fills himself with evil. Think not lightly of good, saying, "It will not come to me." Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good. -- Sri Acharya Buddharakkhita By what track can you trace that trackless Buddha of limitless range, whose victory nothing can undo, whom none of the vanquished defilements can ever pursue? -- Dhammapada You must see your essence Before you attain enlightenment What is seeing essence? It means seeing your own fundamental nature. What is its form? When you see your own fundamental nature, There is no concrete object to see. This is hard to believe in, But all Buddhas attain it. -- Xuefeng Calm is his thought, calm his speech, and calm his deed, who, truly knowing, is wholly freed, perfectly tranquil and wise. -- Dhammapada The perfume of sandalwood, rosebay or jasmine cannot travel against the wind. But the fragrance of virtue travels even against the wind, as far as the ends of the world. -- Buddha The good renounce (attachment for) everything. The virtuous do not prattle with a yearning for pleasures. The wise show no elation or depression when touched by happiness or sorrow. -- Dhammapada Cherish what you have and don't hunger for what you don't have. When you are a fish, enjoy yourself swimming to your heart's content, and don't fantasize about flying. When you are a bird, enjoy soaring to your heart's content, and don't even think of wanting to dive. -- Tsai Chih When this world is ever ablaze, why this laughter, why this jubilation? Shrouded in darkness, will you not seek the light? -- Dhammapada Those wise ones who are devoted to meditation and who delight in the calm of renunciation - such mindful ones, Supreme Buddhas, even the gods hold dear. -- Sri Acharya Buddharakkhita By putting to rest all external entangling objects, And not agitating your inner mind, And making your mind like a wall, You can enter the Path. -- Bodhidharma Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame. -- Dhammapada To me, awareness is the only morality, the only ethics, the only religion, because out of awareness you cannot do anything wrong. It is always your unconscious mind which forces you to do wrong things. As awareness grows, slowly slowly, your whole being becomes luminous, there is no dark spot inside you. -- Osho As a great flood carries away a sleeping village, so death seizes and carries away the man with a clinging mind, doting on his children and cattle. For him who is assailed by death there is no protection by kinsmen. None are there to save him - no sons, nor father nor relatives. Realizing this fact, let the wise man, restrained by morality, hasten to clear the path leading to Nibbana. -- Sri Acharya Buddharakkhita When the Buddha teaches others he does so out of compassion, because the Tathagata is wholly freed from both favour and aversion. -- Samyutta Nikaya Before the first step is taken the goal is reached. Before the tongue is moved the speech is finished. More than brilliant intuition is needed, to find the origin of the right road. -- Mu-mon A man of zen walks in zen and sits in zen. Whether he speaks or acts, whether he is silent or inactive, his body is always peaceful. He smiles straight at the sword which takes his life. He keeps his balance even at the moment of death. -- Yoka Should a seeker not find a companion who is better or equal, let him resolutely pursue a solitary course; there is no fellowship with the fool. -- Dhammapada The entire universe is your own light; the entire universe is within your own light; there is no one in the whole universe that is not you. I always tell you that the realms of desire, form, and formless abstraction, the enlightened ones, the universe and the totality of all beings, are the light of universal perfect wisdom. -- Nchangsha Things in this world are not always as we wish. When we cannot change circumstances outside of us, we can still change ourselves; and that, often, can help us reach the same goal. - Heart Sutra Of all the fragrances -- sandal, tagara, blue lotus and jasmine -- the fragrance of virtue is the sweetest. -- Dhammapada Nowadays there are too many 'Zen masters!' I'm looking for an innocent, But can't find one. I don't say there are none at all, Only that they are rare. -- Nanquan The fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech, but knowing how to be forbearing alone makes one victorious. -- Samyutta Nikaya One-practice samadhi is straightforward mind at all times. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying. The Vimalakirti Sutra says: "Straightforward mind is the Pure Land." Only practicing straightforward mind, and in all things having no attachments whatsoever, is called one-practice samadhi. -- The Platform Sutra Keep your heart clear and transparent and you will never be bound. A single disturbed thought, though, creates ten thousand distractions. Let myriad things captivate you and you'll go further and further astray. How painful to see people all wrapped up in themselves. -- Ryokan Arise! Do not be heedless! Lead a righteous life. The righteous live happily both in this world and the next. -- Dhammapada One-practice samadhi is straightforward mind at all times. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying. The Vimalakirti Sutra says: "Straightforward mind is the Pure Land." Only practicing straightforward mind, and in all things having no attachments whatsoever, is called one-practice samadhi. -- The Platform Sutra Though being well-to-do, not to support father and mother who are old and past their youth -- this is a cause of one's downfall. -- Sutta Nipata If you know that you don't know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know. -- Socrates The pearl of the mind is always intrinsically pure. The rays of spirit pervade the ten directions; Know that the mind has no place to abide in; The pure land is in the mind; The ignorant seek it outside. If one understands the intention herein, It is called the pearl of the Dharma-nature. -- Fa-chao The wise are controlled in bodily action, controlled in speech and controlled in thought. They are truly well-controlled. -- Dhammapada To witness is like a mirror. Death happens only to the dust that collects on the mirror. The mirror never dies! The mirror itself is undying. This witnessing is an undying process, it is eternal. The traveler continues; only the clothes become torn and rotten and they have to be changed. -- Zen Master Emptied of all knowledge, man is joined in the highest part of himself, not with any created thing, nor with himself, nor with another, but with the One who is altogether unknowable; & in knowing nothing, he knows in a manner surpassing understanding. -- Dionysius the Areopagite Not by passing arbitrary judgements does a man become just; a wise man is he who investigates both right and wrong. He who does not judge others arbitrarily, but passes judgement impartially according to truth, that sagacious man is a guardian of law and is called just. -- Dhammapada Through right practice, you allow your old kamma to wear itself out. Knowing how things arise and pass away, you can just be aware and let them run their course. It is like having two trees: if you fertilise and water one and do not take care of the other, there is no question which one will grow and which one will die. -- Ajahn Chah. A blessing: friends when the need arises. A blessing: contentment with whatever there is. Merit at the ending of life is a blessing. A blessing: the abandoning of all suffering and stress. A blessing in the world: reverence to your mother. A blessing: reverence to your father as well. A blessing in the world: reverence to a contemplative. A blessing: reverence for a brahmin, too. A blessing into old age is virtue. A blessing: conviction established. A blessing: discernment attained. The non-doing of evil things is a blessing. -- Dhammapada With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart: Above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without hostility or hate. -- Sutta Nipata Words cannot describe everything. The heart's message cannot be delivered in words. If one receives words literally, she will be lost. If she tries to explain with words, she will not attain enlightenment in this life. - Mu-mon We need to consider the consequences of our decisions. Sometimes an attractive opportunity may be just water in a well... easy to hop in, but impossible to climb out! -- Tsai Chih Insofar as you keep watching the mind and discover yourself as its witness, nothing else can project itself on the screen of consciousness. This is so because two things cannot occupy the attention at the same moment. Therefore, delve within, and find out where thoughts arise. Seek the source of all thought, and acquire the Self-knowledge which is the Awakening of Truth. -- Ramesh Balsekar Silent in body, silent in speech, silent in mind, without defilement, blessed with silence is the sage. He is truly washed of evil. -- Itivuttaka When I've faded away The kettle will still whistle And the birds still sing. I wonder if you'll recognize The sound of my voice. -- Ji Aoi Ishi Only one thing I want you to learn, and that is awareness. It will take care of all your problems. -- Osho The moonlight High in the sky, Shining through the eves, Falls on a mind Undisturbed by what Might have been. -- Rikyu Let a man guard himself against irritability in thought; let him be controlled in mind. Abandoning mental misconduct, let him practice good conduct in thought. -- Dhammapada There is no dissolution, no birth, no bondage, none aspiring for wisdom, no seeker of liberation and none liberated. This is the absolute truth. -- Mandukya Upanishad Let a man guard himself against irritability in speech; let him be controlled in speech. Abandoning verbal misconduct, let him practice good conduct in speech. -- Dhammapada If you want to study this path, you must have stable faith, so that your mind is unaffected whether it encounters favorable or adverse sensory objects. Then and only then will you go in the right direction. If you're half clear and half unclear, your mind will give rise to confusion and doubt. -- Ta-hui Tsung-kao Whoever can look at this worldly realm in every aspect without attachment, this person will swiftly achieve Buddhahood. Those to whom the Dhamma is clear are not led into other doctrines; perfectly enlightened with perfect knowledge, they walk evenly over the uneven. -- Samyutta Nikaya For one who wants to directly experience this path, the normal mind is the path. What is meant by the "normal mind?" It is the mind that is free from construction and production, right and wrong, clinging and rejection, ordinary and saint. It is your everyday walking, standing, sitting and lying down, your personal encounters and contacts with things, which are all entirely just this path. -- Ma-tsu Tao-I After the mind is clarified, when one sits, it is like being on a solitary tall mountain in the midst of a distant field. Sitting on exposed ground at the top of the mountain, gazing off into the distance on all four sides, there are no limits. -- Hung-jen Let a man guard himself against irritability in bodily action; let him be controlled in deed. Abandoning bodily misconduct, let him practice good conduct in deed. -- Dhammapada Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse. -- Udana The real meaning of freedom is developing a mind that clings to nothing. You should sit in the place where you work toward enlightenment and dissolve away all thoughts. When thoughts are exhausted, then you are detached from thought, and everything is pure illumination that does not stir whether you are moving or still; that is the same whether you remember it or forget it. Abide in this place. -- Buddha from the Surangama Sutra Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth. -- Dhammapada Every person is an instrument of the Buddha law, of the universal law. Never once think yourself not so. By practice you will assuredly have direct experience of it. -- Dogen You imagine yourself to be a mere component of the Truth, but that is your ignorance, Maaya. You are the Truth, fully and unconditionally; only you don't realize it. All your spiritual quest is an exercise in removing this AavaraNa, this misconception as to who you are. -- Advaita If you can stop the mentality of constant frantic seeking, then you are no different from Zen masters and Buddhas. -- Linji He who sees the entire world of animate and inanimate objects in himself and also sees himself in all animate and inanimate objects, because of this, does not hate anyone. -- Ishavasya upanishad Things that are empty make a noise, the full is always quiet. The fool is like a half-filled pot, the wise man is like a deep still pool. -- Sutta Nipata Truth is perfect and complete in itself. It is not something newly discovered; It has always existed. Truth is not far away. It is nearer than near. There is no need to attain it, Since not one of your steps leads away from it. -- Dogen One should give up anger, renounce pride, and overcome all fetters. Suffering never befalls him who clings not to mind and body and is detached. -- Dhammapada The morning glory blooms but an hour. Yet it differs not in heart from a giant pine, That lives for a thousand years. -- Matsunaga Teitiku Do you run through each day On the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done Do you lie in your bed With the next hundred chores Running through your head? You'd better slow down Don't dance so fast. Time is short. The music won't last. The morning glory blooms but an hour. Yet it differs not in heart from a giant pine, That lives for a thousand years. -- Matsunaga Teitiku One by one, little by little, moment by moment, a wise man should remove his own impurities, as a smith removes his dross from silver. -- Dhammapada When the typhoon comes, the big tree is uprooted, yet the little grass remains unharmed. Water can take any shape, it can penetrate crevices and mould mountains. Does this not clearly show that what is tough may not necessarily be strong and that what is soft is actually strong! -- Dao Zi Alone I go, and alone come back, and get myself some freedom. Finally, no dusty thoughts hang up the top of my head. From here on in, I'm throwing out true and false together. Isn't this Cold Mountain's finest flowing stream? -- Hsu Yun The monk who abides in universal love and is deeply devoted to the Teaching of the Buddha attains the peace of Nibbana, the bliss of the cessation of all conditioned things. -- Dhammapada Character is the product of daily, hourly actions. By doing just actions, daily acts of kindness, charity and unselfishness, we come to be just, and we judge strength by power of action. In the same way as a musician is not one who merely loves music, but one who is able to blend and combine sounds in a manner pleasing to the ear, so also it is the quality of our actions that determines our character. -- Sayadaw Ashin Thittila Speak the truth; yield not to anger; when asked, give even if you only have a little. By these three means can one reach the presence of the gods. -- Dhammapada After the mind is clarified, when one sits, it is like being on a solitary tall mountain in the midst of a distant field. Sitting on exposed ground at the top of the mountain, gazing off into the distance on all four sides - there are no limits. -- - Hung-jen One is not wise because one speaks much. He who is peaceable, friendly and fearless is called wise. -- Dhammapada Solitude is happiness for one who is content, who has heard the Dhamma and clearly sees. Non-affliction is happiness in the world - harmlessness towards all living beings. -- Udana Whoever can look at this worldly realm In every aspect without attachment, And likewise the Tathagata's body, This person will swiftly achieve Buddhahood. Ever virtuous and wise, with mind collected, Reflecting on oneself and ever mindful, One crosses the flood so difficult to cross. -- Sutta Nipata When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. -- Patanjali Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger or irritation wish for another to suffer. -- Sutta Nipata In this lump of flesh, there is a true person without position constantly going in and out through your faces. Those of you who have not verified this yet; look, look! -- Lin-chi Neither by work nor by progeny nor by wealth, but by renunciation alone immortality is attained. Higher than heaven, the ultimate truth abides in the cave of the heart, shining, and the sincere seeker attains. -- Kaivalya Upanishad Entangled by the bonds of hate, he who seeks his own happiness by inflicting pain on others, is never delivered from hatred. -- Dhammapada The practice of zazen is not for gaining a mystical something. Zazen is for allowing a clear mind, as clear as a bright autumn sky. -- Shunryu Suzuki If by renouncing a lesser happiness one may realize a greater happiness, let the wise one renounce the lesser, having regard for the greater. -- Dhammapada Our mind is limited by its phenomenal perception, i.e. is encompassed in itself. The world of phenomena, i.e. the form of its own perception, encloses it like a ring, like a wall, and it does not see anything apart from this wall. But if it manages to escape beyond this surrounding wall, it inevitably sees a great many new things in the world. -- P.D. Ouspensky If you meet a fencing master on the road, You may give him your sword. If you meet a poet, You may offer him your poem. When you meet others, Say only a part of what you intend. Never give the whole thing at once. -- Mu-mon Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let a man so conduct himself that his wisdom may increase. -- Dhammapada Look! Look! Look! Who is that on the ancient bank Holding a fishing pole? The clouds are slowly moving by The waters are overflowing The bright moon over the reed flowers: Look for yourself. -- Hsueh-tou There are two eternities that can really break you down - yesterday and tomorrow. One is gone and the other doesn't exist yet... so live today. -- Anon How short this life! You die this side of a century, but even if you live past, you die of old age. -- Sutta Nipata Within heaven and earth, Inside space and time, There is a jewel, Hidden in the mountain of form. -- Yun-men Know yourself and stay within your capabilities. Fantasized ideals often do not work in real life. When people cannot reach their present goals, most of them can only blame themselves for not knowing the limits of their own capabilities. -- Heart sutra By love they will quench the fire of hate, by wisdom the fire of delusion. Those supreme ones extinguish delusion with wisdom that breaks through to truth. -- Itivuttaka In every virtue all-accomplished, with wisdom full and mind composed, looking within and ever mindful - thus one crosses the raging flood. -- Sutta Nipata The great path has no gates, Thousands of roads enter it. When one passes through this gateless gate He walks freely between heaven and earth. -- Mu-mon Everybody has to be alert, aware, and drop all false hopes. Nobody can save you, and nobody has ever saved anybody. Masters have only shown the way. Because they have traveled on the path, they can save you unnecessary wandering, they can show you the straight way. But nobody can walk for you. -- Osho One who is virtuous and wise shines forth like a blazing fire; like a bee collecting nectar he acquires wealth by harming none. -- Digha Nikaya Within our mind there is a Buddha, and that Buddha within is the real Buddha. If Buddha is not to be sought within our mind, where shall we find the real Buddha? Doubt not that a Buddha is within your mind, apart from which nothing can exist. What we are today comes from thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind. -- Buddha Consort only with the good, come together with the good. To learn the teaching of the good gives wisdom like nothing else can. -- Samyutta Nikaya Be all you can be. Everyone has his own strength and unique qualities. Why care about other people's respect or disdain? If one lives according to other's values, one is guaranteed to die in one's own dissatisfaction. -- Heart Sutra There is a road to emptiness; Everyone arrives. Those who arrive then realize The excellence of their aim. The mind ground does not grow Useless plants and trees; Naturally the body spontaneously Radiates clear light. -- Foyan's teacher When you make yourself free, you free all sentient beings. If you want to save all sentient beings, you have to bedin by saving yourself. -- John Daido Loori Roshi Mind precedes all things; mind is their chief, mind is their maker. If one speaks or does a deed with a mind that is pure within, happiness then follows along like a never departing shadow. -- Dhammapada Our true-nature is beyond all categories. Whatever you can conceive or imagine is but a fragment of yourself, hence the real You cannot be found through logical deduction or intellectual analysis or endless imagining. -- Roshi The spiritual light, shining independently Transcends the senses and objects; The essence is revealed, real and eternal Not confined to written words. The nature of mind has no stain; Is it basically complete of itself. Just detach from false mental objects And be enlightened to being-as-is. -- Baizhang Difficult to detect and very subtle, the mind seizes whatever it wants; so let a wise man guard his mind, for a guarded mind brings happiness. -- Dhammapada One who has crossed over the mire, crushed the thorn of sensuality, reached the ending of delusion, is a monk undisturbed by bliss & pain. -- Udana Mind set free in the Dharma-realm, I sit at the moon-filled window Watching the mountains with my ears, Hearing the stream with open eyes. Each molecule preaches perfect law, Each moment chants true sutra: The most fleeting thought is timeless A single hair's enough to stir the sea. -- Shutaku Do not carry the burden of the past; do not live in the future. The only important thing is that one lives in the present authentically and fully. Whatever your current life is, be the most you can be by living in the moment. -- Chan Chih As Namaste is to say *may the Divine Essence IN me Embrace the Divine Essence IN you as a Divine Essence of One*, so too Metta is to say *may the Loving Kindness IN me Embrace the Loving Kindness IN you as Loving Kindness of One*, so too Zikr is to say *may the Self Remembering IN me Embrace the Self Remembering IN you as a Self Remembrance of One*. It is in the Inner Embracing of each other that we Realize that we are all cut from the same bolt of cloth yet most do not Realize it yet. -- Yogajyotii
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