Some people consider the practice of love and compassion is only related to religious practice and if they are not interested in religion they neglect these inner values. But love and compassion are qualities that human beings require just to live together.
The past is past, and the future is yet to come. That means the future is in your hands – the future entirely depends on the present. That realization gives you a great responsibility.
The real destroyer of inner peace is fear and distrust. Fear develops frustration, frustration develops anger, anger develops violence.
Compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and a sense of self-discipline are qualities that help us lead our daily lives with a calm mind.
The deep root of failure in our lives is to think, ‘Oh how useless and powerless I am.’ It is essential to think strongly and forcefully, ‘I can do it,’ without boasting or fretting.
To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible. If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant. What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up.
Ethics: The indispensable interface between my desire to be happy and yours.
So, the tendency of our childish nature is to take small things too seriously and get easily offended, whereas when we are confronted with situations which have long-term consequences, we tend to take things less seriously.
Change only takes place through action, not through meditation and prayer.
Learning to forgive is much more useful than merely picking up a stone and throwing it at the object of one’s anger, the more so when the provocation is extreme. For it is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.
The only “definitive truth” for Buddhism is the absolute negation of any one truth as the Definitive Truth.
God exists or God does not exist. Leave it for us. Your task is to learn how to live peacefully.
To defy the authority of empirical evidence is to disqualify oneself as someone worthy of critical engagement in a dialogue.
Initially, terrorism was a certain mixture of politics, economics, and religion. Now, it seems that terrorism is more individual and done to avenge personal grudges. So there are two kinds of terrorism.
There are techniques of Buddhism, such as meditation, that anyone can adopt. And, of course, there are Christian monks and nuns who already use Buddhist methods in order to develop their devotion, compassion, and ability to forgive.
Those who suffer from an exaggerated sense of their own ability and accomplishment are continually subject to frustration, disappointment, and rage when reality intrudes and the world doesn’t validate their idealized view of themselves.
So the smart brain must be balanced with a warm heart, a good heart -a sense of responsibility, of concern for the well-being of others.
Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.
Not to identify oneself with something, or to associate things with the ‘me,’ and to see that the idea that there is a ‘me,’ which is distinct from things, is a delusion...
I’d rather be kind than right. You can always be kind.