Pass the popcorn, please. Life is a film, theatre, a theatre of the soul. We play different roles on different stages. At death, we walk offstage. At birth, we walk onstage.
The trick in life is to find out where you belong. Once you find out where you belong, you will be happy there.
The ghetto is not where you live. The ghetto is inside your mind. And anyone who tells you that you can’t get out of the ghettos of your own mind has no idea what they’re talking about.
The key to happiness, in my opinion, is taking the time to find out what your spirit wants you to do, and doing it.
We are alive for a certain period of time in any given lifetime. We are competing against time. It is a race to see if we can wake up before we go to sleep again. That is the challenge.
Some people meditate because they need more energy and when you meditate you get a tremendous amount of energy.
Learn to meditate. It’s fun. It will give you a strong, wonderful mind.
Think of your mind as a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it will become.
Learn to control your emotions. Be able to glide through them. By practicing concentration exercises and meditation, you will find that when strong emotions strike, you will gain the ability to not be swayed by them.
As you meditate, you will be able to look at the beauties and horrors of life and accept them with an equal mind. You will love more and be kinder to those around you.
We are not really separate beings of light. That’s a dream we are having, the dream of multiplicity. Meditation takes us beyond the moment to eternal awareness.
Be mindful, which is more of a passive meditation practice. It is passive when you are active. Then there is active meditation, when you are passive, sitting still.
Practicing zazen and mindfulness constantly and correctly, over a period of time, can bring strength and clarity to your finite mind and eventually give you access to your infinite mind.
In your thoughts, you need to be selective. Thoughts are powerful vehicles of attention. Only think positive thoughts about yourself and your endeavors, and think well of the endeavors of others.
Gain control of the mind and make it still, initially just during periods of meditation, but then throughout the day and throughout the night.
There are parts of us that are miserable, that hate, that love, that are cruel, are kind, are reasonable, are unreasonable. You know, you live inside your own mind. Who are you kidding?
When you are not meditating, eliminate hate, doubt, fear, anxiety, negative thoughts and emotions that limit your consciousness, that bind you to a sense of self, of ego.
You have to look at your own thought forms. Are you sitting around and thinking a lot of negative thoughts? These injure the subtle body. When you hate, when you are angry, you bring that energy through you.
Every time you find yourself becoming angry, jealous or frustrated, stop and think the opposite thought.
If you can’t hold a person in your mind with a good thought, it is better not to think about them at all.