When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.
My actions are my only true belongings.
We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love.
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos – the trees, the clouds, everything.
Without understanding, your love is not true love. You must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations, and suffering of the one you love.
In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice.
In Buddhist culture, offering food to the monk symbolizes the action of goodness, and if you have no opportunity to support the practice of spirituality, then you are somehow left in the realm of darkness.
In every country in the world, killing human beings is condemned. The Buddhist precept of non-killing extends even further, to include all living beings.
Buddhism is in your heart. Even if you don’t have any temple or any monks, you can still be a Buddhist in your heart and life.
The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one.
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart...
Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.
Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.
Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.
The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.
We already have everything we need.
The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be just to keep moving.