S. N. Goenka Quotes

• Real wisdom is recognizing and accepting that every experience is impermanent. With this insight you will not be overwhelmed by ups and downs. And when you are able to maintain an inner balance, you can choose to act in ways that will create happiness for you and for others. Living each moment happily with an equanimous mind, you will surely progress toward the ultimate goal of liberation from all suffering.

  S. N. Goenka

  Real, Goal, Mind

  272 Copy quote

• Discover real peace and harmony within yourself, and naturally this will overflow to benefit others.

  S. N. Goenka

  Real, Benefits, Harmony

  217 Copy quote

• Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.

  S. N. Goenka

  Successful, Vipassana, Being Successful

  275 Copy quote

• If there is no peace in the minds of individuals, how can there be peace in the world? Make peace in your own mind first.

  S. N. Goenka

  Mind, World, Firsts

  264 Copy quote

• It is a basic human need that everyone wants to
  live a happy life. For this, one has to experience
  real happiness. The so-called happiness that one
  experiences by having money, power, and
  indulging in sensual pleasures is not real
  happiness. It is very fragile, unstable and fleeting.
  For real happiness, for lasting stable happiness,
  one has to make a journey deep within oneself and
  get rid of all the unhappiness stored in the deeper
  levels of the mind. As long as there is misery at
  the depth of the mind all attempts to feel happy
  at the surface level of the mind prove futile.

  S. N. Goenka

  Real, Happy Life, Journey

  S. N. Goenka (2012). “Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom”, p.42, Pariyatti Publishing

  270 Copy quote

• The mind spends most of the time lost in fantasies and illusions, reliving pleasant or unpleasant experiences and anticipating the future with eagerness or fear. While lost in such cravings or aversions, we are unaware of what is happening now, what we are doing now.

  S. N. Goenka

  Mind, Aversion, Vipassana

  228 Copy quote

• When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappears.

  S. N. Goenka

  Yoga, Faults, Madness

  226 Copy quote

• Every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it.

  S. N. Goenka

  Practice, Passing Away, Truth Is

  219 Copy quote

• The consequences of today are determined by the actions of the past. To change your future, alter your decisions today.

  S. N. Goenka

  Past, Decision, Today

  197 Copy quote

• We cannot live in the past; it is gone. Nor can we live in the future; it is forever beyond our grasp. We can live only in the present. If we are unaware of our present actions, we are condemned to repeating the mistakes of the past and can never succeed in attaining our dreams for the future.

  S. N. Goenka

  Dream, Mistake, Past

  176 Copy quote

• In meditation you withdraw from others and focus your attention inside to gain purity of mind and wisdom energy. Then you must become extroverted and use this energy. When you take a long jump, you must first take some steps backward. Then you run, and make the jump. Like this, you first withdraw, observe yourself, develop clarity and unlock the wisdom. Then you make a long jump into society, to serve society. These two steps cannot be separated.

  S. N. Goenka

  Running, Two, Long

  186 Copy quote

• Observe the reality as it is. As it is, not as you wish it to be. Perhaps your breath is deep. Perhaps your breath is shallow. Perhaps you breathed in through the left nostril. Perhaps you breathed in through the right nostril. It makes no difference.

  S. N. Goenka

  Reality, Differences, Wish

  149 Copy quote

• Peace and negativity cannot coexist just as light and darkness cannot coexist.

  S. N. Goenka

  Light, Negativity, Darkness

  S. N. Goenka (2012). “Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom”, p.42, Pariyatti Publishing

  127 Copy quote

• When I observe myself and find that I am generating anger, ill will, or animosity, I realize that I am the first victim of the hatred or animosity I am generating within myself. Only afterwards do I start harming others. And if I am free from these negativities, nature or God Almighty starts rewarding me: I feel so peaceful.

  S. N. Goenka

  Ill Will, Hatred, Negativity

  160 Copy quote

• One learns the art of dying by learning the art of living: how to become master of the present moment.

  S. N. Goenka

  Art, Dying, Moments

  S. N. Goenka (2012). “Discourse Summaries”, Pariyatti Publishing

  136 Copy quote

• For real happiness, for real lasting stable happiness, one has to make a journey deep within oneself and see that one gets rid of all the unhappiness and misery stored in the deeper levels of the mind.

  S. N. Goenka

  Real, Journey, Mind

  101 Copy quote

• Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

  S. N. Goenka

  Art, Escaping, Vipassana

  95 Copy quote

• Removing old conditionings from the mind and training the mind to be more equaimous with every experience is the first step toward enabling one to experience true happiness.

  S. N. Goenka

  Training, Mind, Enabling

  118 Copy quote

• The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

  S. N. Goenka

  Vipassana, Way, Taught

  S. N. Goenka (2012). “Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom”, p.4, Pariyatti Publishing

  157 Copy quote

• Love with attachment consists of waves of emotion, usually creating invisible iron chains.

  S. N. Goenka

  Freedom, Iron, Creating

  70 Copy quote

• The only conversion involved in Vipassana is from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation.

  S. N. Goenka

  Vipassana, Misery, Bondage

  126 Copy quote

• One has to live in the present. Whatever is past is gone beyond recall; whatever is future remains beyond one's reach, until it becomes present. Remembering the past and giving thought to the future are important, but only to the extent that they help one deal with the present.

  S. N. Goenka

  Inspirational, Life, Time

  S. N. Goenka (2012). “Discourse Summaries”, p.14, Pariyatti Publishing

  103 Copy quote

• Rather than converting people from one organised religion to another organised religion, we should try to convert people from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation and from cruelty to compassion.

  S. N. Goenka

  Compassion, People, Trying

  86 Copy quote

• Grasping at things can only yield one of two results: Either the thing you are grasping at disappears, or you yourself disappear. It is only a matter of which occurs first.

  S. N. Goenka

  Yield, Two, Matter

  70 Copy quote

• If we can develop the ability to be aware of the present moment, we can use the past as a guide for ordering our actions in the future, so that we may attain our goal.

  S. N. Goenka

  Past, Goal, Use

  71 Copy quote

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