Buddhist Quotes - Page 37

• Have big dreams but focus only on what you can control: your own thoughts, words and actions. This was Gandhi's way ... in the words of Buddhist poet Gary Snyder, our job is to move the world a millionth of an inch.

  Eboo Patel

  Dream, Jobs, Moving

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• Although you can find certain differences among the Buddhist philosophical schools about how the universe came into being, the basic common question addressed is how the two fundamental principles-external matter and internal mind or consciousness-although distinct, affect one another. External causes and conditions are responsible for certain of our experiences of happiness and suffering. Yet we find that it is principally our own feelings, our thoughts and our emotions, that really determine whether we are going to suffer or be happy.

  Dalai Lama

  Happiness, Philosophical, School

  Dalai Lama (2004). “Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection”, Snow Lion Publication

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• Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet. For instance, if what we're feeling is rage, we usually assume that there are only two ways to relate to it. One is to blame others. Lay it all on somebody else; drive all blames into everyone else. The other alternative is to feel guilty about our rage and blame ourselves.

  Pema Chodron

  Pain, Heart, Mean

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• There's something Zen-like about the way I work - it's like raking gravel in a Zen Buddhist garden.

  Chuck Close

  Photography, Garden, Way

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• Celibacy is one of the most unnatural things. It has destroyed so many human beings - millions - Catholic monks, Hindu monks, Buddhist monks, Jaina monks, nuns. For centuries they have been teaching celibacy; and the most amazing thing is, even in the twentieth century, not a single medical expert, physiologist, has stood up and said that celibacy is impossible, that in the very nature of things, it cannot happen.

  Rajneesh

  Teaching, Catholic, Experts

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• Don't try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-al ready-are.

  Dalai Lama

  Buddhism, Trying, Use

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• For ages this idea has been proclaimed in the consummately wise teachings of religion, probably not alone as a means of insuring peace and harmony among men, but as a deeply founded truth. The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one.

  Nikola Tesla

  Christian, Wise, Teaching

  Nikola Tesla (2014). “My Inventions Nikola Tesla's Autobiography”, p.80, Lulu.com

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• The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one.

  Nikola Tesla

  Christian, Way, One Way

  Nikola Tesla (2016). “My Inventions: And Other Writings”, p.66, Courier Dover Publications

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• How do you become enlightened? Have fun, meditate, don't take yourself too seriously, brush between incarnations and have a good teacher.

  Frederick Lenz

  Teacher, Fun, Buddhism

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• Alan Watts, the Buddhist scholar, proposed the existence of a mental faculty he called forgettory, which is the flip side of memory. There are times, Watts maintained, when we need to forget things, to let them slip away into the unremembered past.

  Larry Dossey

  Memories, Past, Needs

  Larry Dossey (2007). “The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things: Fourteen Natural Steps to Health and Happiness”, p.31, Harmony

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• In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is the mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected.

  Sogyal Rinpoche

  Death, Mirrors, Meaning Of Life

  Sogyal Rinpoche (2009). “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller: Revised and Updated Edition”, p.21, Harper Collins

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• The basic Buddhist stand on the question of equality between the genders is age-old. At the highest tantric levels, at the highest esoteric level, you must respect women: every woman.

  Dalai Lama

  Age, Levels, Esoteric

  Interview with Claudia Dreifus. Archives, www.nytimes.com. 1993.

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• The goal of Buddhism is to create Buddhas, not Buddhists, as the goal of Christianity is to create Christs, not Christians.

  Adyashanti

  Christian, Buddhism, Goal

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• If you have humility, you are willing to undertake anything to spread the dharma.

  Frederick Lenz

  Humility, Buddhism, Etiquette

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• I'm not [a Buddhist]. The whole point of anything that is really, truly valuable to your soul, and your own growth, is not to attach to a teacher, but rather to find out what the real deal is in the world itself. You become your own guide. The teachings can help you, but really, we're all here with the opportunity the reality of hereness. We all have that. I trust that...I'm just not interested in labels. I find all of them constrictive. They're hard to wear. And they're hard to wear because we're always - hopefully - growing.

  Alice Walker

  Faith, Teacher, Real

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• Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi or zen. Not any religion or cultural system. I am not of the East, nor of the West....
  My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless.

  Rumi

  Christian, East, West

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• Some people like a harsh teacher. They feel the demands make them learn more quickly. Some like a gentle teacher because they feel that makes them learn more quickly.

  Frederick Lenz

  Teacher, Buddhism, People

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• Sackcloth and kelp soup are not required, but the Buddhist reminder of the need to live lightly on the earth is a helpful guide to the daily habits and needs of us all.

  Tom Brokaw

  Needs, Earth, Soup

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• Another of the things I started to do during this time was what Buddhists normally call "meditation" or, in Christian terms, "contemplative prayer". It began to supersede deipnosophy as my favorite hobby.

  Sara Maitland

  Christian, Prayer, Favorite Hobby

  "Beyond peace and quiet" by Sara Maitland, www.theguardian.com. November 7, 2008.

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• I want to take you to a place of pure magic... It's the place athletes call the "zone". Buddhists call "satori" and ravers call "trance". I call it the Silver Desert. It's a place of pure light that holds the dark within it. It's a place of pure rhythm.

  Gabrielle Roth

  Athlete, Dark, Light

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• Until he has unconditional and unbiased love for all beings, man will not find peace.

  Gautama Buddha

  Love, Men, Unbiased

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• Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

  Gautama Buddha

  Tired, Night, Law

  Gautama Buddha (2013). “The Dhammapada”, p.12, Simon and Schuster

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• When she was younger, my mother was quite committed to Roman Catholicism. But she got disillusioned with it and moved closer to something like Buddhist beliefs near the end of her life.

  Ralph Fiennes

  Mother, Catholic, Belief

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• Don't become a Buddhist. The world doesn't need Buddhist. Do practice Compassion. The world needs more compassion.

  Dalai Lama

  Compassion, Practice, Needs

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• Beneath the sophistication of Buddhist psychology lies the simplicity of compassion. We can touch into this compassion whenever the mind is quiet, whenever we allow the heart to open.

  Jack Kornfield

  Lying, Heart, Compassion

  Jack Kornfield (2008). “The Wise Heart: Buddhist Psychology for the West”, p.24, Random House

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