If a man who has committed many sins, does not repent and purify his heart of evil, retribution will come upon his person as sure as the streams runs into the ocean which becomes ever deeper and wider. If a man who has committed sins, come to the knowledge of it, reforms himself, and practises goodness, the force of retribution will gradually exhaust itself as a disease gradually loses its baneful influence when the patient perspires.
By Buddha
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
By Dalai Lama
We usually know what we can do, but temptation shows us who we are.
By Thomas Kempis
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
By Buddha
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.
By Dalai Lama
No man ruleth safely but he that is willingly ruled
By Thomas Kempis
Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.
By Dogen
I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives. I’m not talking about the short-term gratification of pleasures like sex, drugs or gambling (though I’m not knocking them), but something that will bring true and lasting happiness. The kind that sticks.
By Dalai Lama XIV
So, to praise others for their virtues - Can but encourage one's own efforts
By Nagarjuna
Gladly we desire to make other men perfect, but we will not amend our own fault.
By Thomas Kempis
I respect all religions as Buddha teaches, but I oppose Creationism and support Evolutionism based on Lamarckism
By Stuart Dawsons
When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.
By Pema Chodron
I would like to explain the meaning of compassion, which is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend
By Dalai Lama
A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.
By Pema Chodron
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
By Buddha
The main difference between us, Buddhism and other philosophies, is that we do not accept the notion of a living god, but rather that we are responsible for our future happiness.
By Tenzin Gyatso
Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.
By Buddha
We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
By Pema Chodron
And once we have the condition of peace and joy in us, we can afford to be in any situation. Even in the situation of hell, we will be able to contribute our peace and serenity. The most important thing is for each of us to have some freedom in our hearts.
By Thich Nhat Hanh
Self satisfaction alone cannot determine if a desire or action is positive or negative. The demarcation between a positive and a negative desire or action is not whether it gives you a immediate feeling of satisfaction, but whether it ultimately results in positive or negative consequences.
By Dalai Lama XIV
Non-violence means dialogue, using our language, the human language. Dialogue means compromise; respecting each other’s rights; in the spirit of reconciliation there is a real solution to conflict and disagreement. There is no hundred percent winner, no hundred percent loser—not that way but half-and-half. That is the practical way, the only way.
By Dalai Lama XIV
Evil-doers who denounce the wise resemble a person who spits against the sky; the spittle will never reach the sky; but comes down on himself.
By Buddha
Human beings are of such nature that they should have not only material facilities but spiritual sustenance as well. Without spiritual sustenance, it is difficult to get and maintain peace of mind.
By Dalai Lama
I have no rest, but in a nook, with the Book
By Unknown
You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.
By Dogen
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
By Buddha
We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.
By Dalai Lama
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life
By Dalai Lama
From the scientific view, the theory of karma may be a metaphysical assumption -- but it is no more so than the assumption that all of life is material and originated out of pure chance
By Dalai Lama XIV
But because many endeavor to get knowledge rather than to live well, they are often deceived and reap little or no benefit from their labor.
By Thomas Kempis
If we think only of ourselves, forget about other people, then our minds occupy very small area. Inside that small area, even tiny problem appears very big. But the moment you develop a sense of concern for others, you realize that, just like ourselves, they also want happiness; they also want satisfaction. When you have this sense of concern, your mind automatically widens. At this point, your own problems, even big problems, will not be so significant. The result? Big increase in peace of mind. So, if you think only of yourself, only your own happiness, the result is actually less happiness. You get more anxiety, more fear.
By Dalai Lama XIV
There is no miserable place waiting for you, no hell realm, sitting and waiting like Alaska -- waiting to turn you into ice cream. But whatever you call it -- hell or the suffering realms -- it is something that you enter by creating a world of neurotic fantasy and believing it to be real. It sounds simple, but that's exactly what happens.
By Lama Yeshe
If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work
By Thich Nhat Hanh
The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.
By Buddha
No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
By Buddha
Once a man came unto me and denounced me on account of my observing the Way and practicing great loving-kindness. But I kept silent and did not answer him. The denunciation ceased. Then I asked him. 'If you bring a present to your neighbour and he accepts it not; does the present come back to you?' He replied, 'It will.' I said, 'You denounce me now, but as I accept it not, you must take the wrong deed back on your own person. It is like echo succeeding sound, it is like shadow following object; you never escape the effect of your own evil deeds. Be therefore mindful, and cease from doing evil.
By Buddha
A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching.
By Swami Sivananda
Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal Bliss and supreme joy in the end
By Swami Sivananda
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
By Buddha
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
By Thich Nhat Hanh
Occasions do not make a man either strong or weak but they show what he is
By Thomas Kempis
FIRST keep thyself in peace, and then shalt thou be able to be a peacemaker towards others. A peaceable man doth more good than a well-learned. A passionate man turneth even good into evil and easily believeth evil; a good, peaceable man converteth all things into good. He who dwelleth in peace is suspicious of none, but he who is discontented and restless is tossed with many suspicions, and is neither quiet himself nor suffereth others to be quiet. He often saith what he ought not to say, and omitteth what it were more expedient for him to do. He considereth to what duties others are bound, and neglecteth those to which he is bound himself. Therefore be zealous first over thyself, and then mayest thou righteously be zealous concerning thy neighbour.
By Thomas Kempis
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
By Thich Nhat Hanh
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
By Buddha
You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.
By Dogen
In judging others a man laboreth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboreth to good purpose
By Thomas Kempis
In the material world, there are limitations. We always want more, but in the spiritual world, just a short prayer and you're infinitely content.
By Tenzin Gyatso
A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.
By Buddha
Your own pain is involuntary; you feel overwhelmed and have no control. When feeling the pain of others, there is an element of discomfort, but there also is a level of stability because you are voluntarily accepting pain. It gives you a sense of confidence.
By Tenzin Gyatso
Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
By Buddha
The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts.
By Dalai Lama XIV
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.
By Dalai Lama XIV
He who loves with purity considers not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver
By Thomas Kempis
For those who may not find happiness to exercise religious faith, it's okay to remain a radical atheist, it's absolutely an individual right, but the important thing is with a compassionate heart -- then no problem.
By Dalai Lama
Develop the mind of equilibrium.
You will always be getting praise and blame,
but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:
follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
By Sutta Nipata
His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust.
By Buddha
Let Your name be praised, not mine: let Your work be magnified, not mine. Let Your holy name be blessed, but let nothing of man's praises be given to me.
By Thomas Kempis
There is pleasure when a sore is scratched, But to be without sores is more pleasurable still. Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires, But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.
By Nagarjuna
It is divinity that shapes, not only your ends, but also your acts, your words and thoughts
By Swami Sivananda
If you have only education and knowledge and a lack of the other side, then you may not be a happy person, but a person of mental unrest, of frustration. Not only that, but if you combine these two, your whole life will be a constructive and happy life. And certainly you can make immense benefit for society and the betterment of humanity. That is one of my fundamental beliefs: that a good heart, a warm heart, a compassionate heart, is still teachable.
By Dalai Lama XIV
NEVER GIVE UP
No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
Is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
But to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
In your heart and in the world
Work for peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up
By Dalai Lama XIV
Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be acheived unless we first establish peace within our own minds. We can send so-called 'peacekeeping forces' into areas of conflict, but peace cannot be oppossed from the outside with guns. Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others to do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.
By Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.
By Buddha
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
By Buddha
A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.
By Buddha
Human beings are not intrinsically selfish, which isolates us from others. We are essentially social animals who depend on others to meet our needs. We achieve happiness, prosperity and progress through social interaction. Therefore, having a kind and helpful attitude contributes to our own and others' happiness.
By Dalai Lama
What else does anxiety about the future bring you but sorrow upon sorrow?
By Thomas Kempis
At the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done
By Thomas Kempis
If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.
By Dalai Lama
I don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.
By Dalai Lama XIV
Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
Follow the three R's:
- Respect for self.
- Respect for others.
- Responsibility for all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
Don't let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone everyday.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the earth.
Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
By Dalai Lama XIV
It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.
By Dalai Lama
Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.
By Dalai Lama XIV
A book has but one vioce, but it does not instruct everyone alike.
By Thomas Kempis
