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If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.
Recently I was sitting with a group of children, and a boy named Tim was smiling beautifully. I said, “Tim, you have a very beautiful smile,” and he said, “Thank you.” I told him, “You don’t have to thank me, I have to thank you. Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful. Instead of saying, ‘Thank you,’ you could say, ‘You’re welcome.’ ”
Smiling means that we are ourselves, that we have sovereignty over ourselves, that we are not drowned in forgetfulness.
Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is a wonderful moment.
I told her she must be able to smile to her sorrow, because we are more than our sorrow.
A human being is like a television set with millions of channels. If we turn the Buddha on, we are the Buddha. If we turn sorrow on, we are sorrow. If we turn a smile on, we really are the smile. We can’t let just one channel dominate us. We have the seeds of everything in us, and we have to take the situation in hand to recover our own sovereignty.
When we sit down peacefully, breathing and smiling, with awareness, we are our true selves, we have sovereignty over ourselves. When we open ourselves up to a TV program, we let ourselves be invaded by the program.
Our world is something like a small boat. Compared with the cosmos, our planet is a very small boat. We are about to panic because our situation is no better than the situation of the small boat in the sea. You know that we have more than 50,000 nuclear weapons. Humankind has become a very dangerous species. We need people who can sit still and be able to smile, who can walk peacefully. We need people like that in order to save us. Mahayana Buddhism says that you are that person, that each of you is that person.
Understanding and love aren’t two separate things,
Maybe she has a cold, maybe that is why she behaved in such a mean way. He is not angry anymore. At that moment
When you understand, you cannot help but love. You cannot get angry. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion. When you
Anything that can help you wake up has Buddha nature. When I am alone and a bird calls me, I return to myself.
It is like the calm person on a small boat in a storm. That person does not have to do much, just to be himself, and the situation can change.
In our former lives, we were trees. Maybe we have even been oak trees ourselves. This isn’t just Buddhist theory; it’s science. The human species is a very young species—we appeared on the Earth only recently. Before that, we were rock, we were gas, we were minerals, we were single-celled beings. We were plants, we were trees, and now we have become humans. We have to recall our past existences. This is not difficult. You just sit down and breathe and look, and you can see your past existences.
When we shout at the oak tree, the oak tree isn’t offended. When we praise the oak tree, it doesn’t raise its nose. We can learn the Dharma from the oak tree;
Practicing Buddhism, practicing meditation is for us to be serene and happy, understanding and loving.
When you sit in this way, aware that you have a feeling of well-being, that you don’t have a toothache, that your eyes are capable of seeing forms and colors, isn’t it wonderful?
For some people, working is unpleasant, and they suffer when they have to work. For other people, if they are forbidden from working, it is unpleasant.
When you have a toothache, you think that not having a toothache will make you very happy. But when you don’t have a toothache, often you are still not happy.
I have to take care of myself, and you take care of yourself. That way we help each other.
I have to take care of myself, knowing that I am responsible for your happiness, and if you do the same, everything will be all right.
deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence. Because anger is me, I have to tend my anger as I would tend a younger brother or sister, with love, with care, because I myself am anger, I am in it,
the recognition of the presence of the irritation, along with a smile and a few breaths will usually be enough to transform the irritation into something more positive, like forgiveness, understanding, and love. Irritation is a destructive energy. We cannot destroy the energy; we can only convert it into a more constructive energy. Forgiveness is a constructive energy. Understanding is a constructive energy.
