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January 10 - February 7, 2024
“Because there is suffering in your heart, it is possible for you to enter my heart.”
It is exactly because there is pain in your heart that communication is possible. Your suffering and my suffering are the basic condition for us to enter the Buddha’s heart, and for the Buddha to enter our hearts.
Without suffering, you cannot grow. Without suffering, you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve. Please don’t run away from your suffering. Embrace it and cherish it.
I have seen deeply that nothing can be by itself alone, that everything has to inter-be with everything else.
path (marga) that leads to refraining from doing the things that cause us to suffer.
The Buddha said many times, “My teaching is like a finger pointing to the moon. Do not mistake the finger for the moon.”
Buddhist teachings are meant to awaken our true self, not merely to add to our storehouse of knowledge.
The Buddha told Ananda that he did not reply because Vatsigotra was looking for a theory, not a way to remove obstacles.
If we are not careful in the way we practice, we may have the tendency to make the words of our teacher into a doctrine or an ideology.
It is true that the Buddha taught the truth of suffering, but he also taught the truth of “dwelling happily in things as they are” (drishta dharma sukha viharin).
We are at war within ourselves, and we can easily start a war with others.
Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us.
We need to stop our horse and reclaim our liberty.
The first function of meditation — shamatha — is to stop.
When we have a strong emotion, we know it can be dangerous to act, but we don’t have the strength or clarity to refrain. We have to learn the art of breathing in and out, stopping our activities, and calming our emotions.
We have to learn to become solid and stable like an oak tree, and not be blown from s...
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We reflect like this until we have some insights into what has caused our suffering. With insight, we know what to do and what not to do to change the situation.
With insight, we know what to do and what not to do to change the situation.
have to learn the art of resting, allowing our body and mind to rest. If we have wounds in our body or our mind, we have to rest so they can heal themselves.
We try to deny our suffering, but it persists.
We always try to accumulate more and more, and we think these “cows” are essential for our existence. In fact, they may be the obstacles that prevent us from being happy. Release your cows and become a free person.
energies drag us into the fire of suffering. The Buddha advised us to look deeply into the nature of our volition to see whether it is pushing us in the direction of liberation, peace, and compassion or in the direction of suffering and unhappiness. We need to be able to see the kinds of intention-food that we are consuming.
a moment comes when we realize that our life is the path, and we no longer rely merely on the forms of practice.
Suffering is not objective. It depends largely on the way you perceive.
The Buddha recommends that we recite the “Five Remembrances” every day: (1) I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old. (2) I am of the nature to have ill-health. There is no way to escape having ill-health. (3) I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death. (4) All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them. (5) My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.
We shouldn’t allow relative truth to imprison us and keep us from touching absolute truth. Looking deeply into relative truth, we penetrate the absolute.
seeing everything in the light of interbeing. Then we will not be caught in our small self. We will see our joy and our suffering everywhere. We will be free, and we won’t see dying as a problem. Why should we say that dying is suffering? We continue with the next generations. What is essential is to be our best while we are here.
You may have lived with someone for ten years and think that you know her perfectly, but you are living only with your concept.
You have a concept of yourself, but have you touched your true self? Look deeply to try to overcome the gap between your concept of reality and reality itself.
We should learn to say, “Long live impermanence.” Thanks to impermanence, we can change suffering into joy.
The teaching of impermanence helps us appreciate fully what is there, without attachment or forgetfulness.
discriminative perception” (vikalpa), and suddenly they set up barriers between themselves.
