Walking on Lotus Flowers Quotes

“[Tenzin Palmo]: The practice is [snapping her fingers] to wake up and develop clarity and alertness and at the same time love, kindness and consideration. You are kind not just to all sentient beings in the 10 directions as a wish, but practically to the person who is next to you, your wife or husband, your children, colleagues at work, the stranger you meet on the bus, to anybody. You are just aware that these people are suffering as you are suffering. That extra smile, that extra kindness can mean so much to people. This is practice.
It is not how many millions of mantras you say. This is so irrelevant. I feel it is a big mistake when people get the idea that unless they go into long retreats and do millions of different kinds of practices they are not going to get anywhere. True practice on the Bodhisattva path has very little to do with that but an enormous amount to do with the quality of our everyday lives and our relationships.”
― Martine Batchelor, Walking on Lotus Flowers: Buddhist Women Living, Loving and Meditating

“[Tenzin Palmo]: Westerners are often frustrated because of feeling they have no time for practice. They are always saying: ‘We have to work, we do not have any time to sit. They have the idea it is only practice when they are sitting, saying mantras, or doing some kind of breathing meditation. This is not the case. Practice is something you do moment to moment, all through the day. It is the way you relate to the people you meet. It is the way you drink your tea, approach your work and how you become more aware of your internal responses to things. It is a matter of waking up. Mostly we live our lives in a kind of sleepwalking state.”
― Martine Batchelor, Walking on Lotus Flowers: Buddhist Women Living, Loving and Meditating

“[Ayya Khema]: Once a Westerner asked Achaan Chah, a great Thai teacher, why he had so many material things in his room. The teacher replied: “You see this glass, to me it is already broken. While it is still intact on the table, I use it. It even has beautiful colours when the sun shines and a lovely sound when I hit it with a spoon. But for me, it is already broken."
This means no attachment, not trying to keep anything.”
― Martine Batchelor, Walking on Lotus Flowers: Buddhist Women Living, Loving and Meditating