Being Nobody, Going Nowhere Quotes

“Joy with others is a sure antidote for depression. Anybody who suffers from depression is suffering from the lack of joy with others, the lack of sympathetic joy. One cannot always have joyful occasions, joyful thoughts in one’s own life, but if one has joy with other people, one can surely find something to be happy about.”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path

“Life keeps on happening and doesn’t need us to think about it. It’s constantly arising and ceasing every single moment.”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path

“LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION PLEASE PUT THE ATTENTION on the breath for just a moment to become centered. Take a look into your heart and see whether there is any worry, fear, grief, dislike, resentment, rejection, uneasiness, anxiety. If you find any of those, let them float away like the black clouds that they are… Then let warmth and friendship arise in your heart for yourself, realizing that you have to be your own best friend. Surround yourself with loving thoughts for yourself and a feeling of contentment within you… Now surround the person nearest to you in the room with loving thoughts and fill that person with peace and wish for that person’s happiness… Now surround everyone here with loving thoughts… Let the feeling of peacefulness extend to everyone here, and think of yourself as everyone’s good friend… Think of your parents, whether they are still alive or not. Surround them with love. Fill them with peace and gratitude for what they have done for you, be their good friend… Think of those people who are nearest and dearest to you. Embrace them with love, fill them with peace as a gift from you, without expecting them to return it to you… Think of your friends. Open up your heart to them, to show them your friendship, your concern, your love, giving it to them without expecting anything in return… Think of your neighbors who live near you, the people you meet at work, on the street, in the shops, make them all your friends; let them enter into your heart without any reservation. Show them love… Think of anyone for whom you have dislike or with whom you may have had an argument, who has made difficulties for you, whom you do not consider your friend. Think of that person with gratitude, as your teacher, teaching you about your own reactions. Let your heart go out to that person because he or she too has difficulties. Forgive and forget. Make him or her your friend…”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path

“The mind that doesn’t need any outer conditions for happiness is the mind that can say, “This is the release from all suffering. This is true happiness.” Such a mind sees with clarity the absolute reality of what’s happening in this universe and doesn’t have to hang on to anything, attach to anything, doesn’t have to become anything, doesn’t have to be anything. It just does what is necessary at each particular moment and then lets go.”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path

“The enjoyment of the senses becomes more refined when there’s more purification in a person. The smallest thing can be enjoyed, but the danger lies in wanting it. This wanting — the craving — brings the unsatisfactoriness because the wanting can never be fully satisfied.”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path

“Everybody has some unpleasant experiences in their lives.
People say things we don’t want to hear. People do things we don’t want them to do.
People don’t appreciate us, love us, praise us.
People go away when we want them to stay. People stay when we would like them to go away.
It happens to everyone.”
― Ayya Khema, Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path

“Nothing in the whole universe is comparable to the mind or can take its place. Everything is mind-made. Yet we all take out minds for granted, which is another absurdity. No one takes the body for granted. When the body gets sick, we quickly run to the doctor. When the body gets hungry, we quickly feed it. When the body gets tired, we quickly rest it. But what about the mind? Only the meditator looks after the mind.”
― Ayya Khema, Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path

“In the final analysis we are all our own teachers and our own pupils and that is as it should be.”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path

“The temptations in our heart are there practically all the time, and because we don’t recognize them, we are often in a quandary. We are being pulled this way and that. For instance, right now: we know it’s better to hear Dhamma, but wouldn’t it also be nice to go to sleep? If we were left alone, without a lot of people sitting here, it is quite likely we’d wander off to bed.”
― Ayya Khema, Being nobody, going nowhere : meditations on the Buddhist path