Seeking Peace Quotes

“I read of a Buddhist teacher who developed Alzheimer's. He had retired from teaching because his memory was unreliable, but he made one exception for a reunion of his former students. When he walked onto the stage, he forgot everything, even where he was and why. However, he was a skilled Buddhist and he simply began sharing his feelings with the crowd. He said, "I am anxious. I feel stupid. I feel scared and dumb. I am worried that I am wasting everyone's time. I am fearful. I am embarrassing myself." After a few minutes of this, he remembered his talk and proceeded without apology. The students were deeply moved, not only by his wise teachings, but also by how he handled his failings.

There is a Buddhist saying, "No resistance, no demons.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“With meditation I found a ledge above the waterfall of my thoughts.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“The fullness of life comes from an identity built on giving and on joy.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“I practiced what the Dalai Lama calls 'inner disarmament.' Of course, I still had judgments, but I tried to accept even my judgments without judgment. At a glacial pace, I moved beyond repression and self-criticism to something more skillful. I discovered the difference between recoiling from feelings and opening to them. I trained myself to be more curious than fearful. Sometimes I even felt compassion for myself as I struggled.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“[I have] a deeply entrenched rule that I cannot rest or relax until all my work is done. What a deal. I could die of old age before I have met all my responsibilities and done all my chores.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“Theoretically, I wanted to meditate, but I found actually doing it extraordinarily difficult. As a therapist, I knew that we all want progress, but we resist change. I was a vivid example of this maxim. Figuring out my taxes and going to the dentist were easier than meditating. Even as I told myself meditation was a top priority, I worked to avoid that forty-five minutes alone with my mind.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“Religions are metaphorical systems that give us bigger containers in which to hold our lives. A spiritual life allows us to move beyond the ego into something more universal. Religious experience carries us outside of clock time into eternal time. We open ourselves into something more complete and beautiful. This bigger vista is perhaps the most magnificent aspect of a religious experience.

There is a sense in which Karl Marx was correct when he said that religion is the opiate of the people. However, he was wrong to scoff at this. Religion can give us skills for climbing up on onto a ledge above our suffering and looking down at it with a kind and open mind. This helps us calm down and connect to all of the world's sufferers. Since the beginning of human time, we have yearned for peace in the face of death, loss, anger and fear. In fact, it is often trauma that turns us toward the sacred, and it is the sacred that saves us.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“I approached Buddhism the way I approach almost everything. I read books about it. Even though, at first, I didn't understand much of what I was reading, I found the writing soothing. Reading made me feel lighter and more positive. It somehow gentled me toward myself. I intuitively responded to Buddhist ideas. They helped me see the world and my place in it more clearly.”
― Mary Bray Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“Pain, as well as beauty, is necessary to give us perspective. We can place our suffering against the backdrop of time and allow our nagging little egos to rest in the great verdant container of the timeless.”
― Mary Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“I wish I could have just skipped elementary school and junior high. Outside school, I loved talking to people and learning from them. I would spend time visiting with old people in their gardens and on their porches. I liked to play with little kids and chat with patients who came to my mother's office. Almost every day, I learned things about the natural world and animals, and I read more books on weekends and during the summer than I could possibly read at school. I believe I would have learned more if I had just been left alone to educate myself.”
― Mary Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World