Savitri, by Sri Aurobindo;
http://savitribysriaurobindo.com
Savitri, by Sri Aurobindo;
http://savitribysriaurobindo.com
Do not believe anything
because it is said by an authority,
or if it is said to come from angels,
or from Gods,
or from an inspired source.
Believe it only if you have explored it
in your own heart
and mind and body
and found it to be true.
Work out your own path,
through diligence.
- Shakyamuni Buddha
“The scope of service is not limited to great gestures like giving big donations to public institutions. They also serve who express their love in little things. A word that gives courage to a drooping heart or a smile that brings hope and cheer in the midst of gloom has as much claim to be regarded as service as onerous sacrifices and heroic self-denials. A glance that wipes out bitterness from the heart and sets it throbbing with a new love is also service, although there may be no thought of service in it. When taken by themselves, all these things seem to be small; but life is made up of many such small things. If these small things were ignored, life would be not only unbeautiful but unspiritual.”
Meher Baba
"We can practice loving-friendliness on anyone - parents, teachers,
relatives, friends, unfriendly people, indifferent people, people who
cause problems. We do not have to be close to people to practice
loving-friendliness toward them. In fact, sometimes it's easier not
to know people. Why? Because if we don't know them, we can treat
all people alike. We can look at the many, many beings in the
universe as if they were specks of light in space and wish them all
to be happy and at peace. Though merely wishing may not make this
so, cultivating the hope that others might enjoy loving-friendliness
is a skillful thought that fills our own minds with contentment and
joy."
~ Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness:
Walking the Buddha's Path," Wisdom Publications, 2001.
That quote stuck with me so much that I had to look it up and now have the Dhammapada: Essential Teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha in my Amazon cart.Originally Posted by NikolaiI
Thank you.
"At this point it is fair to recognize that, as with all other good qualities, cheerfulness can be overdone and inappropriate. Life holds serious situations, heavy suffering, human problems, individual and collective, which cheerfulness cannot solve. They must be considered and faced with due earnestness, but such earnestness //should be reserved only for them//. We are apt to take so many things seriously which do not warrant it. We fritter away, so to speak, our capital of seriousness so that there is not enough for the truly important things. So the rule is: Seriousness in everything that deserves and demands it, and for the rest, //cheerfulness/ /."
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/CheerfulVo ice/message/ 18
http://www.psykosyn tese.dk/a- 178/
From: Cheerfulness (A psychosynthesis technique), by Roberto Assagioli
1973 Psychosynthesis Research Foundation, Issue No. 33
Cool. You're welcome.I wouldn't have thought that this is what stood out for you but that's cool.
With the Dhammapada, there are very, very many translations. The one I read which I thought was great was... "All deeds are led by mind, created by mind, etc..." (the first line of the Dhammapada) but there are many variations on this in other translations.
Last edited by NikolaiI; 07-25-2010 at 12:15 AM.
"As you stop creating suffering for yourself, you'll find it easier to be skillful and helpful with other people as well. This is why this is not a selfish practice. The principle of goodwill is not just an idle wish, saying, "May all living beings be happy," and then leaving it at that. It also means actually being kind to yourself, not creating the unnecessary suffering that you've been piling on yourself all the time. When you find that your mind is less piled-on like this, it's easier to feel sympathy for other people who are piling burdens on their minds, too. When you're unburdened, it's easier to help them in a genuine way. That's why the benefits of the practice go not only inward but outward as well.
Still, the real work has to be done right here inside, finding where those unnecessary burdens are — the burdensome ideas, the burdensome notions the mind piles on itself, saying that it has to react like this, has to think like that. Once you find them, figure out how to let them go. That's the kind of battle you want to take on, the kind that's really worth winning. And when you can win it, your victory is a gift not only to yourself, but also to everyone around you."
We shall not cease from exploring,
And the end of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
~T.S. Eliot
The same stream of life that runs through the world
runs through my veins night and day in rhythmic measure.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust
of the earth into numberless waves of flowers."
~Rabindranath Tagore
"The development of the four Sublime Attitudes is especially beneficial in connection with the performance of meritorious acts. You should give alms with an attitude of good will, observe the precepts with an attitude of good will, and practice meditation with an attitude of good will. When done in this way, your activities will bring powerful rewards. Thoughts of good will are like clean drops of rain that fall from the sky, refreshing and nourishing the grasses and trees. Such thoughts are desired by all human races. Thus if you hope to develop merit, you should examine your heart at all times to see whether or not it is benevolent, so that whatever merit you may perform in thought, word, or deed will be truly conducive to future happiness."
From: On the Four Immeasurable Sublime Attitudes
The Craft of the Heart
by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
Last edited by NikolaiI; 08-06-2010 at 09:07 PM.
"[Regarding Metta,] friendliness doesn't mean dealing with others on
a superficial level, saying yes all the time and telling others what
they want to hear so as to suggest friendliness. Rather, it means
communicating from the heart, through recognizing that we are all
fundamentally the same, our differences only apparent. Friendliness
from the heart demonstrates understanding of the universal nature of
being, all human beings and everything that surrounds us."
~ Ayya Khema, "Come and See For Yourself: The Buddhist Path to
Happiness," Windhorse Publications, 2002
Last edited by NikolaiI; 08-06-2010 at 09:08 PM.
There's music in the sighing of a reed; There's music in the
gushing of a rill; There's music in all things, if men had ears:
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.
~Lord Byron
Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don't accept praise or gain or anything else. If you let go a little you will have a little peace; if you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace; if you let go completely you will have complete peace.
Ajahn Chan
Quite True!!! A few days ago I was very upset by my friend's behavior. But then I recalled that if you expect nothing from others in return you will have peace of mind. Let go and you will get the greatest thing... PEACE.
I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's. ~ William Blake
Captivity is consciousness,
So's liberty. ~ Emily Dickinson
"The Buddha mentioned [the eight worldly dharmas - pleasure and pain,
gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and disrepute] as a pathway
towards equanimity. Equanimity is the highest of all emotions. It's
one of the seven factors of enlightenment, and we certainly will only
get it in its complete form if there has been enlightenment. But,
just as with the defilements we can work on them; we can also work on
equanimity. These eight give us an excellent opportunity to work on
our inner equanimity, which not only means not to get irate when
there is blame, but also not to get all excited when there is
praise. It means both. And not to get all upset when there is loss,
but not to get really high when there is gain. They are just
happening. We perfect this path toward equanimity, and they are very
worthwhile remembering because of that, because we all confront all
of them alternately in our lives again and again and again. And if
we haven't learned that there is a pathway to equanimity we will
respond to them in the old familiar way. I like it; I don't like
it. This one I'll have, this one I want to get rid of. As long as
we do that, we are guaranteed to be caught in samsara, the round of
birth and death, which actually means the round of duality."
~ Ayya Khema, online lecture
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