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Post by t-bob on Oct 25, 2019 8:15:23 GMT -5
Choosing the Present Moment
The present moment is not defined solely by letting go of past and future, nor by accepting and appreciating what arises right now, but by choosing in this very moment how we make sense of the world.
—Jack Petranker, “The Present Moment”
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Post by t-bob on Oct 26, 2019 8:40:19 GMT -5
The Dharma of Our Hearts
There’s a level where this dharma is just human dharma—it doesn’t have any special language. It’s just about our hearts—whether they’re suffering or not, and how they can bind or how they can open.
—Interview with Ayya Tathaaloka and Thubten Chodron, “The Whole of the Spiritual Life”
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Post by t-bob on Oct 27, 2019 8:46:13 GMT -5
Trust Your Compassionate Intentions
When a compassionate intention arises, don’t evaluate it. Trust it. Just do it.
—Colin Beavan, “Intuitive Action”
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Post by t-bob on Oct 28, 2019 10:12:13 GMT -5
How to Benefit from Unavoidable Suffering
Suffering can be our greatest source of transformation. The dharma teachings show us how to use all the stuff of life—particularly those unavoidable experiences of pain, loss, and suffering—as fodder for awakening.
—Carolyn Gregoire, “Buddhist Thank-You Cards
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Post by t-bob on Oct 29, 2019 8:27:33 GMT -5
The Moment You Create Your Karma
With your reaction to each experience, you create the karma that will color your future. It is up to you whether this new karma is positive or negative. You simply have to pay attention at the right moment.
—Trungram Gyalwa Rinpoche, “The Power of the Third Moment”
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Post by t-bob on Oct 30, 2019 9:23:52 GMT -5
Wisdom Leads to Compassion
Compassion is the natural functioning of wisdom. The clearer one sees, the more readily one uses loving words.
—Gerry Shishin Wick Sensei, “Zen in the Workplace”
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Post by t-bob on Oct 31, 2019 10:08:17 GMT -5
How to Navigate Conflict Compassionately
When we feel conflict with others, understanding their suffering is the first step in being able to communicate, forgive, and begin again.
—Michele McDonald, “Finding Patience”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 1, 2019 8:49:01 GMT -5
Practice Makes Progress
Practice, both the athletic and the spiritual kind, is not a manifestation of perfection, but an acceptance of imperfection. One does not achieve or attain compassion; one develops it by meeting the moment over and over again.
—Alex Tzelnic, “(Meta)Physical Education: Temper Temper”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 2, 2019 8:32:23 GMT -5
Breathe into Renewal
We exhale, and we let go of the old moment. It is lost to us. In so doing, we let go of the person we used to be. We inhale and breathe in the moment that is becoming. We repeat the process. This is meditation. This is renewal.
—Lama Surya Das, “Practicing with Loss”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 3, 2019 8:10:38 GMT -5
Where to Find Realization
Our inherent nature is pure. All we have to do is rediscover who we really are, and that’s what the path is for. It’s very simple. It’s not based on faith, but rather on experiments and experience leading to realization.
—Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, “Necessary Doubt”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 4, 2019 9:18:07 GMT -5
Keeping Your Practice Dynamic
Whatever course our life and practice takes, it is kept vital by consistently going beyond whatever static ideas we bring to it, even Buddhist ideas.
—James Shaheen, “Our Shared Home
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Post by t-bob on Nov 5, 2019 9:54:00 GMT -5
Discover What Rests Beyond Craving
We chase after the illusory happiness of sense pleasures, but unless we start paying attention to the drawbacks, we’re just living in the forward momentum of craving without ever coming to a place of completion, of contentment, of real peace.
—Joseph Goldstein, “Peeling Away the Promise of Desire
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Post by t-bob on Nov 6, 2019 9:15:30 GMT -5
Discovering the Patterns of Your Mind
When you meditate, sitting quietly, trying to focus, … you start to notice what takes you away from your focus. Generally it is a thought of one kind or another. The meditation is intended not to stop you from thinking but to help you discover what and how you think.
—Martine Batchelor, “What Is This?”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 7, 2019 9:37:04 GMT -5
Center in the Present Moment
The mundane aspects of everyday life can serve as a kind of god or beacon. These are the daily reminders that can center us in the present moment, and that help us to remember the ways in which we are all connected.
—Caitlin Van Dusen, “The Essence of Absence
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Post by t-bob on Nov 8, 2019 13:03:18 GMT -5
Transforming Suffering into Wisdom
Buddhism is a method of transforming the deep misunderstanding of the world that causes unhappiness into a wisdom that recognizes the impermanent, changing nature of everything we grasp—most significantly our selves.
—David Patt, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who? The Commodification of Buddhism in the American Marketplace
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Post by t-bob on Nov 9, 2019 10:13:27 GMT -5
Can We All Practice Nonviolence?
Nonviolence is not some exalted regimen that can be practiced only by a monk or a master; it also pertains to the way one interacts with a child, vacuums a carpet, or waits in line.
—Kenneth Kraft, “Meditation in Action”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 10, 2019 9:17:56 GMT -5
Change Your Mind to Change Your Life
Your problems won’t change; only you can change. That’s the point.
—Gento Steve Krieger, “Growing Ground”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 11, 2019 9:07:11 GMT -5
Benefitting the World
By the time it gets to war, violence is already way down the line. But in the same way love can also start right here, in the home in each one of us. We need to learn ways of expressing the pure energy of our feelings—anger and hate feelings especially—in a healthier direction that’s beneficial to the world.
—Interview with Maxine Hong Kingston by Trevor Carolan, “Helping Veterans Turn War into Art”
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Post by t-bob on Nov 12, 2019 9:13:35 GMT -5
An Enduring Love
In this world where everyone dies, where every song ends, where every achievement is undone, where every treasure is lost, all of us are left behind. All of us leave. But everywhere and always there is the hum of continuing. Though always incomplete, always there is the sound of love, forever and at the core unfinished.
—Douglas Penick, “On the Departure of a Beloved Brother
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Post by t-bob on Nov 13, 2019 9:38:14 GMT -5
Recommit to Your Practice
Peace and clarity arrive through understanding patterns and the underlying nature of our minds, rather than through stopping our thoughts, achieving some special state, or having a particular experience. When we remember and trust this, letting go of our expectations and ideas, we can find more space to refocus and recommit to our daily practice.
—Oren Jay Sofer, “Why Can’t I Get to the Cushion?
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