Week 2024-26: Ashvaghosha - Collected Quotes

"All things are originally of the mind only; they in fact transcend thoughts. Nevertheless, the deluded mind, in nonenlightenment, gives rise to irrelevant thoughts and predicates the world of objects." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"Ignorance does not exist apart from enlightenment; therefore, it cannot be destroyed [because one cannot destroy something which does not really exist], and yet it cannot not be destroyed [insofar as it remains]. This is like the relationship that exists between the water of the ocean [i.e., enlightenment] and its waves [i.e., modes of mind] stirred by the wind [i.e., ignorance]. Water and wind are inseparable; but water is not mobile by nature, and if the wind stops the movement ceases. But the wet nature remains undestroyed. Likewise, man's Mind, pure in its own nature, is stirred by the wind of ignorance. Both Mind and ignorance have no particular forms of their own and they are inseparable. Yet Mind is not mobile by nature, and if ignorance ceases, then the continuity of deluded activities ceases. But the essential nature of wisdom [i.e., the essence of Mind, like the wet nature of the water] remains undestroyed." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The essence of all things is one and the same, perfectly calm and tranquil, and shows no sign of 'becoming'; ignorance, however, is in its blindness and delusion oblivious of Enlightenment, and, on that account, cannot recognize truthfully all those conditions, differences, and activities which characterize the phenomena of the Universe." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The essence of Mind is free from thoughts. The characteristic of that which is free from thoughts is analogous to that of the sphere of empty space that pervades everywhere." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The Mind, though pure in its self-nature from the beginning, is accompanied by ignorance. Being defiled by ignorance, a defiled state of Mind comes into being. But, though defiled, the Mind itself is eternal and immutable. Only the Enlightened Ones are able to understand what this means. What is called the essential nature of Mind is always beyond thoughts. It is, therefore, defined as 'immutable'. When the one World of Reality is yet to be realized, the Mind is mutable and is not in perfect unity with Suchness. Suddenly, a deluded thought arises; this state is called ignorance." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The mind has five different names. The first is called the 'activating mind', for, without being aware of it, it breaks the equilibrium of mind by the force of ignorance. The second is called the 'evolving mind', for it emerges contingent upon the agitated mind as the subject that perceives incorrectly. The third is called the 'reproducing mind', for it reproduces the entire world of objects as a bright mirror reproduces all material images. When confronted with the objects of the five senses, it reproduces them at once. It arises spontaneously at all times and exists forever reproducing the world of objects in front of the subject. The fourth is called the 'analytical mind', for it differentiates what is defiled and what is undefiled. The fifth is called the 'continuing mind', for it is united with deluded thoughts and continues uninterrupted." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"What is called 'consciousness' (vijnana) is the 'continuing mind'. Because of their deep-rooted attachment, ordinary men imagine that I and Mine are real and cling to them in their illusions. As soon as objects are presented, this consciousness rests on them and discriminates the objects of the five senses and of the mind. This is called 'vijnana' [i.e., the differentiating consciousness] or the 'separating consciousness'." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

Resources:
[1] Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith" (link)

Week 2024-25: Elbert G Hubbard (Collected Quotes)

 "Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it - so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose." (Elbert G Hubbard, Electrical Review, cca. 1895)

"Philosophy rests on a proposition that whatever is is right. Preaching begins by assuming that whatever is is wrong." (Elbert G Hubbard, The Philistine, 1897)

"There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability. The sternest comment that can be made against employers as a class lies in the fact that men of Ability usually succeed in showing their worth in spite of their employer, and not with his assistance and encouragement." (Elbert G Hubbard, The Philistine, 1901)

"The graveyards are full of people the world could not do without." (Elbert G Hubbard, The Philistine, 1907)

"Knowledge is the distilled essence of our intuitions, corroborated by experience." (Elbert G Hubbard, "A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard", 1911)

"Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams", 1923)

"A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams", 1923)

"An idea that is not dangerous is not worthy of being called an idea at all." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams", 1923)

"Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes a day. Wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams", 1923)

"To supply a thought is mental massage; but to evolve a thought of your own is an achievement. Thinking is a brain exercise — and no faculty grows save as it is exercised." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams", 1923)

"Academic education is the act of memorizing things read in books, and things told by college professors who got their education mostly by memorizing things read in books." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard", 1927)

"Literature is the noblest of all the arts. Music dies on the air, or at best exists only as a memory; oratory ceases with the effort; the painter's colors fade and the canvas rots; the marble is dragged from its pedestal and is broken into fragments." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard", 1927)

"The weaknesses of the many make the leader possible—and the man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, also. Discipleship is a degenerating process to all parties concerned. People who are able to do their own thinking should not allow others to do it for them." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard", 1927)

"Life without absorbing occupation is hell — joy consists in forgetting life." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard", 1927)

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard", 1927)

Week 2024-23: Albert-László Barabási (Collected Quotes)

"Also worth remembering is that all superstars are bounded by the limits of performance in their field. True, they’re excellent at what they do, but the Second Law tells us that their performance is really only fractionally better than their peers’. That means that we have a better chance of successfully competing with superstars if we see them as unthreatening as they see us." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"Each success story is bound to leave a trail of data points behind." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"Even though performance does drive success, the problem is that the differences among top contenders are so tiny that they’re often nearly immeasurable." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"Remember, performance needs to be empowered by opportunity. We need to reframe the all-too-frequent assumption that aiming for the top means scraping our way up from the bottom. " (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"Since success is a collective phenomenon, measured by how our community reacts to a performance, it’s impossible to understand the phenomenon of success without also observing the network it takes place within. But networks are singularly important in areas like art, where performance and quality are hard to measure." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018) 

"Success, however, is a whole different category. It’s a collective measure, capturing how people respond to our performance. In other words, if we want to measure our success or figure out how we’ll ultimately be rewarded, we can’t look at our performances or accomplishments in isolation. Instead, we need to study our community and examine its response to our contributions. " (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"Superstars suppress you if you compete against them, but they may boost you if you cooperate with them." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

 "[…] success is a collective phenomenon rather than an individual one." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"The good news is that once you get that first win, the data shows you’ll win again and again. There’s a secret, mindlessly metastasizing aspect to reward. Success can self-generate, growing in proportion to its size. If you win once, you’ll win again. And again. And again." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"The problem is, our best judgment always fails. " (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"This is probably one of the most fascinating outcomes of any foray into the Science of Success: the realization that regardless of the success measure we’re talking about - impact, visibility, audience, or adoration - its distribution follows the same power law as wealth." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

"With persistence success can come at any time." (Albert-László Barabási, "The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success", 2018)

Week 2024-22: Omori Sogen

"Zen is to transcend life and death (all dualism), to truly realize that the entire universe is the 'True Human Body' through the discipline of “mind and body in oneness.” (Omori Sogen, "Canon", 1979)

"Zen without the accompanying physical experience is nothing but empty discussion. Martial ways without truly realizing the 'Mind' is nothing but beastly behavior. We agree to undertake all of this as the essence of our training." (Omori Sogen, "Canon", 1979)

"Concentration is the stable condition of a unified mind when there has been Zen training. This condition is called samadhi in Sanskrit or sammai in Japanese. [...] 'concentration' may simply be interpreted as the stabilization of our confused and excited thoughts and imaginings. In other words, it may be regarded as a completely concentrated state of mind." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"Deciding clearly why you study Zen is an important question, one that will determine whether you succeed in Zen training or go astray." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"[...] in Zen one awakens to one’s True Self and takes firm hold of it." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"The reality that would satisfy the thirst deep within our minds and hearts is not found in abstraction." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"Ultimately, I think that the best way to avoid bad habits in Zen is to not set up your aim outside yourself but to return to yourself and examine the very place you yourself are standing." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"When people with only a shallow experience define Zen simply as a way to promote health or a way for human development, it is an embarrassment for Zen even though Zen has these aspects." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"[...] wisdom is the act of perceiving things of this world as they truly are." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)

"[...] Zen may be regarded from a spiritual perspective as a way of regulating the mind. The unification of mind resulting from it is concentration and the workings of concentration is wisdom." (Omori Sogen, "Introduction to Zen Training", 2012)