Week 2021-48: Edward de Bono - Collected Quotes

"Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea." (Edward de Bono, "New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking in the Generation of New Ideas", 1967)

"Pouncing on an idea as soon as it appears kills the idea. Too early and too enthusiastic logical attention either freezes the idea or forces it into the old moulds. Concentration on an idea isolates it from its surroundings and arrests its growth. The glare of attention inhibits the fertile semi-conscious processes that go to develop an idea." (Edward de Bono, "New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking in the Generation of New Ideas", 1967)

"Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists." (Edward de Bono, "The use of lateral thinking", 1967)

"Design is really a special case of problem solving. One wants to bring about a desired state of affairs. Occasionally one wants to remedy some fault but more usually one wants to bring about something new. For that reason design is more open ended than problem solving. It requires more creativity. It is not so much a matter of linking up a clearly defined objective with a clearly defined starting position (as in problem solving) but more a matter of starting out from a general position in the direction of a general objective." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"Everyone has the right to doubt everything as often as he pleases and the duty to do it at least once. No way of looking at things is too sacred to be reconsidered. No way of doing things is beyond improvement." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"Lateral thinking [...] is the process of using information to bring about creativity and insight restructuring. Lateral thinking can be learned, practised and used. It is possible to acquire skill in it just as it is possible to acquire skill in mathematics." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking. Vertical thinking selects a pathway by excluding other pathways. Lateral thinking does not select but seeks to open up other pathways. With vertical thinking one selects the most promising approach to a problem, the best way of looking at a situation. With lateral thinking one generates as many alternative approaches as one can." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"Vertical thinking is selection by exclusion. One works within a frame of reference and throws out what is not relevant. With lateral thinking one realizes that a pattern cannot be restructured from within itself but only as the result of some outside influence. So one welcomes outside influences for their provocative action. The more irrelevant such influences are the more chance there is of altering the established pattern. To look only for things that are relevant means perpetuating the current pattern." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"With vertical thinking one may look for different approaches until one finds a promising one. With lateral thinking one goes on generating as many approaches as one can even after one has found a promising one. With vertical thinking one is trying to select the best approach but with lateral thinking one is generating different approaches for the sake of generating them." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970)

"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way." (Edward de Bono, "Lateral Thinking for Management: A handbook", 1971)

"A myth is a fixed way of looking at the world which cannot be destroyed because, looked at through the myth, all evidence supports the myth." (Edward de Bono, "Po: A device for successful thinking", 1972)

"Every valuable creative idea must always be logical in hindsight. If it were not, we would never be able to see its value." (Edward de Bono, "I Am Right, You are Wrong", 1990)

"Maybe the social value of truth is as a destination - so long as we do not assume we have arrived there." (Edward de Bono, "I Am Right, You are Wrong", 1990)

"Analysis is simplifying, breaking down things into parts, picking out strands and elements. Analysis is comparing unknown things with things that are known. Analysis also involves picking out relationships and putting them back together as a whole." (Edward de Bono, "Sur/Petition: Creating Value Monopolies When Everyone Else Is Merely Competing", 1992)

"A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos." (Edward de Bono, "How To Have A Beautiful Mind", 2004)

Week 2021-46: Kevin Michel - Collected Quotes

 "Achieve complete clarity as to what you intend to achieve, and develop a real 'knowing' of exactly where you would like to be in your life." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Every conscious thought you have, every moment you spend on an idea, is a commitment to be stuck with that idea and with aspects of that level of thinking, for the rest of your life. Spending just 10 seconds focusing on a topic that does not serve your interests is to invest your energy along a path that will continue to draw from you and define you." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Every hour of your life that ticks by, there are numerous points and moments when you can choose to pause - and be aware of your mental and physical state. At any given point, you can freeze the flow that is your life, and be fully conscious for a moment." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"It is well understood in psychology that the subconscious mind has the dominant influence on human decision making, and therefore the pivotal role of the subconscious, for you to achieve success, is inescapable." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Our consciousness and awareness, which includes our choices as to where we place our focus, alters the paths of our lives, and creates a split in reality, leading to the creation of two or more worlds at any moment in time." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Physical reality does not require that we be pleased with its mechanism; we must see the implications of a theory for what they are and not for what we would like them to be." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Small shifts in your thinking, and small changes in your energy, can lead to massive alterations of your end result." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"The subconscious mind is shielding or showing numerous potential paths, based on what it determines would represent a consistent reality for you." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"To strengthen the connection between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind is to gain access to a map and compass to help you move towards your dream. To gain access to the subconscious mind is to gain the ability to see and create the future, the ability to shift the present, and the ability to alter your own perceptions of the past." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

Week 2021-45: Joseph O'Connor - Collected Quotes

 "Any single person's viewpoint will have blind spots caused by their habitual ways of perceiving the world, their perceptual filters [...] How can we shift our perceptions to get outside our own limited world view?" (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"Emotions make excellent servants, but tyrannical masters." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"Free your expectation of the future from the grip of past failure." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"If you go through the world looking for excellence, you will find excellence. If you go through the world looking for problems you will find problems." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"Once a response becomes a habit, you stop learning. Theoretically, you could act differently, but in practice you do not. Habits are extremely useful, they streamline the parts of our lives we do not want to think about. [...] But there is an art to deciding what parts of your life you want to turn over to habit, and what parts of your life you want to continue to learn from and have choice about. This is a key question of balance." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"Questions are also interventions. A good question can take a person's mind in a completely new direction and change his life. For example, ask yourself frequently, 'What is the most useful question to ask now?" (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"The best way to find out what you are capable of is to pretend you can do it. Act 'as if' you can. What you can't do, you won't. If it really is impossible, don't worry, you'll find that out. (And be sure to set up appropriate safety measures if necessary.) As long as you believe it is impossible, you will actually never find out if it is possible or not." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"True learning involves learning other ways of doing what you can do already." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"We all have beliefs and expectations from our personal experience; it is impossible to live without them. Since we have to make some assumptions, they might as well be ones that allow us freedom, choice and fun in the world, rather than ones that limit us. You often get what you expect to get." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"When we believe something, we act as if it is true." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"Words are anchors for sense experience, but the experience is not the reality, and the word is not the experience. Language is thus two removes from reality. To argue about the real meaning of a word is rather like arguing that one menu tastes better than another because you prefer the food that is printed on it. [...] To come to believe that the external world is patterned by the way we talk about it is even worse than eating the menu - it is eating the printing ink on the menu. Words can be combined and manipulated in ways that have nothing to do with sensory experience." (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

Week 2021-44: Jianzhi Sengcan - Collected Quotes

"Do not search for the truth; Only cease to cherish opinions." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"Do not try to drive pain away by pretending it is not real. If you seek serenity in oneness, pain will vanish of its own accord." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold nothing. All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind's power." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"If you want to realize the truth, don't be for or against. The struggle between good and evil is the primal disease of the mind." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"In the 'Not Two' are no separate things, yet all things are included." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"In the World of Reality there is no self, There is no other-than-self." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"Pursue not the outer entanglements;
Dwell not in the inner void;
Be serene in the oneness of things;
And dualism vanishes by itself." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"Return to the root and you will find the meaning." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can't go." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"Stop talking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you will not understand. Return to the root and you will find Meaning." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The mind, the Buddha, living creatures - these are not three different things." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The more you think and talk, the more you lose the Way." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The perfect way is without difficulty, for it avoids picking and choosing. Only when you stop liking and disliking will all be clearly understood. Be not concerned with right or wrong, for the conflict between right and wrong is the sickness of the mind." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The struggle between 'for' and 'against' is the mind's worst disease." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The two exist because of the One,
But hold not even to this One;
When the one Consciousness -is not disturbed,
The ten thousand things offer no offence." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited views are fearful and irresolute: the faster they hurry, the slower they go, and clinging cannot be limited: even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither coming nor going. Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences... If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. " (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The great way is not difficult if you don't cling to good or bad. Just let go of your preferences; and everything will become perfectly clear." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"The one is none other than the All, the All none other than the One." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"There is no need to seek truth, only stop having views." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"To follow the path look to the master follow the master walk with the master see through the master become the master." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"When mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend it ceases to exist in the old way. When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness. What benefit can be derived from distinctions and separations?" (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity your very effort fills you with activity." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

Week 2021-43: Dajian Huineng [Eno Daikan] - Collected Quotes

"A finger points at the moon, but the moon is not at the tip of the finger. Words points at the truth, but the truth is not in words." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"As one lamp serves to dispel a thousand years of darkness, so one flash of wisdom destroys ten thousand years of ignorance." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Because wisdom is innate, we can all enlighten ourselves." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Confused by thoughts, we experience duality in life. Unencumbered by ideas, the enlightened see the one Reality."

"Before you think good or evil, who are you?" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom. By defending our faults, we betray an unsound mind." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp there is light; if there is no lamp there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two. Meditation and wisdom are also like this." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"It is only by entering into samadhi that I can discuss seeing one’s true self-nature (kensho) without also talking about self-liberation." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"It is your minds that are moving." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Look within!... The secret is inside you." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and if we knew our mind and realized what our nature is, all of us would attain Buddhahood." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Seeing one’s true self-nature yet not being disturbed is called Zen." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Since in reality all is void, Whereon can the dust fall?" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Sit all together in meditation. Become peacefully calm and quiet, without motion, without stillness, without birth, without destruction, without coming or going, with no judgments of right or wrong, neither staying nor going. This, then, is the Great Way." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"The capacity of the mind is broad and huge, like the vast sky. Do not sit with a mind fixed on emptiness. If you do, you will fall into a neutral kind of emptiness. Emptiness includes the sun, moon, stars, and planets, the great earth, mountains and rivers, all trees and grasses, bad people and good people, bad things and good things, heaven and hell; they are all in the midst of emptiness. The emptiness of human nature is also like this." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"The complete teachings of all Buddhas - past, present, and future - are to be found within the essence of every human being." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"The meaning of life is to see." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"The truth is to be lived, not just mouthed." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"There is no Bodhi tree,
Nor stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"To be bigoted and argue with others, is to subject one's essence of mind to the bitterness of mundane existence." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"To meditate means to realize inwardly the imperturbability of the Essence of Mind." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

The reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. Those who are able to keep their mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstances, have attained Inner Peace." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon's location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"When all things are illumined by wisdom and there is neither grasping nor throwing away, then you can see your own nature and gain the Buddha Way." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"When our mind works freely without any hindrance, and is at liberty to 'come' or to 'go', we attain Samadhi of Prajna, or liberation. Such a state is called the function of 'thoughtlessness'. But to refrain from thinking of anything, so that all thoughts are suppressed, is to be Dharma-ridden, and this is an erroneous view." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Within our impure mind the pure one is to be found." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Words are not truth. Truth is like the moon, and words are like my finger. I can point to the moon with my finger, but my finger is not the moon. Do you need my finger to see the moon?" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Za (sitting) means to not give rise to thoughts (no dualism) under any circumstance. Zen (meditation) means to see your original nature and not become confused." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"Zazen is seated meditation-the opposite of contemplation-the emptying of the mind of all thoughts in order simply to be. In the midst of all evil, not a thought is aroused in the mind-this is called za. Seeing into one's Self-nature, not being moved at all-this is called Zen." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

Week 2021-42: Hsu Yun [Xuyun] - Collected Quotes

"Fundamentally, our four elements are void and the five aggregates (skandhas) are non-existent. It is only because of (our) wrong thoughts which grasp (everything) that we like the illusion of the (impermanent) world and are thereby held in bondage. Consequently, we are unable to (perceive) the voidness of the four elements and (to realize) the non-existence of birth and death. However, if in a single thought, we can have an experience of that which is not born, there will be no need for those Dharma doors expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha." (Xu Yun, "Discourses and Dharma Words")

"How wide are the horizons of the spinning earth! The moonlight leads the tides and the sun's light will not be confined within the net of heaven. But in the end all things return to the One. The deaf and the dumb, the crippled and deformed are all restored to One's perfection." (Hsu Yun)

"In grasping that one remark, Pang was able to complete his enlightenment. He saw that Uncritical Mind was not enough. His mind had to become as immense as Buddha Mind; it had to encompass all Samsara and Nirvana, to expand to Infinity’s Void. Such a mind could swallow the Pacific." (Xu Yun "Empty Cloud")

"It is only because of our insatiable desires since the time without beginning that we now drift about in the sea of mortality, within which there are 84,000 passions and all sorts of habits that we cannot wipe out. (In consequence), we are unable to attain the truth and to be like Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who are permanently enlightened and are free from delusion." (Xu Yun, "Discourses and Dharma Words")

"Saints and ordinary folks are the same from the start. Inquiring about a difference is like asking to borrow string when you've got a good strong rope. Every Dharma is known in the heart." (Hsu Yun)

"Vow to wipe out all that is;
Beware of making real what is not.
Life in this (mortal) world
Is a shadow, an echo." (Xu Yun, "Discourses and Dharma Words")

"You've traveled up ten thousand steps in search of the truth. So many days in the archives, copying, copying. The gravity of the Tang and the profundity of the Sung make heavy baggage. Here! I've picked you a bunch of wild flowers. Their meaning is the same but they're much easier to carry." (Hsu Yun)

Week 2021-41: Ajahn Chah [Chah Subhaddo] - Collected Quotes

"Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, that is your teacher" (Ajahn Chah)

"Dharma is in your mind, not in the forest. Don't believe others, just listen to your mind. You don't have to go anywhere else. Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one." (Ajahn Chah)

"Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward." (Ajahn Chah)

"Do not be in a hurry or try to push your practice. If you become peaceful, then accept it,; if you don’t become peaceful, then accept that also. This is the nature of the mind. We must find our own practice and persevere." (Ajahn Chah)

"Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing." (Ajahn Chah)

"Don’t be attached to visions or lights in meditation, don’t rise or fall with them. What’s so great about brightness? My flashlight has it. It can’t help us rid ourselves of our suffering." (Ajahn Chah)

"Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don't think that you're coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself." (Ajahn Chah)

"Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind." (Ajahn Chah)

"If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free." (Ajahn Chah)

"If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer." (Ajahn Chah)

"If you want to understand suffering you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there. Where suffering lies is right where non-suffering will arise, it ceases at the place where it arises. If suffering arises you must contemplate right there, you don't have to run away. You should settle the issue right there. One who runs away from suffering out of fear is the most foolish person of all. He will simply increases his stupidity endlessly." (Ajahn Chah)

"If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go.
When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look.
Truth is all there is.
It's like when you learned how to read, you can then read anywhere you go." (Ajahn Chah)

"Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer see it, know it, and be empty. It's like a letter - you have to open it before you can know what's in it." (Ajahn Chah)

"Learn to see that it is not things that bother us, that we go out to bother them. See the world as a mirror. It is all a reflection of the mind. When you know this, you can grow in every moment, and every experience reveals truth and brings understanding." (Ajahn Chah)

"Look at your own mind. The one who carries things thinks he's got things, but the one who looks on sees only the heaviness. Throw away things, lose them, and find lightness." (Ajahn Chah)

"Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind." (Ajahn Chah)

"Mental activity is like a deadly poisonous cobra. If we don't interfere with a cobra, how poisonous it may be, it simply goes its own away." (Ajahn Chah)

"Of course there are dozens of meditation techniques, but it all comes down to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. Why not give it a try?" (Ajahn Chah)

"Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free." (Ajahn Chah)

"One day some people came to the master and asked: How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness or death? The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it - incredibly." (Ajahn Chah)

"One man watches a river flow by. If he does not wish it to flow, to change ceaselessly in accord with its nature, he will suffer great pain. Another man understands that nature of the river is to change constantly, regardless of his likes and dislikes, and therefore he does not suffer. To know existence as this flow, empty of lasting pleasure, void of self, is to find that which is stable and free of suffering, to find true peace in the world." (Ajahn Chah)

"Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it." (Ajahn Chah)

"Proper effort is not the effort to make something particular happen. It is the effort to be aware and awake each moment, the effort to overcome laziness and merit, the effort to make each activity of our day meditation." (Ajahn Chah)

"Read yourself, not books. Truth isn't outside, that's only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle - if you don't fill it, it's useless." (Ajahn Chah)

"Regarding this Dhamma, it is not something that we can simply talk about or take another's word for it. We need to develop meditation so that the understanding arises clearly within oneself. It is not the case that merely by listening to another's explanation our defilements will disappear. When we gain some understanding we need to chew on it again so that we see it for ourselves with certainty: paccattam." (Ajahn Chah)

"Remember you don't meditate to get anything, but to get rid of things. We do it, not with desire, but with letting go. If you want anything, you wont find it." (Ajahn Chah)

"The Dhamma has to be found by looking into your own heart and seeing that which is true and that which is not, that which is balanced and that which is not balanced." (Ajahn Chah)

"The Dhamma has to sink deeply into the mind so that whatever we do, the mind has always goodness within it. All the ways of making merit are aiming at this. Goodness lies in the right view that is established in the mind. Then we don't have to celebrate it or let anybody know about it, simply let the mind have firm confidence in the goodness and keep going like this." (Ajahn Chah)

"The Dhamma is revealing itself in every moment, but only when the mind is quiet can we understand what it is saying, for the Dhamma teaches without words." (Ajahn Chah)

"The forest is peaceful, why aren’t you? You hold on to things causing your confusion. Let nature teach you. Hear the bird’s song then let go. If you know nature, you’ll know truth. If you know truth, you’ll know nature." (Ajahn Chah)

"The mind of one who practices doesn't run away anywhere, it stays right there. Good, evil, happiness and unhappiness, right and wrong arise, and he knows them all. The meditator simply knows them, they don't enter his mind. That is, he has no clinging. He is simply the experiencer." (Ajahn Chah)

"The serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement." (Ajahn Chah)

"There are people who are born and die and never once are aware of their breath going in and out of their body. That's how far away they live from themselves." (Ajahn Chah)

"There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free." (Ajahn Chah)

"These days people don't search for the Truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living, raise families and look after themselves, that's all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise!" (Ajahn Chah)

"Things are simply the way they are. They don't give us suffering. Like a thorn: Does a sharp thorn give us suffering? No. It's simply a thorn. It doesn't give suffering to anybody. If we step on it, we suffer immediately.
Why do we suffer? Because we stepped on it. So the suffering comes from us." (Ajahn Chah)

"To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, 'Don't cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.'" (Ajahn Chah)

"To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind." (Ajahn Chah)

"Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha." (Ajahn Chah)

"We don't meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering." (Ajahn Chah)

"We have limited time in our life, therefore we should try to teach ourselves, not to teach others. We should conquer ourselves, rather than conquer others. Whether coming or going, standing, sitting or lying down, our mind should be focused in this way. If we practice like this and develop mindfulness continuously, wisdom arises quickly and this is a fast way of practice." (Ajahn Chah)

"We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything." (Ajahn Chah)

"When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything." (Ajahn Chah)

"When we conquer ourselves, then everything will be conquered: oneself, others, and all the sense objects as well, coming in by way of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body - it will all get conquered like this." (Ajahn Chah)

"When we sit in meditation and hear a sound, we think, 'Oh, that sound's bothering me.' If we see it like this, we suffer. But if we investigate a little deeper, we see that the sound is simply sound. If we understand like this, then there's nothing more to it. We leave it be. The sound is just sound, why should you go and grab it? You see that actually it was you who went out and disturbed the sound." (Ajahn Chah)

"When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness. And when we stop clinging, we can begin to be happy." (Ajahn Chah)

"Where does peace arise? Peace arises whenever we let something go." (Ajahn Chah)

"Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one." (Ajahn Chah)

"With even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher." (Ajahn Chah)

"You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important." (Ajahn Chah)

"You say that you are too busy to meditate. Do you have time to breathe? Meditation is your breath. Why do you have time to breathe but not to meditate? Breathing is something vital to peoples lives. If you see that Dhamma practice is vital to your life, then you will feel that breathing and practicing the Dhamma are equally important." (Ajahn Chah)

Week 2021-40: Shido Bunan - Collected Quotes

"If we know how to practice Zazen without actually sitting,
What obstacles should there be,
Blocking the Way to Buddhahood?" (Shido Bunan)

"In meditation turn over the evil saps of your body to the Perfected One. If you do this, you will surely become a Buddha. [...] The enlightened one follows nature whether in walking orstanding, in sitting or reclining." (Shido Bunan)

"It is easy to keep things at a distance; it is hard to be naturally beyond them." (Shido Bunan)

"Man builds a house and lives in it, while the Buddha dwells in his body. The householder resides constantly in the house, and the Buddha resides in the heart of man. If through compassion things and deeds become easy, the heart becomes clear, and when the heart is clear thc Buddha appears. If you wish to clarify your heart, sit in meditation and approach to the Perfected One." (Shido Bunan)

"People see others in terms of themselves. The vision of fools is dreadful. If there is ambition in oneself, one will see others on the basis of that frame of mind. He who lusts looks with lust. Unless one is a sage, seeing is dangerous. Even though there are people on the great way, people who can see and know are rare. What a waste. A wise man discerns the potential of others, though they may not be equal to him, and makes use of their level of understanding." (Shido Bunan)

"There are no mountains to enter outside of mind, making the unknown your hiding place." (Shido Bunan)

"To acquiesce to the teaching of enlightenment, as it is, directly abandon all things, merge with the body of thusness and experience peerless peace and bliss, is no more than a matter of whether or not you think of the body. Although there are people who think this teaching is true, it's hard to find someone who strives to make it his own." (Shido Bunan)

"While deluded, one is used by this body; when enlightened, one uses this body." (Shido Bunan)

Week 2021-39: Ta-hui Tsung-kao [Dahui Zonggao] - Collected Quotes

"If one achieves a genuine breakthrough, then [one realizes that ] a Confucian is no different from a Buddhist, and a Buddhist is no different from a Confucian; a monk is no different from a layman, and a layman is no different from a monk; an ordinary man is no different from a sage, and a sage is no different from an ordinary man. [In fact] I am you and you are I; Heaven is earth and earth is Heaven; waves are the same as water, and water is no different from waves. Kumis and rich butter are but one taste; bracelets and hairpins are all melted from gold [...] When you reach this state, you are in control of everything." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"In training ourselves to solve koan, we should neither make guesses or comments nor try to understand them. It is unnecessary to know the meanings of the words or justify our attitudes toward the koan presented to us. On the contrary, we should neither be empty and tranquil nor expect to be enlightened. It is still worse to be absent-minded. Whether we walk, dwell, sit, or lie down, we should always be one with the koan and try to keep in touch with them all the time." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"No-mind does not mean the unconsciousness of wood or tile. It means that when you come into contact with external objects, your mind is immovable and does not get attached to anything. There is total freedom and non-obstruction. You are not defiled by anything. On the other hand, you should not abide in non-defilement either. While you view the body and the mind as a dream and an illusion, you nevertheless do not abide in the emptiness of dreams and illusions. When you reach this state, you have then really achieved no-mind." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"When you stabilize the activities of the discursive mind and consciousness, when not even one thought stirs, this is the true enlightenment. With this correct state of mind, you can function freely during the twenty-four hours of the day. Smelling flowers, tasting food, sitting still or walking around - whether you are engaged in activity or not, your mind is always bright and undisturbed. You are naturally free from distorted views. Thus your mind is always pure whether you have thought or not. Therefore, when you act, this is the function (yung) of this deep and luminous Mind, and when you rest, this is then the essence (t'i) of the same Mind. Even though there is a difference between essence and function, 'the Mind is still the one and the same." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"They sit in meditation in the Ghosts’ Cave at the foot of the Black Mountain idly without preaching and without saying anything. Drawing their eyebrows together and closing their eyes, they say they are in the state of absolute samadhi and in the state of their fathers and mothers not yet born. Further, calling this state silence filled with eternal light, they identify their meditation with Zen." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao [letter to Chosha Jogen (Chang-she Chuang-yuan)])

"You should always be one with everything instead of deviating, and must be awakened to your true self in your daily life while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down."  (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"You should straightforwardly leap out of the duality of birth and death with one bound." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

Week 2021-37: Koun Ejo - Collected Quotes

"Deep practice of the Way requires tireless exertion and confidence in what is true. Unless you join the Lineage of the Buddhas life after life, how can you understand anything that I say at all? Do not move away from it." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Do not be pulled around by states of mind or objects. Do not rely on intellectual knowledge. Don't show in your hands what you receive on your seat in the Monks' Hall. Just throw body and mind into the Great Treasury of Luminosity and don't look back." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Even in the midst of change, the Light is not hindered by it. Forests, flowers, grass, and leaves; human beings or animals, big or small, long or short, square or round: all manifest themselves simultaneously, independent of discriminating thoughts or will." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Just sit as if you were the boundless empty sky or a ball of fire. Trust everything to the inhalation and exhalation. Even if eighty-four thousand idle thoughts arise, each and every one may become the Light of prajna (undiscriminating wisdom) if you do not pay them any attention and simply let them go." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Not only in sitting, but every step you take is the movement of the Light. Step after step, no discrimination… To inhale or to exhale, to listen or to touch, being without thoughts and discrimination is nothing other than the tranquil illumination of the Light in which body and mind are one. Therefore, when someone calls, you answer. This is the Light in which ordinary people and sages, the deluded and the enlightened, are one." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Those who follow conventional views believe that what is illusory is real, what is transient is permanent, and so they are concerned only with gain and loss and coarse profit. Their lives are like candles in the wind and yet they place their trust in what is uncertain even for tomorrow. Breathing out does not mean that you will necessarily breath in again. And so they are filled with glee and despair at momentary changes." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"You students, are you trying to learn zazen or are you trying to learn sitting Buddhahood? If you are learning zazen, Zen is not sitting and lying down. If you are learning sitting Buddhahood, Buddha is not a fixed form. According to the teaching of non-attachment or non-settling down, you should not adopt this or reject that. You students, if you try to become a sitting Buddha you kill the Buddha, and if you become attached to sitting you will not reach that principle." (Koun Ejo)

"You students! Are you trying to learn zazen or are you trying to become a Buddha? If you are trying to learn zazen, you must not be taken up by the form called 'sitting' because Zen is something beyond sitting and lying down. Again, if you say you are trying to become a Buddha, you cannot become a captive to the one set form called 'sitting' because Buddha is something absolute."  (Koun Ejo)

Resources:
[1] Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century [link]

Week 2021-36: Toshitsugu Takamatsu - Collected Quotes

"As the sennin lives on wonderful pictures of Mother Nature and makes the singing of birds and the sight of animals his mental food, so do the ninja." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Being natural is the ultimate secret of our art." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Develop a Zen spirit and understand its implications. Become aware of sincerity and faith. Self-reflection and self-realization, then thankfulness and benevolence, are to be pursued." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Even when you are faced with certain death, die laughing." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"For taijutsu, the flexibility of the legs is the most important factor, not the strength of the legs." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"'How difficult is life when one is not surprised by anything and laughing every day? " (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"I'm not telling you to defeat the enemy, but be a man who can live. Never be enslaved by martial arts take pleasure in them." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"If an expert in the fighting arts sincerely pursues the essence of ninjutsu, devoid of the influences of the ego’s desires, the student will progressively come to realize the ultimate secret for becoming invincible - the attainment of the ‘mind and eyes of god’." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Ninja should have the benevolence to protect men of justice since there are lots of good and respectable people in the world." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Supernatural power is not a skill or trick. It exists in your heart, in your sincerity. Religion is the same, too." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The heart of taijutsu is important and only through training will one polish that heart (like a gem) and understand true taijutsu." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The ninja should dedicate themselves to sincerity and justice." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The skills of self-protection, which should provide a feeling of inner peace and security for the martial artist, so often develop without a balance in the personality and lead the lesser martial artist into warped realms of unceasing conflict and competition which eventually consume him." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The true value of Budo is to train the mind to see clearly and maintain spiritual strength." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The way of the martial artist is the way of enduring, surviving and prevailing over all that would destroy him. More than delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple outwitting of an enemy, Ninpô is the way of attaining that which we need while making the world a better place. The skill of the Ninja is the art of winning." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The way to experience ultimate happiness is to let go of all worries and regrets, and to know that being happy is the most satisfying of life's feelings. Reflect back on all the progress in your life and allow the positive, creative and joyous thoughts to outshine and overwhelm any sorrow or grief that may linger in the recesses of your mind. Knowing that disease and disaster are natural parts of life is the key to overcoming adversity with a calm and happy spirit. Happiness is waiting there in front of you. Only you can decide whether or not you choose to experience it. Take this to heart." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"[...] the enemy who stands against the laws of nature has lost his battle before he begins the fight. The first priority to the ninja was to win without fighting." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"What matters in a text is read between the lines in the spaces between the words." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

Week 2021-34: Wisdom is...

"Knowledge is a function of intellect while wisdom is a function of being." (D Trinidad Hunt)

"Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more." (William Cowper)

"Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking both directions anyway." (Amelia Walker)

"Wisdom is found only in truth." (Johann von Goethe)

"Wisdom is letting go of something every day." (Zen saying)

"Wisdom is learning to let go when you want to hang on. Courage is learning to hang on when you want to let go." (Mark Amend)

"Wisdom is like gold; it is useless if no one will accept it from you." (Geoffrey N Pyke, 1931) 

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves." (Nisargadatta Mahraj)

"Wisdom is knowing in depth the great metaphors of meaning." (Carl G Jung)

"Wisdom is knowing what to do next." (David S Jordan)

"Wisdom is knowledge of principles and causes." (Robert Hutchins)

"Wisdom is not a wisdom at all, if it comes too late." (Aristotle)

"Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain." (Robert E Lee)

"Wisdom is nothing more than common sense refined by learning and experience." (Zhuge Liang)

"Wisdom is simply this: to do the next thing that has to be done, to do it with all your heart, and to take delight in doing it." (Meister Eckhardt)

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge." (Charles H Spurgeon)

"Wisdom is the best guide and faith is the best companion." Dalai Lama

"Wisdom is the lesson learned, applied.”  (Rick Beneteau)

"Wisdom is the most important part of happiness." (Sophocles)

"Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use." (Thimas J Watson

"Wisdom is the ability to gather knowledge and adapt it to new situations. In other words, wisdom is knowing when, where and how to apply knowledge. It is knowledge at a deeper level." (David Green)

"True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance." (Akhenaton)

Week 2021-33: Happiness is...

"Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

"Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy." (Gretta B Palmer)

"Happiness is a by-product of helping others." (Denny Miller)

"Happiness is a function of accepting what is." (Werner Erhard)

"Happiness is a habit – cultivate it." (Elbert Hubbard)

"Happiness is a mystery like religion, and it should never be rationalized." (G K Chesterton)

"Happiness is a perfume you can't pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself." (Ralph W Emerson)

"Happiness is a result of the relative strengths of positive and negative feelings, rather than an absolute amount of one or the other." (Norman Bradburn)

"Happiness is a small and unworthy goal for something as big and fancy as a whole lifetime, and should be taken in small doses." (Russell Baker)

"Happiness is a state of mind where pleasure and pain caused by attachment do not exist." (Baba Hari Das)

"Happiness is a sunbeam, which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray; nay, when it strikes on a kindred heart, like the converged light on a mirror; it reflects itself with redoubled brightness. It is not perfected till it is shared." (Jane Porter)

"Happiness is a Swedish sunset; it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it." (Mark Twain)

"Happiness is a way station between too little and too much." (Channing Pollock)

"Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story." (Lev Tolstoy)

"Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions." (Aristotle)

"Happiness is attained by three things: being patient when tested, being thankful when receiving a blessing, and being repentant upon sinning." (Ibn al-Qayyim)

"Happiness is composed of misfortunes avoided." (Alphonse Karr)

"Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation." (William H Sheldon)

"Happiness is experienced when your life gives you what you are willing to accept." (Ken Keyes, Jr.)

"Happiness is good health and a bad memory." (Ingrid Bergman)

"Happiness is having a sense of self, not a feeling of being perfect, but of being good enough and knowing that you are in the process of growth, of being, of achieving levels of joy. It’s a wonderful contentment and acceptance of who and what you are and a knowledge that the world and life are full of wondrous adventures and possibilities." (Leo Buscaglia)

"Happiness is having the freedom to be yourself." (Hilary Swank)

"Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things themselves; we are happy from possessing what we like, not from possessing what others like." (Francois de La Rochefoucauld)

"Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude." (Joseph Wood Krutch)

"Happiness is like a cat. If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you. It will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap." (William Bennett)

"Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it." (Bernard Meltzer)

"Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it." (Alexandre Dumas)

"Happiness is like time and space - we make and measure it ourselves; it is as fancy, as big, as little, as you please, just a thing of contrasts and comparisons." (George du Marier)

"Happiness is lived in the pursuit of it, not the achievement thereof" (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled." (Dr. Benjamin Spock)

"Happiness is never stopping to think if you are." (Palmer Sondreal)

"Happiness is not a goal, it is a byproduct." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

"Happiness is not a horse, you cannot harness it." (Chinese proverb)

"Happiness is not a matter of events, it depends upon the tides of the mind." (Alice Meynell)

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony." (Thomas Merton)

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." (Margaret L Runback)

"Happiness is not being pained in body nor troubled in mind." (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is not being pained in body, or troubled in mind." (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are." (John B Sheerin)

"Happiness is not perfected until it is shared." (Jane Porter)

"Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." (Norman MacEwan)

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." (Dalai Lama)

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present." (Jim Rohn)

"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." (Anon)

"Happiness is not the end of life; character is." (Henry W Beecher)

"Happiness is pleasure without regret" (Lev Tolstoy)

"Happiness is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day." (Benjamin Franklin)

"Happiness is something we reap from the seeds we sow. Plant misery seeds and that us what you reap." Stephen Richards, "Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free")

"Happiness is something you get as a by-product in the process of making something else." (Aldous Huxley)

"Happiness is strange; it comes when you are not seeking it. When you are not making an effort to be happy, then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there, born of purity, of a loveliness of being." (Jiddu Krishnamurti)

"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." (Ayn Rand)

"Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness." (Zhuangzi)

"Happiness is the cheapest thing in the world [...] when we buy it for someone else." (Paul Flemming)

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." (Aristotle)

"Happiness is the natural flower of duty." (Phillips Brooks)

"Happiness is the offspring of concentrated action." (Robin S. Sharma)

"Happiness is the only sanction in life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment." (George Santayana)

"Happiness is the overcoming of not Difficulties exist to be surmounted, unknown obstacles toward a known" (Ralph W Emerson)

"Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal." (L Ron Hubbard)

"Happiness is the space between unhappiness." (Don Marquis)

"Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late." (Robert R Updegraff)

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside." (Sri Ramana Maharashi)

"Happiness isn’t about what happens to us - it’s about how we perceive what happens to us. It’s the knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a setback as a challenge." (Lynn Peters)

"I know well that happiness is in little things." (John Ruskin)

"If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances, it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give." (Bertrand Russell)

"If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it." (Democritus)

"In all climates, under all skies, man's happiness is always somewhere else." (Giacomo Leopardi)

"Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved." (Victor Hugo)

"Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness." (Chuang-Tse)

"Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit." (Hosea Ballou)

"What we call happiness is what we do not know." (Anatole France)

Week 2021-32: Education's Goals

"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values." (William R Inge)

"The business of education is not to make the young perfect in any one of the sciences, but so to open their minds as may best make them capable of any, when they shall apply themselves to it." (John Locke)

"The chief object of education is not to learn but to unlearn."  (G K Chesterton)

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." (Martin L King, Jr.)

"The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things." (Jean Piaget)

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth." (John F Kennedy)

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action." (Herbert Spencer)

"The most important outcome of education is to help students to become independent of formal education." (Paul E Gray)

"The object of education is not only to produce a man who knows, but one who does; who makes his mark in the straggle of life and succeeds well in whatever he undertakes: who can solve the problems of nature and of humanity as they arise, and who, when he knows he is right, can boldly convince the world of the fact." (Henry A Rowland)

"The object of education is to give man the unity of truth." (Rabindranath Tagore)

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." (Robert M Hutchins)

"The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful." (Plato, "The Republic")

"The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – men who are creative, inventive and discoverers." (Jean Piaget)

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." (Sydney J Harris)

Week 2021-31: Education is...

"Education is the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them [...]" (John Ruskin, "The Stones of Venice", 1853)

"Education is habit-forming rather than information; illumination rather than indoctrination, inspiration rather than compulsion." (Edwin G Conklin, "Science in the World Crisis", 1939)

"Education is a set of analogies to a genuinely human existence, of which the arts are the model." (Northrop Frye, "Notebooks and Lectures on the Bible and Other Religious Texts", 2003)

 "[…] education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being." (Maria Montessori)

"All real education is the architecture of the soul." (William Bennett)

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." (Anatole France)

"Education is a method by which one acquires a higher grade of prejudices."  (Laurence J Peter)

"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." (Will Durant)

"Education is not learning, but the training of the mind that it may learn." (Sir William W Gull)

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." (John Dewey)

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lightning of a fire." (William B Yeats)

"Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities - that's training or instruction - but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed." (Thomas W Moore)

"Education is not training but rather the process that equips you to entertain yourself, a friend and an idea." (Wallace Sterling)

"Education is one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought." (Bertrand Russel)

"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." (Gilbert K Chesterton)

"Education is teaching our children to desire the right things." (Plato)

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." (Robert Frost)

"Education is the apprenticeship of life." (Robert A Willmott)

"Education is the art of making man ethical." (Georg W F Hegel)

"Education is the best provision for old age." (Aristotle)

"Education is the best way to train ourselves that we will secure our own well-being by concerning ourselves with others." (Dalai Lama)

"Education is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent." (John M Keynes)

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom." (George W Carver)

"Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." (Nelson Mandela)

"Education is the movement from darkness to light." (Allan Bloom)

"Education is the only quality which remains after we have forgotten all we have learned." (VoItaire)

"Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life." (Brigham Young)

"Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine." (Irwin Edman)

"Self-education is a continuing source of pleasure to me, for the more I know, the fuller my life is and the better I appreciate my own existence" (Isaac Asimov)

"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing." (Isaac Asimov)

"The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence." (Rabindranath Tagore)

Week 2021-30: On Letting go

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." (Havelock Ellis)

"By letting go it all gets done." (Lao Tzu)

"Hanashi, 'letting go' means that when one strategy does not work you let go of it and try something new." (Frederick J Loveret, "The Way and the Power: Secrets of Japanese Strategy", 1987)

"It is wisdom that enables letting go of a lesser happiness in pursuit of a happiness which is greater." (Dhammapada)

"Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day." (Zen saying)

"Letting go doesn't mean that you don't care about someone anymore. It's just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself." (Deborah Reber)

"Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Meditation is a skillful letting go: gently but with resolution." (Ajahn Sumedho)

"Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind. By letting go of even the thought ‘I,’ and 'me' what is left? There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there. No separation anywhere. Pure awareness. Neither this, nor that. Just clarity and being." (Ram Dass)

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go." (Herman Hesse)

"Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be." (Alan Watts)

Week 2021-29: On Mastery

"A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action." (samurai maxim)

"A master is one who returns day after day to the basic techniques and fundamentals. Mastery is a matter of daily struggle to perfect the simplest of techniques and ideas." (maxim)

"Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul." (Bruce Lee)

"If you seek mastery of the sword, seek first sincerity of the heart, for the former is but a reflection of the latter." (Iwakura Yoshinori)

"Learning to deal with setbacks, and maintaining the persistence and optimism necessary for childhood’s long road to mastery are the real foundations of lasting self-esteem." (Lilian G Katz)

"Mastery of self, or 'self-sufficiency', leads to both happiness and freedom but requires constant practice and training in the face of adversity." (Diogenes of Sinope)

"Softness triumphs over hardness, feebleness over strength. What is more malleable is always superior over that which is immoveable. This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery through adaptation." (Lao-Tzu)

"Technical skill is mastery of complexity.  Creativity is mastery of simplicity." (Erik C Zeeman)

"The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation is, to give a man a perfect knowledge and mastery of his own inner self." (Novalis)

"The path of the Warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path." (Richard S Heckler)

"The self is the friend of a man who masters himself through the self, but for a man without self-mastery, the self is like an enemy at war." (Bhagavad Gita)

"Without self-mastery he has no understanding of inner power; without inner power, he has no peace; and without peace, where is joy?" (Bhagavad Gita)

Week 2021- 28: On Meditation

"A strong mind is a mind that does not suffer from boredom, frustration, depression, or unhappiness. It has learned to drop what it doesn't want. Meditation practice has given it the necessary muscles." (Kamal Sarma)

"Eventually, meditation will make our mind calm, clear, and as concentrated as a laser which we can focus at will. This capacity of one-pointed attention is the essence of genius. When we have this mastery over attention in everything we do, we have a genius for life." (Eknath Easwaran)

"Meditation is very simple. It means to surrender the mind, the body, and the world, from moment to moment, to the silent presence in which they appear. That's all." (Francis Lucille)

"Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind. By letting go of even the thought 'I', and 'me' what is left? There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there. No separation anywhere. Pure awareness. Neither this, nor that. Just clarity and being." (Ram Dass)

"Real meditation is spontaneous. It is pure welcoming, because there is no choosing of whatever appears in the field of consciousness. There is no selection. There is only choiceless allowing, be it of external perceptions, feelings, bodily sensations, thoughts, or their absence. Everything is equally allowed to come into existence, not as a practice, but because the mind has understood its own limitations. That is all the truth-seeker needs to do. No further spiritual practice needs to be undertaken." (Francis Lucille)

"The more we meditate the more we become aware of the things going on in mind and can rest in this experience." (Lawrence Ellyard)

"Through meditation we can learn simple exercises to help us understand and control our thinking. We can learn to gain access to powers of spirit that connect us to realms of higher thinking and knowledge. Most importantly, we can learn the balance of mind and spirit that is so necessary to make life enjoyable and fruitful." (Randolph Winters)

"When mind knows, we call it knowledge. When heart knows, we call it love. And when being knows, we call it meditation." (Osho)

"When we let go of wanting something else to happen in this moment, we are taking a profound step toward being able to encounter what is here now. If we hope to go anywhere or develop ourselves in any way, we can only step from where we are standing. If we don't really know where we are standing—a knowing that comes directly from the cultivation of mindfulness—we may only go in circles, for all our efforts and expectations. So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"When you have achieved a state of deep meditation, you unlock the door to your subconscious mind. That is where your power to create the life you desire lies." (Adrian Calabrese)

Week 2021-27: Meditation is ...

"Do you think that you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear. Integral awareness is fluid and adaptable, present in all places and at all times. That is true meditation. [...] The Tao is clear and simple, and it doesn't avoid the world." (Lao Tzu)

"In fact, the view is to look at one's own mind. Meditation is not to stray from that. Action is not to be separated from that. The fruit is to actualize that. When looking there is nothing to be looked at appearances are mind itself. When meditating there is nothing to meditate on-awareness is self-luminous. When acting there is nothing to act out-action is spontaneous. There is no fruit to accomplish - one's own mind is the buddha." (Rangjung Dorje)

"It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing." (Pema Chodron)

"Meditation does not imply only the development of single-pointed concentration, sitting in some corner doing nothing. Meditation is an alert state of mind, the opposite of sluggishness; meditation is wisdom. You should remain aware every moment of your daily life, fully conscious of what you are doing and how you are doing it." (Lama Yeshe)

"Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us." (Thich N Hanh)

"Meditation is not the pursuit of pleasure and the search for happiness. Meditation, on the contrary, is a state of mind in which there is no concept or formula, and therefore total freedom. It is only to such a mind that this bliss comes unsought and uninvited. Once it is there, though you may live in the world with all its noise, pleasure and brutality, they will not touch that mind." (Jiddu Krishnamurti)

"Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." (Thich Nhat Hahn)

"Meditation is nothing but an effort to look at reality without the thinking mind - because that is the only way to see reality. If thinking is there it distorts, it corrupts. Drop the thinking mind and see reality - direct, immediate, face to face. And then there is no problem." (Osho)

"Meditation is not about finding the self - quite the contrary: it is about finding one's way beyond the self. Meditation is also not about 'expanding the mind'. It is instead about clearing away clutter created by the mind." (David M White)

"Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." (Thich N Hahn)

"Meditation is simply getting to know your mind." (Dzogchen Ponlop)

"Meditation is the awareness that I am not the mind." (Osho)

"Meditation is the way we realize the nature of the mind." (Lama Yeshe)

"The art of meditation is neither mindless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive." (Alan Watts)

"The spirit world is able to get through to you easily when your mind is still and clear. Meditation is often referred to as 'sitting in the silence.' Whenever you want to reach Spirit from this side of life, start by sitting in the silence." (James Van Praagh)

"There are two aspects of mind; the appearances and its essence. Most people are lost in the appearances and projections without ever knowing the true nature of their experiences. Meditation is recognizing and bringing the mind home to its essence of clarity and peace." (Sogyal Rinpoche)

"Thinking is the natural activity of the mind. Meditation is not about stopping your thoughts. Meditation is simply a process of resting the mind in its natural state, which is open to and naturally aware of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they occur." (Yongey Rinpoche Mingyur & Eric Swanson)

"When the mind, clear and ungraspable like the sky, does not fall into partiality-this is the view. When the mind, self-aware and self-luminous like a mirror, is free from bright and dim - this is meditation. When the mind, uncontrived and natural like a child, is without negation or assertion-this is action." (Dagpo Rinpoche)

Week 2021-26: On Mindfulness

"Mindfulness is Buddha's word for meditation. By mindfulness he means: you should always remain alert, watchful. You should always remain present. Not a single thing should be done in a sort of sleepy state of mind. You should not move like a somnambulist, you should move with a sharp consciousness." (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, "The Discipline of Transcendence: Discourses on the Forty-two Sutras of Buddha", 1978)

"Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"Mindfulness means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time as best we can. In the process, we become more in touch with our life as it is unfolding." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting", 1997)

"Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"Mindfulness was experienced as not holding onto the past, the future, or 'nowness:' but relaxing into the immediacy of whatever was happening." (B Alan Wallace, "Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", 2009)

"As long as we have practiced neither concentration nor mindfulness, the ego takes itself for granted and remains its usual normal size, as big as the people around one will allow." (Ayya Khema)

"Concentration, and mindfulness are the internal ways in which the mind restores itself from being out of balance and lost in confusion to a condition of ease, clarity, and wisdom." (Sylvia Boorstein)

"Do not regard thoughts as something to be abandoned and do not deliberately create nonconceptuality. Place the watcher of mindfulness and you will arrive at the practice of calm abiding." (Gyalwa Yangonpa)

"Fundamentally mindfulness is a simple concept. Its power lies in its practice and its applications. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth, and transformation." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"In the practice of Dhamma all we need is mindfulness. Everything in the world will then become clear." (Ajahn Bua Siripuñño)

"If you know how to practice mindfulness you can generate peace and joy right here, right now. And you'll appreciate that and it will change you. In the beginning, you believe that if you cannot become number one, you cannot be happy, but if you practice mindfulness you will readily release that kind of idea. We need not fear that mindfulness might become only a means and not an end because in mindfulness the means and the end are the same thing. There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us." (Thich Nhat Hanh) 

"Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." (Thich Nhat Hahn)

"Mindfulness and compassion actually develop at the same pace. The more mindful you become, the easier you’ll find it to be compassionate. And the more you open your heart to others, the more mindful you become in all your activities." (Mingyur Rinpoche)

"Mindfulness can be cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, that is, in the present moment, and as non-reactively, nonjudgmentally and openheartedly as possible." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"Mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what you are doing. What you really need to watch is your motivation." (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

"Now what, monks, is the Noble Eightfold Path? [It is] as follows: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration." (Magga-vibhanga Sutta)

"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"True mindfulness is the awareness that everything you encounter is a vigorous expression of the same living universe as you." (Brad Warner)

"We are all connected. When you touch one thing, you are touching everything. Whatever we do has an effect on others. Therefore, we must learn to live mindfully to touch the peace inside each of us. Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace. This collective mindfulness can bring positive change to our families, organizations, communities, nations and future generations." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"When mental involvement in purity and impurity is ended, the mind does not dwell in bondage or liberation; it has no mindfulness of striving or nonstriving, or of bondage or liberation." (Pai-chang)

"When we let go of wanting something else to happen in this moment, we are taking a profound step toward being able to encounter what is here now. If we hope to go anywhere or develop ourselves in any way, we can only step from where we are standing. If we don't really know where we are standing - a knowing that comes directly from the cultivation of mindfulness - we may only go in circles, for all our efforts and expectations. So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)