Sunday, December 31, 2017

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 31, 2017

You can't push yourself into enlightenment... You can only wait for grace.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Wise Resolutions

The most comfortable and wisest people are those who watch their health when they are healthy; guard their country when it is untroubled; and cultivate their fields well when weeds are nonexistent or scarce.

—Venerable Chwasan, “The Grace in This World

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: True Self-Refinement

Through the constant refining of the self—of teasing out what is not self and letting it go—we suffer less, get unburdened, feel lighter.

—Mary Talbot, “Saving Vacchagotta

Friday, December 29, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Accept Yourself

In accepting yourself, you’re simply agreeing to the fact that you are already accepted by the entire universe, just as you are.

—Ruben L. F. Habito, “Be Still & Know

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Our Fearsome Friend

If we understand fear as an evolved survival mechanism, we gain some perspective and perhaps some release from our identification with the feeling. We might even arrive at a place where we can bow down to fear, seeing it as a friend who is looking out for our very life.

—Wes Nisker, “It’s Only Natural

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 27, 2017

For respect to come to you, you must respect yourself first. And for you to respect yourself first, you've got to make contact with that part in you that is worthy of respect. Not your will, but a deeper part of your being or discipline.
-  Ram Dass  -

Via Daily Dharma: The Great Teacher

Nature is the great teacher. Shakyamuni went to the jungle to find its teachings, Moses up the mountain, Jesus to the desert, and Bodhidharma and Muhammad to their caves. We tend to forget this, so it is important to have a practice that reminds us of it again.

—Clark Strand, “Turn Out the Lights

Via Daily Dharma: Let Desire Melt Away

All we can say is that desire arises in the mind, stays in it for a while, and dissolves in it. The more we try to find any intrinsic characteristics in desire, the more it melts away under our gaze, as frost under the morning sun.

—Matthieu Ricard, “Working With Desire

Monday, December 25, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Limitless Charity

One small act of charity (dana paramita) is said to be equal to countless acts of charity. No one can measure the effects of a single act of giving, for its repercussions are beyond our limited imagination.

—Taitetsu Unno, “Three Grapefruits

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Generosity Goes Beyond Gifts

An act of giving is of most benefit when one gives something of value, carefully, with one’s own hand, while showing respect, and with a view that something wholesome will come of it.

—Andrew Olendzki, “The Wisdom of Giving

Via Daily Dharma: Meditation without Meaning

Meditation is just to be here. This can mean doing the dishes, writing a letter, driving a car, or having a conversation—if we’re fully engaged in this activity of the moment, there is no plotting or scheming or ulterior purpose.

—Steve Hagen, “Looking for Meaning

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 24, 2017

 
The technique of the witness is to merely sit with the fear and be aware of it before it becomes so consuming that there’s no space left. The image I usually use is that of a picture frame and a painting of a gray cloud against a blue sky. But the picture frame is a little too small. So you bend the canvas around to frame it. But in doing so you lost all the blue sky. So you end up with just a framed gray cloud. It fills the entire frame.

So when you say, 'I'm afraid' or, 'I'm depressed', if you enlarged the frame so that just a little blue space shows, you would say ‘Ah, a cloud.’ That is what the witness is. The witness is that tiny little blue over in the corner that leads you to say, ‘Ah, fear.’ 

- Ram Dass -

Friday, December 22, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Commitment Leads to Care

Strong personal relationships are the pathway to experiencing impartial care and concern for all beings.

—Sylvia Boorstein, “Dear Abbey Dharma

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 20, 2017

 
A true marriage is with God. The reason we form a conscious marriage on the physical plane with a partner is to do the work of coming to God together. That is the only reason for marrying when we are conscious. The only reason. If we marry for economics, if we marry for passion, if we marry for romantic love, if we marry for convenience, if we marry for sexual gratification, it will pass and there is suffering. The only marriage contract that works is what the original contract was - we enter into this contract in order to come to God, together. That's what a conscious marriage is about. 
 
- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Practice Like a Child

Spiritual practice ought to be childish. It ought to help us recapture something that gets lost in the process of growing up. It ought to foster a sense of play, a sense of magic, a sense of humor.

—Norman Fischer, “Saved From Freezing

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Via 4 of 11 Daily Dharma: Stop Distracting Yourself

When we stop distracting ourselves, trying to figure the chances of ultimate success or failure, our minds and hearts are liberated into the present moment. And this moment together is alive and charged with possibilities.

—Joanna Macy, “The Greatest Danger

Via ily Dharma: Prayer Opens Us to Love

Through prayer, we come out of the mine shaft, open our eyes, become receptive to enlightened presence, the omnipotent love and compassion that exist for all beings.

—Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, “Prayer: Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

Monday, December 18, 2017

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 17, 2017

 
When I start to get angry, I see my predicament and how I’m getting caught in expectations and righteousness. Learning to give up anger has been a continuous process. When Maharaji told me to love everyone and tell the truth, he also said, “Give up anger, and I’ll help you with it.” Maharaji offered me a bargain: “You must polish the mirror free of anger to see God. If you give up a little anger each day, I will help you.” This seemed to be a deal that was more than fair. I readily accepted. And he’s been true to his end of the bargain.

I found that his love helped to free me from my righteousness. Ultimately I would rather be free and in love than be right. 
 
-  Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Strengthen Skillful Desire

This is how a mature and healthy mind works: conducting a dialogue not so much between reason and desire as between responsible desires and irresponsible ones.

—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Pushing the Limits

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: No Ego, No Guilt

Relief comes when we can be honest about what we’re thinking, feeling, saying, and doing. We take responsibility for our actions without feeling guilty about them because we don’t attach a big-ego “I.”

—Thubten Chodron, “The Truth About Gossip

Friday, December 15, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: When Jealousy Dissolves

As jealousy dissolves, universal compassion and unconditional love become more easily available.

—Jorge Ferrer, “What’s the Opposite of Jealousy?

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: At-home Practice

As you walk from room to room in your own home, try to really experience the transition of traveling from one place to another. Notice the differences between motion and stillness. Sense how you relate to various enclosures and open spaces.

—Gary Thorp, “Crossing the Threshold

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Via Ram Dass / 9 of 43 Words of Wisdom - December 13, 2017


You have to be very honest about your spiritual predicaments. You can’t be phony. Phony Holy isn’t going to get us there, in other words, you don’t go dramatically changing everything once you get a new value in your head, because you’re doing it with a certain kind of attachment of mind that’s going to cause you to have a reaction to it anyway. So don’t get voluntary-simple too soon. Let it be something that naturally falls away, rather than you ripping it away. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Discovering Nature within You

Nature, earth, the world—whatever you call it—is not simply something I am on but something I am. It is not outside of me: it is me, and I am it. There is no outside.

—Paul Kingsnorth, “The Witness

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Inexhaustible Generosity

When out of gratitude we use our candle to light other people’s candles, the whole room gets brighter. This is why we transfer merit to others. This kind of light is continuous and inexhaustible.

—Master Sheng-Yen, “Rich Generosity

Monday, December 11, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Sharing Stress and Happiness

Compassion is not condescension, but a leveling of the playing field, a recognition of yourself in others and an acceptance that their stress is your stress, that their happiness is your own.

—Stephen Schettini, “What to Expect When You’re Reflecting

Sunday, December 10, 2017

via nobhilllife

“I love you
I want to fall asleep with you,
and I could care less
whether it is in
layers upon layers
of clothing
or only our skin -
all I really want is to wake up
not knowing
where I end and you begin. ”



Coco Goes to Costco


Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 10, 2017




A lot of people try to counteract the ‘I am not good enough’ with ‘I am good enough.’ In other words, they take the opposite and they try to invest it. That still keeps the world at the level of polarities. The art is to go behind the polarities. 

So the act is to go not to the world of ‘I am good’ to counteract ‘I am bad,’ or ‘I am lovable’ as opposed to ‘I am unlovable.’ But go behind it to ‘I am.’ I am. I am. And 'I am' includes the fact that I do crappy things and I do beautiful things and I am. That includes everything and I am.

As you start to rest in the I am-ness, from that place, you can start to set boundaries on the way you play the game and become more impeccable in the way you play it. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Waking Up to What Matters

Cleaning the bathroom or chopping the onions is no less important than sitting in deep meditation. Grasping this and acting on it is called waking up.

—Janet Jiryu Abels, “Participate Fully

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: The Power of Ritual

The process of giving oneself over to the beauty of ritual and tradition allows entry into transcendence, thus alleviating the suffering of daily life.

—Myokei Caine-Barrett, “The Great Divide

Friday, December 8, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Finding Clarity in Discomfort

You eliminate an enormous amount of suffering by concentrating on the suffering that is actually present instead of creating more with your thinking.

—Larry Rosenberg, “When the Student Is Ready, the Teacher Bites

Thursday, December 7, 2017

VIa Daily Dharma: Our Life’s Work

Life is precious, and so death must be precious too. Our job is to figure out why.

—Shozan Jack Haubner, “Consider the Seed

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - December 6, 2017

 
Bearing the unbearable is the deepest root of compassion in the world. When you bear what you think you cannot bear, who you think you are dies. You become compassion. You don't have compassion - you are compassion. True compassion goes beyond empathy to being with the experience of another. You become an instrument of compassion.

- Ram Dass  -

Via Daily Dharma: You’re Already Whole

The great Buddhist truth is that we have been whole from the very beginning: we need only realize it.

—Taylor Plimpton, “Expressing the Inexpressible

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Setting Healthy Boundaries

A lack of healthy boundaries can lead to our compassion being blown away before it’s had a chance to take root. As we develop, though, boundaries held too tightly can stifle our compassion.

—Lorne Ladner, “Taking a Stand

Monday, December 4, 2017

Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Let Your Possessions Own You

It is not the number and diversity of our possessions that is the problem but our attachment to them. . . . What we need to relinquish, therefore, is our attachment to possessions and experiences, not the things themselves.

—Toinette Lippe, “Between Eternities

Via Daily Dharma: Love Makes a Meaningful Life

Grace provides the framework within which a meaningful life is lived. Love is the substance of it day to day. To live a spiritual life, then, is essentially to do things “for the love of it.”

—Dharmavidya David Brazier, “Let Grace In

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom for December 3, 2017

We are training to be nobody special. And it is in that nobody-specialness that we can be anybody.  

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma / Do You Speak Kindly to Yourself?

Conventionally, right speech refers to how we speak to others, but I also believe it can help us pay attention to how we speak to ourselves. 

—Mark Epstein, “If the Buddha were Called to Jury Duty

Saturday, December 2, 2017

via Daily Dharma / How Goals Can Limit You

As long as we practice in a goal-oriented framework, the harder we practice the more we reinforce that framework.

—Ken McLeod, “Where the Thinking Stops

Via Daily Dharma: A Benefit of Giving Up Certainty

Giving up one’s own certainties can open up a door toward a deeper intimacy with things, especially with people.

—Henry Shukman, “Far from Home