Compassion: I don’t think that there is another world as important in marking a person’s inner growth. No other word completely conveys what this single word conveys.
Good is that which elevates the mind and evil is that which degrades the mind. Social virtue and vice are temporal entities; they have nothing to do with your relationship with the Supreme.
The greatest comforts and lasting peace are obtained, when one eradicates selfishness from within.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
Mankind is a great, immense family… This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.
This new life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone.
Those who read books cannot understand the teachings and, what’s more, may even go astray. But those who try to observe the things going on in the mind, and always take that which is true in their own minds as their standard; never get muddled.
Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; this whole world is your own.
If we only practice compassion at the mind level, we run a great risk of our compassion being just talk. As we know, talk is cheap. To develop true compassion we have to put our money where our mouth is.
Knowledge is structured in consciousness. The process of education takes place in the field of consciousness; the prerequisite to complete education is therefore the full development of consciousness enlightenment. Knowledge is not the basis of enlightenment, enlightenment is the basis of knowledge.
