what he cannot reveal

The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say. Kahlil Gibran

Question & Answer with a Group from Southeast Asia

love is passion

Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. I say fall head over heels, find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. How do you find him? Well, you forget your head and you listen to your heart and I'm not hearing any heart. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. But You have to try, because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived... Meet Joe Black

let the little things go

Let the little things go. People who struggle often fight over little things. We obsess over things that don’t really matter. We create resistance instead of letting things glide off us. Let the little things go, breathe, and move on to the important things. – Leo Baubauta

Adorno on art

We don't understand music, it understands us. Theodor Adorno

Rilke on love

…Didn’t love and parting sit so gently on their shoulders that they appeared to be made of material other than this world? Remember how lightly the hands pressed, though there was such great strength in the torsos? Those people knew such self-control… Rainer Maria Rilke

Tagore

Where the mind is without fear, and the heart is held high, Where the world is not broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls, Where the words came out from the depths of truth, Where tireless striving stretches out its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert of dead habits, Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action, Into that heaven of freedom, My father, let my country awake. R. Tagore

Borges on love and loss

You Learn After a while you learn the subtle difference Between holding a hand and chaining a soul, And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning And company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts And presents aren't promises, And you begin to accept your defeats With your head up and your eyes open With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child, And you learn to build all your roads on today Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight. After a while you learn... That even sunshine burns if you get too much. So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul, Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure... That you really are strong And you really do have worth... And you learn and learn... With every good-bye you learn.

pure mind

Running is pure mind.

Wendell Berry - spiritual journey

And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, and learn to be at home. - Wendell Berry

love flowers best in openness and freedom

The wind will not stop. Gusts of sand swirl before me, stinging my face. But there is still too much to see and marvel at, the world very much alive in the bright light and wind, exultant with the fever of spring, the delight of morning. Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom. Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Khalil Gibran on love

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.” ― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

oscar wilde

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the colored canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul. Oscar Wilde

they say that hope is happiness

They say that Hope is happiness But genuine Love must prize the past; And memory wakes the thoughts that bless They rose the first—they set the last. And all that memory loves the most Was once our only hope to be: And all that hope adored and lost Hath melted into memory. Alas! it is delusion all The future cheats us from afar, Nor can we be what we recall, Nor dare we think on what we are. Lord Byron

Einstein: The religious spirit of science

You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a religious feeling of his own. But it is different from the religiosity of the naive man. For the latter, God is a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and whose punishment one fears; a sublimation of a feeling similar to that of a child for its father, a being to whom one stands, so to speak, in a personal relation, however deeply it may be tinged with awe. But the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. The future, to him, is every whit as necessary and determined as the past. There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and his work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages. Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions

Einstein on religion and science

Albert Einstein on religion and science: Each has a place, but each must be relegated to its sphere. Let's assume that we are dealing with a theoretical physicist or scientist who is very well-acquainted with the different laws of the universe, such as how the planets orbit the sun and how the satellites in turn orbit around their respective planets. Now, this man who has studied and understands these different laws-how could he possibly believe in one God who would be capable of disturbing the paths of these great orbiting masses? No, the natural laws of science have not only been worked out theoretically but have been proven also in practice. I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science. If there is any such concept as a God, it is a subtle spirit, not an image of a man that so many have fixed in their minds. In essence, my religion consists of a humble admiration for this illimitable superior spirit that reveals itself in the slight details that we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds . I do not believe that a man should be restrained in his daily actions by being afraid of punishment after death or that he should do things only because in this way he will be rewarded after he dies. This does not make sense. The proper guidance during the life of a man should be the weight that he puts upon ethics and the amount of consideration that he has for others. Education has a great role to play in this respect. Religion should have nothing to do with a fear of living or a fear of death, but should instead be a striving after rational knowledge. Albert Einstein

Einstein - a lone traveller

My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a "lone traveller" and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude - feelings which increase with the years. One becomes sharply aware, but without regret, the limits of mutual understanding and consonance with other people. No doubt, such a person loses some of his innocence and unconcern; on the other hand, he is largely independent of the opinions, habits and judgements of his fellows and avoids the temptation to build his inner equilibrium upon such insecure foundations. Albert Einstein

Meeting of global icons: The Dalai Lama meets Suu Kyi on her birthday - www.phayul.com

Meeting of global icons: The Dalai Lama meets Suu Kyi on her birthday - www.phayul.com

true love

True love isn't about being inseparable. It's about two people being true to each other even when they are separated. www.marcandangel.com

the impossibility of "I"

Sometimes I could put myself to sleep saying that over and over until after the honeysuckle got all mixed up in the whole thing come to symbolise night and unrest I seemed to be lying neither asleep nor awake looking down a long corridor of gray halflight where all stable things had become shadowy paradoxical all I had done shadows all I had felt suffered taking visible form antic and perverse mocking without relevance inherent themselves with the denial of the significance they should have affirmed thinking I was I was not who was not was not who. William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

subjectivity

The self is an other. Jacques Lacan

Templeton Prize - HH The Dalai Lama

one's heart

“Nobody even imagines how well one can lie about the state of one’s own heart.” Yukio Mishima, Thirst for Love

蘇軾 Su Shi

蘇軾 十年生死兩茫茫，不思量， 自難忘。千里孤墳，無處話淒涼。縱使相逢應不識，塵滿面，鬢如霜。 夜來幽夢忽還鄉，小軒窗，正梳妝。相顧無言，惟有淚千行。料得年年腸斷處，明月夜，短松岡。 Ten years living and dead have drawn apart I do nothing to remember But I cannot forget Your lonely grave a thousand miles away ... Nowhere can I talk of my sorrow -- Even if we met, how would you know me My face full of dust My hair like snow? In the dark of night, a dream: suddenly, I am home You by the window Doing your hair I look at you and cannot speak Your face is streaked by endless tears Year after year must they break my heart These moonlit nights? That low pine grave? Su Shi

As we listen to the rain's quiet sound, the quiet of our mind deepens. Shodo Harada

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) e.e. cummings

caigentan

Cultivating virtue is a matter of cultivating the most minute details. Bestowing kindness is a matter of bestowing on those who cannot repay you. Caigentan

Cold Mountain or Han Shan

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Synopsis: "Cold Mountain" is a film portrait of the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Han Shan, a.k.a. Cold Mountain. Recorded on location in China, America and Japan, Burton Watson, Red Pine and the legendary Gary Snyder describe the poet's life and tell poems. A trickster, Han Shan wrote poems for everyone, not just the educated elite. A man free of spiritual doctrine, it is unclear whether or not he was a monk, whether he was a Buddhist or a Taoist, or both. It is not even certain he ever lived, but the poems do.

NYC cab driver

A NYC Taxi driver wrote: I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. ‘Just a minute’, answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940′s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware. ‘Would you carry my bag out to the car?’ she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. ‘It’s nothing’, I told her.. ‘I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.’ ‘Oh, you’re such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, ‘Could you drive through downtown?’ ‘It’s not the shortest way,’ I answered quickly.. ‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice. I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. ‘I don’t have any family left,’ she continued in a soft voice..’The doctor says I don’t have very long.’ I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. ‘What route would you like me to take?’ I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, ‘I’m tired. Let’s go now’. We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. ‘How much do I owe you?’ She asked, reaching into her purse. ‘Nothing,’ I said ‘You have to make a living,’ she answered. ‘There are other passengers,’ I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug.She held onto me tightly. ‘You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’ I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut.It was the sound of the closing of a life.. I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day,I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver,or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life. We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

paradox of our age

THE PARADOX OF OUR AGE We have bigger houses but smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgement; more experts, but more problems; more medicines, but less healthiness; We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies then ever, but have less communication; We have become long on quantity, but short on quality. These are times of fast foods but slow digestion; Tall men but short character; Steep profits but shallow relationships. It's a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room. The 14th Dalai Lama

dao de jing

Credible words are not eloquent; Eloquent words are not credible. The wise are not erudite; The erudite are not wise. Dao De Jing, Lao Tzu

giving life

The meeting of the butterfly and the flower, the meeting of one person and another: in these is our karmic affiliation. We must give it life, and the doing of this needs our wisdom. Shodo Harada Roshi A Staff for the Mind at One Drop Zen: Click here

moon is in my hands

I play with flowers And their fragrance clings to my clothes. I scoop up water And the moon is in my hands. Master Kido

memory

Memory is a slippery customer.
You never know if you can trust it.

Jennie Erdal, The missing shade of blue

Elizabeth

I should tell you a story,
The night is already so late -
Do you want to torment me,
Lovely Elizabeth?

I write poems about that,
Just as you do;
And the entire history of my love
Is you and this evening.

You mustn't be troublesome,
And blow these poems away.
Soon you will listen to them,
Listen, and not understand.

Herman Hesse

don't lie to yourself

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.

Fyodar Dostoyevsky

enantiodromia

I use the term enantiodromia for the emergence of the unconscious opposite in the course of time.

C.G. Jung

Holes inside - Joe Brooks

When all that you've tried, leaves nothing but holes inside,
It seems like you're wired, to stay here held in time,
Cos nothing seems to change, oh no.
No nothing's gonna change, at all.
I can see it in your face, the hope has gone away.

If you hold tight, shadows will be lost in the light.
Oh cos sometimes, fate and your dreams will collide.
So don't walk away from me,
Don't walk away from me,
Don't walk away from me.

Your feet are stuck, no they cannot move,
Don't tell me that they're glued,
They should've far from.
At home, at ease but give sometime to breathe

But nothing seems to change, oh no.
No nothing's gonna change, at all.
I can see it in your face, the hope has gone away.

But if you hold tight, shadows will be lost in the light.
Oh cos sometimes, fate and your dreams will collide.
So don't walk away from me,
Don't walk away from me,
Don't walk away from me.

That everthing will be ok,
I know that it's so easy to say,
But the pain inside will fade,
Please tell me that you'll stay.

If we hold tight, shadows will be lost in the light.
Oh cos sometimes, fate and your dreams can collide.
When all that you've tried, leaves nothing but holes inside.

Joe Brooks

Aristophanes on love

Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is always looking for his other half... And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and will not be out of the other's sight, as i may say, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole lives together: yet they could not explain what they desire of one another. For the intense yearning which each of them has towards the other does not appear to be the desire of lover's intercourse, but of something else which the soul of either evidently desires and cannot tell, and of which she has only a dark and doubtful presentiment. Suppose Hephaestus, with his instruments, were to come to the pair who are lying side by side and say to them, "What do you people want of one another?" They would be unable to explain. And suppose further, that when he saw their perplexity he said, "Do you desire to be wholly one; always day and night to be in one another's company, for it this is what you desire, I am ready to melt you into one and let you grow together....." There is not a man of them who when he heard the proposal would deny or would acknowledge that this meeting and melting into one another, this becoming one instead of two, was the very expression of his ancient need. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love.

Aristophanes

Steppenwolf - Herman Hesse

"Time and the world, money and power belong to the small people and the shallow people. To the rest, to the real men belongs nothing. Nothing but death."
"Nothing else?"
"Yes, eternity."
"You mean a name, and fame with posterity?"
"No, Steppenwolf, not fame. Has that any value? And do you think that all true and real men have been famous and known to posterity?"
"No, of course not."
"Then, it isn't fame. Fame exists in that sense only for the schoolmasters. No, it isn't fame. It is what I call eternity. The pious call it the kingdom of God. I say to myself: all we who ask too much and have a dimension too many could not contrive to live at all if there were not another air to breathe outside of this world, if there were not eternity at the back of time, and this is the kingdom of truth. The music of Mozart belongs there and the poetry of your great poets. The saints, too, belong there, who have worked wonders and suffered martyrdom and given a great example to men. But the image of every true act, the strength of every true feeling, belongs to eternity just as much, even though no one knows of it or sees it or records it or hands it down to posterity... Ah, Harry, we have to stumble through so much dirt and humbug before we reach home. And we have no one to guide us. Our only guide is our homesickness.


Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf

Jung on the unconscious

When people let their unconscious speak, they always tell us the most important things of their intimate selves - even the smallest details appears to have meaning.

Carl Jung

Kafka - axe for the frozen sea

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.

― Franz Kafka

A Dream Play - August Strindberg

The Poet: It seems to me that all this has happened before --
The Daughter: So it seems to me also.
The Poet: Perhaps I have dreamt it.
The Daughter: Or put it in a poem, perhaps.
The Poet: Or put it in a poem.
The Daughter: Then you know what poetry is.
The Poet: Then I know what dreaming is.
The Daughter: It seems to me that we have said all this to each other before, in some other place.
The Poet: Then you may soon figure out what reality is.
The Daughter: Or dreaming!
The Poet: Or poetry!

A Dream Play, August Strindberg

real but hidden story

Art reveals and expresses our real but hidden story: that which lies under the surface, in the realm of feeling, unavailable to the naked eye; that which still resonates, though long past, through memories or fantasies or the thoughts that course through our mind.

What literature teaches us about life, Arnold Weinstein

Jung on wisdom

Our knowledge has increased
but not our wisdom.

Carl Jung

Gurdjieff

All that I’ve hoarded is lost. All that I gave is mine.

~Gurdjieff

eternal recurrence - Jung

Just a moment ago we were given over to the noisy ephemeral life of the present, when something very far away and strange appears to us, which turns our attention to things of another order; a glimpse away from the incoherent multiplicity of the present to a higher coherence in history. Very likely it would suddenly occur to us that on this spot where we now run busily to and fro a similar life and activity prevailed two thousand years ago in somewhat other forms; similar passions moved mankind, and man was likewise convinced of the uniqueness of his existence.

Carl Jung, The psychology of the unconscious

TEDxMaribor - Neel Burton - The Anatomy of Melancholy: Can depression be...

art criticism

.. what is the use of art-criticism? Why cannot the artist be left alone, to create a new world if he wishes it, or, if not, to shadow forth the world which we already know, and of which, I fancy, we would each one of us be wearied if Art, with her fine spirit of choice and delicate instinct of selection, did not, as it were, purify it for us, and give to it a momentary perfection. It seems to me that the imagination spreads, or should spread, a solitude around it, and works best in silence and in isolation. Why should the artist be troubled by the shrill clamour of criticism? Why should those who cannot create take upon themselves to estimate the value of creative work? What can they know about it? If a man's work is easy to understand, an
explanation is unnecessary. . . .

Oscar Wilde, The critic as artist: with some remarks on the importance of doing nothing

those who were seen dancing - Nietzsche

And those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.

Nietzsche

practice of patience

The practice of patience protects us from losing our composure. In doing that it enables us to exercise discernment, even in the heat of difficult situations. It gives us inner space. And within that space we gain a degree of self-control, which allows us to respond to situations in an appropriate and compassionate manner rather than being driven by our anger and irritation.

HH Dalai Lama

the infinite, the immeasurable

"We moderns, we half barbarians, we are in the midst of our bliss only when we are most in danger. The only stimulus that tickles us is the infinite, the immeasurable..."

Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Ajahn Chah on the mind

"About this mind... In truth there is nothing really wrong with it. It is intrinsically pure. Within itself it's already peaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods. The real mind doesn't have anything to it, it is simply (an aspect of) Nature. It becomes peaceful or agitated because moods deceive it. The untrained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trick it into happiness, suffering, gladness and sorrow, but the mind's true nature is none of those things. That gladness or sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows these things, it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we who are upset or at ease or whatever.
But really this mind of ours is already unmoving and peaceful... really peaceful! Just like a leaf which is still as long as no wind blows. If a wind comes up the leaf flutters. The fluttering is due to the wind -- the 'fluttering' is due to those sense impressions; the mind follows them. If it doesn't follow them, it doesn't 'flutter.' If we know fully the true nature of sense impressions we will be unmoved.
Our practice is simply to see the Original Mind. So we must train the mind to know those sense impressions, and not get lost in them. To make it peaceful. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through."

Ajahn Chah

Read selected dhamma talks by Ajahn Chah A Taste of Freedom

Lao Tzu - thirty spokes

Thirty spokes converge at the wheel's hub,
to a hole that allows it to turn.
Clay is shaped into a vessel,
to enclose an emptiness that can be filled.
Doors and windows are cut into walls,
to provide access to their protection.
Though we can only work with what is there,
use comes from what is not there.

Lao Tzu

samsara

Samsara: entangled, ensnared, enamored.

(with apologies to Nietzsche)

who overcomes himself his freedom finds Goethe

All force strives forward to work far and wide
To live and grow and ever to expand;
Yet we are checked and thwarted on each side
By the world's flux and swept along like sand:
In this eternal storm and outward tide
We hear a promise, hard to understand:
From the compulsion that all creatures bind,
Who overcomes himself, his freedom finds.

Goethe

Aung San Suu Kyi Q&A On Buddhism

On beliefs and virtues:

where you stumble

It is by going down into the abyss
that we recover the treasure of life.
Where you stumble,
there lies your treasure.

Joseph Campbell

first time i ever saw your face

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love,
To the dark and the empty skies.

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
And felt your heart beat close to mine
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command.

And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last till the end of time my love
It would last till the end of time my love

The first time ever I saw your face, your face,
your face, your face

Sung by Roberta Flack

desire and suffering

Desire and dukkha — are inseparable concomitants. At the moment desire springs up it creates in us a sense of lack, the pain of want. To end this pain we struggle to fulfill the desire. If our effort fails, we experience frustration, disappointment, sometimes despair. But even the pleasure of success is not unqualified. We worry that we might lose the ground we have gained. We feel driven to secure our position, to safeguard our territory, to gain more, to rise higher, to establish tighter controls. The demands of desire seem endless, and each desire demands the eternal: it wants the things we get to last forever. But all the objects of desire are impermanent. Whether it be wealth, power, position, or other persons, separation is inevitable, and the pain that accompanies separation is proportional to the force of attachment

Desire breeds fear and sorrow. Renunciation gives fearlessness and joy.


Bhikkhu Bodhi

John Steinbeck on love

There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable.

John Steinbeck

Albert Nobbs Trailer Official 2012 [HD] - Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska

I Ching

Contemplation of the divine meaning underlying the workings of the universe gives to the man who is called upon to influence others the means of producing like effects. This requires that power in inner concentration which religious contemplation develops in great men of faith. It enables them to apprehend the mysterious and divine laws of life, and by means of profoundest inner concentration they give expression to these laws in their own persons. Thus a hidden spiritual power emanates from them, influencing and dominating others without their being aware of how it happens.

I Ching, Wilhelm

The Dalai Lama's Talk to Westerners at the Kalachakra in Bodh Gaya