Quotes from Sharon Salzberg

Like water poured from one vessel to another, metta flows freely, taking the shape of each situation without changing its essence.

Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.

Can you revise your perceptions to see the world in terms of suffering and the end of suffering, instead of good and bad? To see the world in terms of suffering and the end of suffering is Buddha-mind, and will lead us away from righteousness and anger. Get in touch with your own Buddha-mind, and you will uncover a healing force of compassion.

If we truly loved ourselves, we'd never harm another. That is a truly revolutionary, celebratory mode of self-care.

Self-compassion is like a muscle. The more we practice flexing it, especially when life doesn't go exactly according to plan (a frequent scenario for most of us), the stronger and more resilient our compassion muscle becomes.

In order to do anything about the suffering of the world we must have the strength to face it without turning away.

The foundation of metta practice is to know how to be our own friend. According to the Buddha, "You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

For any marginalized group to change the story that society tells about them takes courage and perseverance.

Even when we do our very best to treat those close to us with utmost respect and understanding, conflict happens. That's life. That's human nature.

Meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware— not only of our own inner workings but also of what's happening around us in the here & now.

To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.

These four qualities are among the most beautiful and powerful states of consciousness we can experience. Together they are called in Pali, the language spoken by the Buddha, the brahma-viharas. Brahma means "heavenly." Vihara means "abode" or "home." By practicing these meditations, we establish love (Pali, metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha) as our home.

Desire- grasping, clinging, greed, attachment - is a state of mind that defines what we think we need in order to be happy. We project all of our hopes and dreams of fulfillment onto some object of our attention. This may be a certain activity or outcome, a particular thing or person. Deluded by our temporary enchantment, we view the world with tunnel vision. That object, and that alone, will make us happy.

Vulnerability in the face of constant change is what we share, whatever our present condition.

The fulfillment we have in owning, in desiring, is temporary and illusory, because there is nothing at all we can have that we will not lose eventually. And so there is always fear.

All forms of meditation strengthen & direct our attention through the cultivation of three key skills: concentration, mindfulness & compassion or lovingkindness.

We can understand the inherent radiance & purity of our minds by understanding metta. Like the mind, metta is not distorted by what it encounters.

With attachment all that seems to exist is just me & that object I desire.

You are a person worthy of love. You don't have to do anything to prove that.

Just as a prism refracts light differently when you change its angle, each experience of love illuminates love in new ways, drawing from an infinite palette of patterns and hues.

Love exists in itself, not relying on owning or being owned.

The man felt that she had not been a very good mother and was not a good person. At one point, Nisargadatta advised him to love his mother. The man replied, "She wouldn't let me." Nisargadatta responded, "She couldn't stop you." No external condition can prevent love; no one and no thing can stop it. The awakening of love is not bound up in things being a certain way. Metta, like the true nature of the mind, is not dependent; it is not conditioned.

Thinking we are only supposed to have loving & compassionate feelings can be a terrible obstacle to spiritual practice.

Our practice rather than being about killing the ego is about simply discovering our true nature.