Quotes from Joseph Goldstein

together and disappear when the conditions change. None of them

There are ten actions—three of body, four of speech, and three of mind—that plant the seeds of our own future suffering.

The second unwholesome action to avoid is stealing—taking that which doesn't belong to us.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Whatever is born will die; Whatever is joined will come apart; Whatever is gathered will disperse; Whatever is high will fall. Having considered this, I resolve not to be attached To these lush meadows, Even now, in the full glory of my display, Even as my petals unfold in splendor . . . You too, while strong and fit, Should abandon your clinging. . . . Seek the pure field of freedom, The great serenity.3

No deed is good that one regrets having done.

The second kind of unwholesome speech is the use of harsh, angry, or aggressive language.

Backbiting and gossip are the third type of unskillful speech. Words of this nature cause disharmony and the loss of friends.

No longer do we look outside of ourselves for solutions. We have seen where the path lies. All we require are the skillful means that will help us walk it.

In our own culture, we might call it "catalogue consciousness," obsessively rifling through the pages to see what else we might want. It's "wanting to want," and it's a disease our culture keeps nourishing.

The great discovery in our practice is that, on one level, birth and death, existence and nonexistence, self and other are the great defining themes of our lives. And on another level, it's all just a dance of insubstantial appearances, what the Buddha called "the magic show of consciousness.

The last of the ten unwholesome actions is wrong view, basic misperceptions that become the cause of difficulty and suffering in our lives.

No one can practice for us. The Buddhas just point the way.

As we walk the way of awareness, we see that the deepest purpose we all have is to perfect the qualities of our heart and mind. The spiritual path transforms our consciousness, purifying it of greed, hatred, ignorance, fear, envy, jealousy—those forces that create suffering in us and in the world.

the value of an action is measured not by its success or failure, but by the motivation behind it.

Memory is a class of thoughts which takes as its object something already experienced.

To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad thing come forth and experience themselves is awakening.

The last of these wholesome actions is meditation, the development of tranquillity and insight.

But in their deeper meaning, these refuges always point back to our own actions and mind states. Although there may be many false starts and dead ends as we begin our journey, if our interest is sincere, we soon make a life-changing discovery: what we are seeking is within us.

the only things that can be said to truly belong to us are our actions and their results;

Awareness of motivation plays a central role in the path of liberation.

the results of our actions follow us like a shadow, or, to use an ancient image, like the wheel of the oxcart following the foot of the ox.

Mind is the forerunner of all things. Speak or act with peaceful mind, happiness follows like a shadow that never leaves.4

Do no harm, act for the good, purify the mind." The flowering of all the great traditions of Buddhism derives from the teachings in this one simple verse.