Quotes from Renuka Singh

IT IS SAID that if you want to know what you were doing in the past, look at your body now; if you want to know what will happen to you in the future, look at what your mind is doing now.

FEBRUARY 27 IF YOU WANT to change the world, first try to improve and bring about change within yourself. That will help change your family. From there it just gets bigger and bigger. Everything we do has some effect, some impact.

Laziness will stop your progress in your spiritual practice.

NEARLY ALL OF us receive our first lessons in peaceful living from our mothers, because the need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. From the earliest stages of our growth, we are completely dependent upon our mother's care and it is very important for us that she express her love. If children do not receive proper affection, in later life they will often find it hard to love others.

In other words, if someone remains in a peaceful and tranquil state of mind, external surroundings can cause them only a limited disturbance.

JUNE 1 WHEN WE ARE able to recognize and forgive ignorant actions done in one's past, we strengthen ourselves and can solve the problems of the present constructively.

APRIL 26 PEOPLE WHO FIGHT with other human beings out of anger, hatred and strong emotion, even if they gain victory over their enemies in battle, are not in reality true heroes. What they are doing is slaying corpses, because human beings, being transient, will die. Whether or not these enemies die in the battle is another question, but they will die at some point. So, in reality, they are slaying those already destined to die. The true hero is the one who gains victory over hatred and anger.

MAY 19 COMPASSION CAN BE roughly defined in terms of a state of mind that is non-violent and non-harming, or non-aggressive. Because of this there is a danger of confusing compassion with attachment and intimacy.

MAY 20 WE HAVE GENUINE friendship when it is based on true human feeling, a feeling of closeness in which there is a sense of sharing and connectedness. I would call this type of friendship genuine because it is not affected by the increase or decrease of the individual's wealth, status, or power. The factor that sustains that friendship is whether or not the two people have mutual feelings of love and affection.

IT SEEMS TO me that Western science and Eastern philosophy can join together to create a really complete and full-fledged human being. It is only in this way that man will emerge strengthened from his condition and become whole. What in fact interests me is what is beyond matter and awareness, what really is important and what makes us what we are.

IN THIS EVER-CHANGING world there are two important things that we should keep in mind. The first is self-examination. We should re-examine our own attitude towards others and constantly check ourselves to see whether we are practising properly. Before pointing our finger at others we should point it towards ourselves. Secondly, we must be prepared to admit our faults and stand corrected.

THREE QUALITIES ENABLE people to understand the teachings: objectivity, which means an open mind; intelligence, which is the critical faculty to discern the real meaning by checking the teachings of Buddha; and interest and commitment, which means enthusiasm.

IF ONE'S LIFE is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, shelter to protect yourself from the elements. And finally, there is an intense delight in abandoning faulty states of mind and in cultivating helpful ones in meditation.

APRIL 17 WHATEVER WE SAY, let us speak clearly and to the point, in a voice that is calm and pleasant, unaffected by attachment or hatred. Look kindly at others, thinking : It is thanks to them that I shall attain Buddhahood.

ACCORDING TO THE Latin root of the word, 'religion' would mean 'to bind again'. Now how does the concept of binding or tying up come to be applied as the common term for all our various teachings? The common enemy of all religious disciplines, the target of all moral precepts laid down by the great teachers of mankind, is selfishness of mind. For it is just this which causes ignorance, anger and passion which are at the root of all the troubles of the world.

WE KNOW THAT to wage a nuclear war today, for example, would be a form of suicide; or that to pollute the air or the oceans in order to achieve some short-term benefit would be to destroy the very basis for our survival. As individuals and nations are becoming increasingly interdependent, we have no other choice than to develop what I call a sense of universal responsibility.

OUR STATE OF mind plays a major role in our day-to-day experiences as well as our physical and mental well-being. If a person has a calm and stable mind, this influences his or her attitude and behaviour in relation to others. In other words, if someone remains in a peaceful and tranquil state of mind, external surroundings can cause them only a limited disturbance.

LAZINESS WILL STOP your progress in your spiritual practice. One can be deceived by three types of laziness: the laziness of indolence, which is the wish to procrastinate; the laziness of inferiority, which is doubting your capabilities; and the laziness that is attachment to negative actions, or putting great effort into non-virtue.

MARCH 23 FOR A BODHISATTVA to be successful in accomplishing the practice of the six perfections — generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom — cooperation with, and kindness towards, fellow beings are extremely important.

WHEN WE CONSIDER THAT everything we experience results from a complex interplay of causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or resent and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment and anger to arise. In this way the view of interdependence makes our minds more relaxed and open.

JUNE 5 IN THE MEDITATION of mental quiescence, in the nine states of mind, there is a state where striving must be abandoned; an effortless concentration is necessary at a certain stage. It is effortless: that means your mind becomes very tranquil — with good qualities and its character complete. At that moment, if you make an effort that disturbs the tranquillity. So in order to maintain that pure tranquillity effortless effort must be used.

THE OBSERVATION THAT good people suffer, and evil people keep enjoying benefits and recognition, is short-sighted. Also, this kind of conclusion might have been made in haste. If one analyses carefully, one finds that troublemakers are definitely not happy. It is better to behave well and take responsibility for one's actions, and lead a positive life.

MAY 1 THE VERY PURPOSE of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life.

ONE OF THE things that meditation teaches us, when we slowly descend into ourselves, is that the sense of peace already exists in us. We all have a deep desire for it even if it's often hidden, masked, thwarted. If we examine human nature carefully, it is good, well disposed, helpful. And it seems to me that nowadays the spirit of harmony is increasing, that our desire to live together calmly is growing stronger and stronger; it's more and more widespread.