Quotes from Richard Hooper

Our lives are products of our mind. What we are today is a result of what we thought yesterday. What we think today influences what happens to us tomorrow. Our entire lives are products of our mind.

The person who lets the world control him, no longer possesses his inner self.

The past does not exist. The future does not exist. One should concentrate the mind on the present moment.

All things are transient and subject to decay. To become attached to things leads to suffering. One can not truly say this belongs to me, or this is what I truly am. The answer to all things cannot be found in the outer world of things or self-concepts.

All things came from Me and all things will return to Me. Split the timber and there I Am. Lift a stone and you will discover Me there.

The great quest of Hinduism, Buddhism and Gnostic Christianity is to seek and find the means for liberating oneself from the bonds of the material, illusory, world.

The Gnostic Christ (and the historical Jesus), like the Buddha, like Krishna, like Lao Tzu, taught that all material things are impermanent—whether they be riches, or one's own body. Attachment to that which is impermanent causes suffering. Give up attachment and suffering ceases.

Do not store up for yourselves earthly possessions, which moths and rust can destroy, and robbers can steal. Rather, store up heavenly treasures which cannot be destroyed or stolen. For wherever your heart is, there is your treasure as well.

The desire for wealth can not bring happiness. Instead, anxiety results from the desire to keep it. Wealth creates dissatisfaction, and the loss of it is like death. Those who seek wealth only increase their desires.

Fate causes the old soul to forget all the many regions it has traveled over time, and all the punishments it has endured along the way. This forgetfulness becomes the body that surrounds the soul. It pretends to be the soul, but it is a false spirit.

One buries treasure in the belief that it will be needed in the future. It is far better to act with charity and goodness. One who controls himself builds up hidden treasure that no thief can steal.

Pleasures in life are like a flowing river. You float away on them and are carried from lifetime to lifetime. They pursue you like hunter pursues his prey. The cycle of birth, death and rebirth goes on and on. It is a long journey for those who do not know the dharma.

Those whose happiness is within, whose peace is within, whose light is within—that person becomes free.

The Great Way has no gate, there are thousands of paths to it. If you pass through the barrier, you walk the universe alone. Wu-men—Chan Buddhist

The highest achievement results from mastering one's senses. Wisdom comes when we are no longer interested in worldly things.

I am a beacon of light to those who see Me. I am a mirror to those who look for Me. I am a door to those who knock on Me. I am a Way for you, the traveler.

The human mind has often been compared to a hyper-active chattering monkey who refuses to stop moving or shut up.

I Am a lamp, so that you might see Me. I Am a path for you to travel.

The mind which has attained wisdom and peace becomes a mirror of all creation.

Seeing himself in others, one who is in a state of higher consciousness feels compassion for all beings, and holds only positive thoughts about them.

Happiness in life is the result of accepting everything just the way it is. Serenity is achieved when one no longer wishes for "something else.