Quotes About Suffering

And for a moment she was the heroine again. Battling the odds. But just for a moment. Because suddenly it was clear to me again that all she could do was take it, powerless. And lose. And I remember thinking at least it's not me. If I wanted to I could even join them. For that moment, thinking that, I had power.

Pain can work from the outside in.

Not one has shown an iota of fear of death. They want to end this agony.

As you become more intimate with your suffering, your heart grows tender.

As we follow a genuine path of practice, our sufferings may seem to increase because we no longer hide from them or from ourselves. When we do not follow the old habits of fantasy and escape, we are left facing the actual problems and contradictions of our life.

Your happiness and suffering depend on your actions and not on my wishes for you.

Things are wrong and people misbehave, causing our hatred and suffering to arise. But however painful our experiences may be, they are just painful experiences until we add the response of aversion or hatred. Only then does suffering arise. If we react with hatred and aversion, these qualities become habitual. Like a distorted autoimmune response, our misguided reaction of hatred does not protect us; rather, it becomes the cause of our continued unhappiness.

When we feel anger toward someone, we can consider that he or she is a being just like us, who has faced much suffering in life.

The suffering and happiness in our world, both individual and collective, depend on our consciousness.

True love and prayer are learned in the hour when love becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.

There is a palpable relief when I teach the perspective of nobility, of training in compassion, of non-religious ways to transform suffering and nurture our sacred connection to life.

The truth is that things change whether we want them to or not. Becoming attached to things as they are or pushing things away that we do not like does not stop them from changing. It only leads to further suffering.

consciously suffer the impact, to become the ground where the sorrows can be held and reworked. These things can be carried with grace. But it can't be faked. If you go to someone with 99 percent of goodwill and are still caught in 1 percent anger, all they feel is the anger, and it pushes them from reconciliation. The heart has to willingly hold the whole of suffering for it to be transformed.

identify with everything so easily—with your body, your thoughts, your opinions, your roles—and so you suffer. I have released all identification.

Gandhi, who exemplified inherent virtue for modern times, stated, "Let then our first act every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: 'I shall not fear anyone on earth. I shall fear only God. I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.

As we follow a genuine path of practice, our sufferings may seem to increase because we no longer hide from them or from ourselves. When we do not follow the old habits of fantasy and escape, we are left facing the actual problems and contradictions of our life. A

most often the kinds of pains we encounter in meditative attention are not indications of physical problems. They are the painful, physical manifestations of our emotional, psychological, and spiritual holdings and contractions.

Letting go is a central theme in spiritual practice, as we see the preciousness and brevity of life. When letting go is called for, if we have not learned to do so, we suffer greatly, and when we get to the end of our life, we may have what is called a crash course. Sooner or later we have to learn to let go and allow the changing mystery of life to move through us without our fearing it, without holding and grasping. I

When we clearly realize that the source of disharmony and misery in the world is ignorance, we can open the door of wisdom and compassion.

We will match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with Soul Force. We will not hate you, but we cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws. But we will soon wear you down with our capacity to suffer. And in winning our freedom we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win yours in the process. Martin

Like the mother of the world who carries the pain of the world in her heart, you are sharing in the totality of this pain and are called upon to meet it in compassion and joy instead of self-pity.

The Buddhist approach to this collective suffering is to turn toward it. We understand that genuine happiness and meaning will come through tending to suffering. We overcome out own despair bby helping other to overcome theirs.

Before his death the Buddha asked his disciples to follow the Dharma, not any teacher or tradition. He put no one over the community of monks and nuns. The Dharma was to guide them. So for us, there is no blind belief or blind faith in Buddhism. We simply believe enough in the possibility of liberation and we are wise enough to see the suffering in our existence to have the faith to begin practice.

condition for days? Or should I end her torture quickly? I couldn't take her to the hospital, I'd go to jail for sure. I