Quotes About Clarity

Whether we are happy or whether we suffer depends largely on our perceptions. It is important to look deeply into our perceptions and recognize their source.

Forgetfulness is the darkness, mindfulness is the light.

If one's perceptions were accurate, reality revealed itself with ease; but if one's perceptions were erroneous, reality was veiled. People were caught in endless suffering because of their erroneous perceptions: they believed that which is impermanent is permanent, that which is without self contains self, that which has no birth and death has birth and death, and they divided that which is inseparable into parts.

We need to stop and ask, "Can I realize my deepest aspiration if I pursue this path?" "What is really preventing me from taking the path I most deeply desire?" DEVELOPING

The fear, the anger and the despair is born on the ground of wrong perception.

Ignorance is in each cell of our body and our consciousness. It's like a drop of ink diffused in a glass of water.

The Buddha told him, When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating

Life is real; it's not a dream when mindfulness is there.

Your concept or perception of reality is not reality. When you are caught in your perceptions and ideas, you lose reality.

Every time we truly stop and look deeply, the result is a better understanding of the true nature of what is there inside us and around us.

No view can ever be the truth. It is just from one point; that is why it is called a "point of view." If we go to another point, we will see things differently and realize that our first view was not entirely right. Buddhism is not a collection of views. It is a practice to help us eliminate wrong views. The quality of our views can always be improved. From the viewpoint of ultimate reality, Right View is the absence of all views.

Knowledge is the first obstacle of the mind that a meditator should be able to remove. We should not be too sure of anything.

I'm being completely myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions. There's no way I can be tossed around mindlessly like a bottle slapped here and there on the waves. The

Concentration is not wholesome in itself. A thief needs concentration to break into a house. The object of our concentration is what makes it beneficial or not. If you use meditative concentration to run away from reality, that is not beneficial.

How we deal with our daily lives is the most important question.

Freedom is above all else freedom from our own notions and concepts. If we get caught in our notions and concepts, we can make ourselves suffer and we can also make those we love suffer.

Breathing in, I know I'm breathing in. Breathing out, I know I'm breathing out.

All concepts, including those of "unity" and of duality, are foreign to experience which can be described as non-conceptual.

The awakened man lives in the world of things like everyone else. When he sees a rose he knows that it is a rose, like everyone else, But the difference is that he is neither conditioned nor imprisoned by concepts. Concepts now become marvelous skillful means in his possession.

It is not by virtue of moral conduct that one can realize Wisdom, but by maintaining body and mind in the permanent Awareness of Being.

May I be able to live fresh, solid, and free.

Meditation is not about turning yourself into a battlefield where one side fights the other, because the basis of Buddhist meditation is nonduality.

The higher our degree of concentration, the greater the quality of our life. Vietnamese girls are often told by their mothers that if they concentrate, they will be more beautiful. This is the kind of beauty that comes from dwelling deeply in the present moment. When a young lady moves inattentively, she does not look as fresh or at ease. Her mother may not use these words, but she is encouraging her daughter to practice Right Concentration

The first thing we can do in these situations is to acknowledge internally that the pictures we have in our head, what we think happened, may not be accurate. Our practice is to breathe and walk until we are more calm and relaxed.