Quotes About Reflection

And then I think that while America was busy patting itself on the back and beating its chest,

If there is a God, he thought, I'll speak directly to him when the time comes, and if there isn't a God I'll have to invent one, and I'll find a way to thank him for the way I feel when I watch her move.

There's nothing like a good, long sleep to allow unpleasantness to recede into the past.

existential overload

Acknowledge. Accept. Let go.

In the Dharma, there is no place for guilt. Guilt is useless. It is pointless to feel bad about something in the past that we can't change. But regret? Yes. This is more useful. Do you both feel sincere regret for what you did?

Before we eat any meal, vegetarian or meat, we should always remember the beings that have died so that we can eat. Their lives were just as important to them as your life is to you. Think of them with gratitude and pray that their sacrifice will be a cause for them to be reborn in a higher realm—and for you to be healthy, so that you can quickly, quickly reach full enlightenment in order to lead them to that same state.

Would I have fared better if I had stood my ground and stared down my pursuers? Could so-called self-preservation sometimes backfire and become the very cause of pain?

Meditation provides the tools not only to abide more comfortably in the present, but also to observe rather than engage with unhappiness-creating thoughts.

It's our version of "me" that causes us the most stress and heartache. Which is why it comes as a relief to discover that this version is as transient as a cloud in the sky. Focus on the cloud and the result is uncertain. Focus on the sky and we discover clarity.

I sometimes think the past is a dangerous place to go looking for happiness," said the Indian man sitting next to Serena.

What a stroke of good luck to be harvesting the fruits of a life once well lived.

How valid is a practice that frees our bodies from rigidity but does nothing for the mind?

How do you think the Dharma is able to describe the death process in such detail? It's not a whole bunch of lamas sit around speculating on what might happen. It's because they actually go through it. Frequently.

instantly understood in that moment, however, was that the version of the beings we saw in the world around us was as much a reflection of our own mind, as it was of them. And that the more our mind was filled with thoughts of self and our own needs and wishes, the less space and compassion there was for others—and the less happy we would be.

One of the last things Buddha said to his followers was that anyone who believed a word he had taught them was a fool—unless they had tested it against their own experience.

The important thing is to make sure our decisions are guided with compassion and wisdom.

It is pointless to feel bad about something in the past that we can't change. But regret? Yes. This is more useful.

thinking about the past, especially going over bad things that have happened in our minds again and again, serves no purpose.

Mind is the forerunner of all actions.

Four tools," Geshe Wangpo said, looking at

in fact the only thing that really matters is inner transformation.

I thought he was going to leave me in a state of deep and continuing mystery but I really didn't mind because he'd called me 'dear boy',

If one speaks or acts with a serene mind, happiness follows, as surely as one's shadow.