Quotes About Reflection

consideration, whether by discourse or correspondence.

Reading is experience. A biography of any literary person ought to deal at length with what he read and when, for in some sense, we are what we read.

He was most alive at his business. He loved his wife, or thought he did. But did he miss Miriam? At first, yes, a lot, but by now days, whole weeks, went by when he didn't think about her.

celebrated Cistercian intellectual and

Ich geselle mich zu ihnen und schaue ebenfalls voller Ehrfurcht und Bewunderung zu diesem gewaltigen Bauwerk auf und erschaudere angesichts einer Kultur, die eine solche Waffe, ein solch perverses Monument der Massenvernichtung bauen konnte.

If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it.

Where is the end of seeing, of hearing, of thinking, of knowing?

We can also strengthen the quality of ardor by reflecting on the transiency of all phenomena. Look at all the things we become attached to, whether they are people or possessions or feelings or conditions of the body. Nothing we have, no one in our lives, no state of mind is exempt from change. Nothing at all can prevent the universal process of birth, growth, decay, and death.

It's always helpful to have a sense of humor about one's own mental foibles. By

In the moment that we awaken from being lost in a thought or feeling or reaction, in that very moment we can recognize the empty, clear, skylike nature of awareness itself. In that moment of wakefulness, we get a glimpse of freedom. And instead of judging ourselves for all the times we do get lost, which happen again and again, we can delight in each moment of awakening.

Whatever is born will die; Whatever is joined will come apart; Whatever is gathered will disperse; Whatever is high will fall. Having considered this, I resolve not to be attached To these lush meadows, Even now, in the full glory of my display, Even as my petals unfold in splendor . . . You too, while strong and fit, Should abandon your clinging. . . . Seek the pure field of freedom, The great serenity.3

Memory is a class of thoughts which takes as its object something already experienced.

the results of our actions follow us like a shadow, or, to use an ancient image, like the wheel of the oxcart following the foot of the ox.

If I were to say, 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said, 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life.

Some people think the longer you can sit, the wiser you must be. I have seen chickens sitting on their nests for days on end. Wisdom comes from being mindful at all times."3

Mindfulness practice begins to open up everything. We open our mind to memories, to emotions, to different sensations in the body. In meditation this happens in a very organic way, because we are not searching, we are not pulling or probing, we are just sitting and watching.

At first, as we undertake the cultivation of compassion, we may feel genuine empathy with others in pain or difficulty. This happens when we take the time to stop and feel what is really going on—even for just a few moments before rushing on with our lives.

The last in this list of unskillful speech actions is frivolous and useless talk. How often do we say things that really are of no use at all?

THE FOUR REFLECTIONS Precious Human Birth The first of the mind-changing reflections contemplates the preciousness of our human birth.

Defects of Samsara The fourth reflection that turns our minds toward the Dharma is the reflection on the defects of samsara. Samsara is a Pali and Sanskrit word that means "perpetual wandering," or the wandering through the endless cycles of existence.

When we can settle back into the moment, realizing that past and future are simply thoughts in the present, then we free ourselves from the bondage of "time.

Better than one hundred years lived without seeing the arising and passing of things / Is one day lived seeing their arising and passing."2 What does this say about what we value and work for in our lives, and about the liberating effect of seeing directly, in the moment, the truth of change?

meditate upon thoughts is simply to be aware, as thoughts arise, that the mind is thinking, without getting involved in the content: not going off on a train of association, not analyzing the thought and why it came, but merely to be aware that at the particular moment "thinking" is happening

Ask yourself how many of the billions of inhabitants of this planet have any idea of how rare it is to have been born as a human being.