Quotes About Perspective

Our own picture of the world is a kind of a fantasy made of our memory in our brain. Each person has this limitation. That is why we have problems, troubles, fighting, arguments. The angles we see the world from are different, and anuttara samyak sambodhi, the supreme awareness, is to see that we cannot see the whole world, to understand that we are deluded and limited. This means we have to let go of our viewpoints.

So each moment we can see only part of the world, not the whole world. That is the source of delusion.

From the nature of reality in our life experience at the present time, we say these sliding doors are new, or the ceiling is old. We imagine that this ceiling was made several decades or several centuries ago because of its present nature of appearing old. Yet in reality, only the present exists. The past and the future do not exist [separate from the present].

However, the reader should not get the idea that here I am comparing zazen with the rest of our day-to-day activities. To do so would be to fall into the trap that many practitioners fall into of clinging to the idea that practicing zazen is most important; therefore, one should practice it twenty-four hours a day. The error here is in taking literally the idea of zazen being the most important activity in our life as opposed to all our other activities.

Be very clear about this: A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.49 As an ancient teacher has said: Two-thirds of our days are already over, And we have not practiced clarifying who we are. We waste our days in chasing satisfaction, So that even when called, we refuse to turn around. How regrettable.50

Do not get carried away by the sounds of spring, nor become heavy-hearted upon seeing the colors of fall.62 View the changes of the seasons as a whole, and weigh the relativeness of light and heavy from a broad perspective. It is then that you should write, understand

The point of the spiritual life is to realize Truth. But you will never understand the spiritual life, or realize Truth, if you measure it by your own yardstick.

A blow that would kill a civilized man soon heals on a savage. The higher we go in the scale of life, the greater is the capacity for suffering.

Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think.

Let's not allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. Remember Life is too short to be little.

If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive.

Why talk about what we want? That is childish. Absurd. Of course, you are interested in what you want. You are eternally interested in it. But no one else is. The rest of us are just like you: we are interested in what we want.

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today

Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself.

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.

People who can put themselves in the place of other people, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for them.

When two partners always agree, one of them is not necessary. If there is some point you haven't thought about, be thankful if it is brought to your attention.

A person's toothache means more to that person than a famine in China which kills a million people. A boil on one's neck interests one more than forty earthquakes in Africa. Think of that the next time you start a conversation.

The reason why rivers and seas receive the homage of a hundred mountain streams is that they keep below them. Thus they are able to reign over all the mountain streams. So the sage, wishing to be above men, putteth himself below them; wishing to be before them, he putteth himself behind them. Thus, though his place be above men, they do not feel his weight; though his place be before them, they do not count it an injury.

Always avoid the acute angle.

Remember that other people may be totally wrong. But they don't think so.

1. Ask yourself, "What is the worst that can possibly happen?" 2. Prepare to accept it if you have to. 3. Then calmly proceed to improve on the worst.

If there is any one secret of success," said Henry Ford, "it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.