Quotes About Awareness

Chögyam Trungpa, a contemporary Tibetan Buddhist teacher, writes, "The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use, even spirituality.

was manipulating my inner experience rather than being with what was actually happening.

The most important thing is remembering the most important thing.

Poet Gary Lawless writes: When the animals come to us, Asking for our help, Will we know what they are saying? When the plants speak to us In their delicate, beautiful language, Will we be able to answer them? When the planet herself Sings to us in our dreams, Will we be able to wake ourselves, and act?

Our reality is the thoughts and dramas we see in our mental movies. We

Living in the future creates the illusion that we are managing our life and steels us against personal failure.

Our daily trance can feel ordinary and familiar,

When we get lost in our stories, we lose touch with our actual experience.

If we bring a steady attention to the immediate physical experience of an emotion, past sensations and stories linked to it that have been locked in our body and mind are "de-repressed.

Clearly recognizing what is happening inside us, and regarding what we see with an open, kind and loving heart, is what I call Radical Acceptance.

Presence is not some exotic state that we need to search for or manufacture. In the simplest terms, it is the felt sense of wakefulness, openness, and tenderness that arises when we are fully here and now with our experience.

At any moment throughout the day, if you find yourself driven by wanting, the question, what does my heart really long for? will help you reconnect to the purity of spiritual yearning. By pausing and asking yourself at any moment, "What really matters? What do I most care about?" you awaken your naturally caring heart.

Wisdom tells me I'm nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows.

I tried to comfort him by explaining that when we really spend time with any living beings—as he had with the ants—we find out that they are real. They are changing, animated, hungry, social. Like us, their life is fragile and they want to stay alive. His playmates hadn't had the chance to get to know ants in the way he did, I told him. If they had, they wouldn't want to injure them either.

Find a sitting position that allows you to be alert—spine erect but not rigid—and also relaxed. Close your eyes and rest your hands in an easy, effortless way. Allow your awareness to scan through your body and, wherever possible, soften and release obvious areas of physical tension. Because we so easily get lost in thoughts, vipassana begins with attention to the breath. Using the breath as a

As we figuratively sit beside ourselves and inquire, listen and name our experience, we see Mara clearly and open our heart in tenderness for the suffering before us.

Aceptación Radical empieza a desplegarse cuando nos asomamos a la vivencia del momento, soltando nuestras historias y acogiendo con suavidad nuestro dolor o nuestro deseo. Las dos partes de la aceptación verdadera (ver con claridad y acoger nuestra vivencia con compasión) dependen la una de la otra, como las dos alas de un ave de alto vuelo. Las dos juntas nos permiten volar y ser libres.

I asked myself, "Who is aware right now?" I was aware only of awareness: There was no "self" to locate. There was no entity that was failing, no self that was fearful and distraught, no foothold for self-doubt. While streams of sensations and emotions were moving through my body and mind, there was no one behind the scenes who possessed them or controlled them. I could find only the endless space of awareness—formless, open, knowing.

unless feelings are painfully intrusive or, as with sex, extremely pleasant or intense, physical sensations can seem elusive and be difficult to recognize. this is the basic characteristic of being in trance—we are only partially present to our experience of the moment.

Keeping our gaze on the bandaged place, as Rumi says, allows the light to enter.

acceptance and presence

it is our mistaken perception of who we are that's causing the difficulty.

Radical Acceptance is the art of engaging fully in this world — wholeheartedly caring about the preciousness of life — while also resting in the formless awareness that allows this life to arise and pass away.

What is happening?" We might also ask, "What wants my attention right now?" or, "What is asking for acceptance?