posted May 11, 2017 09:43 AM            

"I am a finger pointing to the moon. Don't look at me; look
at the moon."

" You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection."

"Every human being is the author of his own health or
disease."

"Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but
you. They are all your teachers, each doing just the right
things to help you."

posted May 27, 2017 04:15 AM              

i've grown bitter enough from circumstances to not believe that, though still understand what they meant.

i guess cause i know myself arent like that. I personally consider myself a chaotic unstable, unfortunate happenstance that happened. If i know i'm like this, anyone else can be.

posted May 30, 2017 02:02 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by anonymidarkness:
I love these quotes, the last one especially.

"I am a finger pointing to the moon. Don't look at me; look
at the moon."

" You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection."

"Every human being is the author of his own health or
disease."

"Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but
you. They are all your teachers, each doing just the right
things to help you."

“ Do not believe in anything simply because you have
heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is
spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything
simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your
teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because
they have been handed down for many generations. But
after observation and analysis, when you find that anything
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and
benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

---

posted May 30, 2017 02:14 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by Randall:
Changed my mind. I choose the fourth one.

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posted July 02, 2017 01:11 AM            

"For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree."
-- Herman Hesse

- http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Hesse,_Hermann

Hermann Hesse is the author of Siddhartha --
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha

- http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/4840290-siddhartha

posted July 05, 2017 03:20 PM            

The Heart of Zen, an interview by Keith Martin-Smith of Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi, father of Mondo Zen. I've read most of the way through it now. Jun Po brings in a new take on the Rinzai's koan tradition that emphasizes dialogue (Japanese 'mondo') over intellectual riddle.

I am personally of the Soto mindset, that being the most undressed school that emphasizes simple zazen practice, but Jun Po's approach really hits a sweet spot that I hope more people learn about. Mondo Zen is the first to make me want to participate possibly in a retreat.

posted July 15, 2017 12:31 AM            

Metta
The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love
by
Acharya Buddharakkhita
© 1995

Introduction
The Pali word metta is a multi-significant term meaning loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness and non-violence.
The Pali commentators define metta as the strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others (parahita-parasukha-kamana).
Essentially metta is an altruistic attitude of love and friendliness as distinguished from mere amiability based on self-interest.
Through metta one refuses to be offensive and renounces bitterness, resentment and animosity of every kind, developing instead a mind of friendliness, accommodativeness and benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others.
True metta is devoid of self-interest.
It evokes within a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers.
Metta is indeed a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love.

Metta makes one a pure font of well-being and safety for others.
Just as a mother gives her own life to protect her child, so metta only gives and never wants anything in return.
To promote one's own interest is a primordial motivation of human nature.
When this urge is transformed into the desire to promote the interest and happiness of others, not only is the basic urge of self-seeking overcome, but the mind becomes universal by identifying its own interest with the interest of all.
By making this change one also promotes one's own well-being in the best possible manner.

Metta is the protective and immensely patient attitude of a mother who forbears all difficulties for the sake of her child and ever protects it despite its misbehavior.
Metta is also the attitude of a friend who wants to give one the best to further one's well-being.
If these qualities of metta are sufficiently cultivated through metta-bhavana
— the meditation on universal love —
the result is the acquisition of a tremendous inner power which preserves, protects and heals both oneself and others.

Apart from its higher implications, today metta is a pragmatic necessity.
In a world menaced by all kinds of destructiveness, metta in deed, word and thought is the only constructive means to bring concord, peace and mutual understanding.
Indeed, metta is the supreme means, for it forms the fundamental tenet of all the higher religions as well as the basis for all benevolent activities intended to promote human well-being.

The present booklet aims at exploring various facets of metta both in theory and in practice.

The examination of the doctrinal and ethical side of metta will proceed through a study of the popular Karaniya Metta Sutta, the Buddha's "Hymn of Universal Love."

In connection with this theme we will also look at several other short texts dealing with metta.

The explanation of metta-bhavana, the meditation on universal love, will give the practical directions for developing this type of contemplation as set forth in the main meditation texts of the Theravada Buddhist tradition, the Visuddhimagga, the Vimuttimagga and the Patisambhidamagga.