Right meditation is not escapism; it is not meant to provide hiding-places for temporary oblivion. Realistic meditation has the purpose of training the mind to face, to understand and to conquer this very world in which we live.

-Nyanaponika Thera, "Power of Minfulness"

From "365 Buddha: Daily Meditations," edited by Jeff Schmidt

I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality.

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, "Being Peace"

Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. Consider, for example: a magician who cuts his body into many parts and places each part in a different region--hands in the south, arms in the east, legs in the north, and then by some miraculous power lets forth a cry which reassembles whole every part of his body. Mindfulness is like that--it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

"Great Teacher," said Upashiva, "when one is free from attachment and craving, when everything is let go and one depends on emptiness, will one be permanently in that state?"

"When you are free from craving for sense pleasures and when you are aware of emptiness, you are free in a supreme way and that will not change. It is like a flame struck by a gust of wind. In a flash the flame has gone out. Similarly, the person is suddenly free and no more words can be said. When all the ways of being a self are let go and when all phenomena are seen to be empty, then all the ways of describing this have also vanished." -Sutta Nipata

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

Do not go after the past,

Nor lose yourself in the future.

For the past no longer exists,

And the future is not yet here.

By looking deeply at things just as they are,

In this moment, here and now,

The seeker lives calmly and freely.

You should be attentive today,

For waiting until tomorrow is too late.

Death can come and take us by surprise--

How can we gainsay it?

The one who knows

How to live attentively

Night and day

Is the one who knows

The best way to be independent.

-Bhaddekaratta Sutra

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

Hostilities aren't stilled /through hostility,/ regardless.

Hostilities are stilled /through non-hostility: /this, an unending truth.

-Dhammapada, 1, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

When a lute is played, there is no previous store of playing that it comes from. When the music stops, it does not go anywhere else. It came into existence by way of the structure of the lute and the playing of the performer. When the playing ceases, the music goes out of existence. In the same way all the components of being, both material and nonmaterial, come into existence, play their part, and pass away. That which we call a person is the bringing together of components and their actions with each other. It is impossible to find a permanent self there. And yet there is a paradox. For there is a path to follow and there is walking to be done, and yet there is no walker. There are actions but there is no actor. The air moves but there is no wind. The idea of a specific self is a mistake. Existence is clarity and emptiness.

-Visuddhi Magga From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

For the one who has no inner, angry thoughts,

Who has gone past being a someone, a this or a that,

That one is free from fear and is blissful.

Even the gods cannot win such serenity.

-Udana Sutta

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.

-Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"

Anyone who, even for a second, feels a pure, clear confidence on hearing the truth will experience immeasurable happiness. Why? Because, at that moment, that person is not caught up in the concept of a self or a living being or a life span. He is not caught up in concepts about the world, nor is he caught up in concepts about nothingness. He does not take any notice of the idea that this is a sign, or this or that is not a sign.

For if you are caught up in ideas, then you will be caught up in the self. And even if you are caught up in ideas about nothingness, you will still be caught up in the self. That's why we should not get attached to the belief that things either exist or do not exist. This is the hidden meaning when I say that my teachings are a raft to be abandoned when you see true being. -Diamond Sutra

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

This is what I say: Your mind is spiritual and so too is the sense-perceived world. The spirit is timeless and it dominates all existence as the great law guiding all beings in their search for truth. It changes crude nature into mind, and there is no being that can't be transformed into a vessel of truth.

-Brahmajala Sutra

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft

Listen to the sound of water. Listen to the water running through chasms and rocks. It is the minor streams that make a loud noise; the great waters flow silently.

The hollow resounds and the full is still. Foolishness is like a half-filled pot; the wise man is a lake full of water.

-Sutta Nipata, from "365 Buddha: Daily Meditations," edited by Jeff Schmidt

"In your seeing," he said, "there should be only the seeing. In your hearing, nothing but the hearing; in your smelling, tasting, and touching, nothing but smelling, tasting, and touching; in your thinking, nothing but the thought."

-Khuddaka Nikaya

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

Of all the ways you can think of, none has a sixteenth part of the value of loving-kindness. Loving-kindness is a freedom of the heart which takes in all the ways. It is luminous, shining, blazing forth.

Just as the stars have not a sixteenth part of the moon's brilliance, which absorbs them all in its shining light, so loving-kindness absorbs all the other ways with its lustrous splendor.

Just as when the rainy season ends and the sun rises up into the clear and cloudless sky, banishing all the dark in its radiant light, and just as at the end of a black night the morning star shines out in glory, so none of the ways you can use to further your spiritualy progress has a sixteenth part of the value of loving-kindness. For it absorbs them all, its luminosity shining forth. -Itivuttaka Sutta

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

"Monks, if people speak badly of me or badly of the teaching or of our order of monks, you should not because of their ill will hold any thoughts of enmity toward them or any spite, nor even be at all worried. For if you are angry or displeased with them it will hurt you more than them. Indeed, if you were to feel angry or displeased, would you then be able to know what is well intended and what is badly intended from others?"

"No, we would not be able to know this."

"So, if others speak ill of me or the teaching or the order, you should with goodwill unravel the untruth of what they have said and make it all clear to them, saying, 'For this reason, that is false; for this reason, that is untrue; these things are not within us."

-Digha Nikaya

From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000

When everything is clean-clear in your own mind, nobody can create obstacles for you.

-Lama Thubten Yeshe, "The Bliss of Inner Fire"

"All those who suffer in the world do so because of their desire for their own happiness. All those happy in the world are so because of their desire for the happiness of others." -Bodhicaryavatara

Trivial thoughts, insignificant thoughts, When followed they distract the mind. Not understanding those thoughts The roaming mind runs back and forth. But by understanding those thoughts One ardent and mindful restrains the mind. An awakened one has overcome them completely So they do not arise to distract the mind.

-Udana

A devata said: "One who has sons delights in sons, One with cattle delights in cattle. Acquisitions truly are a man's delight; Without acquisitions one does not delight."

The Buddha answered: "One who has sons sorrows over sons. One with cattle sorrows over cattle. Acquisitions truly are a man's sorrows; Without acquisitions one does not sorrow."

Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from "Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations," edited by Josh Bartok

Desires achieved increase thirst like salt water.

-Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream"

A questioner asked the Buddha: "I would like to know about the state of peace, the state of solitude and of quiet detachment. How does a person become calm, independent, and not wanting to grasp at anything?"

"A person does this," replied the Buddha, "by eradicating the delusion of 'I am.' By being alert and attentive, he begins to let go of cravings as they arise. But whatever he begins to accomplish, he should beware of inner pride. He must avoid thinking of himself as better than another, or worse or equal, for that is all comparison and emphasizes the self.

"The person should look for peace within and not depend on it in any other place. For when a person is quiet within, the self cannot be found. There are no waves in the depths of the ocean, it is still and unbroken. It is the same with the peaceful person. He is still, without any longing to grasp. He has let go the foundations of self and no longer builds up pride and desire."

-Sutta Nipata

In Buddhism, the essential meaning of the word "study" is the unceasing, dedicated observation and investigation of whatever arises in the mind, be it pleasant or unpleasant. Only those familiar with the observation of mind can really understand Dharma.

-Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, "Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree"

The charity which unstores wealth leads to returns of well-stored fruit. Giving away our food we get more strength, giving away our clothes we get more beauty. -Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King

Enlightenment--that magnificent escape from anguish and ignorance--never happens by accident. It results from the brave and sometimes lonely battle of one person against his own weaknesses. -Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano, "Landscapes of Wonder"

You should be an island to yourself, a refuge to yourself, not dependent on any other but taking refuge in the truth and none other than the truth. And how do you become an island and a refuge to yourself?

In this way. You see and contemplate your body as composed of all the forces of the universe. Ardently and mindfully you steer your body-self by restraining your discontent with the world about you. In the same way, observe and contemplate your feelings and use that same ardent restraint and self-possession against enslavement by greed or desire. By seeing attachment to your body and feelings as blocking the truth, you dwell in self-possession and ardent liberation from those ties.

This is how you live as an island to yourself and a refuge to yourself. Whoever dwells in this contemplation, islanded by the truth and taking refuge in the truth--that one will come out of the darkness and into the light.

-Digha Nikaya

The bliss of a truth-seeking life is attainable for anyone who follows the path of unselfishness. If you cling to your wealth, it is better to throw it away than let it poison your heart. But if you don't cling to it but use it wisely, then you will be a blessing to people. It's not wealth and power that enslave men but the clinging to wealth and power. -Majjhima Nikaya