Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sutta Nipata

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Buddha

A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Deepak Chopra

Giving connects two people, the giver and the receiver, and this connection gives birth to a new sense of belonging.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Buddha

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

John Lennon


"Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law. It's nine-tenths of the problem."

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Buddha

Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Dogen-zenji

To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas. To be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Buddha

A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Ta Hui

The concerns that have come down from numberless ages are only in the present; if you can understand them right now, then the concerns of numberless ages will instantly disperse, like tiles being scattered or ice melting. If you don't understand right now, you'll pass through countless eons more, and it'll still be just as it is.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Buddha

Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way.
Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace.
A soul generated by love.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Buddha

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others.
He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Pema Chödrön

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Karmapa Dream Flag

The 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, well known for his visions and prophesies, designed this flag from a vision that came to him in a dream. He called it “Namkhyen Gyaldar (Victorious Flag of Buddha’s Wisdom).” He proclaimed, “Wherever this banner is flown the Dharma will flourish.” According to the outer meaning the blue represents the sky or heaven. The yellow symbolizes the earth. The wave symbolizes the Buddhadharma penetrating heaven and earth. According to the inner meaning the blue represents vision and spiritual insight and the yellow symbolizes our experience of the everyday world. The symmetry of the wave pattern shows the interdependence of the absolute and relative levels of reality. According to the secret meaning the blue symbolizes emptiness-wisdom and the yellow represents compassionate action. The wave is Mahamudra: the union of compassion and wisdom- the ultimate realization of one’s true nature.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Buddha

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tashi Targye

The Eight Auspicious Symbols are shown here in the form of a long banner. From top to bottom:

1. White Umbrella - protects from all evil
2. Golden Fish - happiness, beings saved from the sea of suffering
3. Vase - containing the nectar of immortality
4. Lotus - purity and spiritual unfoldment
5. Conch Shell - proclaims the teachings of the enlightened ones
6. Knot of Eternity - the meditative Mind
7. Victory Standard - proclaims the victory of Buddhism
8. Dharma Wheel - symbol of spiritual law

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Buddha

A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Buddha

A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Carlos Santana

Only as a warrior can one survive the path of knowledge,
because the art of a warrior is to balance the
terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Buddha

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

Thursday, January 10, 2008

"Because it was there ..."

Sir Edmund Hillary, the lanky New Zealand mountaineer and explorer who with Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide, won worldwide acclaim in 1953 by becoming the first to scale the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday in Wellington. He was 88.

Sir Edmund wrote or co-authored 13 books, including “No Latitude for Error,” (1961, Hodder & Stoughton), about the Antarctic experience. Besides writing and lecturing, he formed a foundation, the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust, that raised millions and built more than 30 schools, a dozen clinics, two hospitals, a couple of airfields, and numerous foot bridges, water pipelines and other facilities for the Sherpa villages in Nepal. In 2003, Nepal conferred honorary citizenship upon Sir Edmund, the first foreign national to receive that distinction. For many years, Sir Edmund also was president of New Zealand’s Peace Corps, and an important voice in his country’s conservation efforts. He never ran for public office, but was a frequent critic of New Zealand’s Government, calling for antipollution and other measures to improve the quality of life.

Pema Chödrön

We work on ourselves in order to help others,
but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Buddha

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

J. Krishnamurti

Sensitivity is not a cultural effect, the result of influence;
it is a state of being vulnerable, open.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Martin Luther

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces,
I would still plant my apple tree.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Buddha

Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Arthur Ashe

From what we get, we can make a living;
What we give, however, makes a life.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Tokusan

There is nothing in the self, so do not seek falsely;
what is attained by false seeking is not real attainment.
You just have nothing in your mind, and no mind in things;
then you will be empty and spiritual, tranquil and sublime.
Any talk of beginning or end would all be self-deception.
The slightest entanglement of thought is the foundation of the three mires;
a momentarily aroused feeling is a hindrance for ten thousand eons.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Buddha

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines,
but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008



This symbol, in monogram form, contains the seed syllables of the Kalachakra Heruka. It presents the essence of the teaching of the Kalachakra Tantra concerning the energy which transcends the relative concepts of time and space. These "Ten Syllables of Power" represent the 84,000 teachings of enlightenment.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Keijo Shurin

The road enters green mountains
near evening's dark;
Beneath the white cherry trees,
a Buddhist temple
Whose priest doesn't know what regret
for spring's passing means
Each stroke of his bell startles more
blossoms into falling.