Pheena Posted February 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2005 "It is not your action that condemns you, but it is your judgement of what you think and what you do that condemns you." And there comes another quotation from Christianity, "Judge not that ye be not judged." Don't even judge yourself. Who are you to judge when somebody is there to judge? Why do you think you are a sinner or you are a saint? You are neither. Sometimes your actions are those of a sinner, which doesn't make you a sinner. Sometimes they are those which can be called saintly, which of course doesn't make you a saint either. We are what we are. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 Buddha's teachings are so simple and straightforward. If you find them complicated, it is only because you have made them so. You may think, "I have a Ph.D. and have amassed all this knowledge, yet I still can't figure out how to begin practicing Dharma." The remedy is to take a good look at your own mind. ~ Lama Thubten Yeshe, in Wisdom Energy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy. Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit. Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal. Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. ~Aristotle~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons. ~Aristotle~ Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked. Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others. I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within. Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act. Patience is the companion of wisdom. Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences. Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty. ~Saint Augustine~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice. When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections. ~Saint Francis de Sales ~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself. ~Saint Peter of Alcantara ~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 For it is in giving that we receive. It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching. Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love. No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves. Where there is injury let me sow pardon. ~St. Francis of Assisi ~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted February 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Viewing religion externally creates more and more division. We need to see and understand the inside, the essence of religion from a spiritual perspective. Where there is true spiritual experience there will be no division -- only unity and love. ~ Amritanandanmayi Devi Parliament of World Religions, Barcelona 2004 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 A "sin" is something which is not necessary. Every ceremony or rite has a value if it is performed without alteration. A ceremony is a book in which a great deal is written. Anyone who understands can read it. One rite often contains more than a hundred books. In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him. It is the greatest mistake to think that man is always one and the same. A man is never the same for long. He is continually changing. He seldom remains the same even for half an hour. Religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he "lives" his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy. Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave. ~George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff ~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient. I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion. Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all. ~ Alexander The Great ~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 For sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted. A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes anothers. God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul. Good actions ennoble us, we are the sons of our own deeds. Gray hairs seem to my fancy like the soft light of the moon, silvering over the evening of life. Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another. Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in this life. Sorrows are like thunderclouds, in the distance they look black, over our heads scarcely gray. Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them. The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying. There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go. We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection. Whenever, at a party, I have been in the mood to study fools, I have always looked for a great beauty: they always gather round her like flies around a fruit stall. ~Jean Paul Richter ~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest saints and sages of modern India, master teacher of self-inquiry, once said: "No one doubts that he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. If you find out the truth about yourself and discover your own source, that is all that is required." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2005 Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. ~ Benjamin Franklin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Listen to God. She will teach you to love yourself and others. Learn to love others, and you will learn to love yourself and God. Learn to love yourself, and you will have loved the Universe. ~unknown 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs; For the priest, the warrior. the tradesman, and all the thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God. It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be; The barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter-- Even Raidas was a seeker after God. The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste. Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction. ~Kabir by Rabindranath Tagore 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 People are constantly crossing over The threshold of eternity. The door is open If you can stay awake. ~Rumi 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 " He who expects nothing shall never be sad, for they will never be dissapointed " ~unknown ____________ A man goes to a Chinese monk, seeking advice and forgivenes for a greivous wrong he has committed. He has told a lie about a friend, and the lie has begun to circulate and cause the friend much grief. "Write down the name of every person you told this lie on a leaf. Go to that person, explain yourself, and ask their forgiveness. Then, go to the top of the mountain, throw the leaves into the wind. When you have done that, come back to me." Siad the monk. The man goes through the village, doing as the monk said and asking forgiveness from everyone he lied to. He went to the top of hte mountain, and thew the leaves into the wind. Excitedly, he hurried back to the monk. "I have done as you said," the man explained. "Have I righted my wrong?" "When you have retrieved every leaf thrown to the wind," said the monk "you will have learned the effect of you actions." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted April 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Cutting our doubts with regard to the ground brings conviction of the view. Preserving this without distraction is the essence of meditation. Skillfully enacting the meaning of meditation in everything is the supreme conduct. May we gain certainty in the view, meditation, and conduct. ~ Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa, from his Song of Mahamudra (trans. by Rosemarie Fuchs) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted April 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 I acknowledge the privilege of being alive in a human body at this moment, endowed with senses, memories, emotions, thoughts, and the space of mind in its wisdom aspect. It is the prayer of my innermost being to realize my supreme identity in the liberated play of consciousness, the Vast Expanse. Now is the moment, Here is the place of Liberation. Witness the contents of mind, the visions and sounds, the thoughts, as clouds passing through the vast expanse - the sky-like nature of mind. The rootedness of Being is in emptiness, clarity and awareness: unborn, unspoilt, stainlessly pure. The infinite vibratory levels, the dimensions of interconnectedness are without end. There is nothing independent. All beings and things are residents in your awareness. I subject my awareness to the perfection of being, the perfection of wisdom and perfection of love, all of these being co-present in the Vast Expanse. I share this panorama of Being and appreciate all I can share it with...the seamless interweaving of consciousness with each moment. Create perfection wherever you go with your awareness. That is why this teaching is admired by artists--they sense the correctness of the response to life as creative. Life is infinite creative play. Enjoyment and participation in this creative play is the artists profound joy. We co author every moment with universal creativity. To bare our souls is all we ask, to give all we have to life and the beings surrounding us. Here the nature spirits are intense and we appreciate them, make offerings to them--these nature spirits who call us here--sealing our fate with each other, celebrating our love. I am an intersecting kaleidoscope of Being in a rainbow refractive wave pattern: a corpuscle of light on the ocean...the transparency of my body with the rocks...sometimes the only way to summarize my feelings is to draw--to collapse the frenzy in my limbs enough to make a mark out of profound appreciation for my existence. ~Alex Grey~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 The Name of the Lord is Divine Nectar. Name is your sole Refuge, Prop and Treasure. Name and Nami (God) are one. Always chant His Names with devotion. Do Kirtan. This is the principal Sadhana in Kali-Yuga. Pray to the Lord from the core of your heart: “I am Thine. All is Thine. Thy Will be done. I an instrument in Thy Hands. You do everything. You are Just. Grant me faith and devotion.†Teach the eye to behold the Form of the Lord. Teach the ear to hear the Lord’s Lilas and Glory. Teach the hands to serve the saints and the poor. Take refuge in the Lord. Do total, ungrudging self-surrender. Live for Him. Offer your actions to Him. His Grace will descend on you. Have perfect trust in God. Faith is necessary to attain God. Faith can take you to the inner chambers of the Lord. Constantly repeat some inspiring verses (praises of God’s Glory) or some Mantras, or the Names of God. This will be your Divine background of thought. ~SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 The Buddhadharma is not far off. It's as close as your mind. Reality is not somewhere outside. How can you find it, if you turn away from yourself? Whether you're deluded or awake depends upon you. Make up your mind, and you will be there. Whether you're in the light or the dark doesn't depend upon others. Have faith and practice, and you will know the truth. If you don't take the medicine of the Great Physician, when will you see the light of the sun? ~ Ming-k'uang, ancient Chinese Buddhist master (translated by Red Pine) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 We are so blind and deaf. The world is transparent. God is everywhere whispering to us, talking to us, shouting at us. Usually we do not hear. Sometimes we do. Then we know that everything is grace. ~ Andrew Greeley 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheena Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 Buddha said: "Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is in the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyDudesWassup Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part. (311) - Nisargadatta 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyDudesWassup Posted May 9, 2005 Report Share Posted May 9, 2005 When you look upon another human being and feel great love toward them, or when you contemplate beauty in nature and something within you responds deeply to it, close your eyes for a moment and feel the essence of that love or that beauty within you, inseparable from who you are, your true nature. The outer form is a temporary reflection of what you are within, in your essence. That is why love and beauty can never leave you, although all outer forms will. ~ Eckhart Tolle 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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