“THE BOOK” A GUIDE FOR LIFE Lessons, Teachers, Teachings, Quotes, Poems and Stories about Life, Wisdom, Inner Peace, Healing, Transformation, and Protection.

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“THE BOOK” A GUIDE FOR LIFE

Lessons, Teachers, Teachings, Quotes, Poems and Stories about Life, Wisdom, Inner Peace, Healing, Transformation, and Protection.

Ricardo Pare Trejo González 2016

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Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum

“Grant your blessings so that my mind may follow the Dharma. Grant your blessings so that my Dharma practice may become the path. Grant your blessings so that the path may clarify the confusion. Grant your blessings so that confusion may dawn as wisdom.”

“No necesitan medico los que están fuertes, sino los que están mal; no he venido a llamar a justos, sino a pecadores” (Marcos 2:15-17).

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 Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................... XIII About The Road .................................................................................................... XV Preface ................................................................................................................ XVI Introduction............................................................................................................. 1 Note To Readers ...................................................................................................... 4 The 12 Laws ............................................................................................................. 5 Native American Legend .......................................................................................... 9 Two Wolves .......................................................................................................... 9 Advice From A Tree ................................................................................................ 10 Zen Stories ............................................................................................................. 11 The Burden ......................................................................................................... 11 Is That So? .......................................................................................................... 11 Maybe ................................................................................................................ 12 The Blind Men And The Elephant ....................................................................... 13 Right And Wrong ............................................................................................... 14 Nothing Exists .................................................................................................... 15 The Four Agreements By Don Miguel Ruiz ........................................................... 16 Be Impeccable With Your Word ......................................................................... 16 Don’t Take Anything Personally ......................................................................... 16 Don’t Make Assumptions ................................................................................... 16 Always Do Your Best .......................................................................................... 17 The Egg .................................................................................................................. 18 Teachings From “The Way Of Walking Alone” ....................................................... 24 The Greatest Speech Ever Made ............................................................................ 25 Small Life Story ...................................................................................................... 28 Life Explained ..................................................................................................... 28 Instructions For Life ............................................................................................... 30 See God In All ........................................................................................................ 34 Advice To My Kids .................................................................................................. 37 14 Precepts Of Engaged Buddhism ......................................................................... 41

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 Desiderata ............................................................................................................. 44 The 15 Laws Of Life ................................................................................................ 46 Kimo’s Hawaiian Rules ........................................................................................... 50 Metta..................................................................................................................... 51 A Fairy Tale ............................................................................................................ 53 The Practice Of Tonglen ......................................................................................... 56 A Bag Of Nails ........................................................................................................ 60 How To Take Insult ................................................................................................ 61 The Five Slogans Of Machik Labdron...................................................................... 62 To Surrender Oneself ............................................................................................. 63 When Emotion Overtakes You ............................................................................... 64 Why We Shout When In Anger .............................................................................. 66 The Buddha’s Words On Kindness (Metta Sutta) ................................................... 68 Rules For Being Human .......................................................................................... 70 Six Right Livelihood ................................................................................................ 72 Consume Mindfully. ........................................................................................... 72 Pause. Breathe. Listen........................................................................................ 72 Practice Gratitude. ............................................................................................. 72 Cultivate Compassion And Loving Kindness. ...................................................... 72 Discover Wisdom ............................................................................................... 72 Accept Constant Change. ................................................................................... 73 Is Your Jar Full? ...................................................................................................... 74 Native American Code Of Ethics............................................................................. 76 The $20 Dollar Bill .................................................................................................. 79 The Modern Taoist Sage ........................................................................................ 80 A Harmony Of Paradoxes ................................................................................... 80 Equanimity ......................................................................................................... 80 The Innocent One ............................................................................................... 81 The Detached One.............................................................................................. 82 Genghis Khan And His Hawk .................................................................................. 84 The Story Of The Pencil .......................................................................................... 88

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 Ahimsa................................................................................................................... 90 Meaning Of Ahimsa ........................................................................................... 91 Benefits Of The Practice Of Ahimsa ................................................................... 91 The Diamond Sutra ................................................................................................ 93 The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success ...................................................................... 98 The Law Of Pure Potentiality ............................................................................. 98 The Law Of Giving And Receiving....................................................................... 98 The Law Of Karma ............................................................................................. 98 The Law Of Least Effort ...................................................................................... 99 The Law Of Intention And Desire ....................................................................... 99 The Law Of Detachment .................................................................................. 100 The Law Of Dharma ......................................................................................... 100 The Greatest Irony Of Life .................................................................................... 101 Tale Of Two Pebbles ............................................................................................ 102 Within You ........................................................................................................... 105 This Exam Is Final ................................................................................................. 106 The Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules For Living .................................................................... 108 The Storm ............................................................................................................ 109 The Top Ten Quotes ............................................................................................. 110 Bob Marley .......................................................................................................... 115 Ten Commandments ............................................................................................ 117 Five Mindfulness Trainings .................................................................................. 118 Let Go .................................................................................................................. 121 The Greatest ........................................................................................................ 122 On Death ............................................................................................................. 123 I Promise.............................................................................................................. 125 Seven Cardinal Rules For Life ............................................................................... 126 Visvapani ............................................................................................................. 127 48 Laws Of Power ................................................................................................ 129 The Seven Main Chakras ...................................................................................... 132 Two Men ............................................................................................................. 136

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 Invictus ................................................................................................................ 139 Ame Ni Mo Makezu ............................................................................................. 140 The Art Of Peace .................................................................................................. 141 My Roots ............................................................................................................. 144 Osho Kundalini Meditation .................................................................................. 146 Osho On How To Shake .................................................................................... 146 Instructions ...................................................................................................... 147 The Laughing Heart .............................................................................................. 148 A Few Chapters From The Tao Teaching............................................................... 149 Essential Phowa Practice ..................................................................................... 156 A Powerful Practice For The Moment Of Death ............................................... 157 Nothing We Do Is Ever Lost.............................................................................. 158 The Practice Of Essential Phowa ...................................................................... 159 Invocation ........................................................................................................ 159 Calling Out ....................................................................................................... 160 Receiving The Blessing ..................................................................................... 160 Dedicate Your Practice ..................................................................................... 161 Essential Phowa For Others ............................................................................. 161 Essential Phowa In A Sudden Death ................................................................ 162 Vedanta ............................................................................................................... 163 The Means ....................................................................................................... 164 Bhakti Yoga ...................................................................................................... 164 Jnana Yoga ....................................................................................................... 165 Karma Yoga ..................................................................................................... 165 Raja Yoga ......................................................................................................... 165 Read From Your Heart ......................................................................................... 167 The Seven Archangels .......................................................................................... 172 The Bhagavad Gita ............................................................................................... 175 The Subject Of Bhagavad Gita ......................................................................... 175 The Essence Of Vedic Knowledge ..................................................................... 178 Ten Steps To Self Care .......................................................................................... 181 Makes Me Think .................................................................................................. 182 Bodhichitta: The Excellence Of Awakened Heart ................................................. 183

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 Cultivating The Witness ....................................................................................... 196 Laughing Trees ..................................................................................................... 198 In The Event Of My Demise .................................................................................. 199 The Flower Of Life ................................................................................................ 200 Alchemy ........................................................................................................... 201 Seed Of Life ...................................................................................................... 202 Fruit Of Life ...................................................................................................... 203 Metatrons Cube ............................................................................................... 203 Rewriting The Mind – We Are What We Think ..................................................... 206 The Power Of The Subconscious Mind ............................................................. 207 How To Affirm Or Rewrite The Mind ................................................................ 207 Tips For A Better Life............................................................................................ 210 Unconditional Love .............................................................................................. 211 The Popol Vuh ..................................................................................................... 214 The Cab Ride I Will Never Forget .......................................................................... 215 Ayurveda – The Science Of Life ............................................................................ 220 The Tomato Garden ............................................................................................. 221 Aztec Gods And Godesses .................................................................................... 222 Anger Uncontrolled ............................................................................................. 223 Eight Simple Affirmations You Should Whisper To Yourself ................................. 228 The Secret To Meditation Is Attention ................................................................. 230 The Ten Bhumis ................................................................................................... 232 Rules For Doing Good .......................................................................................... 236 Experience Life..................................................................................................... 237 Introduction To The Spiritual Masters And Teachers ........................................... 240 JESUS CHRIST ....................................................................................................... 242 BUDDHA .............................................................................................................. 245 SHIVA................................................................................................................... 251 KRISHNA .............................................................................................................. 253 LAO TZU ............................................................................................................... 256

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 MUHAMMAD....................................................................................................... 258 PADMASAMBHAVA ............................................................................................. 260 MAHAVIRA .......................................................................................................... 263 MILAREPA ............................................................................................................ 265 MAITREYA............................................................................................................ 267 QUETZALCOATL ................................................................................................... 268 SHANKARA........................................................................................................... 271 RUMI ................................................................................................................... 273 METATRON .......................................................................................................... 276 ASHTAVAKRA ....................................................................................................... 277 PATANJALI ........................................................................................................... 279 BODHIDHARMA ................................................................................................... 281 GURDJIEFF ........................................................................................................... 284 RAMAKRISHNA .................................................................................................... 286 LONGCHENPA ...................................................................................................... 288 ZOROASTER ......................................................................................................... 290 CONFUCIOUS ....................................................................................................... 292 KABIR ................................................................................................................... 293 SHANTIDEVA ........................................................................................................ 296 TANG HOI ............................................................................................................ 297 JAMYANG KHYENTSE ........................................................................................... 298 PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA ............................................................................. 300 AL-MA’ARRI ......................................................................................................... 303 DILGO KHYENTSE RINPOCHE ................................................................................ 305 THE DALAI LAMA ................................................................................................. 308 OSHO ................................................................................................................... 311 J. KRISHNAMURTI ................................................................................................ 315 THICH NHAT HANH .............................................................................................. 319 THE 17TH KARMAPA ............................................................................................. 323

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 SOGYAL RINPOCHE .............................................................................................. 327 EPICURUS............................................................................................................. 331 ARISTOTLE ........................................................................................................... 333 SOCRATES ............................................................................................................ 335 PLATO .................................................................................................................. 337 DESCARTES .......................................................................................................... 339 EINSTEIN .............................................................................................................. 341 TESLA ................................................................................................................... 345 VOLTAIRE ............................................................................................................. 347 NEWTON.............................................................................................................. 350 SCHOPENHAUER .................................................................................................. 352 NIETZCHE ............................................................................................................. 355 EDISON ................................................................................................................ 358 LINCOLN............................................................................................................... 360 BERTRAND RUSSELL ............................................................................................. 362 JEAN PAUL SARTRE .............................................................................................. 365 RUTHERFORD ....................................................................................................... 368 EMMET FOX ......................................................................................................... 369 J.R.R. TOLKIEN ..................................................................................................... 372 C.G. JUNG ............................................................................................................ 375 SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR ......................................................................................... 378 MEISTER ECKHART ............................................................................................... 380 FRIDA KAHLO ....................................................................................................... 382 NERUDA ............................................................................................................... 384 GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ................................................................................. 386 JORGE LUIS BORGES ............................................................................................. 390 OCTAVIO PAZ ....................................................................................................... 397 PAULO COELHO.................................................................................................... 400 CONNY MENDEZ .................................................................................................. 406

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 ALAN WATTS ....................................................................................................... 408 ECKHART TOLLE ................................................................................................... 411 RABINDRANATH TAGORE .................................................................................... 415 SWAMI GURU DEVANAND ................................................................................... 420 MAHATMA GANDHI ............................................................................................. 423 NELSON MANDELA .............................................................................................. 426 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. .................................................................................... 430 MOTHER TERESA.................................................................................................. 433 THE 12THTAI SITU RINPOCHE ................................................................................ 436 SRI SARADA DEVI ................................................................................................. 440 DILGO KHYENTSE YANGSI RINPOCHE ................................................................... 442 SADHGURU .......................................................................................................... 443 GURU NANAK ...................................................................................................... 446 GORAKHNATH ..................................................................................................... 448 CHATRAL SANGYE RINPOCHE ............................................................................... 450 AJAHN CHAH ........................................................................................................ 453 SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI ..................................................................................... 458 MOOJI .................................................................................................................. 460 DZONGSAR KHYENTSE RINPOCHE ........................................................................ 463 MATTHIEU RICARD .............................................................................................. 466 NEEM KAROLI BABA............................................................................................. 468 NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE .................................................................................. 470 JACK KORNFIELD .................................................................................................. 472 SHUNRYU SUSUKI ................................................................................................ 474 MINGYUR RINPOCHE ........................................................................................... 477 YOGI BHAJAN ....................................................................................................... 481 JETSUNMA TENZIN PALMO .................................................................................. 484 MINDROLLING JETSUN KHANDRO RINPOCHE ...................................................... 487 JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE .................................................................................. 488

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 SRI AUROBINDO .................................................................................................. 489 NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS ............................................................................................ 491 MITSUO AIDA ...................................................................................................... 494 OKAKURA KAKUZO .............................................................................................. 496 SHECHEN RABJAM RINPOCHE .............................................................................. 497 SAINT FRANCIS..................................................................................................... 499 SAINT JUDE .......................................................................................................... 502 RAMTHA .............................................................................................................. 503 NICK VUJICIC ........................................................................................................ 505 PHAKCHOK RINPOCHE ......................................................................................... 507 JOHN LENNON ..................................................................................................... 509 DAVID GILMOUR .................................................................................................. 511 BRUCE LEE............................................................................................................ 512 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 514 From The Book, Vedanta For The Western World ................................................ 514 Until Next Time… ................................................................................................. 517 Prayers................................................................................................................. 520 Dedication ........................................................................................................... 528 Contact And Donations ........................................................................................ 529 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 530

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 DEDICATION This book goes dedicated first of all to all the spiritual masters, the enlightened beings, and everyone who is or has helped humanity in becoming a better race and building a better world, to all those who guard and guide us, even though their voice is most of the time silenced by our thoughts. To my mom,my compassion, to my dad my strength, my sister my happiness, my brother my inner peace, my dogs Miztli and Tao my loyal companions, my entire family and friends, to Dr. Luis Miguel Salvador, thank you for all your guidance and teachings. But also, it is dedicated to every sentient being which is a part of me because I am also a part of you, we are all connected, everything in this universe is connected and balanced that’s why we must take care of one another, insects, plants, trees and animals. I want to thank especially my Root Guru, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, also I want to thank Adzom Gyalse Tulku Rinpoche for their blessing for this book. Thanks to everybody at Shechen Monastery for your powerful teachings and guidance.

“It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, But no one can walk it for you.” Rumi

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 This book is especially dedicated to the memory of Adrian González Rojas (02/16/1992 – 06/20/2015), a great cousin, brother, friend, son and human being.

“Si para recobrar lo recobrado debí perder primero lo perdido, si para conseguir lo conseguido tuve que soportar lo soportado, Si para estar ahora enamorado fue menester haber estado herido, tengo por bien sufrido lo sufrido, tengo por bien llorado lo llorado. Porque después de todo he comprobado que no se goza bien de lo gozado sino después de haberlo padecido. Porque después de todo he comprendido por lo que el árbol tiene de florido vive de lo que tiene sepultado.” Francisco Luis Bernárdez

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 ABOUT THE ROAD When I talked to Matthieu Ricard about this book, he gave me a lesson I will never forget. We were at his office in Shechen Monastery at Kathmandu, and he showed me the picture on his laptop of the Himalayas, then he pointed at the Everest and told me; “In order to get there, you can follow many roads, but you can’t split yourself in three and try three different roads and you can’t be changing roads every time because you will never get there. So, the best thing you can do is follow one true road.” I will always be thankful for this; it is a very valuable lesson. When you find a true road, follow that one, let it transform you into the best version of yourself in order to benefit all sentient beings. Let it shake you, break you and then enlighten you. We are here to serve; we are here to help build a better world. All the rest is just an illusion.

“The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world or, to put it another way, to transform ourselves so we can become better human beings in order to serve others in a wiser and more efficient way. It gives your life the noblest possible meaning.” Matthieu Ricard

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 PREFACE This book is meant to reach you, whoever gets this book, whoever is reading it, it’s time to change your life, and this is the signal you have been waiting for. This is a book to help with the creation, with love, with giving, with transformation, healing, inner peace, protection, knowledge and other very useful life lessons and stories. I am not the author of many of the things here published, it is just a book that has the intention of helping people transform and live with an open heart, realize that we are beings of light who can transform our life from hell to heaven forever. I decided to put this book together because I had all this sacred information, I was looking for a Guru and thanks to this book I found Him. I didn’t know what to do with all these teachings, hence I decided I could make something valuable with it, something that could help countless sentient beings, this is how I decided to put these teachings together. This book will be like a Guru in your life, I once read a book by Swami Chaitanya Keerti, that the word Guru is divided into two words, “Gu” which means “darkness” and “Ru” which means “the remover of”, so a Guru is a remover of darkness, and this book will be a Guru for your life and whoever you share it with so you can remove darkness from your path. If I had a gift to my younger self, this book would be it. Since I am not the author of most things in this book and it is a compilation of lessons, experiences, poems, quotes and many other teachings, this book is free, like inner and outer knowledge should be. I thank all the teachers for all these teachings and for their wisdom, for trying to take care of us and make us better human beings with a better

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 life experience, for helping us learn how to turn life into heaven on earth. My intention is to make a compilation of lessons in one book for the benefit of all humanity. I apologize if any of the authors here feels ill-atease for being mentioned. Whenever you need a signal, just open this book at random and there will be a signal waiting to guide you. Every time you read something in this book remember what Buddha said; “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who said it, no matter if I have said it unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”

Let yourself find the light you need. Deeply breathe in and breathe out. You are not alone in this.

Namasté

They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds. Mexican Proverb

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 INTRODUCTION In other eras and other civilizations, the road to spiritual transformation was limited just to a small number of people; today, a great proportion of the human race must sail towards the river of wisdom if we want to protect the world from inner and outer dangers which are threatening it. In these times of violence and disintegration, spiritual vision is not a luxury, but something essential for our survival. We create our own light, our own heaven and hell, right here on earth, who knows what will happen when we die, I personally believe in reincarnation and in what we do in this life, either good or bad will be paid or enjoyed in this life and in our reincarnated life. In “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” Sogyal Rinpoche tells us; "We often wonder: 'How will I be when I die?' The answer to that is that whatever state of mind we are in now, whatever kind of person we are now: that's what we will be like at the moment of death if we do not change. This is why it is so absolutely important to use this lifetime to purify our mind-stream, and so our basic being and character, while we can”. We must reflect on this and know that nothing is permanent, so we must learn to enjoy every moment and stop focusing on the past and the future, focus only on the present moment by breathing in and breathing out. Our heart sends out the vibrations we feel inside attracting both positive and negative energies, depending on our thoughts, words and acts, a negative mind will attract more negative circumstances and a positive mind will bring more positive circumstances.

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 Our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are all forms of energy. What we think, feel, say, and do in each moment create our realities. Energy moves in circles, so what goes around comes around. The combined thoughts, feelings, words and actions of everyone on the planet creates our collective consciousness, it creates the world we see before us. We must remember that every day is different, some days are sunny or cloudy, and others warm or cold, all this happens to remind us that each day is different, that every day we can start again, start new and start fresh, we can change what we don’t like about ourselves every single day and keep improving and being better. Sometimes life is sleeping, then comes pain and wakes it up because we haven’t been living to our fullest. Great stories and teachers are present in this book which have contributed with their advice and wisdom. It is them, who speak in these pages, it is their wisdom and their vision, their words, poems, stories and teachings who take us through this learning journey, I pray for this book to be able to transmit to the world some of their great teachings and wisdom, and that thanks to these teachings, wherever you are, you can be able to feel the presence, peace and wisdom of these teachers and find a connection with them and with the world. And remember that everything will take its right place if you are focused on the divine light of existence.

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“May I have the courage today To live the life that, I would love, To postpone my dream no longer But do at last what I came here for And waste my heart on fear no more.” John O’Donohue

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 NOTE TO READERS It is not my intention to copy or steal the ideas of the teachers and authors featured in this book. My only intention is to share the teachings and make them accessible to more people for the welfare of all sentient beings and especially for their own spiritual evolution and guidance. This book is elaborated with the purest of intentions and I thank all the teachers and teachings here featured. I hope you enjoy and learn from these following pages. It has been my pleasure gathering all this great information to be shared in a book that puts all the things that I have learned and studied together to make it simpler for people who intend to follow the spiritual path, the inner path, the Dharma path in the way that suits them better with the guidance of the following teachers and teachings. Your Life is about to Change.

"The first obligation of every human being is to be happy; the second is to make others happy." Mario Moreno “Cantinflas”

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 THE 12 LAWS Dr. Milanovich and McCune in, The Light Shall Set You Free(1998), state there are 12 Universal Laws that describe ways in which cause and effect are related. The Universal Laws can also be viewed as guidelines for behaviors that will enhance our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth. 1. The Law of Divine Oneness: The Law of Divine Oneness helps us to understand that we live in a world where everything is connected to everything else. Everything we do, say, think and believe affects others and the universe around us. 2. The Law of Vibration: This Universal Law states that everything in the Universe moves, vibrates, and travels in circular patterns. The same principles of vibration in the physical world apply to our thoughts, feelings, desires, and wills in the Etheric world. Each sound, thing, and even thought has its own vibrational frequency, unique unto itself. 3. The Law of Action: The Law of Action must be applied in order for us to manifest things on earth. Therefore, we must engage in actions that support our thoughts, dreams, emotions and words.

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 4. The Law of Correspondence: This Universal Law states that the principles or laws of physics that explain the physical world – energy, Light, vibration, and motion – have their corresponding principles in the etheric or universe. “As above, so below.” 5. The Law of Cause and Effect: This Universal Law states that nothing happens by chance or outside the Universal Laws. Every action has a reaction or consequence and we “reap what we have sown.” 6. The Law of Compensation: This Universal Law is the Law of Cause and Effect applied to blessings and abundance that are provided for us. The visible effects of our deeds are given to us in gifts, money, inheritances, friendships, and blessings. 7. The Law of Attraction: This Universal Law demonstrates how we create the things, events, and people that come into our lives. Our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions produce energies which, in turn, attract like energies. Negative energies attract negative energies and positive energies attract positive energies. 8. The Law of Perpetual Transmutation of Energy: This Universal Law states that all persons have within them the power to change the conditions in their lives. Higher vibrations consume and 6

 transform lower ones; thus, each of us can change the energies in our lives by understanding the Universal Laws and applying the principles in such a way as to effect change. 9. The Law of Relativity: This Universal Law states that each person will receive a series of problems (Tests of Initiation) for the purpose of strengthening the Light within. We must consider each of these tests to be a challenge and remain connected to our hearts when proceeding to solve the problems. This law also teaches us to compare our problems to others’ problems and put everything into its proper perspective. No matter how bad we perceive our situation to be, there is always someone who is in a worse position. It is all relative. 10. The Law of Polarity: This Universal Law states that everything is on a continuum and has an opposite. We can suppress and transform undesirable thoughts by concentrating on the opposite pole. It is the law of mental vibrations. 11. The Law of Rhythm: This Universal Law states that everything vibrates and moves to certain rhythms. These rhythms establish seasons, cycles, stages of development, and patterns. Each cycle reflects the regularity of God’s universe. Masters know how to rise above negative parts of a cycle by never getting too excited or allowing negative things to penetrate their consciousness.

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 12.The Law of Gender: This Universal Law states that everything has its masculine (yang) and feminine (yin) principles and that these are the basis for all creation. The spiritual Initiate must balance the masculine and feminine energies within herself or himself to become a Master and a true co-creator with God.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)” Jesus of Nazareth

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 NATIVE AMERICAN LEGEND Two Wolves An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, jealousy and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

“Ego says: Once everything falls into place, I will find peace Spirit says: Find peace and everything will fall into place.” Unknown

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 ADVICE FROM A TREE By Ilan Shamir Dear Friend, Stand Tall and Proud Sink your roots deeply into the Earth Reflect the light of a greater source Think long term Go out on a limb Remember your place among all living beings Embrace with joy the changing seasons For each yields its own abundance The Energy and Birth of Spring The Growth and Contentment of Summer The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter Feel the wind and the sun And delight in their presence Look up at the moon that shines down upon you And the mystery of the stars at night. Seek nourishment from the good things in life Simple pleasures Earth, fresh air, light Be content with your natural beauty Drink plenty of water Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes Be flexible Remember your roots Enjoy the view! 10

 ZEN STORIES The next are Zen stories all these stories have been recovered by Myrko Thum’s webpage. Some of them are really inspiring and enlightening. It is helpful to the mind to think about them and feel the deeper meaning. Even if it is not possible to grasp them fully, the beauty and simplicity of the message usually get through to us one way or the other. The Burden Two monks were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were puddles of water on the roadsides. At one place a beautiful young woman was standing unable to walk across because of a puddle of water. The elder of the two monks went up to her lifted her and left her on the other side of the road, and continued his way to the monastery. In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, “Sir, as monks, we cannot touch a woman?” The elder monk answered “yes, brother”. Then the younger monk asks again, “but then Sir, how is that you lifted that woman on the roadside?” The elder monk smiled at him and told him” I left her on the other side of the road, but you are still carrying her.” Is That So? The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

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 A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child. This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was but after much harassment at last named Hakuin. In great anger, the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say. When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. “Is that so?” Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child. A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket. The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again. Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?” Maybe Once upon the time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied. 12

 The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “Maybe,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Maybe,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how good things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer. The Blind Men and the Elephant Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree with a common answer. So, they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what exactly God looks like. The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would “look” like. The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it “looked” like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the 13

 elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man holds on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the “appearance” of an elephant. The Buddha asked the citizens: “Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?” Right and Wrong When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case. Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that otherwise, they would leave in a body. When Bankei had read the petition, he called everyone before him. “You are wise brothers,” he told them. “You know what is right and what is not right. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave.” A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had vanished.

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 Nothing Exists Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku. Desiring to show his attainment, he said: “The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity.There is no giving and nothing to be received.” Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry. “If nothing exists,” inquired Dokuon, “where did this anger come from?”

“Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, “Is it true?” At the second ask, “Is it necessary?” At the third gate ask “Is it kind?” Sufi saying

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 THE FOUR AGREEMENTS By Don Miguel Ruiz

Be Impeccable with your Word 

Speak with integrity.



Say only what you mean.



Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.



Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Don’t take anything personally 

Nothing others do is because of you.



What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.



When you are immune to the opinion of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Don’t make assumptions 

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.



Communicate with others as clearly as you can, to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.



With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

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 Always do your best 

Your best is going to change from moment to moment, it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.



Under any circumstances, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse and regret.

“When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person that walked in. That’s what the storm is all about” Haruki Murakami

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 THE EGG By Andy Weir You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me. And that’s when you met me. “What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?” “You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words. “There was a… a truck and it was skidding…” “Yup,” I said. “I… I died?” “Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said. You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?” “More or less,” I said. “Are you god?” You asked. “Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.” 18

 “My kids… my wife,” you said. “What about them?” “Will they be all right?” “That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.” You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty. “Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.” “Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?” “Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.” “Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,” “All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.” You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?” “Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.” 19

 “So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby, so all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.” “Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.” I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had. “You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.” “How many times have I been reincarnated, then?” “Oh! lots, lots and lots, and into lots of different lives,” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.” “Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?” “Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.” “Where you come from?” You said. 20

 “Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere, somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly, you wouldn’t understand.” “Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.” “Sure, happens all the time. And with both lives, only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know is happening.” “So what’s the point of it all?” “Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? Are you asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?” “Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted. I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.” “You mean mankind? You want us to mature?” “No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life, you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.” “Just me? What about everyone else?” “There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.” You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

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 “All you, different incarnations of you.” “Wait. I’m everyone!?” “Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back. “I’m every human being who ever lived?” “Or who will ever live, yes.” “I’m Abraham Lincoln?” “And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added. “I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled. “And you’re the millions he killed.” “I’m Jesus?” “And you’re everyone who followed him.” You fell silent. “Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.” You thought for a long time. “Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?” 22

 “Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.” “Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?” “No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.” “So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…” “An egg,” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.” And I sent you on your way.

“We cannot learn without pain.” Aristotle

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 TEACHINGS FROM “THE WAY OF WALKING ALONE” By Miyamoto Musashi 1. Accept everything just the way it is. 2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake. 3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling. 4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world. 5. Be detached from desire your whole life. 6. Do not regret what you have done. 7. Never be jealous. 8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation. 9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others. 10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love. 11. In all things, have no preferences. 12. Be indifferent to where you live. 13. Do not pursue the taste of good food. 14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need. 15. Do not act following customary beliefs. 16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful. 17. Do not fear death. 18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age. 19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help. 20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honor. 21. Never stray from the way.

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 THE GREATEST SPEECH EVER MADE By Charlie Chaplin I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business – I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew or Gentile, Black or White. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world, there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls – has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture 25

 and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish… Soldiers – don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you – who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate – only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers – don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty. In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written “the kingdom of God is within man” – not one man, nor a group of men – but in all men – in you, the people. You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, 26

 they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers – in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

“Whatever obstacles we experience, if we can take them the right way, they won’t obstruct our spiritual path. Rather, they will become a tool to stimulate our advancement toward our destination: unconditional love and enlightenment. So, try to feel joy when facing difficulties, for they provide the chance to purify unvirtuous past deeds, the cause of ills, and infuse us with the inspiration to generate yet greater virtuous deeds, the cause of healing and enlightenment.” Tulku Thondup

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 SMALL LIFE STORY Life Explained A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. "Not very long," answered the Mexican. "But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American. The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family. The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life." The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat." "And after that?" asked the Mexican. "With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. 28

 You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise." "How long would that take?" asked the Mexican. "Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American. "And after that?" "Afterward? Well, my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!" "Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the Mexican. "After that, you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

“I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell. You see. I have friends in both places.” Mark Twain

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 INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE These are from a book called "Life's Little Instruction Book", by Jackson Brown and H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. 2. Memorize your favorite poem. 3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want. 4. When you say, I love you, mean it. 5. When you say, I'm sorry, look the person in the eye. 6. Be engaged for at least six months before you get married. 7. Believe in love at first sight. 8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. 9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live completely. 10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling. 11. Don't judge people by their relatives. 12. Talk slow but think quick. 13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, why do you want to know? 14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risks. 15. Call your family. 16. Say, Bless you, when someone sneezes. 17. When you lose, don't lose the lesson. 18. Remember the three R's: Respect for self, Respect for others, Responsibility for all your actions. 19. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship. 30

 20. When you realize, you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. 21. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice. 22. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, his/her conversational skills will be as important as any other. 23. Spend some time alone. 24. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. 25. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. 26. Read more books and watch less TV. 27. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time. 28. A loving atmosphere in your home is important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home. 29. In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don't bring up the past. 30. Read between the lines. 31. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality. 32. Be gentle with the earth. 33. Never interrupt when you're being flattered. 34. Mind your own business. 35. Don't trust a lover who doesn't close their eyes when you kiss them. 36. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before. 37. If you make a lot of money, put it to use while you are living. That is wealth's greatest satisfaction. 38. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck. 31

 39. Learn the rules, then break some. 40. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other. 41. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. 42. Remember that your character is your destiny. 43. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon. 44. Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference. 45. Don’t allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It’s there for your convenience, not the callers. 46. Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river. 47. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. 48. Learn to say no politely and quickly. 49. Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. 50. Don’t waste time grieving over past mistakes Learn from them and move on. 51. No one ever said on his deathbed, ‘Gee, if I’d only spent more time at the office. 52. Give people a second chance, but not a third. 53. Judge your success by the degree that you’re enjoying peace, health and love. 54. Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly. 55. Leave everything a little better than you found it. 56. Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation. 32

 57. Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life and death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems. 58. Never cut what can be untied. 59. Never overestimate your power to change others. Never underestimate your power to change yourself. 60. Remember that winners do what losers don’t want to do. 61. Seek opportunity, not security. A boat in harbor is safe, but in time its bottom will rot out. 62. Spend less time worrying who’s right, more time deciding what’s right. 63. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life. 64. When facing a difficult task, act as though it’s impossible to fail.

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” Jack Kornfield

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 SEE GOD IN ALL Sri Ramakrishna - I have now come to a stage of realization in which I see that God is walking in every human form and manifesting Himself alike through the sage and the sinner, the virtuous and the vicious. Therefore, when I meet different people I say to myself, "God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous." Holy Mother -- If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own. Swami Vivekananda -- This is the gift of all worship -- to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva, and if he sees Shiva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Shiva in him, without thinking of his caste, creed, or race, or anything, with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples. Buddha -- Goodwill toward all beings is the true religion; cherish in your hearts boundless goodwill to all that lives. Guru Nanak -- God is one, but He has innumerable forms. He is the Creator of all and He Himself takes the human form. Jesus Christ -- But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. That you may be the children of

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 your Father which is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Judaism -- You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear in sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Krishna -- He who sees the Supreme Lord abiding alike in all beings, and not perishing when they perish - verily, he alone sees. Mohammed -- All God’s creatures are His family, and he is the most beloved of God who tries to do most good to God’s creatures. Native American -- Every dawn as it comes is a holy event, and every day is holy, for the light comes from your Father, Wakan-Tanka; and also, always remember that the two-legged and all other peoples who stand upon this earth are sacred and should be treated as such. Rama -- It is the shadow of the Paramatman that you see reflected in all the living beings as the Jivatman. Don’t you see the great sky reflected in each and every lake or river? Shankara -- Vishnu alone it is who dwells in you, in me, in everything; Empty of meaning is your wrath, and the impatience you reveal. Seeing yourself in everyone, have done with all diversity. Vedas -- The wise man beholds all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings; for that reason, he does not hate anyone.

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 Zoroaster -- Forget self and identify Ahura Mazda in every being and in everything.

“Something very beautiful happens to people when their world has fallen apart; a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor. Marianne Williamson

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 ADVICE TO MY KIDS By Leo Babauta I have six lovely children — one of them now an adult, and a couple more almost there — and I give a lot of thought to what I think they should know as they grow up and go out into the world. What could I best teach them to equip them for life? This is what I’d like them to know: You are good enough. Most people are afraid to do things because they are afraid they’re not good enough, afraid they’ll fail. But you are good enough — learn that and you won’t be afraid of new things, won’t be afraid to fail, and won’t need the approval of others. You’ll be preapproved — by yourself. All you need to be happy is within you. Many people seek happiness in food, drugs, alcohol, shopping, partying, sex … because they’re seeking external happiness. They don’t realize the tools for happiness aren’t outside them. They’re right inside you: mindfulness, gratitude, compassion, thoughtfulness, the ability to create and do something meaningful, even in a small way. You can start your own business. As a young man, I thought I needed to go to college and then be employed, and that owning a business is for rich people. That was all wrong. It’s possible for almost anyone to start their own business, and while you’ll probably do badly at first, you’ll learn quickly. It’s a much better education than college.

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 Everything useful I’ve learned I didn’t learn from college … I learned from doing. That said, I’ve had some amazing teachers. They’re not always in school, though: they’re everywhere. A friend I met at work, my peers online, my mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunts, my wife, my kids, failure. Teachers are everywhere if you’re willing to learn. Spend less than you earn. Thirty percent less if you can manage. Most people get a job and immediately spend their income on a car loan, high rent or a large mortgage, buying possessions and eating out using credit cards. None of that is necessary. Don’t spend it if you don’t have it. Learn to go without, and be happy with less. Put away some of your income to grow with the power of compound earnings. Your future self will thank you. Learn to love healthy food. It’s all a matter of adjusting your tastebuds, slowly and gradually. Learn to cook for yourself. Try some healthy, delicious recipes. Learn compassion. We start life with a very selfish outlook, we want what we want, but compassion is about realizing we are no more important than everyone else, and we aren’t at the center of the universe. Does someone annoy you? Get outside of your little shell, and try to see how their day is going. How can you help them be less angry, less in pain? Never stop learning. If you just learn something a little a day, it will add up over time immensely.

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 Have fun being active. Sure, there’s lots of fun to be had online, and in eating sweets and fried food, and in watching TV and movies and playing video games. But going outside and playing with friends, tossing a ball around, swimming, climbing something, challenging each other … that’s even more fun. And it leads to a healthy life, healthy heart, more focused and energetic mind. Get good at discomfort. Avoiding discomfort is very common, but a big mistake. Learning to be OK with some discomfort will change your life. The things that stress you out don’t matter. Take a larger perspective: will this matter in five years? Most likely the answer is no. If the answer is yes, attend to it. Savor life. Not just the usual pleasures, but everything and everyone. The stranger you meet on the bus. The sunshine that hits your face as you walk, the quiet of the morning, time with a loved one, time alone, your breath as you meditate. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. They are some of the best teachers. Instead, learn to be OK with mistakes, and learn to learn from them, and learn to shrug them off so they don’t affect your profound confidence in who you are. You need no one else to make you happy or validate you. You don’t need a boss to tell you that you’re great at what you do. You don’t need a boyfriend/girlfriend to tell you that you’re lovable. You don’t need your friends’ approval. Having loved ones and friends in your life is amazing, but know who you are first. 39

 Learn to be good at change. Change is the one constant in life. You will suffer by trying to hold onto things. Learn to let go (meditation helps with this skill), and learn to have a flexible mind. Don’t get stuck in what you’re comfortable with; don’t shut out what’s new and uncomfortable. Open your heart. Life is amazing if you don’t shut it out. Other people are amazing. Open your heart, be willing to take the wounds that come with an open heart, and you will experience the best of life. Let love be your rule. Success, selfishness, righteousness … these are not good rules to live by. Love family, friends, coworkers, strangers, your brothers and sisters in humanity. Love even those who think they’re your enemy. Love the animals we treat as food and objects. Most of all, love yourself. And always know, no matter what: I love you with every particle of my being.

“If there is light, It will find you” Charles Bukowski

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 14 PRECEPTS OF ENGAGED BUDDHISM By Thich Nhat Hanh 1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. 2. Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice nonattachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints. 3. Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness. 4. Do not avoid suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal contact, visits, images and sounds. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world. 5. Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. 6. Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them when they are still seeds in your consciousness. As soon as they arise, turn your attention to your breath in order to see and understand the nature of your hatred. 41

 7. Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around you. 8. Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small. 9. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things of which you are not sure. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety. 10. Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand against oppression and injustice and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts. 11. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realize your ideal of compassion. 12. Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war. 13. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

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 14. Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only an instrument. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realization of the Way. (For brothers and sisters who are not monks and nuns:) Sexual expression should not take place without love and commitment. In sexual relations, be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world.

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion” Thich Nhat Hanh

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 DESIDERATA By Max Ehrmann, 1927 Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for there will always be greater of a lesser person than yourself. Enjoy your achievements, as well as your plans, keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you for what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it’s as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the council of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you 44

 conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and your aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all the sham drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be Careful, Strive to Be Happy.

“I want to be inside your darkest everything” Frida Kahlo

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 THE 15 LAWS OF LIFE

By Swami Vivekananda 1.Love is the Law of Life

All love is expansion; all selfishness is a contraction. Love is therefore, the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love’s sake, because it is the law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It is Your Outlook That Matters

It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful First, believe in this world – that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

4. It is The Way You Feel

Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God. 46

 5. Set Yourself Free

The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don’t Play the Blame Game

Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others

If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

8. Uphold Your Ideals

Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen to Your Soul

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. 47

 10. Be Yourself

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

11. Nothing Is Impossible

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is a sin, this is the only sin – to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

12. You Have the Power

All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

13. Learn Everyday

The goal of mankind is knowledge... now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

14. Be Truthful

Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything. 48

 15. Think Differently

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of a kind because oneness is the secret of everything.

If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.

Peace Pilgrim

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 KIMO’S HAWAIIAN RULES Never judge a day by the weather The best things in life aren't things Tell the truth - there's less to remember Speak softly and wear a loud shirt Goals are deceptive - the un-aimed arrow never misses He who dies with the most toys - still dies Age is relative - when you're over the hill, you pick up speed There are two ways to be rich - make more or desire less Beauty is internal - looks mean nothing No Rain - No Rainbows

“Whatever happens to you, don’t fall in despair. Even if all the doors are closed, a secret path will be there for you that no one knows. You can’t see it yet but so many paradises are at the end of this path. Be grateful! It is easy to thank after obtaining what you want, thank before having what you want. Shams Tabrizi

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 METTA

Metta (Pali) or Maitri (Sanskrit) means unconditional and unattached loving kindness. It is one of the ten parameters of the Theravada school of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmaviharas. The mettaBhavana (cultivation of metta) is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism. The object of metta meditation is to cultivate loving kindness (love without attachment, non-exclusive love) towards all sentient beings. The practice usually begins with the meditator cultivating loving kindness towards themselves (though this is not specifically recommended by the Buddha himself in the relevant suttas/sutras), then their loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers and finally their enemies. It is a good way to calm down a distraught mind because it is an antidote to anger. Someone who has cultivated metta will not be easily angered and can quickly subdue anger that arises. They will be more caring, more loving, and more likely to love unconditionally. Buddhists believe that those who cultivate metta will be at ease because they see no need to harbor ill will or hostility. Buddhist teachers may even recommend meditation on metta as an antidote to insomnia and nightmares. It is generally felt that those around a metta-full person will feel more comfortable and happy too. Radiating metta is thought to contribute to a world of love, peace and happiness.

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

The Essence of Compassion ” Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong because sometime in your life you will have been all of these.”

Buddha

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 A FAIRY TALE By Paulo Coehlo In ancient China, around the year 250 B.C., a certain prince of the region of Thing-Zda was about to be crowned emperor; however, according to the law, he first had to get married.

Since this meant choosing the future empress, the prince needed to find a young woman whom he could trust absolutely. On the advice of a wise man, he decided to summon all the young women of the region in order to find the worthiest candidate.

An old lady, who had served in the palace for many years, heard about the preparations for this gathering and felt very sad, for her daughter nurtured a secret love for the prince. When the old lady got home, she told her daughter and was horrified to learn that her daughter intended going to the palace. The old lady was desperate. ‘But, daughter, what on earth will you do there? All the richest and most beautiful girls from the court will be present. It’s a ridiculous idea! I know you must be suffering, but don’t turn that suffering into madness.’ And the daughter replied: ‘My dear mother, I am not suffering and I certainly haven’t gone mad. I know that I won’t be chosen, but it’s my one chance to spend at least a few moments close to the prince, and that makes me happy, even though I know that a quite different fate awaits me.’ 53

 That night, when the young woman reached the palace, all the most beautiful girls were indeed there, wearing the most beautiful clothes and the most beautiful jewelry, and prepared to do anything to seize the opportunity on offer.

Surrounded by the members of his court, the prince announced a challenge. ‘I will give each of you a seed. In six months’ time, the young woman who brings me the loveliest flower will be the future empress of China.’

The girl took her seed and planted it in a pot, and since she was not very skilled in the art of gardening, she prepared the soil with great patience and tenderness, for she believed that if the flowers grew as large as her love, then she need not worry about the results.

Three months passed and no shoots had appeared. The young woman tried everything; she consulted farmers and peasants, who showed her the most varied methods of cultivation, but all to no avail. Each day she felt that her dream had moved farther off, although her love was as alive as ever.

At last, the six months were up, and still, nothing had grown in her pot. Even though she had nothing to show, she knew how much effort and dedication she had put in during that time, and so she told her mother that she would go back to the palace on the agreed date and at the agreed hour. Inside she knew that this would be her last meeting with her true love and she would not have missed it for the world.

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 The day of the audience arrived. The girl appeared with her plantless pot, and saw that all the other candidates had achieved wonderful results: each girl bore a flower lovelier than the last, in the most varied forms and colors.

Finally, the longed-for moment came. The prince entered and he studied each of the candidates with great care and attention. Having inspected them all, he announced the result and chose the servant’s daughter as his new wife. All the other girls present began to protest, saying that he had chosen the only one of them who had not managed to grow anything at all.

Then the prince calmly explained the reasoning behind the challenge: ‘This young woman was the only one who cultivated the flower that made her worthy of becoming the empress: the flower of honesty. All the seeds I handed out were sterile, and nothing could ever have grown from them.’

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela

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 THE PRACTICE OF TONGLEN By Pema Chodron In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.

In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish, mean —you name it— to have compassion and to care for these people, means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves. In fact, one's whole attitude toward pain can change. Instead of fending it off and hiding from it, one could open one's heart and allow oneself to feel that pain, feel it as something that will soften and purify us and make us far more loving and kind. The tonglen practice is a method for connecting with suffering —ours and that which is all around us— everywhere we go. It is a method for overcoming the fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness of our heart. Primarily it is a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us, no matter how cruel or cold we might seem to be.

We begin the practice by taking on the suffering of a person we know to be hurting and who we wish to help. For instance, if you know of a child who is being hurt, you breathe in the wish to take away all the pain and fear of that child. Then, as you breathe out, you send the child happiness, joy or whatever would relieve their pain. This is the core of the practice: breathing in other's pain so they can be well and have more space to relax and open, and breathing out, sending them relaxation or whatever you 56

 feel would bring them relief and happiness. However, we often cannot do this practice because we come face to face with our own fear, our own resistance, anger, or whatever our personal pain, our personal stuckness happens to be at that moment.

At that point, you can change the focus and begin to do tonglen for what you are feeling and for millions of others just like you who at that very moment of time is feeling exactly the same stuckness and misery. Maybe you are able to name your pain. You recognize it clearly as terror or revulsion or anger or wanting to get revenge. So, you breathe in for all the people who are caught with that same emotion and you send out relief or whatever opens up space for yourself and all those countless others. Maybe you can't name what you're feeling. But you can feel it —a tightness in the stomach, a heavy darkness or whatever. Just contact what you are feeling and breathe in, take it in —for all of us and send out relief to all of us.

People often say that this practice goes against the grain of how we usually hold ourselves together. Truthfully, this practice does go against the grain of wanting things on our own terms, of wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what happens to the others. The practice dissolves the armor of self-protection we've tried so hard to create around ourselves. In Buddhist language, one would say that it dissolves the fixation and clinging of ego.

Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure and, in the process, we become liberated from a very ancient prison of selfishness. We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others 57

 and also we begin to take care of ourselves and others. It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of reality. It introduces us to the unlimited spaciousness that Buddhists call shunyata. By doing the practice, we begin to connect with the open dimension of our being. At first, we experience this as things not being such a big deal or so solid as they seemed before.

Tonglen can be done for those who are ill, those who are dying or have just died, or for those that are in pain of any kind. It can be done either as a formal meditation practice or right on the spot at any time. For example, if you are out walking and you see someone in pain, right on the spot, you can begin to breathe in their pain and send out some relief. Or, more likely, you might see someone in pain and look away because it brings up your fear or anger; it brings up your resistance and confusion.

So on the spot you can do tonglen for all the people who are just like you, for everyone who wishes to be compassionate but instead is afraid, for everyone who wishes to be brave but instead is a coward. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world.

Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings

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

“Two people have been living with you all your life. One is the ego, garrulous, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose still voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to.” Sogyal Rinpoche

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 A BAG OF NAILS Once upon a time there was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he should hammer a nail in the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. But gradually, the number of daily nails dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally, the first day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He proudly told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

"You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out, it won't matter how many times you say 'I'm sorry', the wound is still there."

"It is natural for the immature to harm others. Getting angry with them is like resenting a fire for burning." Shantideva

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 HOW TO TAKE INSULT From the Akkosa Sutta On one occasion, the Buddha was invited by the Brahmin Bharadvaja for alms to his house. As invited, the Buddha visited the house of the Brahmin. Instead of entertaining Him, the Brahmin poured forth a torrent of abuse with the filthiest of words. The Buddha politely inquired: "Do visitors come to your house, good Brahmin?" "Yes," he replied. "What do you do when they come?" "Oh, we prepare a sumptuous feast." "What do you if they refuse to receive the meal?" "Why, we gladly partake of them ourselves." "Well, good Brahmin, you have invited me for alms and entertained me with abuse which I decline to accept. So now it belongs to you."

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. Buddha

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 THE FIVE SLOGANS OF MACHIK LABDRON 1. Confess your hidden faults. 2. Approach what you find repulsive. 3. Help those you think you cannot help. 4. Anything you are attached to, let it go. 5. Go to the places that scare you.

“Someone who has acted carelessly, But later becomes careful and attentive, Is as beautiful as the bright moon emerging from the clouds.” Nagarjuna

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 TO SURRENDER ONESELF

By St. Thérèse Couderc - 1864 To surrender oneself is something more than to devote oneself, more than to give oneself, it is even more than to abandon oneself to God. To surrender oneself is to die to everything and to self, to keep it continually turned towards God. Self-surrender is no longer to seek self-satisfaction in anything but solely God's good pleasure. It should be added that selfsurrender is to follow that complete spirit of detachment which holds to nothing; neither to persons nor to things, neither to time nor to place. It means to accept everything, to submit to everything. But perhaps you will think this is a difficult thing. Do not let yourself be deceived; there is nothing so easy to do, nothing so sweet to put into practice. The whole thing consists in making a generous act at the very beginning, by saying with all the sincerity of your heart: "My God, I wish to be entirely thine; deign to accept my offering" — then all is said. ...

You must always remember that you have surrendered yourself. “Whoever is fighting monsters should see that in the process he does not become a monster” Nietzsche

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 WHEN EMOTION OVERTAKES YOU By Ram Dass As your practice gets more and more powerful, what happens is you see the stuff as it starts before it gets so overloaded and so invested with adrenaline and all of that. You don’t let it get so intense. By the time it gets out of control and so immense, then you just wait. You wait. The best thing to do at that point is to sit quietly and to let it pass. Now when an emotional upset start, it may start out of a thought process, but then it starts to involve all of the body — the adrenaline and all kinds of chemical reactions. Then often, one of the ways out of it is to work with the body. For example, running or movement. Taking a walk. Doing things which start to release the energy, the kind of chemical buildup. Because you get that kind of nervous energy when you are emotionally upset. Then there is meditation–quieting down and allowing yourself to see how lost you’ve gotten. I mean on the deeper devotional path, there is the offering of the emotion to God. Saying, “Here, You take it. I offer it to You.” There is appreciating your humanity. “Yea, here I am. I’m human. I just lost it again. Ah so!” There’s the Ah so — Right? “Okay. Once more. Boy, am I hung up.” These are all spiritual techniques. See, it’s the up leveling. It’s the ability to see it without denying it. Not saying, “I’m not really upset.” “I am upset. Far out. Here we are again.” It’s like talking to God and saying “Oh, look at how deliciously human I am.” Not to milk it. Not to keep feeding it, but not to push it away. That’s the quickest way through. To acknowledge it, allow it, and then use body energy to keep working out the chemical stuff that’s built 64

 up and the tension in the body that’s been built up. And then get on with it and just keep letting go, letting go, letting go. Sometimes music does it. There are a lot of techniques that do it. And then you see that it’s your expectations of your own mind that are creating your hell. “I expected you to be…” When you get frustrated because something isn’t the way you thought, examine your thinking, not just the thing that frustrates you. And you will see that a lot of your suffering is created by your models about how the Universe ought to be. And your inability to allow it to be. If I meet somebody that is a liar and a cheat, they are like an elm tree. They are the essence of lying and cheating. If I have a model people shouldn’t lie and cheat, then I am immediately in opposition to that person. I don’t have to play games with them. I may say “In the future, you and I can’t play together because you are a liar and a cheat and I can’t play with you” but I at least appreciate and allow them to lie and cheat. That’s their problem, not mine. My problem was my expectations. If you have a model that everybody is good and then somebody isn’t, then you end up hating the world and being all upset about the world because it isn’t the way you expected it to be. It’s like you come here and it’s a beautiful day, so you expect the next day is going to be beautiful. Then it rains, and you are disappointed. Isn’t it funny that when it rains, you should be disappointed? To take nature and allow nature, when it’s in its natural state, to make you miserable. It says something about you. It’s like decaying and dying. If you are upset about decaying and dying, you’ve got a problem. You really do.

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 WHY WE SHOUT WHEN IN ANGER

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled and asked.

'Why do people shout in anger at each other?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout.'

'But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner.' asked the saint.

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples. Finally, the saint explained:

'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance, they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what 66

 happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally, they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

He looked at his disciples and said.

'So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return. They may end up in divorce courts, for instance.

“All that you seek is already within you. In Hinduism, it is called the Atman, In Buddhism, the pure Buddha-Mind. Christ said ‘the kingdom of heaven is within you’. Quakers call it the ‘still small voice within.’ This is the space of full awareness that is in harmony with all the universe, and thus, is wisdom itself”. Ram Dass

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 THE BUDDHA’S WORDS ON KINDNESS (METTA SUTTA) This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness, and who knows the path of peace:

Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech. Humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied. Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways, peaceful and calm, wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove. Wishing: In gladness and in safety, may all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be; Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small, the seen and the unseen, those living near and far away, those born and to-beborn, may all beings be at ease! Let none deceive another, or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings. Radiating kindness over the entire world, spreading upwards to the skies, and downwards to the depths; Outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill-will. Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection.

This is said to be the sublime abiding. By not holding to fixed views, the pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being freed from all sense desires, is not born again into this world. 68



“Instead of resisting to changes, surrender. Let life be with you, not against you. If you think ‘My life will be upside down’ don´t worry. How do you know down it is not better than upside?” Shams Tabrizi

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 RULES FOR BEING HUMAN 1. You Will Receive a Body You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around. 2. You Will Learn Lessons You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons - you may like the lesson or think them irrelevant and stupid. 3. There Are No Mistakes, Only Lessons There is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The 'failed' experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately 'works'. 4. A Lesson Is Repeated Until It Is Learned A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson. 5. Learning Lessons Does Not End. There is no part of Life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned. 6. 'There' Is No Better Than 'here'. When your 'there' has become a 'here', you will simply obtain another 'there' that will again look better than 'here'.

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 7. Others Are Merely Mirrors Of You. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. 8. What You Make Of Your Life Is Up To You. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours. 9. Your Answers Lie Inside You. The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust. 10. You Will Forget All This. 11. You Can Remember It Whenever You Want

“I have seen nothing more conducive to righteousness than solitude. He who is alone sees nothing but God, and if he sees nothing but God, nothing moves him but the will of God.”

Dhu-l-Nun”

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 SIX RIGHT LIVELIHOOD Consume mindfully. 

Eat with awareness and gratitude.



Pause before buying and see if breathing is enough.



Pay attention to the effects of media you consume.

Pause. Breathe. Listen. 

When you feel compelled to speak in a meeting or conversation, pause.



Breathe before entering your home, place of work, or school.



Listen to the people you encounter. They are Buddhas.

Practice gratitude. 

Notice what you have



Be equally grateful for opportunities and challenges.



Share joy, not negativity.

Cultivate compassion and loving kindness. 

Notice where help is needed and be quick to help



Consider others' perspectives deeply.



Work for peace at many levels.

Discover wisdom 

Cultivate "don't know" mind (= curiosity).



Find connections between Buddhist teachings and your life.



Be open to what arises in every moment.

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 Accept constant change.

“Don’t pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” Bruce Lee \

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 IS YOUR JAR FULL?

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar.

A Professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So, the Professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The Professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes."

The Professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the Professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. 74

 The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play with one another, there will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

When he had finished, there was a profound silence. Then one of the students raised her hand and with a puzzled expression, inquired what the beer represented. The Professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

“There will be a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” Louis L’Amour \ 75

 NATIVE AMERICAN CODE OF ETHICS 1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.

2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.

3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.

4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.

5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours.

6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant.

7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression.

8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put 76

 out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you.

9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven.

10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism.

11. Nature is not FOR us; it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.

12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow.

13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you.

14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of ones will within this universe.

15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.

16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions.

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 17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden.

18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first.

19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others.

20. Share your good fortune with others. Participate in charity.

“Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who have already been there.” Vine Deloria, Sioux

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 THE $20 DOLLAR BILL By Gary Wonning A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked. “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you – but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the 20 dollar note up. He then asked. “Who still wants it?” Still, hands were up in the air. “Well,” he replied, “what if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Still, hands went into the air. “My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we door who we know, but by …WHO WE ARE. You are special – don’t ever forget it.

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 THE MODERN TAOIST SAGE By Jos Slabbert A harmony of paradoxes A wise man knows himself to be more precious than fame, and so, obscure, remains. The Taoist sage consists of paradoxes that would mortify most people, but do not seem to bother him at all: The sage - is detached, yet compassionate; - enjoys life, yet does not cling to it; - is a perfectionist, yet indifferent to success or failure; - is a man of honor, yet avoids reaping honor; - ignores ethics and morals, but lives a life of the highest moral order; - does not strive, yet achieves; - knows the answers, but prefers to remain silent; - has the innocence of a child, but incredible inner strength. These paradoxes are in harmony in the sage, the same way nature itself seems to be a harmonious blend of paradoxes. This makes it difficult to describe the sage in conventional terms and categories. In fact, in most societies, the sage's qualities would be seen as negative, even harmful. Equanimity When there is no desire, all things are at peace. 80

 Calmness in victory, tranquility in defeat, serenity when confronted by the inevitability of suffering. The sage does not rely on externals to provide him with spiritual strength, for he knows: dependence on external factors - such as status, wealth, popularity, hedonism, success, knowledge and relationships - is the reason why modern man crumbles so easily in the face of defeat, failure or loss. The sage is indifferent to success or failure. He understands that life driven by self-centered ambition will never make sense, no matter how successful you are or with how many positive externals you care to adorn it. Life itself acquires meaning only when you satisfy your spiritual needs by living in total harmony with the Tao. The innocent one He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a new-born child. The Taoist sage operates instinctively, intuitively and spontaneously. Like a child, he is unaware of his innocence and his virtues. His compassion is as natural to him as breathing, and he is as unaware of it as he is of his own breathing. He instinctively moves in close harmony with nature, like a baby snuggling up to its mother's warm breasts. His ignorance of his own virtues is his most endearing quality in a world satiated with pomposity.

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 The detached one Other people are excited, as though they were at a parade. I alone don't care, I alone am expressionless, like an infant before it can smile. The Taoist sage seems strangely detached. He functions unconstrained by his own emotions. He knows that his own observations, emotions, thoughts, concepts and judgments are just ripples on the mind's surface, inconstant and perpetually changing. He realizes that the mind can only reflect compassion clearly - like a tranquil pool the perfect moon - when it has become free of the ripples of thoughts and emotions. Acts of mercy are not acts of passion to him: they come as naturally to him as sneezing or falling asleep. Therefore, you can rely totally on the sage: his mercy is not dependent on his emotional state, his affinity or aversion to an object, what he believes or any thoughts that might be disturbing the tranquility of his mind. In a world of inconstancy and illusion, his compassion is constant and real.

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“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Helen Keller

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 GENGHIS KHAN AND HIS HAWK By James Baldwin, The Book of Virtues One morning Genghis Khan, the great king and warrior, rode out into the woods to have a day's sport. Many of his friends were with him. They rode out, carrying their bows and arrows. Behind them came the servants with the hounds. It was a merry hunting party. The woods rang with their shouts and laughter. They expected to carry much game home in the evening. On the king's wrist sat his favorite hawk, for in those days’ hawks were trained to hunt. At a word from their masters, they would fly high up into the air, and look around for prey. If they chanced to see a deer or a rabbit, they would swoop down upon it swift as any arrow. All day long Genghis Khan and his huntsmen rode through the woods. But they did not find as much game as they expected. Toward evening they started for home. The king had often ridden through the woods, and he knew all the paths. So, while the rest of the party took the nearest way, he went by a longer road through a valley between two mountains. The day had been warm, and the king was very thirsty. His pet hawk left his wrist and flown away. It would be sure to find its way home. The king rode slowly along. He had once seen a spring of clear water near this pathway. If he could only find it now! But the hot days of summer had dried up all the mountain brooks. At last, to his joy, he saw some water trickling down over the edge of a rock. He knew that there was a spring farther up. In the wet season, a 84

 swift stream of water always poured down here; but now it came only one drop at a time. The king leaped from his horse. He took a little silver cup from his hunting bag. He held it so as to catch the slowly falling drops. It took a long time to fill the cup and the king was so thirsty that he could hardly wait. At last, it was nearly full. He put the cup to his lips and was about to drink. All at once there was a whirring sound in the air, and the cup was knocked from his hands. The water was all spilled upon the ground. The king looked up to see who had done this thing. It was his pet hawk. The hawk flew back and forth a few times and then alighted among the rocks by the spring. The king picked up the cup and again held it to catch the trickling drops. This time he did not wait so long. When the cup was half full, he lifted it toward his mouth. But before it had touched his lips, the hawk swooped down again and knocked it from his hands. And now the king began to grow angry. He tried again, and for the third time, the hawk kept him from drinking. The king was now very angry indeed. "How do you dare to act so?" he cried. "If I had you in my hands, I would wring your neck!" Then he filled his cup again. But before he tried to drink, he drew his sword.

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 "Now, Sir Hawk," he said, "that is the last time." He had hardly spoken before the hawk swooped down and knocked the cup from his hand. But the king was looking for this. With a quick sweep of the sword, he struck the bird as it passed. The next moment the poor hawk lay bleeding and dying at its master's feet. "That is what you get for your pains," said Genghis Khan. But when he looked for his cup, he found that it had fallen between two rocks, where he could not reach it. "At any rate, I will have a drink from that spring," he said to himself. With that, he began to climb the steep bank to the place from which the water trickled. It was hard work, and the higher he climbed, the thirstier he became. At last, he reached the place. There indeed was a pool of water; but what was that lying in the pool, and almost filling it? It was a huge, dead snake of the most poisonous kind. The king stopped. He forgot his thirst. He thought only of the poor dead bird lying on the ground below him. "The hawk saved my life!" he cried, "and how did I repay him? He was my best friend, and I have killed him."

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 He clambered down the bank. He took the bird up gently, and laid it in his hunting bag. Then he mounted his horse and rode swiftly home. He said to himself, "I have learned a sad lesson today, and that is, never to do anything in anger."

“True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one.” J.R.R Tolkien

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 THE STORY OF THE PENCIL By Paulo Coelho A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked: ‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’ His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the wordsis the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’ Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’ ‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’ ‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’ ‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterward, he’s much sharper. So, you too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person. ‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

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 ‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’ ‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

“Now be silent. Let the One who creates the words speak. He made the door. He made the lock. He also made the key.” Rumi

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 AHIMSA By Sri Swami Sivananda In the regeneration and divinization of man, the first step is to eliminate his beastly nature. The predominant trait in beasts is cruelty. Therefore, wise sages prescribe Ahimsa (non-injury). This is the most effective master method to counteract and eradicate completely the brutal, cruel Pasu-Svabhava (bestial nature) in man. The practice of Ahimsa develops love. Ahimsa is another name for truth or love. Ahimsa is universal love. It is pure love. It is divine Prem. Where there is love, there you will find Ahimsa. Where there is Ahimsa, there you will find love and selfless service. They all go together. The one message of all saints and prophets of all times and climes, is the message of love, of Ahimsa, of selfless service. Ahimsa is the noblest and best of traits that are found expressed in the daily life and activities of perfected souls. Ahimsa is the one means, not only to attain Salvation but also to enjoy uninterrupted peace and bliss. Man attains peace by injuring no living creature. There is one religion - the religion of love, of peace. There is one message, the message of Ahimsa. Ahimsa is a supreme duty of man. Ahimsa, or refraining from causing pain to any living creature, is a distinctive quality emphasized by Indian ethics. Ahimsa or nonviolence has been the central doctrine of Indian culture from the earliest days of its history. Ahimsa is a great spiritual force.

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 Meaning of Ahimsa Ahimsa or non-injury, of course, implies non-killing. But, non-injury is not merely non-killing. In its comprehensive meaning, Ahimsa or noninjury means entire abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any living creature, either by thought, word, or deed. Noninjury requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand. Ahimsa is not mere negative non-injury. It is positive, cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. Ahimsa is the true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength. Benefits of the practice of Ahimsa If you are established in Ahimsa, you have attained all virtues. Ahimsa is the pivot. All virtues revolve around Ahimsa. Just as all footprints are accommodated in those of the elephant, so also do all religious and ethical rules become merged in the great vow of Ahimsa. Ahimsa is soul-force. Hate melts in the presence of love. Hate dissolves in the presence of Ahimsa. There is no power greater than Ahimsa. The practice of Ahimsa develops will-power to a considerable degree. The practice of Ahimsa will make you fearless. He who practices Ahimsa with real faith, can move the whole world, can tame wild animals, can win the hearts of all, and can subdue his enemies. He can do and undo things. The power of Ahimsa is infinitely more wonderful and subtle than electricity or magnetism. The law of Ahimsa is as much exact and precise as the law of gravitation or cohesion. You must know the correct way to apply it 91

 intelligently and with scientific accuracy. If you are able to apply it with exactitude and precision, you can work wonders. You can command the elements and Nature also.

“The teaching is simple. Do what is right. Be Pure.” Buddha

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 THE DIAMOND SUTRA Once, the Buddha was staying at Anathapindika’s retreat in the Jeta Grove near the city of Sravasti, with a gathering of 1250 monks. After dressing and making his begging rounds in the city and eating his one meal, he sat with the monks. The monk Subhuti paid his respects to the Buddha and asked a question: “What should one who wants to travel the Bodhisattva path keep in mind?” The Buddha answered, “A Bodhisattva should keep this in mind: All creatures, whether they are born from the womb or hatched from the egg, whether they transform like butterflies or arise miraculously, whether they have a body or are pure spirits, whether they are capable of thought or not capable of thought: All of these I vow to help enter nirvana before I rest there myself! “But keep in mind, Subhuti, that in reality there is no such thing as an I who helps, and no such thing as another whom I help. A Bodhisattva who does not recognize this reality is no true Bodhisattva! “A true Bodhisattva takes no pleasure in this act of compassion and has no interest in appearances. He simply helps others selflessly. “Can you measure the east, the west, the north, and the south, Subhuti?” “No, Lord.”

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 “Neither can you measure the merit of someone who can help others without thought of himself.” “Subhuti! Can anyone tell who is a Buddha on the basis of physical characteristics?” “No, Lord. You have taught that Buddhahood is not a matter of physical characteristics.” “So one who is concerned with appearances will never see the Buddha, but one is not concerned with appearances may.” Subhuti asked, “Lord, will there always be people who understand your message?” Buddha answered, “Don’t doubt it, Subhuti! There will always be people who, hearing the message will adhere to the precepts and practice our way. Our message will reach people simply because it is true! There will come a time when many will no longer need words but will be beyond words. We must all strive to go beyond the words because words can be clung to, and we should not cling to things. Understand that the words of the Buddha are like a raft built to cross a river: When its purpose is completed, it must be left behind if we are to travel further! “So tell me, Subhuti. Have I taught the ultimate teaching?” “No, Lord. The ultimate teaching is not something which can be taught because the ultimate teaching is not a thing which can be grasped or clung to.”

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 The Buddha said, “Tell me, Subhuti. If someone gave away a universe full of treasures to help others, would he gain great merit?” “Yes, Lord. His merit would be great. But you have also taught us that, in order for this act of generosity to be genuine, he would not have thought of gaining merit. In fact, he would not have thought of himself at all!” The Buddha said, “Now, if someone understands and passes on even four sentences of my message to another, his generosity is even greater. He is not just giving something; he is helping to create future Buddhas!” “Tell me, Subhuti. Would someone who is beginning to understand my message say to himself ‘I have accomplished something grand’?” “No, Lord. Saying something like that would mean that the beginner doesn’t understand that there is no ego there to take credit for anything at all!” “And would someone who is highly advanced in his understanding of my message say to himself ‘I have accomplished something grand’?” “No, Lord. Anyone saying such a thing would also be saying that there is indeed an ego that attains something, and something to attain. These are not the thoughts of someone who understands your message.

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 “Lord, you have said that I have been successful in achieving peace and freedom from passions. In fact, I no longer crave the status of a saint. If I did, I am sure that you would never have thought so much of me!" “Subhuti, If I say, ‘Bodhisattvas adorn the heavens,” would I be speaking the truth?” “No, Lord. Adornments are illusions, and illusions have no place in the heavens.” “And so Bodhisattvas should rid their minds of ego, and cease their preferences for one odor or another, one sound or another, one sight or another. A Bodhisattva should have no attachment or aversion to anything.” The Buddha asked, “Subhuti, if a man had a body as huge as a mountain, would he be a great man?” “No, Lord. Because “a great man” is only words, and being a great man is an illusion, created by the belief in ego.” Then Subhuti asked the Buddha, “Lord, what shall we call this sermon?” The Buddha answered, “Call it ‘The Diamond Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom.’ Like a diamond blade, it can cut through all delusion!” Then Subhuti suddenly had a full awareness of the meaning of the sermon, and was moved to tears. “Lord, thank you for this 96

 sermon. Anyone who hears it and understands it with a pure mind will be moved by it. Even hundreds of years into the future, its clarity will be appreciated”. “Subhuti, if someone gave away enough treasure to fill a universe, he would still not gain as much merit as someone who manages to understand and pass on a few lines of this sermon. “So what should be on one’s mind as one begins the Bodhisattva journey? "Like a falling star, like a bubble in a stream, Like a flame in the wind, like frost in the sun, Like a flash of lightning or a passing dream -So, should you understand the world of the ego.” Subhuti and the rest of the monks were filled with joy at hearing the Buddha’s sermon.

“Stars can’t shinewithout darkness” Unknown

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 THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUCCESS by Deepak Chopra The Law of Pure Potentiality

Take time to be silent, to just BE. Meditate for 30 minutes twice a day. Silently witness the intelligence within every living thing. Practice nonjudgment. We have unlimited pure potentiality all around us. We need to be open and ready. The universe gives us the ability to manifest and do what we like; we just have to know how to get it. The Law of Giving and Receiving

Today bring whoever you encounter a gift: a compliment or flower. Gratefully receive gifts. Keep wealth circulating by giving and receiving care, affection, appreciation and love. We have to have the ability to receive. When a person gives us something and we say no that is creating an imbalance. It is important to give every day: give thanks, gratitude, support, love freedom, what you can afford, time. All that you give you will receive back bigger and better than ever. The Law of Karma

Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. Choosing actions that bring happiness and success to others ensures the flow of happiness and success to you. Everything you do has choices and generates that energy that will be returned to you. Before you do something, check to see if it is the highest good for you.

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 You will know if it is good if you feel good. If it feels bad, it will feel like a knot in your belly after a choice that may not have been the highest and best. But each choice is a learning experience The Law of Least Effort

Accept people, situations, and events as they occur. Take responsibility for your situation and for all events seen as problems. Relinquish the need to defend your point of view. This one goes against what we have learned; set a goal and work hard, spend a lot of time at it, you need hard work to get things...all this is wrong. The universe and nature will find the path of least resistance which is the law of least effort. We need to work smart and listen to the signs that the universe is giving us that is the path of least effort. When in a chaos do not get caught up in it and let it get to you, take time and breathe, then just flow in the situation, the outcome will turn out better than you can imagine. The Law of Intention and Desire

Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment. Make a list of desires. Trust that when things don’t seem to go your way, there is a reason. Set you intentions and desires and then let them be. You may really want one outcome and think that is the best but if it does not happen that is because there is something better for you. If you force it you may get it but you will not be happy or be what you thought it was. Set your intentions and desires for the highest and best for you.

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 The Law of Detachment

Allow yourself and others the freedom to be who they are. Do not force solutions—allow solutions to spontaneously emerge. Uncertainty is essential in your path to freedom. This is also in the same vain as the law of least effort where you set your intentions and desires and the let them be. Do not force it and keep working at it, you will be missing the real opportunities for that intention. Also, as the law of intentions and desires, do not be attached to any outcome that may not be to the highest and best for you. You will get something better if you pay attention to the signs. The Law of Dharma

Seek your higher Self. Discover your unique talents. Ask yourself how you are best suited to serve humanity. Using your unique talents and serving others brings unlimited bliss and abundance. When you live your life that everything you do is for the highest and best for you and everyone, you will be the happiest and all of the other laws are working for you. You know you are in this when you do little efforts and accomplish many things.

“Just be calm and relax. You will get all your answers automatically.” Sri Sri

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 THE GREATEST IRONY OF LIFE The greatest irony of life is loving the right person at the wrong time, having the wrong person when the time is right and finding out you love someone after that person walks out of your life and sometimes you think you’re already over a person but when you see them smile at you, you’ll suddenly realize that you’re just pretending to be over them just to ease the pain of knowing that they will never be yours again. For some, they think that letting go is one way of expressing how much you love the person. Most relationships tend to fail not because of the absence of love; love is always present. It’s just the one was being loved too much and the other was being loved too little as we all know that the heart is the center of the body but it beats on the left. Maybe that’s the reason why the heart is not always right. Most often we fall in love with the person we think we love only to discover that for them, we are just for past times, while the one who truly loves us remains either a friend or a stranger. Here’s a piece of advice: let go when you’re hurting too much, give up when love isn’t enough and move on when things are not like before. There is someone out there who will love you even more, surely then, you will know true love. “I love her, and that’s the beginning and end of everything.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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 TALE OF TWO PEBBLES Many years ago, in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The money lender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer’s beautiful daughter. So, he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer’s debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So, the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag. 1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. 2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. 3) If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer’s field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.

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 Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities: 1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble. 2. The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat. 3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment. Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl’s dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers. What would you recommend that the girl do? Well, here is what she did. . . The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

“Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”

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 Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one. Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don’t attempt to think or we confuse worry with constructive thinking. There is always a way out; you just have to find it.

“If you want to see the heroic, look at those who can love in return for hatred. If you want to see the brave, look for those who can forgive.” Bhagavad Gita

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 WITHIN YOU A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3, 5-6

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 THIS EXAM IS FINAL Two guys were taking Chemistry at the University of Mississippi. They did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs, such that going into the final they had a solid “A”. These two friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chemistry final was on Monday), they decided to go up to the University of Tennessee and party with some friends. They had a great time, however, with hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back to Mississippi until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, they found their professor after the final to explain to him why they missed the final. They told him that they went up to the University of Tennessee for the weekend, and had planned to come back in time to study, but that they had a flat tire on the way back, and didn’t have a spare, and couldn’t get help for a long time, so they were late in getting back to campus. The professor thought this over and told them they could make up the final on the following day. The two guys were elated and relieved. They studied that night and went in the next day for the final. The professor placed them in separate rooms, and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem, which was worth 5 points. It was something simple about Molarity & Solutions. "Cool," they thought. "This is going to be easy." They did that problem and then turned the page.

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 They were not prepared, however, for what they saw on this page. It said: (95 Points). Which tire?

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all which have the potential to turn a life around.” Leo Buscaglia

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 THE DALAI LAMA’S 18 RULES FOR LIVING 1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. 2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. 3. Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for all your actions. 4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. 5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly. 6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship. 7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. 8. Spend some time alone every day. 9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values. 10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. 11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time. 12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. 13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past. 14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality. 15. Be gentle with the earth. 16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before. 17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. 18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

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 THE STORM By Haruki Murakami Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you, something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time, just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.

And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too; hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.

And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.

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 THE TOP TEN QUOTES BY CONFUCIOUS By Eric Allen Bell 1. "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." It’s the "Golden Rule" and the essence of real compassion. Not compassion as in looking down on someone and have pity for another, this is no real compassion. Compassion means seeing another person 100% equal to yourself (in value, not in differentials on the surface which ultimately do not matter). In fact, it is seeing you in every other person. Therefore, you cannot harm anyone without also harming yourself. It doesn’t mean to lose individuality or self-worth, on the contrary – but the other person earns the same gift. 2. "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance."

This quote expresses something very profound which also is very useful to know: Ignorance is a willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge. It is not widening one’s own perspective in order to see a broader truth. As an example, it would be to have racist thoughts and not realizing that all men are equal.

The ultimate truth therefore is where there is absolutely no ignorance, meaning where the perspective or consciousness has become one with all that there is. In Buddhism ignorance (Avidyā) is seen as the primary cause of suffering. Liberation is Enlightenment. Another quote by Confucius here is “Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.” 110

 3. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Those quotes are just perfect. What he is expressing here is that we have to experience something ourselves in order to really understand it. If we are hearing something it might be interesting. If we are seeing something it might be beautiful. But only if we feel in happening to ourselves we can really know how it is.

Picture something nice as winning an Olympic gold medal or picture something terrifying as the loss of a loved one. Can you know this by hearing it or by seeing it? Or do you have to do it and experience it yourself to really know it?

Along with this realization comes the awareness that you cannot understand someone or his actions from hearing or seeing it from the outside. You have to feel empathic compassion for him to really know what it is like. To know and not to do is really not to know. Only by applying our knowledge we can validate its harmony with reality, its truth. 4. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

Amazing. It calls for dropping the inner mask through which we constantly see and evaluate the world, distorted by our wants and beliefsystems. Here we have to look at things as they are. Just like a newborn child would look at things. Then we are able to really see again, without instant labeling of what we see and therefore only really seeing our label. If we become able to do this – just for a second without judgment, we 111

 can see that everything in nature is as it should be. And in this natural perfection lies beauty. 5. “The Superior Man is aware of Righteousness; the inferior man is aware of advantage.” Another quote is “The object of the superior man is truth.” It is the value of integrity: Do we act to our best knowledge of truth or do we bend ourselves and violate our integrity in order to gain an advantage? Do we play a fair game or use perfidious tactics?

To be truthful to ourselves is also important to the development of (good) character. And it is the only straight way to liberation. 6. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”

Whatever you do and whatever you commit to, do it fully, give your all – one hundred percent. It is the essence of Carpe Diem – Seizing the day and it’s surely the best way to be satisfied with what we do and get the best results. 7. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.”

There is no failure, there are only valuable learning experiences. Or as Thomas Edison about inventing the light bulb said: “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The important thing is not giving up, but learning and then improving by using this feedback to get 112

 better and ultimately succeed. A quote expressing the same principle is “A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.” 8. “He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”

Confucius explains the connection of learning and reflection. Reflection of that what we learned by thinking or of the results we get by applying the knowledge. “Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous” is a similar quote by Confucius. Learning is only useful if we connect the learning within our own minds, with what we already know and what is useful for us. This reflection of any knowledge also saves us from blindly following any knowledge without checking its truthfulness and validity to us.

I think everybody experience learning when what we really want is knowledge and inter-weave it with what we already know. If there is a need or problem we want to solve, the absorbed knowledge is much more effective than it happens for students in many universities. 9. “He that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

This quote calls for planning and preparation. This includes getting and improving the personal skills we need to be successful. If we want to hold speeches, we have to become good with communication skills. If we want to win a race we have to train for it. If we want to do a big project, we need knowledge in project management. 113

 10. “If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”

It shows that our primary work lies within ourselves: to work on ourselves and improve will automatically take care of the outside world if we use our abilities then. “When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.” The solution to problems is not “out there”. It is the Inside-Out approach: success and happiness can only be found by working on ourselves. It also entails the spiritual message to look inside and to discover ourselves full

“For a star to be born, there is one thing that must happen; a nebula must collapse. So collapse. Crumble. This is not your destruction. This is your birth.” Unknown

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 BOB MARLEY “Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colors seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind 115

 or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” Pablo Neruda

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 TEN COMMANDMENTS 1. Remain close to the Great Spirit. 2.Show great respect for your fellow beings. 3. Give assistance and kindness wherever needed. 4. Be truthful and honest at all times. 5.Do what you know to be right. 6.Look after the well-being of mind and body. 7.Treat the earth and all that dwell there-on with respect. 8.Take full responsibility for your actions. 9.Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good. 10.Work together for the benefit of all mankind.

“I shall not fear anyone on Earth. I shall fear only God. I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

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 FIVE MINDFULNESS TRAININGS By Thich Nhat Hanh

The First Training: Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking and in my way of life.

The Second Training: Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on earth.

The Third Training: Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a longterm commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.

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 The Fourth Training: Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord; or words that can cause the family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

The Fifth Training: Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body and my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and the transformation of society.

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“Religion is like going out to dinner with your friends. Each may order something different, but everyone can still sit at the same table.” The Dalai Lama

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 LET GO Let go of that which is gone. Let go of that which is lost. Let go of that which is not yet happening. What has happened in the past and what will happen in the future exists only in your mind. What is happening now is the infinite caress of the universe. To touch the eternal now and let it enfold you in its infinite love. What is happening now is the perfect outcome of all you have been, and allyou have done. It is all here to teach you. It is all here to love you. It is all here to liberate you. And it is all perfect. Release that which is going out. Embrace that which is coming in. Leave alone that which has not yet come. Want nothing, and embrace everything. Relax into what is, and what is will take care of you. Let it be what it is. Yogi Amrit Desai

“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If in our heart, we still cling to anything; anger, anxiety, or possessions, we cannot be free.”

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Thich Nhat Hanh

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 THE GREATEST The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest precept is continual awareness. The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. The greatest generosity is non-attachment. The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind. The greatest patience is humility. The greatest effort is not concerned with results. The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go. The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. - Atisha

“You are not alone because all the time there are numberless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas surrounding you, everywhere loving you, guiding you, that is what they do.” ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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 ON DEATH By Kahlil Gibran You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light. If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor. Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to

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 climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

“Darkness may reign in a cave for thousands of years, but bring in the light, and the darkness vanishes as though it had never been. Similarly, no matter what your defects, they are yours no longer when you bring in the light of goodness.” Paramahansa Yogananda

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 I PROMISE By Marc and Angel Chernoff I promise… I will accept everything I am, and everything I am not. I will appreciate others for who they are. I will speak kindly and consciously to others. I will speak kindly and consciously to myself. I will stop trying to control everything. I will appreciate the beauty of small moments. I will do what I think is right. I will grow from my challenges. I will realize and use my power. I will follow the path my heart longs to take. I will have some fun while I’m doing it all.

“Everything on earth has a purpose, every disease a herb to cure it and every person a mission” Unknown

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 SEVEN CARDINAL RULES FOR LIFE 1. Make peace with your past, so it won’t disturb your present. 2. What other people think of you is none of your business. 3. Time heals almost everything. Give it time. 4. No one is in charge of your happiness. Except you. 5. Don’t compare your life to others and don’t judge them, you have no idea what their journey is all about. 6. Stop thinking too much. It’s alright not to know the answers. They will come to you when you least expect it. 7. Smile. You don’t own all the problems in the world.

“Be fearless and pure; never waver in your determination or your dedication to the spiritual life. Give freely. Be self-controlled, sincere, truthful, loving, and full of the desire to serve…Learn to be detached and to take joy in renunciation. Do not get angry or harm any living creature, but be compassionate and gentle; show good will to all. Cultivate vigor, patience, will, purity; avoid malice and pride. Then, you will achieve your destiny.” Krishna Quotes from The Bhagavad Gita

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 VISVAPANI The musicality of being is the clash of sabers, the hero panting, the neighing war-horse. It is the noble struggle of man against man, arm against arm It calls all beings to fight against stagnation By sending them forward into battle. How can one progress without change? How can one evolve without strength? There is always choice: To be a dawdling child forever, dependent, self-satisfied, Sucking its thumb, unwilling and unable to leave its mother Or to be free, proud, noble, and self-sufficient Blessed with the power of choice. I shake off the sleep of living death I rouse the dreamer into reality I call him from his childhood nest Saying: Look around you! The world awaits! There is nowhere you can hide from yourself In opium-filled rooms or sensual tangles Sooner or later the voice must come: Who am I? Why am I here? My sack provides the strength and the weapons To find the answer.

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 Why be swept about like a moth with no volition? Why waste your time in hiding? I am the voice of courage and I say unto youAdventure awaits you! Come forward! There is death, but for the sake of life There is slaughter, for one must survive There is weakness and domination, there is defeat and conquest A man may conquer his enemies, of sloth and alienation Or he may die slowly. The drums beat and the banners are waving The call to self-assertion is everywhere Fear your shadow or destroy it Kill your fear, or have it kill you March ever onwards, to grasp and hold Your noble ideals.

“May the stars carry your sadness away, May the flowers fill your heart with beauty, May hope forever wipe away your tears. And, above all, may silence make you strong.” -

Chief Dan George

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 48 LAWS OF POWER Here collected are ten quotes from Robert Greene’s book, 48 Laws of Power. 1. When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity... you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others.

2. When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

3. If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold, no one honors the timid.

4. Do not leave your reputation to chance or gossip; it is your life’s artwork, and you must craft it, hone it, and display it with the care of an artist.

5. Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. 129

 Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

6. Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.

7. Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

8. Never assume that the person you are dealing with is weaker or less important than you are. Some people are slow to take offense, which may make you misjudge the thickness of their skin, and fail to worry about insulting them. But should you offend their honor and their pride, they will overwhelm you with a violence that seems sudden and extreme given their slowness to anger. If you want to turn people down, it is best to do so politely and respectfully, even if you feel their request is impudent or their offer ridiculous.

9. There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous.

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 10. But the human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to break out of its cage, and if it is not tamed, it will turn wild and cause you grief.

“You must not lose yourself in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” Gandhi

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 THE SEVEN MAIN CHAKRAS

Image by MINDBODYGREEN, October 28, 2009

Chakras are centers of energy, located on the midline of the body. There are seven of them, and they govern our psychological properties. The chakras located on the lower part of our body are our instinctual side, the highest ones our mental side. The chakras can have various levels of activity. When they're "open," they're considered operative in a normal fashion. Ideally, all chakras would contribute to our being. Our instincts would work together with our feelings and thinking. However, this is usually not the case. Some chakras are not open enough (being under-active), and to compensate, other chakras are over-active. The ideal state is where the chakras are balanced. There exist lots of techniques to balance the chakras. Mostly techniques to open chakras are used. It makes no sense to try to make 132

 over-active chakras less active, as they are compensating for other chakras. These seven chakra symbols are vital to our health. Negative feelings hamper the spin of these chakras, resulting in sickness and disease. A chakra is a vital energy center that resides in our bodies, that is not detectable by most modern medicine means. 1 - Root chakra (Muladhara) The Root chakra is about being physically there and feeling at home in situations. If it is open, you feel grounded, stable and secure. You don't unnecessarily distrust people. You feel present in the here and now and connected to your physical body. You feel you have sufficient territory. If you tend to be fearful or nervous, your Root chakra is probably underactive. You'd easily feel unwelcome. If this chakra is over-active, you may be very materialistic and greedy. You're probably obsessed with being secure and resist change. 2 - Sacral chakra (Svadhisthana) The Sacral chakra is about feeling and sexuality. When it is open, your feelings flow freely, and are expressed without you being overemotional. You are open to intimacy and you can be passionate and lively. You have no problems dealing with your sexuality. If you tend to be stiff and unemotional or have a "poker face," the Sacral chakra is under-active. You're not very open to people. If this chakra is over-active, you tend to be emotional all the time. You'll feel emotionally attached to people and you can be very sexual. 133

 3 - Navel chakra (Manipura) The Navel chakra is about asserting yourself in a group. When it is open, you feel in control and you have sufficient self-esteem. When the Navel chakra is under-active, you tend to be passive and indecisive. You're probably timid and don't get what you want. If this chakra is over-active, you are domineering and probably even aggressive. 4 - Heart chakra (Anahata) The Heart chakra is about love, kindness and affection. When it is open, you are compassionate and friendly, and you work at harmonious relationships. When your Heart chakra is under-active, you are cold and distant. If this chakra is over-active, you are suffocating people with your love and your love probably has quite selfish reasons. 5 - Throat chakra (Vissudha) The Throat chakra is about self-expression and talking. When it is open, you have no problems expressing yourself, and you might be doing so as an artist. When this chakra is under-active, you tend not to speak much, and you probably are introverted and shy. Not speaking the truth may block this chakra.

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 If this chakra is over-active, you tend to speak too much, usually to domineer and keep people at a distance. You're a bad listener if this is the case. 6 - Third Eye chakra (Ajna) The Third Eye chakra is about insight and visualization. When it is open, you have a good intuition. You may tend to fantasize. If it is under-active, you're not very good at thinking for yourself, and you may tend to rely on authorities. You may be rigid in your thinking, relying on beliefs too much. You might even get confused easily. If this chakra is over-active, you may live in a world of fantasy too much. In excessive cases, hallucinations are possible. 7 - Crown chakra (Sahasrara) The Crown chakra is about wisdom and being one with the world. When this chakra is open, you are unprejudiced and quite aware of the world and yourself. If it is under-active, you're not very aware of spirituality. You're probably quite rigid in your thinking. If this chakra is over-active, you are probably intellectualizing things

“Suffering compels us to reflect on our deeds. Therefore, it is blessing from another point of view.” Unknown

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 TWO MEN Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation…. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

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 As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene. One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days, weeks and months passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

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 The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’

“Each person comes into this world with a specific destiny—he has something to fulfill, some message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed. You are not here accidentally—you are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to do something through you.”

Osho

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 INVICTUS By William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning’s of chance My head is bloody; but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela

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 AME NI MO MAKEZU Following is David Sulz’s translation of Kenji Miyazawa’s poem.

Be not defeated by the rain. Nor let the wind prove your better. Succumb not to the snows of winter. Nor be bested by the heat of summer. Be strong in body. Unfettered by desire. Not enticed to anger. Cultivate a quiet joy. Count yourself last in everything. Put others before you. Watch well and listen closely. Hold the learned lessons dear. A thatch-roof house, in a meadow, nestled in a pine grove’s shade. A handful of rice, some miso, and a few vegetables to suffice for the day. If, to the East, a child lies sick: Go forth and nurse him to health. If, to the West, an old lady stands exhausted: Go forth, and relieve her of burden. If, to the South, a man lies dying: Go forth with words of courage to dispel his fear. If, to the North, an argument or fight ensues: Go forth and beg them stop such a waste of effort and of spirit. In times of drought, shed tears of sympathy. In summer, cold, walk in concern and empathy. Stand aloof of the unknowing masses: Better dismissed as useless than flattered as a “Great Man”. This is my goal, the person I strive to become.

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 THE ART OF PEACE By Morihei Ueshiba “The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you can encounter.” “A true warrior is always armed with three things: the radiant sword of pacification; the mirror of bravery, wisdom, and friendship; and the precious jewel of enlightenment.” “Consider the ebb and flow of the tide. When waves come to strike the shore, they crest and fall, creating a sound. Your breath should follow the same pattern, absorbing the entire universe in your belly with each inhalation. Know that we all have the access to four treasures: the energy of the sun and moon, the breath of heaven, the breath of earth, and the ebb and flow of the tide.” “The heart of a human being is no different from the soul of heaven and earth. In your practice always keep in your thoughts the interaction of heaven and earth, water and fire, yin and yang.” “The Art of Peace is the principle of nonresistance. Because it is nonresistant, it is victorious from the beginning. Those with evil intentions or contentious thoughts are vanquished. The Art of Peace is invincible because it contends with nothing.”

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 “There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.” “The Art of Peace is not an object that anyone possesses, nor is it something you can give to another. You must understand the Art of Peace from within, and express it in your own words.” “To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.” “Contemplate the workings of this world, listen to the words of the wise, and take all that is good as your own. With this as your base, open your own door to truth. Do not overlook the truth that is right before you. Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also, learn from holy books and wise people. Everything even mountains, rivers, plants and trees – should be your teacher.” “When your eyes engage those of another person, greet him or her with a smile and they will smile back. This is one of the essential techniques of the Art of Peace.” “Each and every master, regardless of the era or place, heard the call and attained harmony with heaven and earth. There are many paths leading to the top of Mount Fuji, but there is only one summit – Love.” “The totally awakened warrior can freely utilize all elements contained in heaven and earth. The true warrior learns how to correctly perceive the activity of the universe and how to transform martial techniques into

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 vehicles of purity, goodness, and beauty. A warrior’s mind and body must be permeated with enlightened wisdom and deep calm.” “To practice properly the Art of Peace, you must: Calm the spirit and return to the source. Cleanse the body and spirit by removing all malice, selfishness, and desire. Be ever-grateful for the gifts received from the universe, your family, Mother Nature, and your fellow human beings.” “Practice the Art of Peace sincerely, and evil thoughts and deeds will naturally disappear. The only desire that should remain is the thirst for more and more training in the way.” “Each day of human life contains joy and anger, pain and pleasure, darkness and light, growth and decay. Each moment is etched with nature’s grand design – do not try to deny or oppose the cosmic order of things.” “Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks and bad people. Dealing with such obstacles is an essential part of training in the Art of Peace.”

“There is mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.” Thich Nhat Hanh

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 MY ROOTS By Paulo Coelho The Persian poet Rumi tells a story about Mo’avia, the first caliph of the Omeya dynasty, who was asleep one day in his palace, suddenly a strange man came and awakened him. “Who are you?” he asked. “I am Lucifer.” “And what do you want?” “It’s time for your prayer, and you’re still asleep.” Mo’avia was impressed. But why was the Prince of Darkness, who always wants the souls of men of little faith, trying to help him fulfill a religious duty? Lucifer explained, “Remember, I grew up as an angel of light. Despite everything that happened in my life, I cannot forget my roots.” Knowing that something was amiss, Mo’avia desperately began to pray for God to enlighten him. He spent all night talking and arguing with Lucifer, and despite the brilliant arguments he had, Mo’avia could not be swayed. When the next day was dawning, Lucifer at last gave in, and said, “Okay, you’re right. When I arrived this morning to wake you, my intention was not to bring you closer to the divine light. I knew that failing to fulfill this obligation, you’d feel a deep sadness, and over the

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 coming days would pray with double the faith, asking pardon for having forgotten the correct ritual. “In God’s eyes, each of these prayers made with love and regret, is worth the equivalent of two hundred ordinary prayers said automatically. You would end up feeling like you are more purified and inspired, that God loves you this much more, and I would be the farthest away from His soul.”

“In me are the bones of a better man than this” Tyler Knott Gregson

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 OSHO KUNDALINI MEDITATION This “sister meditation” is best done at sunset or in the late afternoon. Being fully immersed in the shaking and dancing of the first two stages helps to “melt” the rock-like being, wherever the energy flow has been repressed and blocked. Then that energy can flow, dance and be transformed into bliss and joy. The last two stages enable all this energy to flow vertically, to move upwards into silence. It is a highly effective way of unwinding and letting go at the end of the day. Osho on How to Shake "If you are doing the kundalini meditation, allow the shaking – don't do it! Stand silently, feel it coming, and when your body starts a little trembling, help it, but don't do it! Enjoy it, feel blissful about it, allow it, receive it, welcome it, but don't will it.

"If you force, it will become an exercise, a bodily physical exercise. Then the shaking will be there, but just on the surface. It will not penetrate you. You will remain solid, stone-like, rocklike within. You will remain the manipulator, the doer, and the body will only be following. The body is not the question; you are the question.

"When I say shake, I mean your solidity, your rocklike being should shake to the very foundations, so it becomes liquid, fluid, melts, flows. And when the rocklike being becomes liquid your body will follow. Then there is no shaker, only shaking; then nobody is doing it, it is simply happening. Then the doer is not.

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 "Enjoy it, but don't will it. And remember, whenever you will a thing you cannot enjoy it. They are reverse, opposites; they never meet. If you will a thing you cannot enjoy it, if you enjoy it you cannot will it."

Instructions The meditation is one hour long, with four stages.

First Stage: 15 minutes Be loose and let your whole body shake, feeling the energies moving up from your feet. Let go everywhere and become the shaking. Your eyes may be open or closed.

Second Stage: 15 minutes Dance ... any way you feel, and let the whole body move as it wishes. Again, your eyes can be open or closed.

Third Stage: 15 minutes Close your eyes and be still, sitting or standing, observing, witnessing, whatever is happening inside and out.

Fourth Stage: 15 minutes Keeping your eyes closed, lie down and be still. “Swastha”

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 THE LAUGHING HEART By Charles Bukowski Your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. Be on the watch. there are ways out. There is a light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. Be on the watch. The gods will offer you chances. Know them. Take them. You can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. And the more often you learn to do it, the lighter there will be. Your life is your life. Know it while you have it. You are marvelous the gods wait to delight in you.

“Find what you love and let it kill you.” Charles Bukowski

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 A FEW CHAPTERS FROM THE TAO TEACHING By Lao Tzu The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding. When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. 149

 High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other.

Therefore, the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever. If you over esteem great men, people become powerless. If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal.

The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know.

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 Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities.

It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God. The Tao doesn't take sides; it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn't take sides; she welcomes both saints and sinners.

The Tao is like a bellows: it is empty yet infinitely capable. The more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand. Hold on to the center. In harmony with the Tao, the sky is clear and spacious, the earth is solid and full, all creature flourish together, content with the way they are, endlessly repeating themselves, 151

 endlessly renewed.

When man interferes with the Tao, the sky becomes filthy, the earth becomes depleted, the equilibrium crumbles, creatures become extinct.

The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn't glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as stone. The Tao is the center of the universe, the good man's treasure, the bad man's refuge.

Honors can be bought with fine words, respect can be won with good deeds; but the Tao is beyond all value, and no one can achieve it.

Thus, when a new leader is chosen, don't offer to help him with your wealth or your expertise. Offer instead to teach him about the Tao. 152

 Why did the ancient Masters esteem the Tao? Because, being one with the Tao, when you seek, you find; and when you make a mistake, you are forgiven. That is why everybody loves it. The ancient Masters didn't try to educate the people, but kindly taught them to not-know.

When they think that they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know that they don't know, people can find their own way.

If you want to learn how to govern, avoid being clever or rich. The simplest pattern is the clearest. Content with an ordinary life, you can show all people the way back to their own true nature. When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit. Trust them; leave them alone. 153

 Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice.

Therefore, the Master remains serene in the midst of sorrow. Evil cannot enter his heart. Because he has given up helping, he is people's greatest help.

True words seem paradoxical. If a country is governed wisely, its inhabitants will be content. They enjoy the labor of their hands and don't waste time inventing labor-saving machines. Since they dearly love their homes, they aren't interested in travel. There may be a few wagons and boats, but these don't go anywhere. There may be an arsenal of weapons, but nobody ever uses them. 154

 People enjoy their food, take pleasure in being with their families, spend weekends working in their gardens, delight in the doings of the neighborhood. And even though the next country is so close that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking, they are content to die of old age without ever having gone to see it. True words aren't eloquent; eloquent words aren't true. Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise.

The Master has no possessions. The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is.

” Let the teachings be like the constant flowing of a waterfall.” Ricardo Pare Trejo

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 ESSENTIAL PHOWA PRACTICE By Christine Longakerfrom Sogyal Rinpoche In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Phowa is considered the most valuable and effective practice for death. The word phowa means the transference or ejection of consciousness into the state of truth. Its success relies on invoking the presence of a Buddha (a fully enlightened being), combined with our receptivity and devotion, and the familiarity which comes from having done the practice repeatedly throughout our life. Sogyal Rinpoche has taught an Essential Phowa practice which is not just for the moment of death. It also helps to purify our regrets, harm and negativity, and it can be used to assist in emotional or physical healing. The Essential Phowa is a practice for our whole life as well as for the time of dying, and it is the principal practice we rely on to offer spiritual support to others at the moment of death, and afterward. If we practice the Essential Phowa again and again, our compassionate motivation and our confident devotion will grow even deeper, increasingly becoming part of our "flesh and bones." As we begin to embody the practice, our heart and mind are opened, made more free and limitless. If we prepare for our own death with this depth of familiarity, devotion and trust, we'll reap other rewards. For instance, our fear of death will diminish. And, even if we should be in a sudden accident, facing death without warning, we'll know how to let go in the best way, because this profound practice has become like a reflex. Also, by practicing the Essential Phowa regularly and as strongly as possible, we'll find that when a loved one is in great distress or is

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 dying, we can respond with all our love and compassion and offer this rich spiritual practice for him or her. When we hear of a great tragedy or natural disaster we will realize that we can counter our feelings of helplessness by offering a practice to spiritually benefit those who are suffering. A powerful practice for the moment of death If the dying person is interested, you can share the Essential Phowa practice with them, finding ways to adapt it to their own spiritual beliefs. Even though you can do the Essential Phowa throughout life, its special power becomes apparent when you practice it just at the moment of death. You may want to practice the Essential Phowa each time you visit the dying person. The most important time to practice is right at the moment of death, or as soon as you are informed of the person's death. If you cannot be physically present when your loved one dies, then visualize yourself practicing by their side at the place of their death. As people come very near death, I have observed that their mind and heart becomes less contained by their body and more atmospheric; it feels as if their mind is filling the entire room. Thus, any strong thoughts or emotions we bring into the space surrounding a dying person have a powerful effect on their state of mind, for better or worse. Thus, it is clear that if we have inspired ourselves with meditation before entering a dying person's room, or if we have strongly invoked the presence of a Buddha or Divine Being to whom we continue to pray, this can have a tremendously positive influence on the dying person's state of mind.

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 When I first learned the Essential Phowa, I questioned whether a beginner could effectively do the practice for a dying person. How could I possibly offer spiritual support for another person? What if I did it wrong? Sogyal Rinpoche responded to my doubts with these valuable insights: First, just at the moment of death, after the consciousness of the dying person "faints into darkness," he or she will awaken into the luminous expanse of the truth. Thus, our practice of Essential Phowa for the dying person is simply a skillful guidance to help them unite with the true nature of mind which will be dawning in their awareness at that time. Second, in doing the phowa, we are invoking and relying on the limitless enlightened qualities of a Buddha, a fully awakened being, which include an unbiased, boundless compassion and love, and the unlimited power to benefit and help all beings by responding to their needs, especially in the direst of circumstances. As soon as we invoke the presence of God, Christ, the Buddha, Padmasambhava, or another saint or Divine Being, their blessings and presence are spontaneously there. They will be present with the dying person in his or her hour of need, and they will know what to do! Nothing we do is ever lost If done repeatedly, with strong compassion and devotion, the Essential Phowa practice can help the dying on their journey toward liberation. Any practice or prayers we do for the dying will help, at the very least, to purify their negative karma or release them from the suffering and turmoil of their death and enable them to die peacefully.

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 Even if you are not an advanced practitioner, your practicing the Essential Phowa cannot in any way harm an ill or dying person. On a spiritual level, it will help them, even if you can't see or measure the benefit tangibly. I encourage those of you who are professional caregivers to do the Essential Phowa when your patients are dying, and observe the results for yourself. Sometimes after doing the practice, I have had a sense or a sign that the phowa has truly benefited the dying person, and I allow this to inspire my confidence that the practice does bring spiritual support, even on occasions when I don't perceive an immediate result. Remember, nothing we do is ever lost. The Practice of Essential Phowa First sit quietly and settle yourself, bringing all the energies of your mind and body back home. As far as possible, relax into the deep presence and spacious awareness of your being. Before you begin, arouse a strong compassionate aspiration such as that described in The Tibetan Book of the Dead: "By means of this death, I will adopt only the attitude of the enlightened state of mind, loving kindness, and compassion, and attain perfect enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings who are as limitless as space." Invocation With all your heart, invoke in the sky before you the presence of a Buddha or a Divine Being for whom you feel a devotion. See the form of this Presence, not as flesh and blood, but as radiant light. Recognize that this being's qualities of perfect wisdom, boundless compassion, and limitless power to benefit beings are no different from the qualities of your own wisdom nature.

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 Consider this Divine Presence you have invoked is actually present-alive, breathing, and gazing toward you with kindness and love. If you cannot clearly visualize a Buddha or Divine Being, then simply imagine that a brilliant and loving Presence, who is the embodiment of truth, is in the sky in front of you, in the form of light. Allow yourself to relax deeply and establish a personal connection with this Presence you have invoked. Calling out Open yourself now, and acknowledge the aspects of your being that need purification, forgiveness, and blessing. Acknowledge any regrets, harm, negativity, or destructive emotions that you want to release and purify. Become aware of any places in your body where there is disease, weakness, or even a fear of illness. And recognize any doubts, fears, or old wounds in your heart that need healing and love. Then call out sincerely to the Divine Presence in front of you and ask for help. Receiving the blessing Immediately this Buddha or Divine Presence responds, sending love and compassion from his or her heart in a stream of tremendous rays of light directly into your being. Allow these powerful rays to penetrate you and purify you--filling you with forgiveness, healing energy, confidence and unconditional love. Consider that these brilliant light rays of compassion and love dissolve all of your fears and defenses, so that you are totally immersed in light. To make yourself more receptive, you may want to recite a short prayer or mantra during this part of the practice. Visualize that this profound blessing streaming towards you purifies and transforms every aspect of your body and mind--even your painful memories, part harm and regrets. Then, after some time, consider that 160

 the purification has been completely effected, so much so that your whole being--body and mind--is entirely transformed into light. Now your being in the form of light rises up and dissolves into the heart of this Divine Presence--completely mixing with it, like light mixing with light. Remain in this peaceful state as long as you can. This nondual, natural simplicity and inspired openness is your being. If thoughts rise, or a "sense of self" begins to form, simply allow them to dissolve back into emptiness. Letting go, naturally remain. At the conclusion, consider that your awareness is once again centered within your body. Resolve to continue the presence of pure, clear awareness as you enter into daily activities. And when you notice that you have lost it, gently bring your mind home to its true nature, again and again. Dedicate your practice Dedicate your practice as you conclude, sharing the merit of blessings and wisdom with all beings, praying that, in whatever ways you can, you may be able to relieve their suffering, bring them happiness, and, ultimately, help them to realize the abiding peace of their deathless, true nature of mind. Essential Phowa for others You can do the Essential Phowa for someone who is ill or dying, in exactly the same way as for yourself, except that you visualize a Buddha or Divine Presence above the head of the other person. Call out on behalf of your friend, and visualize the Presence pouring down rays of light onto him or her, purifying and transforming their whole being. Then visualize

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 that the other person, now fully purified, dissolves into light and merges indistinguishably with the enlightened Presence. Essential Phowa in a sudden death When someone has just died suddenly and you do not have much time, such as at the scene of an accident, then you can do an abbreviated form of the Essential Phowa. As you stay by his or her side, invoke strongly the radiant presence of a Buddha or Divine Being. Visualize the compassionate radiance emanating from this Presence filling the space surrounding both of you with protection and blessings. Consider that the consciousness of the newly deceased person takes the form of a small sphere of light, and visualize it quickly flying out from his or her body, like a shooting star, and dissolving into the heart of the Divine Presence. In dedicating the practice, pray that the person may be free from any of the sufferings or turmoil of their death, and released into the luminosity and all-pervading space of the true nature of their mind, in order to benefit all beings, especially those he or she is leaving behind. Afterward, you can do the complete Essential Phowa practice again for the person over the following days and weeks.

“Not only is the Universe aware of us, but it also communicates with us. We, in turn, are constantly in communication with the Universe through our words, thoughts, and actions. The Universe responds with events. Events are the language of the Universe. The most obvious of those events are what we call coincidence.” Chris Prentiss

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 VEDANTA Vedanta represents the philosophical portion of the ancient scriptures of India, the Vedas. Specifically, it refers to the final portion of the Vedic literature, the Upanishads, but it also includes the Bhagavad Gita, the great epics of India, as well as the Puranas, as well as many other texts, hymns, and writings. The basic teaching concerns the ultimate identity of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. The goal of Vedanta is for the seeker to have the direct experience of his or her true nature, and it is held that each and every one of us is qualified to have that highest illumination, if we are willing to put forth sincere and intense effort. From the very earliest period, Vedanta has preached the harmony of religions. We find this in the ancient words of the Rigveda, ekam sad viprā bahudhā vadanti (“Truth is one, sages call it by various names”) as well as in the realizations of the modern day saint, Sri Ramakrishna (“The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences. Let each one follow his own path. If he sincerely and ardently wishes to know God, peace be unto him. He will surely realize Him.”) According to Sri Ramakrishna, God is both formless and with form, the Personal God of the devotee as well as the Impersonal Absolute of the philosopher. We can call on God in any number of relationships, but, Sri Ramakrishna believed, to look upon God as one’s mother and oneself as Her child is a very pure and effective means to realize God. Vedanta also teaches that we are all members of a single family and that our differences are merely superficial. This is one of the great lessons we learn from the life of Sri Sarada Devi, the spiritual companion 163

 of Sri Ramakrishna, also known as the Holy Mother. By looking upon all beings as her own children, she demonstrated the truth that no one is a stranger, that the whole world is our own. The Vedantic teaching that the Lord dwells within in all beings was given special meaning by Swami Vivekananda through his doctrine of the “Living God.” For him, the highest form of worship was to see God dwelling within all beings, and especially in the poor and underprivileged. To serve the poor with the attitude that we are serving God was to him the greatest worship of God. The Means According to the Vedantic teachers, there are various means and methods that can be used to realize God or Self, based on our own particular nature, inclination, and personality. These are known as the Four Yogas. They can be practiced separately, or in combination. Swami Vivekananda taught that the strongest spiritual path was one which combined the four yogas, though we may give special emphasis to the one that most appeals to us. Bhakti Yoga This is the path of devotion, wherein the devotee approaches God through a particular relationship and with a particular attitude. It emphasizes practices such as prayer, chanting the names and glories of God, and meditation on God as a loving reality, ever present within our hearts. Through this practice, one intensifies the feeling of intimacy and love for God, and ultimately reaches the state of union or oneness with God.

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 Jnana Yoga This is the path of knowledge or philosophical discrimination, wherein the seeker strives, through the power of reason, to discover the Self within by casting off the false superimposition of the body, mind, senses, intellect, and personality. As a result of this practice, the seeker realizes the Supreme Reality to be present within as his own higher Self, and knows himself to be the birth less, deathless, Reality, the One without a Second. Karma Yoga This is the path of selfless work. For the devotee, it means to do all ones’ work as an offering to God and to expect nothing personal in return. For the philosopher, it means to see that all action is the interplay between the mind and senses, on the one hand, and sense objects, on the other, and to realize that the higher Self is merely the witness. It is to feel that one is not the agent of action. In either case, it means to practice detachment and equanimity with regard to work, and to realize that the results of all actions are not in our hands. Through such a practice, the mind becomes purified, and the seeker comes to realize his or her true nature. Raja Yoga This is the “Royal Path” of meditation and is one of the main spiritual practices for all seekers of God or Self, regardless of their spiritual attitude. Through the practice of meditation, one can experience higher and higher spiritual states, culminating in the direct vision of the one reality that remains when the mind no longer functions in its usual way. There are various techniques available for the practice of meditation, but the

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 one emphasized by Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda involves the use of a mantra and some concrete or symbolic image of the divine.

“The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

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 READ FROM YOUR HEART

I promise you I will try harder to be better. I have battled with things inside me for longer than you know; I do not know what they are or why they are there, I only know that they feel manageable defeatable, when I am around You. -

Tyler Knott Gregson

The purpose of life is not to just be happy. The purpose of life my love, is to feel. You must understand that your pain, is essential. -

Christopher Poindexter

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 When I die and they open a wound to tuck me away I hope I am broken pulled apart and spread throughout the earth beneath your feet. So, I can be the shoreline and the mountain peaks and the sprawling plains that bring you new memories. And when its time I hope I am the roses that rest on your casket when you come back to me. -

Tyler Kent White

There are Demons inside of me I don’t know how many. I believe there are Angels too I don’t know how many. What I know is that I pray for my Angels to be a lot more than my Demons. And around You 168

 I hope I am counting with one more. -

Ricardo Pare Trejo

I have thought my entire life I needed seas or mountains or magnificent city lights to be happy. Truth is: I do not care where I am as long as I have You. -

Christopher Poindexter

How many invitations must the universe send before you understand that the You you have always wanted to be has been waiting patiently all this time for your response? -

Tyler Knott Gregson 169

 I’ve felt like I have been through the four elements with you. I have felt like I have been inside a river drowning for you. I have felt like I have been burning in the most intense fire. I have felt like I have been blown away by the wind and my body and soul disappearing. But the most important thing is that when I am with You, I am back touching this earth with bare feet. -

Ricardo Pare Trejo

Give me what burdens you. I will bury it inside of me and when the roots take hold. My body fails and I finally fold. Out of the remains only beauty will grow. -

Tyler Kent White

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 Tragically sewn by the chaos burning, burning inside him, he loved her because she was the thin thread keeping it all together. -

Joe Straynge

It is alright to break down sometimes, lovely humans. We cry not because we are weak, but because we have been too strong for far too long. -

Yashodhaan Burange

“I promise, if you keep searching for everything beautiful in this world, you will eventually become it.” Tyler Kent White

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 THE SEVEN ARCHANGELS There are generally considered to be seven Archangels: Michael, Jophiel, Chamuel, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and Zadkiel. Archangels are the supreme beings within the Angelic Realm. As with angels, Archangels can be called upon to help us in our hour of need. Archangels (and Angels for that matter) are not servants, they should be treated like a welcome friend or guest. The Archangel Michael Michael is the Angel of Protection and is associated with the color blue. Michael can be asked for protection against any sort of physical or spiritual danger. These might include robbers, stalkers, accidents, astral attacks, psychic attacks, witchcraft and the evil eye etc. Spiritually the Archangel Michael can help restore your faith in God and free you from self-doubt and fear. The Archangel Jophiel Jophiel is the Angel of Illumination and is associated with the color yellow. Jophiel can help free you (or loved ones) from addictions. He can help improve your memory, help you pass examinations etc. Spiritually the Archangel Jophiel can help you to connect to your higher self and show you the right way when difficult decisions need to be made. The Archangel Chamuel Chamuel is the Angel of Love and corresponds to the color pink. Chamuel is the angel of compassion, forgiveness, mercy and understanding. This is the angel who can help you repair damaged 172

 relationships, or make new friends. Chamuel can help you to dispel feelings of self-condemnation, guilt and low self-esteem. The Archangel Gabriel Gabriel is the Angel of Guidance and corresponds to the color white. Gabriel can help you to organize your life as well as provide you with advice and guidance - particularly with education or career. Spiritually Gabriel can help you to find your life's purpose and to replace feelings of discouragement with fulfillment.

The Archangel Raphael Raphael is the Angel of Healing and is associated with the color green. Raphael is responsible for the healing of body, mind, soul and spirit. He can help put your daily bread on the table. When you are in need of clothing, food or shelter, Raphael is the angel to call upon. Raphael can also help your doctor make the right decision and aspiring musicians make beautiful music. Spiritually Raphael mends broken spirits and helps you accept the truth. The Archangel Uriel Uriel is the Angel of Peace and is associated with the colors purple and gold. Uriel resolves all problems in personal, social and professional relationships and helps to create harmony in life. Uriel is the angel of nurses, doctors, counselors and teachers. Spiritually he can help you to let go of bitterness and resentment, renewing hope in the hearts of those that have lost faith. He is also the angel who manifests divine justice.

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 The Archangel Zadkiel Zadkiel is the Angel of Joy and is associated with the color violet. Zadkiel is the angel to call upon if you need work as an actor, writer or performer. He is also the angel of architects and engineers. Freedom, happiness, justice and mercy are all championed by Zadkiel.

“No, I never saw an angel, but it is irrelevant whether I saw one or not. I feel their presence around me.” Paulo Coelho

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 THE BHAGAVAD GITA By Madhudvisa dasa The purpose of Bhagavad Gita is to deliver mankind from the darkness of material existence. Every one of us is in difficulty in so many ways. Just as Arjuna was in difficulty because of having to fight the battle of Kuruksetra. Arjuna surrendered to Krishna and consequently the Bhagavad Gita was spoken. Not only Arjuna, but every one of us is full of anxieties because of this material existence. We are trying to exist here in the material world but the atmosphere of the material world is nonexistence. Actually we are not meant to be threatened by nonexistence. Our existence is eternal. But somehow or other we have been put into this temporary material world and because of this we are threatened with nonexistence. Out of so many human beings who are suffering, there are only a few who are actually enquiring about their position, questioning what they are, why they are put into this difficult position, and so on. Unless one comes to this point of questioning his suffering, unless he realizes that he does not want to suffer, but rather he wants to find a solution to the suffering, then he cannot be considered a perfect human being. Human life begins when this sort of enquiry is awakened in one’s mind. The Subject of Bhagavad Gita The subject matter of Bhagavad Gita explains the science of God by covering five basic truths: The controller [isvara] The living entities [jivas] 175

 Material Nature [prakrti] Time [kala, the duration of existence of the whole universe] Activity, work [karma] In this world, every living entity is controlled. If a living entity says that he is not controlled but that he is free, then he is insane. We are controlled in every aspect of our lives, at least in the conditioned [nonliberated] state. The subject matter deals with the isvara, the supreme controller and the jivas, the controlled living entities, prakrti (material nature) and time (the duration of existence of the whole universe or manifestation of material nature) and karma (activity). From Bhagavad Gita we can learn what God is, what the living entities are, what prakrti is, what the cosmic manifestation is and how it is controlled by time and what the activities of the living entities are. It is established that Krishna, the Supreme Godhead, Brahman or supreme controller or Paramatma–you may use whatever name you like– is the greatest of all. We living entities are in quality like the supreme controller. For example, Krishna is the supreme controller. He has control over the universal affairs, over material nature. Material nature is not independent; she is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord. So we, the jivas, or living entities are accepted as being part and parcel of the supreme controller, isvara, Bhagavan, Lord Krishna, and as such the living entities have all the qualities of the Supreme Lord in minute quantities.

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 A particle of gold is also gold. A drop of water from the ocean is also salty, similarly we the living entities, being part and parcel of the supreme controller, have all the qualities of the Supreme Lord in minute quantity, because we are minute isvaras, subordinate isvaras. We are trying to control nature, and this tendency to control is in us because it is in Krishna. But although we have the tendency to lord it over the material nature, we should know that we are not the supreme controller. The world revolves because every living being thinks that he is the lord and creator of the material world. Material consciousness has two psychic divisions. One is that “I am the creator,” and the other is that “I am the enjoyer.” But actually, the Supreme Lord is both the creator and the enjoyer, and the living entity, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord is neither the creator nor the enjoyer, but a cooperator. He is the created and the enjoyed. For instance, a part of the machine cooperates with the whole machine; a part of the body cooperates with the whole body. The hands, feet, eyes, legs and so on are all parts of the body, but they are not actually the enjoyers. The stomach is the enjoyer. The legs move, the hands supply food, the teeth chew and all parts of the body are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principle factor that nourishes the body’s organization. Therefore, everything is given to the stomach. One nourishes the tree by pouring water on the root and one nourishes the body by feeding the stomach. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the enjoyer and creator and we, as subordinate living beings, are meant to cooperate to satisfy Him. This cooperation will actually help us, just as food taken by the stomach will help all other parts of the body. If the fingers of the hand think that they should enjoy the food themselves, they will be frustrated. The central 177

 figure of cooperation and enjoyment is the Supreme Lord, and the living entities are cooperators. By cooperation they enjoy. The relation is also like that of the master and the servant. If the master is fully satisfied, then the servant is satisfied. Similarly, the Supreme Lord should be satisfied although the tendency to become the creator and the tendency to enjoy the material world also are there in the living entities because these tendencies are also in the Supreme Lord who has created the manifested cosmic world we see before us. We shall find that the complete whole is comprised of the Supreme Controller, the controlled living entities, the cosmic manifestation, eternal time and karma, activities and all of these are explained in the Bhagavad Gita. All of these items taken together completely form the complete whole, and the complete whole is called the Supreme Absolute Truth. The complete whole and the complete Absolute Truth are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. All manifestations are due to His different energies. He is the complete whole. The Essence of Vedic Knowledge Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is not a question of research. Our research work is imperfect because we are researching things with our imperfect senses. Bhagavad Gita states that we have to accept perfect knowledge which comes down by parampara, disciples’ succession, beginning with the supreme spiritual master, the Lord Himself, and handed down to a succession of spiritual masters. Arjuna, the student who took lessons from Lord Sri Krishna, accepts everything that He says without contradicting Him. The Gita 178

 should be taken as the most perfect presentation of Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is received from transcendental sources and the first words were spoken by the Lord Himself. The words spoken by the Lord are different from the words spoken by a person of the mundane world who is infected with defects. Vedic knowledge is not imparted by such defective living entities. It was imparted unto the heart of Brahma, the first created living being in this universe and Brahma in turn taught this knowledge to his sons and disciples as he originally received it from the Lord. If we properly utilize the instructions of Bhagavad Gitathen our whole life will become purified, and ultimately we will be able to reach the destination which is beyond this material sky. The ultimate destination is called the sanatana sky, the eternal spiritual sky. In this material world, we find that everything is temporary. It comes into being, stays for some time, produces some by-products, dwindles and then vanishes. This is the law of the material world, whether we use as an example this body, or a piece of fruit or anything. But beyond this temporary world there is another world of which we have information. This world consists of another nature which is sanatana, eternal, and the Lord is also described as sanatana in the Eleventh Chapter. We have an intimate relationship with the Lord and because we are all one–the sanatana-dharma or sky, the sanatana Supreme Personality and the sanatana living entities–the whole purpose of Bhagavad Gita is to revive our sanatana occupation, or sanatanadharma, which is the eternal occupation of the living entity. We are temporally engaged in different activities, but all of these activities can be purified when we give up all these temporary activities and take up 179

 the activities which are prescribed by the Supreme Lord. This is called our pure life.

“The man who sees me in everything and everything within me will not be lost to me, nor will I ever be lost to him.

He who is rooted in oneness realizes that I am in every being; wherever he goes, he remains in me.

When he sees all being as equal in suffering or in joy because they are like himself, that man has grown perfect in yoga.”

The Bhagavad Gita

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 TEN STEPS TO SELF CARE 1. If it feels wrong don’t do it. 2. Say exactly what you mean. 3. Don’t be a people pleaser. 4. Trust your instincts. 5. Never speak bad about yourself. 6. Never give up on your dreams. 7. Don’t be afraid to say No. 8. Don’t be afraid to say Yes. 9. Let go of what you can’t control. 10. Stay away from drama and negativity as much as possible.

“One day your heart will take you to your lover. One day your soul will carry you to the Beloved. Don’t get lost in your pain. Know that one day your pain will become your cure.” Rumi

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 MAKES ME THINK MMT is an online community where people share daily life stories that provoke deep thought and inspire positive change. I am going to paste here

some

of

the

stories

I

found

on

their

website

(www.makesmethink.com). I highly recommend you visit this website by Marc and Angel Chernoff. “Today in downtown San Diego, I watched a blue collar Mexican man get harassed for being Mexican. It was a blatant act of discrimination. And the man actually began crying. As he left the office building, he took off his jacket. His t-shirt underneath read, "I love the USA!" “Today, I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn't eaten anything in over three days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, "We can share it." “Today, I was working in a coffee shop when two gay men walked in holding hands. As you might expect, heads started turning. Then a young girl at the table next to me asked her mom why two men were holding hands. Her mom replied, "Because they love each other." “Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.” “Today, my father told me, "Just go for it and give it a try! You don't have to be a professional to build a successful product. Amateurs started Google and Apple. Professionals built the Titanic."

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 BODHICHITTA: THE EXCELLENCE OF AWAKENED HEART By Pema Chödrön When I was about six years old I received the essential bodhichitta teaching from an old woman sitting in the sun. I was walking by her house one day feeling lonely, unloved and mad, kicking anything I could find. Laughing, she said to me, “Little girl, don’t you go letting life harden your heart.” Right there, I received this pith instruction: we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice. If we were to ask the Buddha, “What is bodhichitta?” he might tell us that this word is easier to understand than to translate. He might encourage us to seek out ways to find its meaning in our own lives. He might tantalize us by adding that it is only bodhichitta that heals, that bodhichitta is capable of transforming the hardest of hearts and the most prejudiced and fearful minds. Chitta means “mind” and also “heart” or “attitude.” Bodhi means “awake,” “enlightened,” or “completely open.” Sometimes the completely open heart and mind of bodhichitta is called the soft spot, a place as vulnerable and tender as an open wound. It is equated, in part, with our ability to love. Even the cruelest people have this soft spot. Even the most vicious animals love their offspring. As Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche put it, “Everybody loves something, even if it’s only tortillas.”

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 Bodhichitta is also equated, in part, with compassion—our ability to feel the pain that we share with others. Without realizing it we continually shield ourselves from this pain because it scares us. We put up protective walls made of opinions, prejudices and strategies, barriers that are built on a deep fear of being hurt. These walls are further fortified by emotions of all kinds: anger, craving, indifference, jealousy and envy, arrogance and pride. But fortunately for us, the soft spot—our innate ability to love and to care about things—is like a crack in these walls we erect. It’s a natural opening in the barriers we create when we’re afraid. With practice, we can learn to find this opening. We can learn to seize that vulnerable moment—love, gratitude, loneliness, embarrassment, inadequacy—to awaken bodhichitta. An analogy for bodhichitta is the rawness of a broken heart. Sometimes this broken heart gives birth to anxiety and panic; sometimes to anger, resentment and blame. But under the hardness of that armor there is the tenderness of genuine sadness. This is our link with all those who have ever loved. This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we’re arrogant and soften us when we are unkind. It awakens us when we prefer to sleep and pierces through our indifference. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all. The Buddha said that we are never separated from enlightenment. Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state. This is a revolutionary assertion. Even ordinary people like us with hang-ups and confusion have this mind of enlightenment called bodhichitta. The openness and warmth of bodhichitta is in fact our true nature and condition. Even when our neurosis feels far more basic 184

 than our wisdom, even when we’re feeling most confused and hopeless, bodhichitta—like the open sky—is always here, undiminished by the clouds that temporarily cover it. Given that we are so familiar with the clouds, of course, we may find the Buddha’s teaching hard to believe. Yet the truth is that in the midst of our suffering, in the hardest of times, we can contact this noble heart of bodhichitta. It is always available, in pain as well as in joy. A young woman wrote to me about finding herself in a small town in the Middle East surrounded by people jeering, yelling, and threatening to throw stones at her and her friends because they were Americans. Of course, she was terrified, and what happened to her is interesting. Suddenly she identified with every person throughout history who had ever been scorned and hated. She understood what it was like to be despised for any reason: ethnic group, racial background, sexual preference, gender. Something cracked wide open and she stood in the shoes of millions of oppressed people and saw with a new perspective. She even understood her shared humanity with those who hated her. This sense of deep connection, of belonging to the same family, is bodhichitta. Bodhichitta exists on two levels. First there is unconditional bodhichitta, an immediate experience that is refreshingly free of concept, opinion, and our usual all caught-up-ness. It’s something hugely good that we are not able to pin down even slightly, like knowing at gut level that there’s absolutely nothing to lose. Second there is relative bodhichitta, our ability to keep our hearts and minds open to suffering without shutting down.

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 Those who train wholeheartedly in awakening unconditional and relative bodhichitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill and harm but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world. These are men and women who are willing to train in the middle of the fire. Training in the middle of the fire can mean that warrior-bodhisattvas enter challenging situations in order to alleviate suffering. It also refers to their willingness to cut through personal reactivity and self-deception, to their dedication to uncovering the basic undistorted energy of bodhichitta. We have many examples of master warriors—people like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King—who recognized that the greatest harm comes from our own aggressive minds. They devoted their lives to helping others understand this truth. There are also many ordinary people who spend their lives training in opening their hearts and minds in order to help others do the same. Like them, we could learn to relate to ourselves and our world as warriors. We could train in awakening our courage and love. There are both formal and informal methods for helping us to cultivate this bravery and kindness. There are practices for nurturing our capacity to rejoice, to let go, to love, and to shed a tear. There are those that teach us to stay open to uncertainty. There are others that help us to stay present at the times that we habitually shut down. Wherever we are, we can train as a warrior. The practices of meditation, loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity are our tools. With the help of these practices, we can uncover the soft spot of bodhichitta. We will find that tenderness in sorrow and in gratitude. We will find it behind the hardness of rage and in the shakiness of fear. It is available in loneliness as well as in kindness. 186

 Many of us prefer practices that will not cause discomfort, and at the same time we want to be healed. But bodhichitta training doesn’t work that way. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next. We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not knowing is part of the adventure, and it’s also what makes us afraid. Bodhichitta training offers no promise of happy endings. Rather, this “I” who wants to find security—who wants something to hold on to—can finally learn to grow up. The central question of a warrior’s training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear, but how we relate to discomfort. How do we practice with difficulty, with our emotions, with the unpredictable encounters of an ordinary day? All too frequently, we relate like timid birds who don’t dare to leave the nest. Here we sit in a nest that’s getting pretty smelly and that hasn’t served its function for a very long time. No one is arriving to feed us. No one is protecting us and keeping us warm. And yet we keep hoping mother bird will arrive. We could do ourselves the ultimate favor and finally get out of that nest. That this takes courage is obvious. That we could use some helpful hints is also clear. We may doubt that we’re up to being a warriorin-training. But we can ask ourselves this question: “Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly or do I choose to live and die in fear?” All beings have the capacity to feel tenderness—to experience heartbreak, pain and uncertainty. Therefore, the enlightened heart of

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 bodhichitta is available to us all. The insight meditation teacher Jack Kornfield tells of witnessing this in Cambodia during the time of the Khmer Rouge. Fifty thousand people had become communists at gunpoint, threatened with death if they continued their Buddhist practices. In spite of the danger, a temple was established in the refugee camp, and twenty thousand people attended the opening ceremony. There were no lectures or prayers, but simply continuous chanting of one of the central teachings of the Buddha: Hatred never ceases by hatred But by love alone is healed. This is an ancient and eternal law. Thousands of people chanted and wept, knowing that the truth in these words was even greater than their suffering. Bodhichitta has this kind of power. It will inspire and support us in good times and bad. It is like discovering a wisdom and courage we do not even know we have. Just as alchemy changes any metal into gold, bodhichitta can, if we let it, transform any activity, word or thought into a vehicle for awakening our compassion. At one time the Buddha gathered his students together at a spot called Vulture Peak Mountain. Here he presented some revolutionary teachings—teachings on the wide open, groundless dimension of our being—known traditionally as shunyata, as unconditional bodhichitta, as prajnaparamita. The Buddha had already been teaching on groundlessness for some time. Many of the students there on Vulture Peak Mountain had a 188

 profound realization of impermanence and egolessness, the truth that nothing—including ourselves—is solid or predictable. They understood the suffering that results from grasping and fixation. They had learned this from Buddha himself; they had experienced its profundity in meditation. But the Buddha knew that our tendency to seek solid ground is deeply rooted. Ego can use anything to maintain the illusion of security, including the belief in insubstantiality and change. So, the Buddha did something shocking. With the prajnaparamita (perfection of unconditional wisdom) teachings, he pulled the rug out completely, taking his students further into groundlessness. He told the audience that whatever they believed had to be let go, that dwelling upon any description of reality was a trap. This was not comfortable news for the audience to hear. It reminds me of the story of Krishnamurti, who was raised to be the avatar by the Theosophists. His elders continually told the other students that when the avatar manifested fully, his teachings would be electrifying and revolutionary, shaking up the very foundations of their beliefs. This turned out to be true, but not quite in the way they had imagined. When Krishnamurti finally became head of the Order of the Star, he called the whole society together and officially disbanded it, saying that it was harmful because it gave them too much ground. The Vulture Peak experience was something like that for the Buddha’s students. It wiped away all their existing conceptions about the nature of reality. The Buddha’s principal message that day was that holding on to anything blocks wisdom. Any conclusions we might draw must be let go. The only way to fully understand the bodhichitta 189

 teachings, the only way to practice them fully, is to abide in the unconditional openness of the prajnaparamita, patiently cutting through all our tendencies to hang on. During this teaching, known as The Heart Sutra, the Buddha actually didn’t say a word. He went into a state of deep meditation and let the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, do the talking. This courageous warrior, known also as Kuan-yin, expressed his experience of the prajnaparamita on behalf of the Buddha. His insight was not based on intellect but came through his practice. He saw clearly that everything is empty. Then one of the principal disciples of the Buddha, a monk named Shariputra, began to question Avalokiteshvara. This is an important point. Even though a great bodhisattva was teaching and the Buddha was clearly in charge, the profound meaning emerged only through questioning. Nothing was taken complacently or on blind faith. Shariputra is a role model for us as students. He wasn’t willing just to accept what he heard; he wanted to know for himself what was true. So, he asked Avalokiteshvara, “In all the words and actions and thoughts of my life, how do I apply the prajnaparamita? What is the key to training in this practice? What view do I take?” Avalokiteshvara answered with the most famous of Buddhist paradoxes: “Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form, form is no other than emptiness.” When I first heard this, I had no idea whatsoever what he was talking about. My mind went completely blank. His explanation, like the prajnaparamita itself, is inexpressible, indescribable, and inconceivable. Form is that which simply is before we project our beliefs onto it. The prajnaparamita 190

 represents a completely fresh take, an unfettered mind where anything is possible. Prajna is the unfiltered expression of the open ear, open eye, open mind that is found in every living being. Thich Nhat Hanh translates the word as “understanding.” It’s a fluid process, not something definite and concrete that can be summed up or measured. This prajnaparamita, this inexpressibility, is our human experience. It is not particularly regarded as a peaceful state of mind, or as a disturbed one. It is a state of basic intelligence that is open, questioning and unbiased. Whether it comes in the form of curiosity, bewilderment, shock or relaxation isn’t really the issue. We train when we’re caught off guard and when our life is up in the air. We train, as Trungpa Rinpoche said, in “not afraid to be a fool.” We cultivate a simple direct relationship with our being—no philosophizing, no moralizing, no judgments. Whatever arises in our mind is workable. When Avalokiteshvara says, “Form is emptiness,” he’s referring to this simple direct relationship with the immediacy of experience— direct contact with blood and sweat and flowers; with love as well as hate. First we wipe away our preconceptions and then we even have to let go even of our belief that we should look at things without preconceptions. We keep pulling out our own rug. When we perceive form as empty, without any barriers or veils, we understand the perfection of things just as they are. One could become addicted to this experience. It could give us a sense of freedom from the dubiousness of

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 our emotions and the illusion that we could dangle above the messiness of our lives. But “emptiness also is form” turns the tables. Emptiness continually manifests as war and peace, as grief, as birth, old age, sickness, and death, as well as joy. We are challenged to stay in touch with the heart-throbbing quality of being alive. That’s why we train in the relative bodhichitta practices of the four limitless ones and tonglen. They help us to fully engage in the vividness of life with an open, unclouded mind. Things are as bad and as good as they seem. There’s no need to add anything extra. Imagine a dialogue with the Buddha. He asks, “How do you perceive reality?” and we answer honestly and say, “I perceive it as separate from me, and solid.” He says, “No, look deeper.” So, we go away and meditate and sincerely contemplate this question. We return to the Buddha and say, “I know the answer now. The answer is that everything is not solid, everything is empty.” And he says, “No. Look deeper.” We say, “Well, that’s impossible. It’s either one way or the other: empty or not empty, right?” and he says, “No.” If this were our boss, perhaps we wouldn’t care, but this is the Buddha, so we think, “Maybe I have to hang in here a bit and go further with the irritation I’m feeling at not being given any satisfaction.” We meditate and contemplate this question; we discuss it with our friends. Next time we see the Buddha we say, “I think I can answer your question. Everything is both empty and not empty simultaneously.” And he says, “No.” Believe me, we’re feeling very groundless and that

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 means rattled. It’s uncomfortable not to be able to get ground under our feet. But the process here is of unmasking: even though we’re irritated and anxious, we’re moving closer to seeing the true unfixed nature of mind. Since “No” is all we can get out of the Buddha, we go home and spend the next year trying to answer this riddle. It’s like a Zen koan. Eventually, we return and say, “Okay. There’s only one other possible answer. The nature of reality is that it neither exists nor doesn’t exist. It is neither form nor emptiness.” And we feel good! It’s a beautiful groundless answer. But the Buddha says, “No, that’s too limited an understanding.” Maybe at this point his “No” is such a shock that we experience the wide-open mind of prajnaparamita, the mind that is satisfied with no resting place at all. After Avalokiteshvara told Shariputra that “form is emptiness; emptiness also is form,” he went even further, pointing out that there is nothing—not even the Buddha’s teachings—to hold on to: no three marks of existence, no suffering, no end of suffering, no imprisonment, no liberation. The story goes that many of the students were so dumbfounded by these teachings that they had heart attacks. A Tibetan teacher suggested that more likely they just got up and walked out of the talk. Like the Theosophists with Krishnamurti, they didn’t want to hear this. Just like us. We don’t like to have our basic assumptions challenged. It’s too threatening. Now if this teaching had come only from Avalokiteshvara, the students might have been able to rationalize their fears. “This is just a warrior on the path, not so different from us. He’s very wise and compassionate, of course, but he has been known to get things wrong.” 193

 But the Buddha was sitting right there in deep meditation, clearly pleased with this presentation of how to abide in the prajnaparamita. There was no way out of this dilemma. Then, inspired by Shariputra’s questioning, Avalokiteshvara continued. He taught that when we understand that there is no final attainment, no ultimate answer or stopping place, when our mind is free of warring emotions and the belief in separateness, then we will have no fear. When I heard this many years ago, before I had any interest at all in a spiritual path, a little light bulb went off: I definitely wanted to know more about “No fear.” This instruction on prajnaparamita is a teaching on fearlessness. To the extent that we stop struggling against uncertainty and ambiguity, to that extent we dissolve our fear. The synonym for total fearlessness is full enlightenment—wholehearted, open-minded interaction with our world. Meanwhile we train in patiently moving in that direction. By learning to relax with groundlessness, we gradually connect with the mind that knows no fear. Then Avalokiteshvara proclaimed the pith of the prajnaparamita, the essence of the rug-pulling-out experience, the essence of the fearless, open state of mind. It came in the form of a mantra: “OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA.” Just as a seed contains the tree, this mantra contains the entire teachings on abiding in prajnaparamita, abiding in the fearless state. Trungpa Rinpoche’s translation is, “OM gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, awake, so be it.” This is a description

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 of a process, a journey, of always stepping out further and further. We could

also

say,

“OM

groundlessness,

groundlessness,

more

groundlessness, even beyond groundlessness, fully awake, so be it!” No matter where we are on the bodhisattva path, whether we are just beginning or we’ve practiced for years, we’re always stepping further into groundlessness. Enlightenment is not the end of anything. Enlightenment, being completely awake, is just the beginning of fully entering into we know not what. When the great bodhisattva finished teaching, the Buddha came out of his meditation and said, “Good, good! You expressed it perfectly, Avalokiteshvara.” And those in the audience who hadn’t walked out or died from heart attacks rejoiced. They rejoiced at hearing this teaching on stepping beyond fear.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine de Saint Exupéry

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 CULTIVATING THE WITNESS By Ram Dass One way to get free of attachment is to cultivate the witness consciousness, to become a neutral observer of your own life. The witness place inside you is simple awareness, the part of you that is aware of everything — just noticing, watching, not judging, just being present, being here now. The witness is actually another level of consciousness. The witness coexists alongside your normal consciousness as another layer of awareness, as the part of you that is awakening. Humans have this unique ability to be in two states of consciousness at once. Witnessing yourself is like directing the beam of a flashlight back at itself. In any experience — sensory, emotional, or conceptual — there’s the experience, the sensory or emotional or thought data, and there’s your awareness of it. That’s the witness, the awareness, and you can cultivate that awareness in the garden of your being. The witness is your awareness of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Witnessing is like waking up in the morning and then looking in the mirror and noticing yourself — not judging or criticizing, just neutrally observing the quality of being awake. That process of stepping back takes you out of being submerged in your experiences and thoughts and sensory input and into self-awareness. Along with that self-awareness comes the subtle joy of just being here, alive, enjoying being present in this moment. Eventually, floating in that subjective awareness, the objects of awareness dissolve, and you

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 will come into the spiritual Self, the Atmān, which is pure consciousness, joy, compassion, the One. The witness is your centering device. It guides the work you do on yourself. Once you understand that there is a place in you that is not attached, you can extricate yourself from attachments. Pretty much everything we notice in the universe is a reflection of our attachments. Jesus warned us, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt . . . For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Desire creates your universe; that’s just the way it works. So, your first job is to work on yourself. The greatest thing you can do for another human being is to get your own house in order and find your true spiritual heart.

“You need to spend time crawling alone through shadows to truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun.” Shaun Hick

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 LAUGHING TREES In certain African tribe, when someone does something harmful, they take the person to the center of the village where the whole tribe comes and surrounds them. For two days, they will say to the man all the good things that he has done. The tribe believes that each human being comes into the world as a good. Each one of us only desiring safety, love, peace, health and happiness. But sometimes, in the pursuit of these things, people make mistakes. The community sees those mistakes as a cry for help. They unite then to lift him, to reconnect him with his true nature, to remind him who he really is, until he fully remembers the truth of which he had been temporarily disconnected: “I am good.” Shikoba Nabajyotisaikia! NABAJYOTISAIKIA, is a compliment used in South Africa and means: “I respect you, I cherish you. You matter to me.” In response people say SHIKOBA, which is: “So, I exist for you.”

“There is nothing to worry there will be good times and bad times; They all come and go nothing stays.” Sri Sri

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 IN THE EVENT OF MY DEMISE By Tupac Shakur In the event of my demise when my heart can beat no more I hope I die for a principle or a belief that I had lived for.

I will die before my time because I already feel the shadow's depth so much I wanted to accomplish before I reached my death.

I have come to grips with the possibility and wiped the last tear from my eyes I loved all who were positive In the event of my demise.

“My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for.'” Tupac Shakur

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 THE FLOWER OF LIFE By David Wilcock

The flower of life is a geometrical shape composed of multiple evenlyspaced, overlapping circles arranged in a flower like pattern with six-fold symmetry like a hexagon. The perfect form, proportion and harmony of the flower of life has been known to philosophers, architects and artist around the world. Pagans consider it to be sacred geometry containing ancient religious value depicting the fundamental forms of space and time. In the pagan sense, it is believed to contain a type of Akashic Record of basic information of all living things and is the visual expression of the connections of life that run through all sentient beings.

In New Age thought, the Flower of Life has provided what is considered to be deep spiritual meaning and forms of enlightenment to those who have studied it as sacred geometry. There are groups of people all over the world who derive particular beliefs and forms of meditation based (at least in part) on the Flower of Life.

The flower of life symbol represents important meaning to many throughout history. The symbol can be found in manuscripts, temples 200

 and art throughout cultures around the world.

The most common form of the 'Flower of Life' is hexagonal pattern (where the center of each circle is on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter), made up of nineteen complete circles and thirty-six partial circular arcs, enclosed by a large circle. Alchemy

Components of the Flower of Life have been a part of the work of Alchemists. Metatron's Cube is a symbol derived from the Flower of Life which was used as a containment circle or creation circle. Leonardo da Vinci studied the Flower of Life's form and its mathematical properties. He drew the Flower of Life itself, as well as various components such as the Seed of Life. He drew geometric figures representing shapes such as the platonic solids, a sphere, a torus, etc., and also used the golden ratio of phi in his artwork; all of which may be derived from the Flower of Life design

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 Seed of Life The 'Seed of Life' is formed from seven circles being placed with sixfold symmetry, forming a pattern of circles and lenses, which acts as a basic component of the Flower of Life's design. According to some, the seed of life depicts the seven days of creation in which God created life.

Egg of Life

The 'Egg of Life' is also a symbol composed of seven circles taken from the design of the Flower of Life. The shape of the Egg of Life is said to be the shape of a multi-cellular embryo in its first hours of creation.

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 Fruit of Life

The 'Fruit of Life' symbol is composed of thirteen circles taken from the design of the Flower of Life. It is said to be the blueprint of the universe, containing the basis for the design of every atom, molecular structure, life form, and everything in existence. It contains the geometric basis for the delineation of Metatron's Cube, which brings forth the platonic solids.

Metatrons Cube Metatron's cube depicts the five platonic solids which may be derived from the flower of life. The five platonic solids are geometrical forms which are said to act as a template from which all life springs, according to spiritual belief. The Platonic solids are five structures that are crucial because they are the building blocks of organic life. These five structures are found in minerals, animated and organic life forms, sound, music, language, etc. Metatron's cube is also considered a holy glyph, used to ward off evil spirits. The Kabbalah's Tree of life is also thought to be derived from the flower of life.

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

The following are some of the locations in which the Flower of Life symbol can be seen:

The Temple of Osiris at Abydos, Egypt contains the oldest known examples of the Flower of Life. They are at least over 6,000 years old and may date back to as long ago as 10,500 B.C. or earlier. It appears that it had not been carved into the granite and instead may have been burned into the granite or somehow drawn on it with incredible precision. It is thought to possibly represent the Eye of Ra, a symbol of the authority of the pharaoh. Other examples can be found in Phoenician, Assyrian, Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern, and medieval art. China - The Forbidden City and various temples. Israel - ancient synagogues in the Galilee and in Mesada. Japan - Various temples. India - The Harimandir Sahib (Golden Temple), Hampi, and the Buddhist Temples in Ajanta. Turkey - City of Ephesus, in Izmar Italy - Italian art from the 13th century Spain - Cordoba, in 'la Mezquita'

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“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” Jesus of Nazareth

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 REWRITING THE MIND – WE ARE WHAT WE THINK By Zeena Merchant Syal In order to rewrite the mind positively we need to understand its composition. The mind is composed of three parts, the conscious, the subconscious and the superconscious. The conscious mind is the part we are aware of – the part that does the thinking, worrying, planning and creating. It is a tiny part of the structure; it is the subconscious that is the looming bulwark, a massive entity with incredible powers and potentials. Its unique characteristic is that it can create anything that we command it to create, by virtue of the thoughts we think. If you believe that you cannot achieve something, if you believe that you cannot have something, the subconscious will create conditions, so that your beliefs are proved. To transform your life, it is very important that you seek the help of the subconscious. Thus, the negative thoughts that create our negative conditioning, can be overthrown by affirming their opposite. The belief that we are lazy, can be overwritten by the affirmation that we are hardworking and industrious. To transform your life, you must have a picture of yourself as you wish to be. The picture that we paint of ourselves is assimilated by our subconscious. The subconscious is there to obey you. It is a very obedient servant who takes orders from his master. Its decisions are to be made by you.

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 The Power of the Subconscious Mind Louise L. Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life, one of the first books to shine a light on the spiritual and psychological causes of illness, uses affirmations extensively as a tool for creating better health. She writes in her website, LouiseHay.com: “Our thoughts are creative. This is the most important law of nature that we need to know…thoughts are like drops of water-they accumulate. As we continue to rethink the same thoughts over a period of time, they become puddles, ponds, lakes or oceans. If they’re positive, we can float on the oceans of life. “ Affirmations have helped people, who live alone, cope with fears of getting a stroke in the middle of the night. The affirmation that I am healthy, I am young, I am powerful is one that can bring about immense positive thoughts, thereby helping us cope and face life’s challenges with new fervor. How to Affirm or Rewrite the Mind The subconscious is physically located at the back, where the base of the skull and the spine meet. The best way to harmonize the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious (the divine potential) is to combine affirmation with meditation. The peace of meditation, filters not only into the conscious but also into the subconscious and the superconscious self. There can be little doubt that when affirmations are made in meditative stillness, they are more effective. Deepak Chopra, for instance, suggests that we release all 207

 intentions into the gap between thoughts, which is arrived at through meditation. There are however, several guidelines to help us affirm more effectively, because the subconscious does not discriminate and takes what we say literally: 1. Construct your sentences positively. Choose ‘I am slim’ to ‘I am not fat’. The subconscious does not recognize negatives and would translate the latter sentence as ‘I am fat’. 2. Use the present tense. ‘I am love, joy and compassion’ is preferable to ‘I will be…’ or ‘I want to be…’ The subconscious lives in the moment and does not recognize future tense. The phrase ‘I want’ reflects powerlessness and all you will get is the state of ‘want’ and not the actual state. 3. Believe in what you say. Know that it will happen or manifest for sure. 4. Put as much intensity as you can in your affirmations. You must develop the will to speak to it with magnetic determination. 5. Repeating an affirmation loudly three times, softly three times and in a whisper four times is most effective. 6. The times before you go to sleep or immediately on waking up, are when the subconscious is most receptive to commands. 7. If you can meditate, do so. When your conscious mind is peaceful and still, seeding the subconscious is a cinch. 208

 When you start practicing positive affirmations in your daily life, you will instantly see the benefits coming to life. Start with one affirmation and pretty soon, you will have rewritten your mind to be more positive. The results WILL astound you! You will Become what you think.

“People who believe they have bad luck create bad luck. Those who believe they are very fortunate, that the world is a generous place filled with trustworthy people, live in exactly that kind of world.”

Chris Prentiss

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 TIPS FOR A BETTER LIFE 1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. 2. Sit in silence for at least ten minutes each day. 3. Sleep for seven hours. 4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy. 5. Play more games. 6. Read more books than you did the previous year. 7. Spend time with people over the age of seventy & under the age of six. 8. Dream more while you are awake. 9. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. 10. Drink plenty of water. 11. Smile and laugh more. 12. Don’t waste your precious energy or time on gossip. 13. Forget issues of the past. They’ll just ruin your present happiness. 14. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. 15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. 16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

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 UNCONDITIONAL LOVE By Sandy Stevenson FOR HER… I love you as you are, as you seek to find your own special way to relate to the world. I honor your choices to learn in the way you feel is right for you.

I know it is important that you are the person you want to be and not someone that I or others think you "should" be. I realize that I cannot know what is best for you, although perhaps sometimes I think I do. I have not been where you have been, viewing life from the angle you have. I do not know what you have chosen to learn, how you have chosen to learn it, with whom or in what time period. I have not walked life looking through your eyes, so how can I know what you need. I allow you to be in the world without a thought or word of judgment from me about the deeds you undertake. I see no error in the things you say and do. In this place where I am, I see that there are many ways to perceive and experience the different facets of our world. I allow without reservation the choices you make in each moment. I make no judgment of this, for if I would deny your right to your evolution, then I would deny that right for myself and all others.

To those who would choose a way I cannot walk, whilst I may not choose to add my power and my energy to this way, I will never deny you the gift of love that God has bestowed within me, for all creation. As I love you, so I shall be loved. As I sow, so shall I reap. 211

 I allow you the Universal right of Free Will to walk your own path, creating steps or to sit awhile if that is what is right for you. I will make no judgment that these steps are large or small, nor light or heavy or that they lead up or down, for this is just my viewpoint. I may see you do nothing and judge it to be unworthy and yet it may be that you bring great healing as you stand blessed by the Light of God. I cannot always see the higher picture of Divine Order.

For it is the inalienable right of all life to choose their own evolution and with great Love I acknowledge your right to determine your future. In humility, I bow to the realization that the way I see as best for me does not have to mean it is also right for you. I know that you are led as I am, following the inner excitement to know your own path.

I know that the many races, religions, customs, nationalities and beliefs within our world bring us great richness and allow us the benefit and teachings of such diverseness. I know we each learn in our own unique way in order to bring that Love and Wisdom back to the whole. I know that if there were only one way to do something, there would need only be one person.

I will not only love you if you behave in a way I think you should, or believe in those things I believe in. I understand you are truly my brother and my sister, though you may have been born in a different place and believe in another God than I.

The love I feel is for all of God's world. I know that every living thing is a part of God and I feel a Love deep within for every person, animal, tree 212

 and flower, every bird, river and ocean and for all the creatures in all the world.

I live my life in loving service, being the best me I can, becoming wiser in the perfection of Divine Truth, becoming happier in the joy of Unconditional Love. And never forget, I Love You…

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

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 THE POPOL VUH The Popol Vuh may be divided into three parts. The first part pertains to the creation of the world, whilst the second and third parts are about the Hero Twins Story and the Genealogy of the Quiché-Maya Dynasty respectively. In the creation myth of the Popol Vuh, there were two creator gods, Gucumatz and Tepeu. After creating the earth out of the primordial sea, they decided to populate it with animals. They realized later that the animals were unable to speak, and so could not worship, invoke, or glorify them. Thus, the gods failed with their first effort. In order to be worshipped, the gods decided to create human beings, whilst the animals became food for humans. The gods first attempted to create human beings with mud. It was, however, a mistake Next, the gods experimented with wood. The people carved out of wood could speak, and began to populate the earth. They did not possess, however, hearts and minds, and were destroyed by a flood. Those who survived were said to have been transformed into monkeys. After the story of the Hero Twins, the Popol Vuh returns to the creation of human beings. This time, the gods succeed, and human beings were created out of maize. Until today, maize is still seen as a sacred and divine food, and honored as such. “This time the beings shaped by the gods are everything they hoped for and more: not only do the first four men pray to their makers, but they have perfect vision and therefore perfect knowledge.”

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 THE CAB RIDE I WILL NEVER FORGET By Kent Nerburn There was a time in my life twenty years ago when I was driving a cab for a living. It was a cowboy’s life, a gambler’s life, a life for someone who wanted no boss, constant movement and the thrill of a dice roll every time a new passenger got into the cab. What I didn’t count on when I took the job was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a rolling confessional. Passengers would climb in, sit behind me in total anonymity and tell me of their lives. We were like strangers on a train, the passengers and I, hurtling through the night, revealing intimacies we would never have dreamed of sharing during the brighter light of day. I encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me, made me laugh and made me weep. And none of those lives touched me more than that of a woman I picked up late on a warm August night. I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up some partiers, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or someone going off to an early shift at some factory for the industrial part of town. When I arrived at the address, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground-floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a short minute, then drive away. Too many bad possibilities awaited a driver who went up to a darkened building at 2:30 in the morning. But I had seen too many people trapped in a life of poverty who depended on the cab as their only means of transportation. 215

 Unless a situation had a real whiff of danger, I always went to the door to find the passenger. It might, I reasoned, be someone who needs my assistance. Would I not want a driver to do the same if my mother or father had called for a cab? Hence, I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a frail and elderly voice. I could hear the sound of something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman somewhere in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like you might see in a costume shop or a Goodwill store or in a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The sound had been her dragging it across the floor. “Would you carry my bag out to the car?” she said. “I’d like a few moments alone. Then, if you could come back and help me? I’m not very strong.” I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm, and we walked slowly toward the cab. She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.” “Oh, you’re such a good boy,” she said. Her praise and appreciation were almost embarrassing. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?” “It’s not the shortest way,” I answered.

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 “Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.” I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. “I don’t have any family left,” she continued. “The doctor says I should go there. He says I don’t have very long.” I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. “What route would you like me to go?” I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they had first been married. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she would have me slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.” We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. Without waiting for me, they opened the door and began assisting the woman. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her; perhaps she had phoned them right before we left.

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 I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase up to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. “How much do I owe you?” she asked, reaching into her purse. “Nothing,” I said. “You have to make a living,” she answered. “There are other passengers,” I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held on to me tightly. “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,” she said. “Thank you.” There was nothing more to say. I squeezed her hand once, then walked out into the dim morning light. Behind me, I could hear the door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I did not pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the remainder of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? What if I had been in a foul mood and had refused to engage the woman in conversation? How many other moments like that had I missed or failed to grasp?

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 We are so conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware. When that woman hugged me and said that I had brought her a moment of joy, it was possible to believe that I had been placed on earth for the sole purpose of providing her with that last ride. I do not think that I have ever done anything in my life that was any more important.

“You cannot save people. You can only love them.” Anais Nin

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 AYURVEDA – THE SCIENCE OF LIFE Recognizing that human beings are part of nature, Ayurveda describes three fundamental energies that govern our inner and outer environments: movement, transformation, and structure. Known in Sanskrit as Vata (Wind), Pitta (Fire), and Kapha (Earth), these primary forces are responsible for the characteristics of our mind and body. Each of us has a unique proportion of these three forces that shapes our nature. If Vata is dominant in our system, we tend to be thin, light, enthusiastic, energetic, and changeable. If Pitta predominates in our nature, we tend to be intense, intelligent, and goal-oriented and we have a strong appetite for life. When Kapha prevails, we tend to be easy-going, methodical, and nurturing. Although each of us has all three forces, most people have one or two elements that predominate. For each element, there is a balanced and imbalance expression. When Vata is balanced, a person is lively and creative, but when there is too much movement in the system, a person tends to experience anxiety, insomnia, dry skin, constipation, and difficulty focusing. When Pitta is functioning in a balanced manner, a person is warm, friendly, disciplined, a good leader, and a good speaker. When Pitta is out of balance, a person tends to be compulsive and irritable and may suffer from indigestion or an inflammatory condition. When Kapha is balanced, a person is sweet, supportive, and stable but when Kapha is out of balance, a person may experience sluggishness, weight gain, and sinus congestion. An important goal of Ayurveda is to identify a person’s ideal state of balance, determine where they are out of balance, and offer interventions using diet, herbs, aromatherapy, massage treatments, music, and meditation to reestablish balance. 220

 THE TOMATO GARDEN An old Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament: “Dear Vincent, I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days. Love, Papa.” A few days later he received a letter from his son: “Dear Papa, don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried. Love, Vinnie.” At 4 a.m. The next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son: “Dear Papa, go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances. Love you, Vinnie.” “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

Theodore Roosevelt

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 AZTEC GODS AND GODESSES Quetzalcoatl: The feathered serpent, god of the wind and civilization. Quetzalcoatl was the special benefactor of humans, bringing them corn and teaching them how to live.

Huitzilopochti: God of the sun and of war (the war going on inside us), considered the spiritual leader and patron god of the Aztecs.

Tlaloc: The god of rain and of agriculture.

Chalchiuhtlicue (also known as Jade Skirt): The goddess of water, wife of Tlaloc.

Coatlicue: Goddess of the earth, associated with serpents. She is the mother of Huitzilopochti, the moon, and all the stars.

Tezcatlipoca (also known as Smoking Mirror): This complex god has played different roles in different times and places in the Aztec world. He is associated with both light and darkness, and with both destruction and creative energy. He is often portrayed as an antagonist to Quetzalcoatl.

“Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old.” George R.R. Martin

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 ANGER UNCONTROLLED By Osho Anger is that you wanted something, and somebody prevented you from getting it. Somebody came as a block, as an obstacle. Your whole energy was going to get something and somebody blocked the energy. You could not get what you wanted. Now this frustrated energy becomes anger…anger against the person who has destroyed the possibility of fulfilling your desire. You cannot prevent anger because anger is a by-product, but you can do something else so that the by-product does not happen at all. In life, remember one thing: never desire anything so intensely as if it is a question of life and death. Be a little playful. I am not saying, don’t desire — because that will become a repression in you. I am saying, desire but let your desire be playful. If you can get it, good. If you cannot get it, perhaps it was not the right time; we will see next time. Learn something of the art of the player. We become so identified with the desire, then when it is blocked or prevented our own energy becomes fire; it burns you. And in that state of almost insanity you can do anything, for which you are going to repent. It can create a series of events that your whole life may get entangled with. Because of this, for thousands of years, they have been saying, “Become desireless.” Now that is asking something inhuman. Even the people who have said, “Become desireless” have also given you a motive, a desire: if you become desireless you will attain to the ultimate freedom of moksha, nirvana. That too is a desire.

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 You can repress desire for some bigger desire, and you may even forget that you are still the same person. You have only changed the target. Certainly, there are not many people who are trying to get moksha, so you will not have any great competition. In fact, people will be very happy that you have started going towards moksha — one competitor less in life. But as far as you are concerned nothing has changed. And if anything can be created which disturbs your desire for moksha, again the anger will flare up. And this time it will be far bigger, because now the desire is far bigger. Anger is always proportionate to desire. I have heard, there were three monasteries, Christian monasteries, very close together in the forest. One day three monks met at the crossroads. They were coming from the villages back to their monasteries; each belonged to a different monastery. They were tired. They sat down under the trees and started talking about something to pass the time. One man said, “One thing you will have to accept is that as far as scholarship is concerned, learning is concerned, our monastery is the best.” The other monk said, “I agree, it is true. Your people are far more scholarly, but as far as austerities are concerned, discipline is concerned, spiritual training is concerned, you don’t come anywhere near to our monastery. And remember, scholarship will not be able to help you realize the truth. It is only spiritual discipline, and we are the best as far as spiritual discipline is concerned.”

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 The third monk said, “You are both right. The first monastery is best in learning, scholarship. The second monastery is best in spiritual discipline, austerities, fasting. But as far as humbleness, egolessness is concerned, we are the tops.” Humbleness, egolessness…but the man seemed to be absolutely unaware of what he was saying: “As far as humbleness, egolessness is concerned, we are the tops.” Even humbleness can become an ego trip. Egolessness can become an ego trip. One has to be very aware. You should not try to stop anger. You should not, in any way, keep the anger controlled, otherwise it will burn you, it will destroy you. What I am saying is: you have to go to the roots. The root is always some desire which has been blocked, and the frustration has created the anger. Don’t take desires very seriously. Don’t take anything seriously. It is unfortunate that no religion in the world has accepted the sense of humor as one of the basic qualities for the religious man. I want you to understand that a sense of humor, playfulness, should be the fundamental qualities. You should not take things so seriously, then anger does not arise. You can simply laugh at the whole thing. You can start laughing at yourself. You can start laughing at situations in which you would have been angry and mad. Use playfulness, a sense of humor, laughter. It is a big world, and there are millions of people. Everybody is trying to get to something. It is very natural that sometimes people may get into each other’s ways — not that they want to, it is just the situation, it is accidental.

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 I have heard about one Sufi mystic, Junnaid, who every day in the evening prayer used to thank existence for its compassion, for its love, for its care. Once it happened that for three days they were traveling and they came across villages where people were very antagonistic against Junnaid, because they thought his teachings were not exactly the teachings of Mohammed. His teaching seemed to be his own, and, “He is corrupting people.” So from three villages they had not got any food, not even water. On the third day, they were really in bad shape. His disciples were thinking, “Now let us see what happens in the prayer”. How can he now say to existence, ‘You are compassionate to us; your love is there. You care about us, and we are grateful to you.’ But when the prayer time came, Junnaid prayed the same way. After the prayer, the followers said, “This is too much. For three days, we have suffered hunger, thirst. We are tired, we have not slept, and still you are saying to existence, ‘You are compassionate, your love towards us is great, and you take so much care that we are grateful to you.’ ” Junnaid said, “My prayer does not depend on any condition; those things are ordinary. Whether I get food or not I don’t want to bother existence about it — such a small thing in such a big universe. If I don’t get water…even if I die, it does not matter, my prayer will remain the same. Because this vast universe…it makes no difference whether Junnaid is alive or dead.” This is what I mean when I say, don’t take anything seriously…not even yourself.

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 And then you will see anger simply has not happened. There is no possibility of anger. And anger is certainly one of the great leakages of your spiritual energy. If you can manage to be playful about your desires, and still be the same whether you succeed or you fail. Just start thinking about yourself at ease…nothing special; not that you are meant to be victorious, not that you have to succeed always in every situation. This is a big world and we are small people. Once this settles in your being then everything is acceptable. Anger disappears, and the disappearance will bring you a new surprise, because when anger disappears it leaves behind it tremendous energy of compassion, of love, of friendship.

“If you suffer it is because of you, if you feel blissful it is because of you. Nobody else is responsible, only you and you alone. You are your hell and your heaven too.” Osho

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 EIGHT SIMPLE AFFIRMATIONS YOU SHOULD WHISPER TO YOURSELF 1.“I am worthy.” Worthy of love. Worthy of peace. Worthy of praise. Worthy of happiness. Worthy of pleasure. 2.“My thoughts create my reality.” Be aware of the thoughts that drift to and fro in your mind; they are direct reflectors of not only your inner world but your outer world. Believe in and aspire to positivity. If you believe that you are abundant, you will create abundance. If you believe you are blessed, you will create imminent blessings. 3.“Be kind.” Smile sweetly. Compliment a stranger. Ask someone how they are and really care about their wellbeing. Exude friendliness and warmth, because everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Radiate compassionate consideration. Give until it hurts. 4.“The opinions of others don’t really matter.” Filter the words you hear throughout the day. Only internalize the ones that resonate with your natural rhythms. And when you do listen to the wisdom of others, take it with a grain or two of salt. Cherish your ability to make sound choices; rely on it. Listen to your heart; it’ll never steer you wrong. 5.“I am stunning.” Repeat five times more for good measure. Hammer this into your brain. Never forget it. 228

 6.“Life is beautiful.” Through the trials and tribulations, through the intricate complexities and complications… life and your existence within it is beautiful. Dwell on that. 7.“Breathe.” Be conscious of every breath you take. Relish in the sensation of your lungs filling up with air; inflate them to their fullest capacity. And when you exhale, smile. 8.“Be in this moment.” Stay mindful, stay present, stay centered. And when you feel yourself drifting out of inner consciousness, remind yourself that the past & future are elaborate illusions; that the only time is now.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where to go.” Dr. Seuss

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 THE SECRET TO MEDITATION IS ATTENTION By Kip Mazuy Wherever you turn your attention you become. You keep your attention fixed on your problems, your knowledge, your desires, your judgments, then that is what you experience yourself to be. That is your prison. All of your energy drains into that.

But if you want to awaken to what is beyond the "me.", then you allow the "me" to be as it is and you allow your attention to relax beyond it. You may focus on a mantra, a guru, the shakti (spiritual energy) the feeling of being or even just the breath, and then you realize yourself to be that.

Even simply by allowing yourself to be as you are and witnessing that happening, you move beyond yourself, you become the witness. Not in the negation of yourself but in the relaxation of yourself.

You see, you are always getting caught up in the idea that you are your thinking mind. You experience life from the presumption that the thinking mind is what you are. And from that presumption you try and solve an equation that only exists in the mind.

So trying to solve the equation only keeps you stuck in the mind. Trying to change yourself into something different simply keeps you bound to the me, it even keeps you bound to the non-acceptance of me which is suffering. So just allow the me to be as it is. 230

 You allow the thoughts and feelings and sensations to be as they are and you let it go. Even just in this allowing you get to the essence of what is here. You see that the whole universe is lighting you up as you are in this moment. The whole universe is in you and as you.

You do not need to become the whole universe. You simply have to allow yourself to be as you are, allow everything to be as it is, and let your attention expand beyond the thinking mind into that which is infinite, formless and serene.

Blessings,

Each river is different, but they all eventually lead to the ocean. No matter what we’re doing or when, or whether it brings us happiness or remorse, gain or loss, we’re all on our individual paths to enlightenment. Even when we’ve done something we consider wrong, we’re still on our path to enlightenment.” Chris Prentiss

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 THE TEN BHUMIS By Barbara O’brien Bhumi is a Sanskrit word for "land" or "ground," and the list of ten bhumis are ten "lands" a bodhisattva must pass through on the way to Buddhahood. The bhumis are important to early Mahayana Buddhism. A list of ten bhumis appears in several Mahayana texts, although they are not always identical. The bhumis also are associated with the Perfections or Paramitas. Many schools of Buddhism describe some kind of path of development. Often these are extensions of the Eightfold Path. Since this is a description of the progress of a bodhisattva, much of the list below promotes the turning from concern for self to concern for others. In Mahayana Buddhism, the bodhisattva is the ideal of practice. This is an enlightened being who vows to remain in the world until all other beings realize enlightenment. Here is a standard list, taken from the Dashabhumika-sutra, which is taken from the larger Avatamsaka or Flower Garland Sutra. 1. Pramudita-bhumi (Joyful Land) The bodhisattva begins the journey joyful with the thought of enlightenment. He has taken bodhisattva vows, the most basic of which is "May I attain Buddhahood for the welfare of all sentient beings." Even at this early stage he recognizes the emptiness of phenomena. In this stage, the bodhisattva cultivates Dana Paramita, the perfection of giving or generosity in which it is recognized there are no givers and no receivers.

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 2. Vimala-bhumi (Land of Purity) The bodhisattva cultivates Sila Paramita, the perfection of morality, which culminates in selfless compassion for all beings. He is purified of immoral conduct and dispositions. And according to Nagarjuna, The second is called the Stainless Because all ten [virtuous] actions Of body, speech, and mind are stainless And they naturally abide in those [deeds of ethics]. Through the maturation of those [good qualities] The perfection of ethics becomes supreme. They become Universal Monarchs helping beings, Masters of the glorious four continents and of the seven precious objects. 3. Prabhakari-bhumi (Luminous or Radiant Land) The bodhisattva is now purified of the Three Poisons. He cultivates Ksanti Paramita, which is the perfection of patience or forbearance, now he knows that he can bear all burdens and hardships to finish the journey. He achieves the four absorptions or dhyanas. 4. Archismati-bhumi (The Brilliant or Blazing Land) Remaining false conceptions are burned away, and good qualities are pursued. This level may also be associated with Virya Paramita, the perfection of energy.

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 5. Sudurjaya-bhumi (The Land That Is Difficult to Conquer) Now the bodhisattva goes deeper into meditation, as this land is associated with Dhyana Paramita, the perfection of meditation. He pierces through the darkness of ignorance. Now he understands the Four Noble Truths and the Two Truths. As he develops himself, the bodhisattva devotes himself to the welfare of others. 6. Abhimukhi-bhumi (The Land Looking Forward to Wisdom) This land is associated with Prajna Paramita, the perfection of wisdom. He sees that all phenomena are without self-essence and understand the nature of Dependent Origination -- the way all phenomena arise and cease. 7. Durangama-bhumi (The Far-Reaching Land) The bodhisattva acquires the power of upaya, or skillful means to help others realize enlightenment. At this point the bodhisattva has become a transcendent bodhisattva who can manifest in the world in whatever form is most needed. 8. Achala-bhumi (The Immovable Land) The bodhisattva can no longer be disturbed, because Buddhahood is within sight. From here he can no longer fall back to earlier stages of development. 9. Sadhumati-bhumi (the land of good thoughts) The bodhisattva understands all dharmas and is able to teach others. 234

 10. Dharmamegha-bhumi (The Land of Dharma Clouds) Buddhahood is confirmed, and he enters Tushita Heaven. Tushita Heaven is the heaven of contended gods, where there are Buddhas who will be reborn only one more time. Maitreya is said to live there also.

The tenth is the Cloud of Dharma because The rain of excellent doctrine falls, The Bodhisattva is consecrated With light by the Buddhas. Nagarjuna

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 RULES FOR DOING GOOD Do all the good you can, In all the ways you can, To all the People you can, In every place you can, At all the times you can, As long as ever you can.

“Consider the case of gold mingled with iron. Initially it may seem that the gold is not pure because it is mixed in with the iron and its purity cannot be seen, but if it is separated from the iron it will be seen to have never been stained by the iron. It has always been pure. Similarily, you should see that the nature of phenomenal existence – the world and all the beings that dwell within it – is primordially pure. Yangthang Rinpoche

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 EXPERIENCE LIFE Charles Bukoswki tells us “Do what you love and let it kill you”. I totally agree with him, I agree with him in the way that you should lose yourself in everything you love doing, because if you LOVE doing it then it is made out of love, and things made out of love are always positive things with positive outcomes. So, I say to you, lose yourself in writing, lose yourself in helping, lose yourself in meditating and in transforming yourself, because that is the only way to live and love, by working on ourselves every single day. There are so many things we can do each day to transform ourselves like leaving bad habits forever, like drinking, drugs, smoking, insulting people, having meaningless sex, gossip, anger, jealousy and so many things we can change today, things that make our life unhappy and negative, when it feels bad its cause its negative, when it feels good its cause its positive, it’s that easy and our body communicates with us. Maybe, we think these things make us happy for a moment, but after that moment is gone, then we feel depressed, we feel incomplete and when we feel this way, it is our mind, our body, our spirituality that is telling us that we are not on the right path. So, we must change. The way to change is to spend time alone, time meditating, time being conscious in our every though and every breath. This is the way to understanding and loving ourselves, and if we understand this, we will always be joyful; the only way is working on ourselves. So, you must be the change you want to see reflected around you, if you want peace, then you must have peace of mind and soul, if you want beauty, then your thoughts must be beautiful and if you want happiness, then you must be truly happy and the rest will manifest and flow around you. 237

 We must change our thoughts, our form of living, our form of talking, we must change certain friendships, and all these things that make us miserable and unhappy, because we are truly the captain of our lives, and we all wish to have a long, beautiful and healthy life. The world has so many great things to offer, but our eyes are clouded by our dark thoughts, so we must bring in the light of peace, the light of love and the light of wisdom, and the only way to do this is by working on ourselves day by day. We must also learn to accept change, change is the only constant thing in life, everything is always changing, and the more we cling to things the more we will be in pain when we lose those things, specially relationships, we must learn to let go and get used to change, this will help us to suffer less. We must also understand that pain is essential for growth, and that everything is a blessing, no matter how hard it looks, it will always be a blessing. The only form of things is that everything is formless, and that is the only form, so whenever we expect any outcome, we are giving form to things, when the form of things is formlessness and we must also accept this. We are so blessed to have all these teachers, all these teachings that guide us to a way of living, to a joyful living, because everything we need is inside of us, so we must stop looking for happiness on the outside, since everything comes from within. When we learn to be happy with what we are, with who we are, heaven will be all around us, so the best thing is to keep working on ourselves, keep improving and keep helping others. We already have, thanks to all the teachers, ascended masters and enlightened beings all the help that we need, it’s just a matter of opening

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 our heart to their teachings and we will be on the right path for experiencing a positive, abundant and beautiful LIFE.

“Nobody can save you but yourself. You will be put again and again into nearly impossible situations. They will attempt again and again through subterfuge, guise and force to make you submit, quit and/or die quietly inside.

Nobody can save you but yourself and it will be easy enough to fail so very easily but don’t, don’t, don’t. Just watch them. Listen to them. do you want to be like that? A faceless, mindless, heartless being? Do you want to experience death before death?

Nobody can save you but yourself and you’re worth saving. It’s a war not easily won but if anything is worth winning then this is it.

Think about it. Think about saving yourself.” Charles Bukowski

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE SPIRITUAL MASTERS AND TEACHERS All the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, ascended masters, teachers, elohims, archangels and enlightened beings are present in every moment to aid us, protect us, heal us and guide us, all their blessings are focused directly to us, it is just a matter of asking for their protection, guidance, healing and blessings to whomever we have more faith in, it is just a matter of visualizing their presence sending us light in different colors and they will immediately answer our prayers and begin healing our pain or fixing whatever needs fixing, you don’t have to believe me, experience it for yourself. The next pages are dedicated to remembering those great words and teachings from different Buddhas, enlightened beings, ascended masters and teachers from different kinds, all of them left a message for us to understand and apply in our daily living, to become better human beings for us and those around us, and to transform our world in the paradise we should be experiencing. Applying their teachings from the very moment we finish reading them, we will start experiencing change, growth and inner peace and we will have our own heaven right here on earth, remember to read them often so you become accustomed to them. These teachings are the gift they left us, some are very old, others are recent teachings, but if we analyze them, they all agree with each other, which is what amazes me the most, without most of them knowing each other, living in different continents, different countries, even different eras, their teachings are all in harmony which tells us that

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 following them will have us on the right road towards peace, success, enlightenment or whatever it is that we seek for. There are many more great gurus and teachers, but these are the ones that came into my life for a reason, and these are the ones featured in this book for anyone who is reading it to learn from them. I thank all of the gurus, teachers and ascended masters that are working and have worked for every sentient being that are not here mentioned. They all give me the courage to finish this book and to work on a next one thanks to their infinite teachings and blessings. Follow the examples of these Light bearers and Light workers. “Ah. Lama khyenno. Ah. Lama khyenno.” “Sangye chödang tsogky choknam la Jangchub bardu dagni kyabsu chi Dag gi jinsog gyipey sönam kyi Drola penchir sangye drubpar shog Jamdang nyingje chogmey jongwa dang Döndam Ihanchig kyepey yeshe ni Gyalwa seychey namkyi togpa tar Dagsog ngönsum togpar jingyi lob.”

“We’re all just walking each other home." Ram Dass

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

WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JESUS CHRIST

Without a doubt, Jesus was the greatest metaphysical master the earth has ever seen, the metaphysical Master of Love, and mostly everything he spoke is meant in a metaphysical way. Jesus prayers were answered because He always dwelt in the consciousness of perfect harmony with the Father. When we ask in His name, it is with an earnest desire for that consciousness which Jesus possessed. The Christ within each of us is ever seeking perfect expression, and it should be our earnest effort to have our mind and heart clear and open channels in order that He may more perfectly work through us. When we ask in the name of Christ Jesus we ask in the consciousness that in reality we are perfect children of the Father. This harmonious relationship between God and man is attained by prayer and meditation and by constantly affirming God's presence and power. If we would have God manifest through us, we must endeavor to raise our thoughts and feelings to the standard of God. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who 242

 seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:910). “Behold! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20) “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. … Truly I say to you whoever believes has eternal life, here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” (John 6:35, 47-51, 53-54). “Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). “Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22). “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these'” (Mark 12:2831). 243

 “You have heard that it was said: ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also…You have heard that it was said ‘Love you neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:38,39, 4345). “All who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when you are insulted and persecuted and said evil against falsely on account of me, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great…” (Matthew 5:3-12). “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY BUDDHA By Cristian Violatti

Siddhartha Gautama was the leader and founder of a sect of wanderer ascetics (Sramanas), one of many sects which existed at that time all over India. This sect came to be known as Sangha, to distinguish it from other similar communities. The teachings of Siddhartha Gautama are considered the core of Buddhism: after his death, the community he founded slowly evolved into a religious-like movement which was finally established as a state religion in India by the time of Emperor Ashoka. Traditionally, the meaning of the term Buddha is understood as a person who has awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance. In Indian tradition, the expression was already used before, during, and after the life of Siddhartha by many religious communities, but it became most strongly linked to the Buddhist tradition.

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 The Four Noble Truths:

1. All things and experiences are marked by suffering/ disharmony/ frustration (dukkha). 2. The arising of suffering/ disharmony/ frustration comes from desire/ craving/ clinging. 3. To achieve the cessation or end of suffering/ disharmony/ frustration, let go of desire/ craving/ clinging. 4. The way to achieve that cessation of suffering/ disharmony/ frustration, is walking the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path to the cessation of suffering:

1. Right Understanding of the following facts: • the truth about suffering ... (The Four Truths); • everything is impermanent and changes; • there is no separate individual self- this is an illusion.

2. Right Determination to: • give up what is wrong and evil; • undertake what is good; • abandon thoughts that have to do with bringing suffering to any conscious being; cultivate thoughts of loving kindness, that are based on caring about others' suffering, and sympathetic joy in others' happiness.

3. Right Speech: • Abstain from telling lies. • Abstain from talk that brings harm or discredit to others (such as 246

 backbiting or slander) or talk that creates hatred or disharmony between individuals and groups. • Abstain from harsh, rude, impolite, malicious, or abusive language. • Abstain from idle, useless, and foolish babble and gossip. Abstain from recrimination and negative statements. • Abstain from harsh speech—practice kindly speech. • Abstain from frivolous speech—practice meaningful speech. • Abstain from slanderous speech—practice harmonious speech. • Speak the truth if it is useful and timely. Practice only necessary speech. Let your speech be filled with loving kindness. Speak that which alleviates suffering.

4. Right Action: • Peaceful, honorable conduct; abstain from dishonest dealings; take concrete steps necessary to foster what is good. • Do things that are moral, honest, and alleviate suffering. Do not do things that will bring suffering to others or yourself.

5. Right Livelihood: • Abstain from making your living from an occupation that brings harm and suffering to humans or animals, or diminish their well-being. This includes: activities that directly harm conscious beings, and activities that indirectly harm sentient beings, e.g., making weapons or poisons.

6. Right Effort: • Foster good and prevent evil; • Work on yourself—be engaged in appropriate self-improvement. The essence of right effort is that everything must be done with a sense of 247

 proper balance that fits the situation. Effort should be balanced between trying too hard and not trying hard enough. For example, strike the balance between excessive fasting and over-indulgence in food. Trying hard to progress too rapidly gets poor results, as does not trying hard enough.

7. Right Mindfulness or wakefulness: • Foster right attention. • Avoid whatever clouds our mental awareness (e.g., drugs). • Systematically and intentionally develop awareness.

8. Right Concentration: • Developed by practicing meditation and/or mental focusing. Proper meditation must be done continuously while awake, and should include work on awareness of body, emotions, thought, and mind objects.

Five basic precepts:

1. Abstain from killing living beings (from destroying/taking life)—or practice love. 2. Abstain from taking the not-given (from stealing)—or practice generosity, practice giving. 3. Abstain from sexual misconduct—or practice contentment. 4. Abstain from false speech (from lying)—or practice truthfulness. 5. Abstain from taking intoxicating drinks—or practice awareness and mental clarity.

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 “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.” “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.” “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.” “Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.” “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” “The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.” 249

 “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely”. “In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?” “Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” “All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon.... If a man speaks or acts with a good thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.” “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?” “I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world - a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SHIVA

Lord Shiva is the destroyer of the world, following Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver, after which Brahma again creates the world and so on. Shiva is responsible for change both in the form of death and destruction and in the positive sense of destroying the ego, the false identification with the form. This also includes the shedding of old habits and attachments. All that has a beginning by necessity must have an end. In destruction, truly nothing is destroyed but the illusion of individuality. Thus, the power of destruction associated with Lord Shiva has great purifying power, both on a more personal level when problems make us see reality more clearly, as on a more universal level. Destruction opens the path for a new creation of the universe, a new opportunity for the beauty and drama of universal illusion to unfold. In Shiva the art of meditation takes its most absolute form. In meditation, not only mind is stopped, everything is dropped. In deep meditation or samadhi, even the object of the meditation (like a mantra) is transformed into its formless essence, which is the essence of everything and everyone. Thus, Shiva stands for letting go of everything

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 in the world of forms. The path of Lord Shiva is the path of the ascetic yogi. “The independent state of supreme consciousness is the reality of everything.” “Through the higher spiritual intelligence, there is the realization of the Light of the Self.” "O goddess, disciplining of the mind is far more excellent than many a horse-sacrifice. It is conducive to salvation. It is inaccessible to those who adhere to sensual objects." "Yoga is enhanced by practice" "The practice of Yoga quells all ailments, fevers and many other distressing ills." "Yoga is the fixation of the mind in me (Shiva) along the path indicated by me, restraining other activities." “The flowers, the incense, grain, spices, and honey offered in worship are made out of the same divine stuff as you. Who then is worshiped?” “When a yogi meditates that the entire universe or his body is simultaneously filled with the supreme bliss of the joy of self, then through the flow of that joy, he becomes one with supreme joy.” “Whatever appears as maya, creator, creature, mind, world, names and forms are the pure Brahman-Self only and not apart from that Self.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY KRISHNA By Osho

Krishna is not a seeker. It would be wrong to call him a seeker. He is a siddha, an adept, an accomplished performer of all life’s arts. And what he says in this siddha state, in this ultimate state of mind, may seem to you to be egoistic, but it is not. You cannot judge from the outside whether a man is wise or foolish because sometimes their acts may be the same. Krishna says in the Gita to Arjuna, “Fight, but fight with absolute surrender to God. Become a vehicle.” Now, to surrender means absolute awareness, otherwise you cannot surrender. Surrender means dropping the ego, and ego is your unconsciousness. Krishna says, “Drop the ego and then leave it to God. Then let his will be done. Then whatsoever happens is good.”

Arjuna argues. Again and again he brings new arguments and he says, “But to kill these people – innocent people, they have not done anything wrong – just for the kingdom to kill so many people, so much violence, so much murder, so much bloodshed…how can it be right? Rather than killing these people for the kingdom I would like to renounce and go to the forest and become a monk.” 253

 Now, if you just look from the outside, Arjuna seems to be more religious than Krishna. Arjuna seems to be more a Gandhian than Krishna. Krishna seems to be very dangerous. He is saying, “Drop all this nonsense of being a monk and escaping to the Himalayan caves. That is not for you. You leave everything to God. You don’t decide, you drop this deciding. You simply relax, be in a let-go, and let him descend in you and let him flow through you. Then, whatsoever happens…. If he wants to become a monk through you, he will become a monk. If he wants to become a warrior through you, he will become a warrior.”

Arjuna seems to be more moralistic, puritanistic. Krishna seems to be totally different. Krishna is a Buddha, an awakened being. He is saying, “Don’t you decide. Out of your unconsciousness, whatsoever you decide is going to be wrong, because unconsciousness is wrong.” And the foolish person lives in unconsciousness. Even if he tries to do good, in fact he succeeds only in doing bad.

“Whenever dharma declines and the purpose of life is forgotten, I manifest myself on earth. I am born in every age to protect the good, to destroy evil, and to reestablish dharma.” “Among animals I am the lion; among birds, the eagle Garuda. I am Prahlada, born among the demons, and of all that measures, I am time.” “Just remember that I am, and that I support the entire cosmos with only a fragment of my being.”

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 “With a drop of my energy I enter the earth and support all creatures. Through the moon, the vessel of life-giving fluid, I nourish all plants. I enter breathing creatures and dwell within as the life-giving breath. I am the fire in the stomach which digests all food.” “There are three gates to this self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Renounce these three.” “When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.” “Those who remember me at the time of death will come to me. Do not doubt this. Whatever occupies the mind at the time of death determines the destination of the dying; always they will tend toward that state of being.” “They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the egocage of “I,” “me,” and “mine” to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality.” “The meaning of Karma is in the intention. The intention behind action is what matters. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.” “You and I have passed through many births, Arjuna. You have forgotten, but I remember them all.” “No one who does good work will ever come to a bad end, either here or in the world to come.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY LAO TZU

Lao Tzu was the most important spiritual Chinese sage. His name, which is also often called Laozi, literally means “Old Master” and is generally considered an honorific. The purpose of Taoism is to explain how the world operates and the best way to navigate through life. As such, Taoism's Tao Te Ching, written by its founder Lao Tzu, is a practical philosophical manual with principles for achieving daily contentment. This is no easy task in a world full of "chaos, absurdity, and suffering," but Lao Tzu is able to help us with his ancient wisdom. He defined contentment as the only measure by which we should gauge personal success and how to use it as a filter through which society's values should be passed. By adhering to this strict test, dysfunctional impulses, like fame and fortune, can be warded off. Finally, the religious aspects of Taoism teach us that a content physical existence will best prepare the soul for that time when the body is cast off. Whether physical, mental, or metaphysical, contentment is the ultimate goal.

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 Since Taoism's philosophical and religious system is built on a holistic view of reality, its yin/yang symbol is foremost a representation of Universal Oneness with black and white colors alternating within a single circle. Thus the duality of all phenomena — whether summer and winter, male and female, or life and death — are shown to be opposing manifestations of the same principle and should not to be viewed as independent phenomena. This depiction of oneness and its opposites are integral to understanding all of Lao Tzu's poetry.

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.” “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” “Silence is a source of Great Strength.” 257

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MUHAMMAD

At the age of forty, Muhammad received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. The revelations continued for twenty-three years, and they are collectively known as the Quran. As soon as he began to recite the Quran and to preach the truth which God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered persecution from unbelievers. The Prophet Muhammad was a perfect example of an honest, just, merciful, compassionate, truthful, and brave human being. Though he was a man, he was far removed from all evil characteristics and strove solely for the sake of God and His reward in the Hereafter. Moreover, in all his actions and dealings, he was ever mindful and fearful of God. “You will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Let me guide you to something in the doing of which you will love one another. Give a greeting to everyone among you.” “God is merciful to those who show mercy to others.” 258

 “Power consists not in being able to strike another, but in being able to control oneself when anger arises.” “The best people are those who are most useful to others.” “From morning until night and from night until morning keep your heart free from malice towards anyone.” “Greet those whom you know and those whom you don’t know.” “He is not of us who is not affectionate to the little ones and does not respect the reputation of the old.” “Whoever restrains his anger when he has the power to show it, God will give him a great reward.” “Keep yourselves far from envy, because it eats up and takes away good actions as fire consumes and burns the wood.” “What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, To feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, To lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY PADMASAMBHAVA

Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is perhaps the most universally cherished realized being in all of Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava came to Tibet from India in the 8th century and helped establish a pure lineage which is still practiced today by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism around the world. The name of Padmasambhava, literally means “born of the lotus flower.” This means to be born fully illuminated. Lama Zopa Rinpoche lauds Padmasambhava’s contribution to humanity: “Due to Padmasambhava’s great compassion, Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism flourished in Tibet and now has spread throughout the entire world. Because of that, so many people have experienced the path to enlightenment and achieved enlightenment. Due to his great compassion, the lives of infinite number of sentient beings have become meaningful. It is said that just looking at the image of Padmasambhava, anything that you ask of him will be fulfilled, looking into his eyes and 260

 having faith, he will help accomplish anything you need. No matter how hard or impossible you believe it to be. “Listen, beautiful one having the form of a goddess, for those sentient beings who have not met me, statues of me in the future will become the light eliminating the darkness of ignorance. Whoever builds such statues of me, which become objects of offering and so forth, all their future lives will become meaningful and they will establish the banner of the teachings.” “I am present in front of anyone who has faith in me, just as the moon casts its reflection, effortlessly, in any vessel filled with water”. “The eagle that is flying high in the sky should not forget that it should come down one day to see its shadow.” “Now when the bardo of dying dawns upon me, I will abandon all grasping, yearning, and attachment, enter undistracted into clear awareness of the teaching, And eject my consciousness into the space of unborn Rigpa; As I leave this compound body of flesh and blood I will know it to be a transitory illusion.” “Although my view is higher than the sky, my respect for the cause and effect of actions is as fine as grains of flour.” “For anyone, man or woman, who has faith in me, I, the Lotus Born, have never departed — I sleep on their threshold.”

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 “Seeing me, all the Buddhis are seen, accomplishing my practice, the practice of all the Buddha is accomplished, For I am the embodiment of all the sugatas (fully enlightened beings).” “Unstained by objective clinging, Unspoilt by the grasping mind, sustaining the naked and empty awareness Is the wisdom mind of all the Buddhas.” “May I recognize all the manifestations that appear to me in the bardo (intermediate state) as being my own projections; emanations of my own mind.” “When I am in the bardo of birth till death, May I waste no time; Abandoning laziness, may I engage without distraction in the study, assimilation of, and meditation on the teachings, May I practice, integrating on the path appearance and mind.” “Guru Rinpoche, Buddha of the three times, Lord of all siddhis who is the one of great bliss, Dispeller of all obstacles, wrathful tamer of Mara (demon), We supplicate you; please grant your blessings. Grant your blessings that outer, inner and secret obstacles be pacified and that our intentions be spontaneously accomplished.” -“Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum (A mantra for protection, healing, transformation and inner peace).”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MAHAVIRA By Sri Swami Sivananda

Mahavira lived a life of absolute truthfulness, a life of perfect honesty and a life of absolute chastity. He lived without possessing any property at all. ‘Maha’ means great and ‘Vira’ means a hero. Mahavira was immersed in Self-contemplation. He knew that the pleasures of this world were transitory and that they strengthened the letters of Karma. He knew that renunciation would lead to the attainment of eternal bliss. Mahavira became extremely penitent. He resolved to give up everything worldly. He gave up attachment to his parents, friends and relatives. He thought over the twelve Anuprekshas or matters of deep thinking according to the Jain scriptures: 1. All worldly things are temporary. 2. The Soul alone is the sole resort. 3. This world is beginningless and crooked. 4. There is nothing to help the Soul, but the Soul itself.

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 5. Body, mind, etc., are essentially separate from the Soul. 6. The Soul is essentially pure and the body, etc., are essentially impure. 7. The Soul’s bondage is due to the inflow of Karma in it. 8. Every being ought to stop this inflow. 9. Emancipation is attained when Karma is absolutely got rid of. 10. The emancipated Souls remain fit the foremost top of the filled spaces. 11. In this world, to have the birth of a human being and to meditate on the nature of the Soul are the greatest blessings. 12. To have the three jewels as described by the Omniscient is the only morality “All the objects of the world are evanescent like water bubbles. Where can one get happiness in this world which is the abode of disease, sorrow, pain and death? I must leave this world".

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MILAREPA By Timothy Conway

Jetsün Milarepa is certainly one of the most interesting and beloved figures in all of spirituality—an outstanding exemplar of Jesus and the Buddha’s commandment to “love thy enemy.” Mila’s case is paradigmatic: he overcame evil—others’ evil and his own evil —to become a superhuman Buddha in one lifetime. His is a life of sincere effort, tireless dedication, and amazing austerity culminating in supremely enlightened wisdom and all-embracing compassion. Milarepa manifested astonishing miracles—e.g., healings, control of physical elements, levitation, bodily transformations, flying, bi-locating his form in remote places simultaneously. What most endeared Milarepa in the hearts of the monks, nuns, yogis, laity, royalty, peasants and merchants who visited him was his clear, authoritative spiritual instruction on their behalf. He usually sang these counsels in lilting poetic hymns. A stirring blend of sublimity and earthiness, soulful strength and gentle humor, pervades these teachings. Many of his songs speak of the beauty of this dream-like world, but 265

 underline the terrible danger of being enslaved by one’s unwholesome karmas. According to a blessing Milarepa uttered towards the end of his life, anyone who but hears the name Milarepa even once attracts an instant blessing and will not take rebirth in a lower state of existence during seven consecutive lifetimes. This was prophesied by Saints and Buddhas of the past even before his lifetime. “All worldly pursuits have but the one unavoidable end, which is sorrow: acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births, in death. Knowing this, one should, from the very first, renounce acquisition and heaping up, and building, and meeting; and faithful to the commands of an eminent guru, set about realizing the Truth (which has no birth or death)." “If you do not acquire contentment in yourselves, Heaped-up accumulations will only enrich others. If you do not obtain the light of Inner Peace, Mere external ease and pleasure will become a source of pain. If you do not suppress the Demon of Ambition, Desire for fame will lead to ruin and to lawsuits" “If you lose all differentiation between yourselves and others, fit to serve others you will be. And when in serving others you will win success, then shall you meet with me; And finding me, you shall attain to Buddhahood."

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MAITREYA By Lama Yeshe

Maitreya's name is derived from the Sanskrit 'maitri' meaning 'universal loving-kindness'. Infinitely compassionate and all-knowing, Buddhas teach by their words and example in order to guide us along the path to our own spiritual maturity. While practicing as a bodhisattva he specialized in the meditation on great love. He not only taught this path to others but also meditated upon it continuously himself, often stationing himself at the gate of a city and contemplating deeply on loving kindness. His meditation was so powerful that people passing by close enough to touch his feet would themselves receive the realization of great love.

“Maitreya Buddha is the embodiment of loving-kindness. Throughout the entire universe, peace comes from the good heart, from lovingkindness. — Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of Maitreya Project 267

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY QUETZALCOATL By Mark Cartwright

Quetzalcóatl was one of the most important gods in ancient Mesoamerica. The god known as the Plumed Serpent is a mix of bird and rattle snake and his name is a combination of the Nahuatl words for the quetzal - the emerald plumed bird - and coatl or serpentHe was regarded as the god of winds and rain and as the creator of the world and mankind. In Central Mexico from 1200 CE he was also considered the patron god of priests and merchants and considered the god of wisdom, science, agriculture, crafts and the arts. He also invented the calendar, was identified with Venus, the rising morning star, and even discovered corn (maize) with the help of giant red ant that led him to a mountain packed full of grain and seeds. “Quien dice que las aves ya no vuelan si las alas de Quetzalcoatl aun andan por los cielos, quién dice que las plumas sagradas ya no brillan, si en los rayos del sol aun palpitan, entregándose 268

 al hombre y éste que se niega a recibirlas. mas cual pájaro hombre que su serpiente asciende y devora la podredumbre de la ignorancia y la insensatez. Quién osa decir que esto es tierra marchita, si aún la misma tierra hace vivir, muere y vuelve a nacer todo lo que de ella surge. Para vivir hay que morir, y para morir, hay que vivir de instante en instante. ni las mariposas negarían su existir, ni los sabios se halagarían porque les rindieran elogios. pues es más terrible la situación de los que se creen sabios, cuando hay quienes ignoramos que ignoramos. La sabiduría no se regala, se hace una con nosotros mismos, hasta en el templo de Delfos hace mención a esto, pues la entrada a ella es comenzar con nosotros mismos. el jade y las piedras preciosas no son de quien las posee, sino de quien las hace suyas, les da forma y las perfecciona. Quién dice que lo antiguo ya no vive, si corre por nuestras venas. Ni las aguas, ni los ríos se atreverían a decir semejante cosa, 269

 más cuando los tesoros han sido cubiertos con el manto de la sabiduría celeste. Quetzalcoatl vive y quiere que nosotros vivamos y no como ahora que tan solo existimos.”

Getzabela Lázgare

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SHANKARA By Sri Swami Sivananda

Shankara is the foremost among the master-minds and the giant souls which Mother India has produced. He was the expounder of the Advaita philosophy. Shankara was a giant metaphysician, a practical philosopher, an infallible logician, a dynamic personality and a stupendous moral and spiritual force. His grasping and elucidating powers knew no bounds. He was a fully developed Yogi, Jnani and Bhakta. He was a Karma Yogin of no mean order. He was a powerful magnet. There is not one branch of knowledge which Shankara has left unexplored and which has not received the touch, polish and finish of his superhuman intellect. The loftiness, calmness and firmness of his mind, the impartiality with which he deals with various questions, his clearness of expression-all these make us revere the philosopher more and more. His teachings will continue to live as long as the sun shines. Shankara's scholarly erudition and his masterly way of exposition of intricate philosophical problems have won the admiration of all the philosophical schools of the world at the present moment. Shankara was an intellectual genius, a profound philosopher, an able propagandist, a 271

 matchless preacher, a gifted poet and a great religious reformer. Perhaps, never in the history of any literature, a stupendous writer like him has been found. Even the Western scholars of the present day pay their homage and respects to him. Of all the ancient systems, that of Shankar Acharya will be found to be the most congenial and the easiest of acceptance to the modern mind. "Space seems broken and diverse because of the many forms in it. Remove the forms and pure space remains. So, too with the Omnipresent Self." "Like the waves in the ocean, the worlds arise, live and dissolve in the Supreme Self, the substance and cause of everything." "Like the appearance of silver in mother of pearl, the world seems real until the Self, the underlying reality, is realized." "The world, like a dream full of attachments and aversions seems real until the awakening." "[I am] the nature of Pure Consciousness. I am always the same to beings, one alone; [I am] the highest Brahman, which, like the sky, is all-pervading, imperishable, auspicious, uninterrupted, undivided and devoid of action. I do not belong to anything since I am free from attachment. [I am] the highest Brahman... ever-shining, unborn, one alone, imperishable, stainless, all-pervading, and nondual-That am I, and I am forever released.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY RUMI

Rumi is one of the great spiritual masters and poetical geniuses of mankind and was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order, a leading mystical brotherhood of Islam. If there is any general idea underlying Rumi’s poetry, it is the absolute love of God. His influence on thought, literature and all forms of aesthetic expression in the world of Islam cannot be overrated. “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there.” “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” “Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” “What you seek is seeking you.” “Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes around in another form.” “Carry the burden smilingly and cheerfully, because patience is the key to victory.”

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 “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.” “My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” “Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.” “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” “Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” “Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.” “Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” “Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” “This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor...Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” “Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. come, even if you 274

 have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” “I know you're tired but come, this is the way.” “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.” “Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.” “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.” “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” “What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.” “These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY METATRON

Metatron and Sandalphon are probably the only two angels within the heavenly spheres who were once human. It was written that he ‘walked with God’ and was taken up into Heaven where he was made an Archangel. It is thought too that it was Metatron who stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac to God. Metatron can help us find the proper measure in love, work and recreation so that we live balanced, healthy lives, rich in harmony and serenity. He will also be a witness to the good we do, perhaps those acts of love or kindness not recognized by others. He can also help us when we have put effort and toil into making something work, whatever it is: it could be anything from trying to make a relationship work, losing weight, or giving up an addictive or damaging habit, to throwing ourselves fully into a cause or team effort. We can pray to The Archangel Metatron to guide our efforts and to help us find the right measure for our output and activities. We can ask Metatron in our meditation to assist us in knowing when ‘enough is enough’, or when we need to do more for ourselves or others. 276

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY ASHTAVAKRA

Ashtavakra was a famous seer and teacher of the early Vedic period. His teachings and philosophy are available to us in the Ashtavakra Gita. According to tradition, Ashtavakra was born to Kahoda and Sujata, both of whom where students of Uddalaka. Ashtavakra was born in a family of eminent teachers and he was the teacher of Patanjali, the author of the Yogasutras. According to traditions he was born with eight deformities which earned him the name Ashtavakra (it is said he later lost his deformities due to his great self-knowledge). The young Ashtavakra must have spent considerable time traveling with his parents and grandparents and learning the secrets of the Vedanta from them. The Ashtavakra Gita was composed in the form of a dialogue between Ashtavakra and King Janaka on the nature of soul, the nature of reality, the cause of bondage and the means of liberation. This is the work of a self-realized seer who had experienced oneness with the supreme self. 277

 “Know that you are neither the body, nor the mind, nor the senses, but pure witnessing consciousness.” “The world appears because of your ignorance and it will disappear when you truly know who you are.” “The whole reality is one. The duality between the subject and the object, the knower and the known arise because of ignorance.” “When you achieve the supreme state of non-duality by realizing that you are in everything and everything is in you and you know who you truly are, there is nothing that can bind you to this world.” “Abandon desire and gain and look on everything like a dream with dispassion, equanimity and detachment.” “Live with a sense of abandon, with an empty mind, freed from deliberate action, setting aside all preferences and pairs of opposites, without interest in action or inaction, renunciation or acquisition, gain or loss and the very need to become liberated. This is the mark of a truly liberated person who is at peace wherever he is.” “Know that you are God himself and that everything is in yourself. Live with this faith.” “Not to get involved with samsara or remain passive is difficult for ordinary human beings, because of the tendency to feel important, to be part of something, to identify ourselves with some event or movement or other people.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY PATANJALI

Patanjali was the author of Yoga Sutra, a major work containing pithy on the philosophical aspects of mind and consciousness. Patanjali was a Hindu Vedantist. The Yoga Sutra, his culminating work, is his distillation of human knowledge. His sutras are concise and compact. In recent times Yoga Sutras, have become very popular as the Yoga practice has become much more common. Patanjali Yoga Sutras is the ancient treasure narrating how to keep the body healthy. This yoga sutra is now one of the most acclaimed elements of everyday life. Patanjali documented the famous Yoga Sutras in a very concise manner. The sutras give us the earliest reference to the popular term Ashtanga Yoga, which translates literally as the eight limbs of yoga popularly known as the eightfold path. They are: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. The Mahabhasya, his great grammar, an archetypal work for fostering correct language was followed by his book Ayurveda, the science of life and health. Patanjali's final work on yoga was aimed at man's psychological and devout evolution. 279

 Patanjali's sutras were the earliest and are still the most perceptive and enlightening study of human consciousness. He describes the enigma if human existence. In his sutras, Patanjali confirms that yoga practice helps us to transform ourselves, gain mastery over the mind and emotions, as well as overcome obstacles to our spiritual development. Patanjali's works are followed by yogis to this day in their effort to develop a refined language, a cultured body and a civilized mind. “Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.” “For those who have an intense urge for Spirit and wisdom, it sits near them, waiting.” “It is only when the correct practice is followed for a long time, without interruptions and with a quality of positive attitude and eagerness, that it can succeed.” “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands in every direction; and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” “When one is confirmed in celibacy, spiritual vigor is gained.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY BODHIDHARMA By Vajra Regent DongShan Wu-Tsen

Bodhi dharma is credited with bringing Zen Buddhism to China and he is the First Patriarch of Chinese Zen Lineage. Bodhi dharma’s Buddhist Master, Prajnatara, was the twenty seventh Patriarch of Indian Buddhism, he taught Bodhi dharma for many years. Following the instruction of his Master to transmit Dharma to China, Bodhi dharma traveled east. When he arrived in Kwang Chou, he was ceremoniously welcomed and greatly honored by the local military official named Shao Yang. The same year, he was invited to the Capitol, Nanjing, to meet Emperor Wu Di of the Liang dynasty. Because the communication between the Emperor and Bodhi dharma was mutually unsatisfactory, Bodhi dharma left the palace, crossed the Yangtzu River, and continued north until he arrived at the Shao Lin Temple in Ho Nan Province. It was here that Bodhi dharma became famous for meditating nine years facing a wall (it is said that his impression remains on the cave). Bodhi dharma instructed his disciples that the Lankavatara Sutra (I recommend you read it) be used to seal the mind. The method of 281

 cultivating practice transmitted by Bodhi dharma pointed out that we should pay attention closely to this important sutra. His major teaching is there are two paths to enter Dharma Gate: Study and Practice. Study: through the study of Buddhist sutras and scriptures, you will understand Buddha Nature. Your Buddha Nature doesn't manifest because it is clouded by defilements, such as: greed, attachment, passion, aggression and ignorance. Practice: when you follow Buddhist principles in your daily life, you discover that your Buddha Nature is equal to the Buddha's. 1. Bao Yen Hsin: The willingness to accept, without complaining, suffering and unhappiness because you understand it is your own karma. 2. Sui Yen Hsin: Understanding that all situations are the consequences of karmic causes, and therefore, you maintain equanimity in all circumstances, both negative and positive. 3. Tsung Fa Hsin: Realizing through practice the essence of your Buddha Nature, which is equanimity. "The mind is the root from which all things grow if you can understand the mind, everything else is included." "The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion." "According to the Sutras, evil deeds result in hardships and good deeds result in blessings." "Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher's help."

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 "To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma, nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings." "A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad." "As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha. "Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either." "The essence of the Way is detachment." "The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure." "Whoever realizes that the six senses aren't real, that the five aggregates are fictions, that no such things can be located anywhere in the body, understands the language of Buddhas." "Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the Path."

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY GURDJIEFF

Gurdjieff was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the twentieth century. In his early years, he participated in expeditions that went in search of ancient teachings, partly documented in his book “Meetings with Remarkable Men.” His quest led him to a secret brotherhood, from which he seemed to have returned in possession of a unique system. He called his discipline the “Fourth Way,” a blend of the three traditional ways of the Fakir, the Monk and the Yogi. Gurdjieff migrated and eventually ended up in France, where he opened his “Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man.” “A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake.” “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.” “Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of selfchange. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to

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 understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.” “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.” “A considerable percentage of the people we meet on the street are people who are empty inside, that is, they are actually already dead. It is fortunate for us that we do not see and do not know it. If we knew what a number of people are actually dead and what a number of these dead people govern our lives, we should go mad with horror.” “A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering.” “A sin is something which is not necessary.” “A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very beginning. One must learn from him who knows.” “Take the understanding of the East and the knowledge of the West and then seek.” “All energy spent on conscious work is an investment; that spent mechanically is lost forever.” “We must destroy our buffers. Children have none; therefore, we must become like little children.” “We attract forces according to our being.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY RAMAKRISHNA By Swami Adiswarananda

Sri Ramakrishna, represents the very core of the spiritual realizations of the seers and sages of India. His whole life was literally an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He reached a depth of God-consciousness that transcends all time and place and has a universal appeal. Seekers of God of all religions feel irresistibly drawn to his life and teachings. Through his God-intoxicated life Sri Ramakrishna proved that the revelation of God takes place at all times and that God-realization is not the monopoly of any particular age, country, or people. His message was his Godconsciousness. Drawn by the magnetism of Sri Ramakrishna's divine personality, people flocked to him from far and near -- men and women, young and old, philosophers and theologians, philanthropists and humanists, atheists and agnostics, Hindus and Brahmos, Christians and Muslims, seekers of truth of all races, creeds and castes. Everyone who came to him felt uplifted by his profound God-consciousness, boundless love, and universal outlook. Each seeker saw in him the highest manifestation of his own ideal. By coming near him the impure became pure, the pure became purer, and the sinner was transformed into a saint. The greatest contribution of Sri Ramakrishna to the modern world is his 286

 message of the harmony of religions. To Sri Ramakrishna all religions are the revelation of God. They are not contradictory but complementary. Sri Ramakrishna faithfully practiced the spiritual disciplines of different religions and came to the realization that all of them lead to the same goal. Thus, he declared, "As many faiths, so many paths." “Men are like pillow-cases. The color of one may be red, that of another blue, and that of a third black; but all contain the same cotton within. So it is with man; one is beautiful, another is black, a third holy, and a fourth wicked; but the Divine Being dwells in them all." "Egotism is like a cloud which keeps God hidden from sight." "As the blacksmith keeps alive the fire of his furnace by blowing the bellows, so the mind should be kept clean and glowing with the help of pious company.” "Let a man be a Christian in the matter of mercy, a Moslem in the matter of strict observance of external forms, and a Hindu in the matter of universal charity, charity towards all living creatures." "Dive deep, O mind, dive deep in the Ocean of God's Beauty: If you can plunge to the uttermost depths, there you can find the gem of Love." “God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.” “Different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY LONGCHENPA By Khenpo Shenga

Due to the kindness of Guru Padmasambhava, there have been many great holders of the teachings in Tibet. Longchenpa, who was the equal of the Jowo Kadampa geshes in terms of his ethical discipline and practice of training the mind (lojong), and who was like Jetsün Milarepa in how he first served his teacher and then spent his life meditating in solitude on the guru’s instructions. Longchenpa, by contrast, was the master of countless teachings from profound transmissions. He possessed all manner of instructions, which had been passed down from vidyadharas and accomplished siddhas, from dakas and dakinis, or received directly from Guru Padmasambhava and so on. This meant he could lead the holders of his tradition to attainment by encouraging them to practice diligently those instructions for which they felt the greatest affinity. Longchenpa is believed to be the unique embodiment of the enlightened qualities of all the learned and accomplished masters of Tibet.

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 “Respect and develop pure perception and devotion toward those who are practicing Dharma as the noble sangha. If you see faults in others, think that they’re the reflections of your own delusions. If you see good qualities in others, meditate on rejoicing over them. Disclose and expel your own faults. Generate virtuous qualities and act with astonishing perseverance. Be with holy people and abandon evil friends. Stay in solitary places and promise to pursue meditation. Make sure that whatever you do is consonant with Dharma practice.” “From the soil of loving-kindness grows the beautiful bloom of compassion, watered with tears of empathic joy, under the cool shade of the tree of equanimity.” “Whatever exists is only its own nature; and whatever ends is only its own nature: there is no movement at all in pure mind and that stillness is the body of Buddha. Every word that is uttered is only its own purity; and every vibration is only its own purity: nothing is spoken or uttered in pure mind, which is the speech of Buddha. Every thought and intention is intertwined only as its own spaciousness, and every intuition is realized only as its own spaciousness; nothing at all is thought or intuited in pure mind, the mind of Buddha past, present and future.” “The true nature of the world is the true nature of the mind. It is never born and is beyond sorrow. Liberation will be attained by seeing the nature of the mind itself, the true nature of phenomena. There is no other peace to attain.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY ZOROASTER

Zoroaster, also called Zarathustra, was an ancient Persian prophet who founded the first world religion - Zoroastrianism. He is said to have received a vision from Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who appointed him to preach the truth. Zoroaster began preaching his message of cosmic strife between Ahura Mazda, the God of Light, and Ahriman, the principle of evil. According to the prophet, man had been given the power to choose between good and evil. The end of the world would come when the forces of light would triumph and the saved souls rejoice in its victory. This dualism was part of an evolution towards monotheism in the Middle East. Zoroaster's teaching became the guiding light of Persian civilization. After Alexander the Great conquered Persia Zoroastrianism began to die out in Persia, but it survived in India where it became the basis of the Parsi religion.

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 “Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves invision as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, inthought and word and action. Between these two thewise ones chose aright; the foolish not so.” That which is good for all and any one, for whomsoever- that is good for me. . .What I hold good for self, I should for all. Only Law Universal is true law.” “A knife of the keenest steel requires the whetstone, and the wisest man needs advice.” “When you doubt, abstain.” “Doing good to others is not a duty. It is a joy, for it increases your own health and happiness.” “Taking the first footstep with a good thought, the second with a good word, and the third with a good deed, I entered paradise.” “Turn yourself not away from three best things: Good Thought, Good Word, and Good Deed.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIOUS

Confucious whose Chinese name was Qiuo or Zhong Ni was clever, kind and fond of studying. He became well known for his learning at the age of 30 and attracted disciples from near and far. When he was 54, he and his disciples started to travel from one state to another to learn and teach rites, music, archery, riding, calligraphy, and mathematics, and to persuade Emperors to implement his politics of governing by ethics. Confucianism is in brief a theory of the ethical behavior of a gentleman: educating the self, organizing the family, governing the state and ruling all nations. Confucianism most important contribution lies in making feudal society orderly and lawful by teaching people how to behave and educate themselves, and take responsibility for their family and society. “Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.” “What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY KABIR By David Courtney

Kabir is a very important figure in Indian history. He is unusual in that he is spiritually significant to Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims alike. We do not know much about the birth of Kabir. According to one legend he was of a virgin birth. It is said that his mother becomes pregnant after visiting a Hindu shrine. Upon delivery, the child is given up for adoption. His early upbringing is much clearer. Kabir was raised among a Muslim community of weavers. He was never formally educated and was almost completely illiterate. I emphasis the word "almost" because, according to legend, the only word that he ever learned how to write was "Rama".

The

basic

religious

principles

he

espouses

are

simple. According to Kabir, all life is an interplay of two spiritual principles, one is the personal soul (Jivatma) and the other is God (Paramatma). It is Kabir's view that salvation is the process of bringing into union these two divine principles.

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 The social and practical manifestation of Kabir's philosophy has rung through the ages. It represented a synthesis of Hindu, and Muslim concepts. Kabir has written much poetry and song. His lyrics are characterized by a free use of the vernacular, and is unfettered by the grammatical bonds of his day. It is this quality which has made his philosophy accessible to generations. “Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat. My shoulder is against yours. You will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals: not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables. When you really look for me, you will see me instantly —you will find me in the tiniest house of time. God is the breath inside the breath.” “Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain.” “All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop.” “If you want the truth, I’ll tell you the truth: Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you.” “The river that flows in you also flows in me.” “I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty.”

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 “You don't grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house; and you walk from one holy city to the next with a confused look! Go wherever you like, to Calcutta or Tibet; if you can't find where your soul is hidden, for you the world will never be real” “If you don't break your ropes while you're alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?” “The sun is within me and so is the moon” “The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed, put false pride away and seek the Lord within.” “As long as a human being worries about when he will die, and what he has that is his, all of his works are zero. When affection for the I-creature and what it owns is dead, then the work of the Teacher is over.” “Slowly, slowly O mind...Everything in own pace happens, Gardner may water a hundred buckets...Fruit arrives only in its season.” “Whether I be in the temple or in the balcony, in the camp or the flower garden, I tell you truly that every moment my Lord is taking His delight in me.” “A diamond was laying in the street covered with dirt. Many fools passed by. Someone who knew diamonds picked it up” “When the bride is one with her lover, who cares about the wedding party?”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SHANTIDEVA

The Bodhicharyavatara was written by Shantideva, a famous scholar and yogi of India in the 8th century. Shantideva was a prince who became a monk and studied in the legendary Nalanda university. He was always very devoted to Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. “For as long as space endures and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I, too, abide to dispel the misery of the world.” “All the joy the world contains has come through wishing happiness for others. All the misery the world contains has come from wishing pleasure for oneself.” “If with kindly generosity one merely has the wish to soothe the aching heads of other beings, such merit has no bounds.” “Whenever I catch sight of others, By thinking, It is through them, That I will reach awakening, I'll look with sincerity and love.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY TANG HOI By Thich Nhat Hanh

Tang Hoi, the earliest known Buddhist meditation master of Vietnam. Tang Hoi was born in the region that is now Vietnam three hundred years before Bodhidharma went to China. He is revered by Vietnamese Buddhists as the first patriarch of the Vietnamese meditation school, and his life and work tells us much about the roots of Buddhism in Vietnam and southern China.

As the life of Tang Hoi shows, Vietnam was the fertile soil for a unique form of Buddhism that blends the teachings of both the early Buddhist Theravadin tradition and later Mahayana. "When the impurities have been destroyed, the mind gradually becomes clear...brighter than precious jewels or the light of the moon. The attention of the mind to sensual desire and the impurities of the mind, which are like mud sticking to a clear mirror, are all wiped clean...the mind is very deep and wonderful.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JAMYANG KHYENTSE By Sogyal Rinpoche

Jamyang Khyentse was the most outstanding Tibetan master of the last century, and the teacher of many lamas who were to teach in the West. An authority on all traditions, and holder of all the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, he was the heart of the Rimé movement in Tibet. This was a kind of spiritual renaissance, which rejected all forms of sectarian, partisan bias, encouraging each tradition to master completely the authentic teachings and practice of its own lineage, while at the same time maintaining a spirit of openness, harmony and co-operation with other Buddhist schools.Jamyang Khyentse was the master who recognized Sogyal Rinpoche as the incarnation of Lerab Lingpa Tertön Sogyal. He supervised Rinpoche’s training and raised him like his own son. Jamyang Khyentse’s spiritual wife, Khandro Tsering Chödrön was one of the most highly respected woman masters of our day. She served as Jamyang Khyentse’s attendant and devoted companion,

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 receiving countless teachings and transmissions, requesting practices and prayers and putting questions to him in the form of songs. As Sogyal Rinpoche wrote in the Introduction to The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: “Jamyang Khyentse is the ground of my life, and the inspiration of this book…Had I not met my master Jamyang Khyentse, I know I would have been an entirely different person. With his warmth and wisdom and compassion, he personified the sacred truth of the teachings and so made them practical and vibrant with life. Whenever I share that atmosphere of my master with others, they can sense the same profound feeling it aroused in me. What then did Jamyang Khyentse inspire in me? An unshakable confidence in the teachings, and a conviction in the central and dramatic importance of the master. Whatever understanding I have, I know I owe it to him. This is something I can never repay, but I can pass on to others.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA

Paramahansa Yoganandawas the first yoga master of India to permanently live and teach in the West. When Yogananda arrived to America he traveled throughout the United States on what he called his 'spiritual campaigns'. His enthusiastic audiences filled the largest halls. Yogananda's lectures and books were extensively written about by the major media of the era, including Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Life. He was even invited to the White House by President Calvin Coolidge. Yogananda's initial impact was truly impressive. But his lasting impact has been even greater. Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, helped launch a spiritual revolution throughout the world. His message was nonsectarian and universal. Yogananda's Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, sent him to the West with the admonition, "The West is high in material attainments, but lacking in spiritual understanding. It is God's will that you play a role in teaching mankind the value of balancing the material with an inner, spiritual life." Yogananda brought clarity to hundreds of thousands of people regarding the ancient teachings of India - previously shrouded in the 300

 cultural assumptions and terminology of an era long past. These teachings include the path of Kriya Yoga, which Yogananda called the fastest route to God, consisting of ancient yoga techniques to hasten the spiritual evolution of the student. "Self- Realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God's omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing." “Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself.” “Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become.” “Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time.” “Making others happy, through kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness. To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks, or suggestions, is despicable.” “You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you.” “There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.”

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 “If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty.” “Forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! Forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! Control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise.” “The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.” “Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.” “Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire - for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness - that is the way to live in this world.” “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” “The wave is the same as the ocean, though it is not the whole ocean. So each wave of creation is a part of the eternal Ocean of Spirit. The Ocean can exist without the waves, but the waves cannot exist without the Ocean.” “I will never give up my job about you. Not only will I ever forgive you, but ever lift you up no matter how many times you fall.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY AL-MA’ARRI

Al-Ma’arri was a blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. He was a controversial rationalist of his time, attacking the dogmas of religion and rejecting the claim that Islam or any other religion possessed the truths they claimed. He was a strict vegetarian who argued for animal rights. At his deathbed, he was ordered to take some chicken soup. When served, the blind Ma’arri burst into tears, reciting a heart-wrenching requiem to the slaughtered bird, adding that he felt easier dying than eating the broken body of the luckless creature. “The world's best moment is a calm hour passed In listening to a friend who can talk well. How wonderful is life from first to last! But ancient Time keeps ever young in tooth: His ruin cuts down nations in their prime. In every region Time prepares their graves— None ever digs the grave of Time.” “The body, which gives you during life a form, Is but your vase: be not deceived, my soul! 303

 Cheap is the bowl for storing honey in, But precious for the contents of the bowl.” “You are diseased in understanding and religion. Come to me, that you may hear something of sound truth. Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up, And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals, Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young, not noble ladies. And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs; for injustice is the worst of crimes. And spare the honey which the bees get industriously from the flowers of fragrant plants; For they did not store it that it might belong to others, Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts. I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I Perceived my way before my hair went gray!” “They all err—Moslems, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians: Humanity follows two world-wide sects: One, man intelligent without religion, The second, religious without intellect.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BYDILGO KHYENTSE RINPOCHE

The teacher is at the very center of the Tibetan Buddhist world. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was the archetype of the spiritual teacher. His inner journey led him to an extraordinary depth of knowledge and enabled him to be, for all who met him, a fountain of loving kindness, wisdom, and compassion. When he was still in his mother’s womb, he was recognized as a tulku or incarnation by the illustrious teacher, Mipham Rinpoche. He was later enthroned as an emanation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, one of the most important tertons (treasure-finders) and writers of the 19th century. Khyen-tse means wisdom and love. Khyentse Rinpoche was widely regarded as one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of his time and was the teacher of many important lamas including the Dalai Lama, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and other teachers from the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. “To expect happiness without giving up negative action is like holding your hand in a fire and hoping not to be burned. Of course, no one actually wants to suffer, to be sick, to be cold or hungry – but as long as 305

 we continue to indulge in wrong doing we will never put an end to suffering. Likewise, we will never achieve happiness, except through positive deeds, words, and thoughts. Positive action is something we have to cultivate ourselves; it can be neither bought nor stolen, and no one ever stumbles on it just by chance.” “You have not obtained this precious human life just by chance. It is the result of having heard the Buddha’s name in a past life, having taking refuge in him, accumulated virtuous actions and developed some wisdom. There is no certainty that you will obtain this vessel again. If you fail to practice the Dharma in this life, it is certain that you will not obtain a human life. To neglect such an opportunity would therefore be very foolish. Do not waste it. Practice every day.” “A good mind is like a rich ground of gleaming gold, lightening up the whole sky with its golden radiance. But if body speech and mind are not tamed, there is very little chance that you will achieve any realization whatsoever. Be aware of your thoughts, words and actions at all times. If they take the wrong direction, your study and practice of the Dharma will be of no use.” “Spending your time with true spiritual friends will fill you with love for all beings and help you to see how negative attachment and hatred are. Being with such friends, and following their example, will naturally imbue you with their good qualities, just as all the birds flying around a golden mountain are bathed in its golden radiance.” “Sooner or later, you will have to part from even your dearest friends. But one friend will never leave you, even though you may never be aware

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 of its existence. It is the Buddha-nature, pure awareness. You begin to discover it by listening to the teachings of a spiritual master. The ties will deepen as you cultivate sustained mental calm and profound insight into reality. In the end, you will discover that it has always been near you and will always be with you. This is the truest friendship you can ever cultivate.” “Mind, like a crystal, is colored by its surroundings. You are bound to reflect the qualities and shortcomings of the good or bad friends whose company you keep. If you associate with the malevolent, the selfish, the rancorous, the intolerant, and the arrogant, their faults will affect you. You would do better to keep your distance.” “The compassion and wisdom of all the Buddhas is beyond partiality, yet it is those possessing faith and confidence who are proper vessels to receive their blessing.” “The wind blows through the sky and flies over continents without settling anywhere. It traverses space and leaves no trace. Thus, should thoughts pass through our minds, leaving no karmic residues and not altering our realization of fundamental simplicity.” “If you master your mind, it will remain naturally concentrated, peaceful and aware. You will even be able to wander around in a crowd without being distracted and carried away by desire or aversion.” “Never forget how swiftly this life will be over, like a flash of summer lightning or the wave of a hand. Now that you have the opportunity to practice dharma, do not waste a single moment on anything else.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY THE DALAI LAMA

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. He is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the very young age of two, the child who was named Lhamo Dhondup at that time, was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are believed to be enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He has consistently advocated policies of nonviolence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems.

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 “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”

Someone once asked the Dalai Lama what surprises him most. This was his response: “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.” “There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.” “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” “Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” “Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.”

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 “Silence is sometimes the best answer” “If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” “This is my simple religion. No need for temples. No need for complicated philosophy. Your own mind, your own heart is the temple. Your philosophy is simple kindness.” “When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways--either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.” “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” “All suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their own happiness or satisfaction” “True change is within; leave the outside as it is.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY OSHO

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was born Rajneesh Chandra Mohan in Kuchwara, a town in central India. Various sources state that "Bhagwan" means either "The Blessed One" or "God" and that "Shree" means "Master". At the end of his life, he changed his name to Osho. His parents' religion was Jainism. However, Osho never subscribed to any religious faith during his lifetime. He received "samadhi" (enlightenment in which his soul became one with the universe) at the age of twentyone. Rajneesh obtained a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Saugar. He taught a syncretistic spiritual path that combined elements from Hinduism, Jainism, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, ancient Greek philosophy, many other religious and philosophic traditions, humanistic psychology, new forms of therapy and meditation, among others. He taught a form of Monism, that God was in everything and everyone. There is no division between "God" and "NotGod". People, even at their worse, are divine. He recognized Jesus Christ as having attained enlightenment, and believed that he survived his crucifixion and moved to India where he died at the age of one hundred and twelve. 311

 “Relationship is the need of those who cannot be alone. Two alone persons relate, communicate, commune, and yet they remain alone.” “I love this world because it is imperfect. It is imperfect, and that’s why it is growing; if it was perfect it would have been dead.” “Take life easily, lovingly, playfully, non-seriously. Seriousness is a disease, the greatest disease of the soul and playfulness the greatest health.” “It does not matter if you are a rose or a lotus or a marigold. What matters is that you are flowering.” “Discover yourself, otherwise you have to depend on other people’s opinions who don’t know themselves.” “Love is happy when it is able to give something. The ego is happy when it is able to take something.” “A serious person can never be innocent, and one who is innocent can never be serious.” “Desire disappears as you become more and more aware. When awareness is one hundred percent, there is no desire at all.” “When you are different the whole world is different. It is not a question of creating a different world. It is only a question of creating a different you.”

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 “Don´t be unnecessarily burdened by the past. Go on closing the chapters that you have read; there is no need to go back again and again.” “Accept yourself as you are. And that is the most difficult thing in the world, because it goes against your training, education, your culture.” “A comfortable, convenient life is not a real life – the more comfortable, the less alive. The most comfortable life is in the grave.” “If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.” “The word devil is very beautiful, if you read it backwards it becomes lived. That which is lived becomes divine and that which is not lived becomes the devil.” “Nobody else can destroy you except you; nobody else can save you except you. You are the Judas and you are the Jesus.” “The less the head, the more the wound will heal. No head there is no wound. Live a headless life. Move as a total being, and accept things.” “When you really laugh for those few moments you are in a deep meditative state. Thinking stops. It is impossible to laugh and think together.” “Get out of your head and get into your heart. Think less, feel more.”

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 “Be. Don’t try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.” “If you love yourself, you will be surprised: others will love you. Nobody loves a person who does not love himself.” “The Mind: a beautiful servant, a dangerous master.” “Misery comes the moment you become clinging, attached. The moment you put conditions on life.” “Sadness comes, joy comes, and everything passes by. What remains always is the witness. The witness is beyond all polarities.” “Drop the idea that attachment and love are one thing. They are enemies. It is attachment that destroys all love.” “Humanity will never be religious unless all organized religions disappear and religion becomes an individual commitment towards existence.” “If jealousy disappears and love still remains, then you have something solid in your life which is worth having.” “Nobody has the power to take two steps together; you can take only one step at a time.” “Paradise is within you, in your state of no-mind. And hell is also within you, in your very mind.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY J. KRISHNAMURTI

Krishnamurti is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He did not expound any philosophy or religion, but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday lives, of the problems of living in modern society with its violence and corruption, of the individual's search for security and happiness, and the need for mankind to free itself from inner burdens of fear, anger, hurt, and sorrow. He explained with great precision the subtle workings of the human mind, and pointed to the need for bringing to our daily life a deeply meditative and spiritual quality. Krishnamurti belonged to no religious organization, sect or country, nor did he subscribe to any school of political or ideological thought. On the contrary, he maintained that these are the very factors that divide human beings and bring about conflict and war. He reminded his listeners again and again that we are all human beings first and not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, that we are like the rest of humanity and are not different from one another. He asked that we tread lightly on this earth without destroying ourselves or the environment. He communicated to his listeners a deep sense of respect for nature. His teachings transcend man315

 made belief systems, nationalistic sentiment and sectarianism. At the same time, they give new meaning and direction to mankind's search for truth. His teaching, besides being relevant to the modern age, is timeless and universal. “Our minds are conditioned – that is an obvious fact – conditioned by a particular culture or society, influenced by various impressions, by the strains and stresses of relationships, by economic, climatic, educational factors, by religious conformity and so on. Our minds are trained to accept fear and to escape, if we can, from that fear, never being able to resolve, totally and completely, the whole nature and structure of fear. So our first question is: can the mind, so heavily burdened, resolve completely, not only its conditioning, but also its fears? Because it is fear that makes us accept conditioning.” “We look at conditions prevailing in the world and observe what is happening there – the student’s riots, the class prejudices, the conflict of black against white, the wars, the political confusion, the divisions caused by nationalities and religions. We are also aware of conflict, struggle, anxiety, loneliness, despair, lack of love, and fear. Why do we accept all this? Why do we accept the moral, social environment knowing very well that it is utterly immoral; knowing this for ourselves – not merely emotionally or sentimentally but looking at the world and at ourselves – why do we live this way? Why is it that our educational system does not turn out real human beings but mechanical entities trained to accept certain jobs and finally die? Education, science and religion have not solved our problems at all.Looking at all this confusion, why does each one of us accept and conform, instead of shattering the whole process in ourselves?” 316

 “If people who say they love their children meant it, would there be war? And would there be division of nationalities – would there be these separations?” “Then there is the question of dying, which we have carefully put far away from us, as something that is going to happen in the future – the future may be fifty years off or tomorrow. We are afraid of coming to an end, coming physically to an end and being separated from the things we have possessed, worked for, experienced – wife, husband, the house, the furniture, the little garden, the books and the poems we have written or hoped to write. And we are afraid to let all that go because we are the furniture, we are the picture that we possess; when we have the capacity to play the violin, we are that violin. Because we have identified ourselves with those things – we are all that and nothing else. Have you ever looked at it that way? You are the house – with the shutters, the bedroom, the furniture which you have very carefully polished for years, which you own – that is what you are. If you remove all that you are nothing. And that is what you are afraid of – of being nothing. Isn’t it very strange how you spend forty years going to the office and when you stop doing these things you have heart trouble and die? You are the office, the files, the manager or the clerk or whatever your position is; you are that and nothing else. And you have a lot of ideas about God, goodness, truth, what society should be – that is all. Therein lies sorrow. To realize for yourself that you are that is great sorrow, but the greatest sorrow is that you do not realize it. To see that and find out what it means is to die.” “If I think I am very beautiful and you tell me I am not, which may be a fact, do I like it? If I think I am very intelligent, very clever, and you point 317

 out that I am actually a rather silly person, it is very unpalatable to me. And your pointing out my stupidity gives you a sense of pleasure, does it not? It flatters your vanity; it shows you how clever you are. But you do not want to look at your own stupidity; you want to run away from what you are, you want to hide from yourself, you want to cover up your own emptiness, your own loneliness. So you seek out friends who never tell you what you are. You want to show others what they are; but when others show you what you are, you do not like it. You avoid that which exposes your own inner nature.” “Now, there are many people who will tell you the purpose of life; they will tell you what the sacred books say. Clever people will go on inventing various purposes of life. The political group will have one purpose, the religious group will have another, and so on and on. And how are you to find out what is the purpose of life when you yourself are confused? Surely, as long as you are confused, you can only receive an answer which is also confused. If your mind is disturbed, if it is not really quiet, whatever answer you receive will be through this screen of confusion, anxiety, fear; therefore, the answer will be perverted. So the important thing is not to ask what is the purpose of life, but to clear away the confusion that is within you. It is like a blind man asking, “What is light?” If I try to tell him what light is, he will listen according to his blindness, according to his darkness; but from the moment he is able to see, he will never ask what is light. It is there.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY THICH NHAT HANH

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered throughout the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace.His key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment—the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world.Thich Nhat Hanh has published over 100 titles on meditation, mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism, as well as poems, children’s stories, and commentaries on ancient Buddhist texts. Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the West, founding six monasteries and dozens of practice centers in America and Europe, as well as over 1,000 local mindfulness practice communities, known as ‘sanghas’.He has built a thriving community of over 600 monks and nuns worldwide, who, together with his tens of thousands of lay students, apply his teachings on mindfulness, peace-making and community-building in schools, workplaces, businesses – and even prisons – throughout the world. Thich Nhat Hanh, the man Martin Luther King called “An Apostle of peace and nonviolence.” The media has

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 called him “The Father of Mindfulness,” “The Other Dalai Lama” and “The Zen Master Who Fills Stadiums.” “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” “When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.” “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” “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.” “When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using

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 reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change” “Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.” “Smile, breathe and go slowly.” “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” “Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth... This is the real message of love.” “Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.” “You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” “When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love.” “It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way.”

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 “At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.” “We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations, and suffering of the person we love. This is the ground of real love. You cannot resist loving another person when you really understand him or her. From time to time, sit close to the one you love, hold his or her hand, and ask, 'Darling, do I understand you enough? Or am I making you suffer? Please tell me so that I can learn to love you properly. I don't want to make you suffer, and if I do so because of my ignorance, please tell me so that I can love you better, so that you can be happy." If you say this in a voice that communicates your real openness to understand, the other person may cry. That is a good sign, because it means the door of understanding is opening and everything will be possible again. Maybe a father does not have time or is not brave enough to ask his son such a question. Then the love between them will not be as full as it could be. We need courage to ask these questions, but if we don't ask, the more we love, the more we may destroy the people we are trying to love. True love needs understanding. With understanding, the one we love will certainly flower.” “If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY THE 17TH KARMAPA

Karmapa means “the one who carries out Buddha-activity” or “the embodiment of all the activities of the Buddhas”. In the Tibetan tradition, great enlightened teachers are said to be able to consciously control their rebirth in order to continue their activity for the benefit of all sentient beings and have played a very important role in the preservation of the study and practice lineages of Buddhism. As a scholar and meditation master, as well as painter, poet, songwriter and playwright, the Gyalwang Karmapa embodies a wide range of the activities that Karmapas have engaged in over the centuries. As an environmental activist, computer enthusiast and world spiritual leader whose teachings are often webcast live, the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa has brought the Karmapa lineage’s activities fully into the 21st century benefiting countless sentient beings. “We may talk about the equality of ourselves and others, or exchanging ourselves with others, but we do not understand that this happens in everyday life. We think that it is something special or extraordinary, yet it is happening in our lives on a daily basis. We give something, and that opens the possibility of receiving: we naturally receive something when 323

 we give. This is how we live, whether it is in the business world, in our social lives, or in any other context. Giving and taking is happening all the time. Living is dependent on giving: we give and therefore we receive. This interdependence is natural; however, it takes a special effort to train our mind to know this well enough so that our understanding is clear and strong.” “The student needs to have faith and longing, and if this faith and longing come together then I don't think that sort of a student will have any difficulty finding a genuine, authentic Lama. The reason is that all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are ready at all six times of day and night to do things to benefit sentient beings. They're all ready and waiting. If you have both faith and longing, then they'll all come rushing towards you to help you. You just have to open that door of faith and devotion.” “Just look within to the virtuous thoughts you have had, and you will always find a reason to love yourself. Take joy in your sincere intentions. Everything starts with an intention. If you have been able to have beautiful aspirations, these aspirations will always be part of you, a beautiful part.” “True compassion is something that is always on the move, and something is always in a state of readiness. We usually think of compassion as something that sometimes moves, sometimes is responsive, and sometimes is dormant. We might see a very serious situation of a sentient being suffering, then we think that our compassion rises to the occasion and performs some tasks. And then, after that situation has passed, our compassion goes back to a dormant state.

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 But true compassion isn't really like that. Of course, compassion is not a physical thing, but I think it's appropriate to say that compassion is always on the move, it's always ready for action or ready to accomplish the mission, if you will. Compassion is there in any occurrence of happiness or suffering that might be before us, whether it's directly before our eyes or whether it's simply in our heart and in our mind. If we can stay with this type of ever moving, ever active compassion at all times, then I think that's what the meaning of true compassion is.” “We sometimes wake up fresh in the morning yet still go through the day half asleep. Our busy 21st century lives overwhelm us with a relentless stream of immediate tasks. We lose sight of how precious it is just to have a human life. This is an awareness that we need to feel in our hearts. I would like to share with you a practice that I call 'living your whole life in a single day.' You can do this by starting with this thought in the morning: 'I am starting a whole new life. It begins right now'. Initially, leave yourself a note at your bedside to remind you, and then slowly cultivate the habit of waking up with this thought. Your body is fresh from the night's rest; when you wake up with this awareness, so does your mind. Ask yourself what kind of person you want to be in the life that you will live today. Throughout the day, remind yourself that your life is happening right now. In the afternoon, check to see how your life is going and readjust as needed. A whole lifetime of possibilities stretches out before you every moment. This is the basic truth of interdependence. Conditions are constantly shifting, and what seemed impossible earlier can suddenly become 325

 possible. Every moment counts. Every action counts. A single kind act can have a positive impact on the future of many others you share the earth with. You can change the course of the future in any moment. Do so consciously, and the whole world will benefit.” “The way to accomplish happiness in the world is to do meaningful work in one’s own life with a positive motivation that sees all people and all traditions as equal.” “The practice of dharma is like exercising or carefully following a course of training, which is powerful and deeply significant. For example, if you are in the military, you train every day. In the same way, with the dharma, you have to train your mind daily. Not just to relax but to be able to relate to whatever is happening around you. You integrate your practice with whatever conditions you meet so that you are not carried away by them and do not lose your patience.” “To live as equals with others requires a wide range of experience. The wise have much experience and fools have little. To gain experience, you need to go through good and bad times. How can you grow if your experiences are always the same? Anything that happens, good or bad, can be constructive in the end — as long as you learn something useful from it. So when you face difficulties, don't feel too bad.” “The deepest reasons to love yourself have nothing to do with anything outside you.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SOGYAL RINPOCHE

Born in Kham in Eastern Tibet, Sogyal Rinpoche was recognized at an early age as the incarnation of a great master and visionary saint of the nineteenth century, Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa, a teacher to the thirteenth Dalai Lama. He received the traditional training of a Tibetan lama under the close supervision of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, one of the most outstanding spiritual masters of the twentieth century, who raised Sogyal Rinpoche like his own son.Sogyal Rinpoche went on to study with many other great masters, of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, especially Kyabjé Dudjom Rinpoche and Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Rinpoche traveled to many countries, observing the reality of people’s lives, and searching how to translate the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism so as to make them relevant to modern men and women of all faiths, by drawing out their universal message while losing none of their authenticity, purity and power. Out of this was born his unique style of teaching, and his ability to attune these teachings to modern life, demonstrated so vividly in his ground-breaking book, The Tibetan Book 327

 of Living and Dying. Rinpoche is also the founder and spiritual director of Rigpa, an international network of more than 130 Buddhist centers and groups in 41 countries around the world. He has been teaching for over thirty years and continues to travel widely in Europe, the USA, Australia and Asia. “Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything, counts.” “When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.” “There would be no chance at all of getting to know death if it happened only once. But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change. Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore, or my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence. These changes, these small deaths, are our living links with death. They are death's pulses, death's heartbeat, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.” “In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is the mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected.” “Ask yourself these two questions: Do I remember at every moment that I am dying, and that everyone and everything else is, and so treat all beings at all times with compassion? Has my understanding of death and impermanence become so keen and so urgent that I am devoting every 328

 second to the pursuit of enlightenment? If you can answer "yes" to both of these, then you really understand impermanence.” “At the moment of death, there are two things that count: whatever we have done in our lives, and what state of mind we are in at that very moment. Even if we have accumulated a lot of negative karma, if we are able to make a real change of heart at the moment of death, it can decisively influence our future, and transform our karma, for the moment of death is an exceptionally powerful opportunity to purify karma.” “Light must come from inside. You cannot ask the darkness to leave; you must turn on the light.” “We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don't know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.” “We must never forget that it is through our actions, words, and thoughts that we have a choice.” “What we have to learn, in both meditation and in life, is to be free of attachment to the good experiences, and free of aversion to the negative ones.” “The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and

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 confidence you will need to live, and die, well; Meditation is the road to enlightenment.” “At the beginning of meditation training thoughts will arrive one on top of another, uninterrupted, like a steep mountain waterfall. Gradually, as you perfect meditation, thoughts become like the water in a deep, narrow gorge, then a great river slowly winding its way down to the sea; finally, the mind becomes like a still and placid ocean, ruffled by only the occasional ripple or wave.” “Just as if you put your finger into water, it will get wet, and if you put it into fire, it will burn, so if you invest your mind in the wisdom mind of the Buddhas, it will transform into their wisdom nature.” “It is compassion, then, that is the best protection; it is also, as the great masters of the past have always known, the source of all healing.” “Each time the losses and deceptions of life teach us about impermanence, they bring us closer to the truth. When you fall from a great height, there is only one possible place to land: on the ground-the ground of truth. And if you have the understanding that comes from spiritual practice, then falling is in no way a disaster, but the discovery of an inner refuge.” “Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. Meditation is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY EPICURUS

Epicurus founded one of the major philosophies of ancient Greece, helping to lay the intellectual foundations for modern science and for secular individualism. Many aspects of his thought are still highly relevant some twenty-three centuries after they were first taught in his school in Athens, called “the Garden.” For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of pain—and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods neither reward nor punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space. Epicurus's philosophy combines a physics based on an atomistic materialism with a rational hedonistic ethics that emphasizes moderation of desires and cultivation of friendships. His world-view is an optimistic one that stresses that philosophy can liberate one from fears of death and 331

 the supernatural, and can teach us how to find happiness in almost any situation. His practical insights into human psychology, as well as his science-friendly world-view, give Epicureanism great contemporary significance as well as a venerable role in the intellectual development of Western Civilization. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” “Don't fear the gods, don't worry about death; What is good is easy to get, and what is terrible is easy to endure.” “Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not.” “Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.” “The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity.” “You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” “It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.” “The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY ARISTOTLE

The Greek philosopher Aristotle made significant and lasting contributions to nearly every aspect of human knowledge, from logic to biology to ethics and aesthetics. Though overshadowed in classical times by the work of his teacher Plato, from late antiquity through the Enlightenment,

Aristotle’s

surviving

writings

were

incredibly

influential. In Arabic philosophy, he was known simply as “The First Teacher”; in the West, he was “The Philosopher.” “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” “Memory is the scribe of the soul.” “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies” “Anyone can become angry -- that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way -- this is not easy.”

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 “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.” “Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.” “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” “To write well, express yourself like common people, but think like a wise man. Or, think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do.” “Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.” “Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.” “It is easy to perform a good action, but not easy to acquire a settled habit of performing such actions.” “No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.” “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions. “We cannot learn without pain.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SOCRATES

Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve practical results for the greater well-being of society. He attempted to establish an ethical system based on human reason rather than theological doctrine. He pointed out that human choice was motivated by the desire for happiness. Ultimate wisdom comes from knowing oneself. The more a person knows, the greater his or her ability to reason and make choices that will bring true happiness. Socrates believed that this translated into politics with the best form of government being neither a tyranny nor a democracy. Instead, government worked best when ruled by individuals who had the greatest ability, knowledge, and virtue and possessed a complete understanding of themselves. Socrates didn’t lecture about what he knew. In fact, he claimed to be ignorant because he had no ideas, but wise because he recognized his own ignorance. He asked questions of his fellow Athenians in a dialectic method (the Socratic Method) which compelled the audience to think through a problem to a logical conclusion. Sometimes the answer seemed so obvious, it made Socrates's opponents look foolish. For this, he was admired by some and vilified by others.

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 Plato pointed out that in the eyes of his students, Socrates possessed a different kind of attractiveness, not based on a physical ideal but on his brilliant debates and penetrating thought. Socrates always emphasized the importance of the mind over the relative unimportance of the human body. This credo inspired Plato’s philosophy of dividing reality into two separate realms, the world of the senses and the world of ideas, declaring that the latter was the only important one. “To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?” “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.” “The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live. Which is better? Only God knows.” “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” “The hottest love has the coldest end.” “I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY PLATO

According to Aristotle, Plato developed the foundations of his metaphysics and epistemology by studying the doctrines of Cratylus, and the work of Pythagoras and Parmenides. When Plato met Socrates, however, he had met his definitive teacher. As Socrates' disciple, Plato adopted his philosophy and style of debate, and directed his studies toward the question of virtue and the formation of a noble character. Plato's most influential work, The Republic, is also a part of his middle dialogues. It is a discussion of the virtues of justice, courage, wisdom, and moderation, of the individual and in society. It works with the central question of how to live a good life, asking what an ideal State would be like, and what defines a just individual. These lead to more questions regarding the education of citizens, how government should be formed, the nature of the soul, and the afterlife. The dialogue finishes by reviewing various forms of government and describing the ideal state, where only philosophers are fit to rule. The Republic covers almost every aspect of Plato's thought. In his theory of Forms, Plato suggests that the

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 world of ideas is constant and true, opposing it to the world we perceive through our senses, which is deceptive and changeable. “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” “At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.” “Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves or their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others.” “He best keeps from anger who remembers that God is always looking upon him.” “Self-conquest is the greatest of victories.” “For just as poets love their own works, and fathers their own children, in the same way those who have created a fortune value their money, not merely for its uses, like other persons, but because it is their own production. This makes them moreover disagreeable companions, because they will praise nothing but riches.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY DESCARTES

Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist. He is best known for his philosophical text Meditations on First Philosophy where he seeks to doubt everything he has ever learned, in order to see what it is that he can actually know with certainty. Descartes soon realizes that the only thing he is certain of is that, since he is doubting, he must be thinking. This leads him to famously remark “I think, therefore I am” (cogito ergo sum). From this fundamental principle, he puts forth what he believes are rational arguments for the existence of God as well as the world. Descartes is considered to be the “Father of Modern Philosophy” and was a key figure of the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century. Descartes reasoned that the senses can only tell us about the appearance of things, but not about their true nature. Descartes believed that true knowledge must therefore be based not on sensory experience, but on reason. This is known as rationalism. In the Meditations, Descartes then realizes that it is possible that there are no external things in the first place. The world could be an illusion, since he could either be dreaming, or alternatively he could be deceived 339

 by what he calls an “evil genius.” Descartes will only be able to overcome this skeptical doubt by explaining that, since God is perfect, God would not deceive him in this way. Descartes recognized that as human beings, our thoughts cause our bodies to do things, and likewise our bodies can cause thoughts to occur in our minds. The understanding of ourselves as human beings that are composed of a body and a mind has deeply influenced Western thought since as science continues to try and better understand this relationship. Descartes believed that what separates humans from animals is that animals don’t have minds. Descartes is considered to be the “Father of Modern Philosophy” because he represents a break with the philosophical and scientific tradition of the past that was rooted in the thoughts of Aristotle. “I think; therefore, I am.” “The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.” “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” “I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain.” “Doubt is the origin of wisdom” “Conquer yourself rather than the world.” “It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.” 340

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY EINSTEIN

The German-born physicist Albert Einstein developed the first of his groundbreaking theories while working as a clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern. After making his name with four scientific articles published in 1905, he went on to win worldwide fame for his general theory of relativity and a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his explanation of the phenomenon known as the photoelectric effect. An outspoken pacifist who was publicly identified with the Zionist movement, Einstein emigrated from Germany to the United States when the Nazis took power before World War II. He lived and worked in Princeton, New Jersey, for the remainder of his life. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” “I want to know God’s thoughts. The rest are details.” “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” “Only the one who does not question is safe from making a mistake.”

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 “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” “Everything is determined…by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust—we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” “I lived in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” “Strenuous intellectual work and the study of God’s Nature are the angels that will lead me through all the troubles of this life with consolation, strength, and uncompromising rigor.” “The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life problem.” “Enjoying the joys of others and suffering with them—these are the best guides for man.” “The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.” “Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things.” “Where there is love, there is no imposition.” “If there is no price to be paid, it is also not of value.”

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 “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” “Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.” “The most important endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity for life.” “I am not only a pacifist, but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace…. Is it not better for a man to die for a cause in which he believes, such as peace, than to suffer for a cause in which he does not believe, such as war?” “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe.” “The search for truth and knowledge is one of the finest attributes of man—though often it is most loudly voiced by those who strive for it the least.” “[I] must seek in the stars that which was denied [to me] on earth.” “I admit that thoughts influence the body.” “A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires will sooner or later always lead to bitter disappointment.” “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects.” “The more a country makes military weapons, the more insecure it becomes: if you have weapons, you become a target for attack.”

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 “I have come to know the mutability of all human relationships and have learned to insulate myself against both heat and cold so that a temperature balance is fairly well assured.” “There is only one road to human greatness: through the school of hard knocks.” “Although I am a typical loner in my daily life, my awareness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has prevented me from feelings of isolation.” “If you don’t.t understand it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” “Of all the communities available to us, there is not one I would want to devote myself to except for the society of the true seekers, which has very few living members at any one time.” “Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being….” “There are two different conceptions about the nature of the universe: (1) the world as a unity dependent on humanity; (2) the world as a reality independent of the human factor.” (From a Conversation with Rabindrath Tagore).

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY TESLA

Inventor Nikola Tesla contributed to the development of the alternatingcurrent electrical system that's widely used today and discovered the rotating magnetic field (the basis of most AC machinery). He arrived to the United States and briefly worked with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways. He sold several patent rights, including those to his alternating-current machinery. His invention, the "Tesla coil," is still used in radio technology today. “The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena; it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.” “Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.” “Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them.”

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 “Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world.” “Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.” “Money does not represent such a value as men have placed upon it. All my money has been invested into experiments with which I have made new discoveries enabling mankind to have a little easier life.” “Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance, what Buddha called ‘the greatest evil in the world’. “We crave for new sensations but soon become indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences.” “Three possible solutions of the great problem of increasing human energy are answered by the three words: food, peace, work.” “Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment.” “Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.” “Invention is the most important product of man’s creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.” “It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY VOLTAIRE

Voltaire was known for his sharp wit, philosophical writings, and defense of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and the right to a fair trial. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform despite strict censorship laws in France and harsh penalties for those who broke them. A satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize Church dogma and the French institutions of his day. Voltaire is considered one of the most influential figures of his time. “We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.” “Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.” “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” “Love truth, but pardon error.”

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 “I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it." “I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?” “Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.” “Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delight of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed.” “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” “Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create.” “This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.” "I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition." “Let us cultivate our garden.” 348

 “It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.” “The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us” “I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species.” “The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.” “Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.” “If you have two religions in your land, the two will cut each other’s throats; but if you have thirty religions, they will dwell in peace” “L'homme est libre au moment qu'il veut l'être.” “I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health.” “It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.” “One always begins with the simple, then comes the complex, and by superior enlightenment one often reverts in the end to the simple. Such is the course of human intelligence.” “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” “Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NEWTON

Sir Isaac Newton was an English Physicist and Mathematician well renowned for his expertise in Astronomy, Natural philosophy, Alchemy and theology. Newton’s three laws of motion are perhaps the most wellknown of his works, and site the following. The first law or The Law of Inertia states that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. The second law states that acceleration is produced when an external force acts on a mass. Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Newton invented the first reflecting telescope and devised a theory of color. The theory was based on the observation that a prism breaks down white light into many visible colors. Newton is attributed with the development of Differential and Integral Calculus, as well as the Generalized Binomial Theorem. A highly religious man, much of Newton’s writings consist of biblical and occult studies. Sir Isaac Newton is considered by many to have one of the greatest scientific minds in our history. “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” 350

 “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” “Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.” “What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.” “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion.” “Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” “And to every action there is always an equal and opposite or contrary, reaction.” “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” “If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been due more to patient attention, than to any other talent.” “He who thinks half-heartedly will not believe in God; but he who really thinks has to believe in God.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SCHOPENHAUER

Certainly, one of the greatest philosophers, Schopenhauer seems to have had more impact on literature and on people in general than on academic philosophy. Perhaps that is because, first, he wrote very well, simply and intelligibly, second, he was the first Western philosopher to have accessed translations of philosophical material from India, both Vedic and Buddhist, by which he was profoundly affected, to the great interest of many, and third, his concerns were with the dilemmas and tragedies, in a religious or existential sense, of real life, not just with abstract philosophical problems. Schopenhauer offers some of the most original thought in the Western tradition. For one, he is among the few Western philosophers to draw significantly from the Eastern traditions. For another, Schopenhauer had remarkable influence upon philosophers such as Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer was strongly influenced by his knowledge of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. One of the important ideas in Buddhism is that the world (all that we can experience and know) is illusion. That is, we can only know the world through our own perspectives that inevitably distort reality. This philosophical view is attributed to Sidhartha Gautama, the Buddha. 352

 “Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.” “The greatest wisdom is to make the enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest folly: for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly, like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.” “A man never is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the end, and comes into harbor with mast and rigging gone. And then, it is all one whether he has been happy or miserable; for his life was never anything more than a present moment always vanishing; and now it is over.” “Every satisfaction he attains lays the seeds of some new desire, so that there is no end to the wishes of each individual will.” “If the lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present the spectacle of unbridled folly—nay, they would go mad. And I may say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is unstable and will not go straight.”

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 “A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.” “The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.” “No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain. When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent warmth contained in it.” “It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.” “Consciousness is beneficial because it gives us a stronger will to live. It makes us think we are special and unique, giving us a fear of death that increases our survivability. It’s evolution’s victory of intelligence over will, but comes at a cost of allowing us to see life’s vain and futile character. Yet even with individual character, most humans lead generic forms of existence.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NIETZCHE

In his mature writings Nietzsche was preoccupied by the origin and function of values in human life. If, as he believed, life neither possesses nor lacks intrinsic value and yet is always being evaluated, then such evaluations can usefully be read as symptoms of the condition of the evaluator. He was especially interested, therefore, in a probing analysis and evaluation of the fundamental cultural values of Western philosophy, religion, and morality, which he characterized as expressions of the ascetic ideal. Nietzsche often thought of his writings as struggles with nihilism, and apart from his critiques of religion, philosophy, and morality he developed original theses that have commanded attention, especially perspectives, the will to power, eternal recurrence and the superman. Nietzsche's revitalizing philosophy has inspired leading figures in all walks of cultural life, including dancers, poets, novelists, painters, psychologists, philosophers, sociologists and social revolutionaries. “Without music, life would be a mistake.” 355

 “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.” “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” “No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.” “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” 356

 “The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.” “What, if some day or night a demon was to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.” “There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.” “I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.” “There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe.” “One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.” “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” “You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?” “That which is done out of love is always beyond good and evil.” “Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY EDISON

Thomas Edison acquired a record number of 1,093 patents (singly or jointly) and was the driving force behind such innovations as the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb and one of the earliest motion picture cameras. He also created the world’s first industrial research laboratory. Edison had become one of the most famous men in the world by the time he was in his 30s. In addition to his talent for invention, Edison was also a successful manufacturer and businessman who was highly skilled at marketing his inventions–and himself–to the public. “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” “If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.”

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 “Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” “Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.” “The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” “The most necessary task of civilization is to teach people how to think. It should be the primary purpose of our public schools. The mind of a child is naturally active; it develops through exercise. Give a child plenty of exercise, for body and brain. The trouble with our way of educating is that it does not give elasticity to the mind. It casts the brain into a mold. It insists that the child must accept. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning, and it lays more stress on memory than observation.” “To do much clear thinking a person must arrange for regular periods of solitude when they can concentrate and indulge the imagination without distraction.” “I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln, one of the great leaders in American history is remembered for his honesty, compassion and character. He saw slavery as hypocritical for a nation founded on the principle that “all men are created equal”. “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.” “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.” “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” “It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.” “Whatever you are, be a good one.” 360

 “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” “My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” “And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.” “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.” “I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down.” “Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.” “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” “I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.” “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” 361

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY BERTRAND RUSSELL

Bertrand Russell endures as one of humanity’s most lucid and luminous minds — an oracle of timeless wisdom on everything from what “the good life” really means to why “fruitful monotony” is essential for happiness to love, sex, and our moral superstitions. In 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.” On December 11 of that year, 78-year-old Russell took the podium in Stockholm to receive the grand accolade. Russell points to four such infinite desires — acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity, and love of power. “Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.” “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”

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 “The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.” “It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.” “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last--I have found. With equal passion, I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the star’s shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole 363

 world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.” “If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.” “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” “It is essential to happiness that our way of living should spring from our own deep impulses and not from the accidental tastes and desires of those who happen to be our neighbors, or even our relations.” “The use of self-control is like the use of brakes on train. It is useful when you find yourself in wrong direction but merely harmful when the direction is right” “Love can flourish only as long as it is free and spontaneous; it tends to be killed by the thought of duty. To say that it is your duty to love so-andso is the surest way to cause you to hate him of her.” “The man who is unhappy will, as a rule, adopt an unhappy creed, while the man who is happy will adopt a happy creed; each may attribute his happiness or unhappiness to his beliefs, while the real causation is the other way around.” “To realize the unimportance of time is the gate to wisdom.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JEAN PAUL SARTRE

Jean-Paul Sartre was a pioneering intellectual and proponent of existentialism who championed leftist causes in France and other countries. Sartre and de Beauvoir, a feminist and philosopher, challenged the cultural and social expectations of their respective "bourgeois" backgrounds. The conflict between oppressive conformity and authenticity, which the pair openly addressed and confronted in their personal lives, became the dominant theme of Sartre's early career. Sartre prized his role as a public intellectual. After World War II, he emerged as a politically engaged activist. He was an outspoken opponent of French rule in Algeria. He embraced Marxism and visited Cuba, meeting with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. In October 1964, Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He declined the prize, becoming the first Nobel Laureate to do so. Sartre’s principled mode of living involved few possessions. He remained actively committed to humanitarian and political causes until the end of his life.

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 “If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.” “Do you think that I count the days? There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.” “Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.” “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” “You are -- your life, and nothing else.” “Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” “Life begins on the other side of despair.” “All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books.” “My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think… and I can't stop myself from thinking. At this very moment - it's frightful - if I exist, it is because I am horrified at existing. I am the one who pulls myself from the nothingness to which I aspire.” “The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.” “He was free, free in every way, free to behave like a fool or a machine, free to accept, free to refuse, free to equivocate; to marry, to give up the game, to drag this death weight about with him for years to come. He could do what he liked, no one had the right to advise him, there would be for him no Good or Evil unless he thought them into being.”

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 “You and me are real people, operating in a real world. We are not figments of each other’s imagination. I am the architect of my own self, my own character and destiny. It is no use wringing about what I might have been, I am the things I have done and nothing more. We are all free, completely free. We can each do any damn thing we want. Which is more than most of us dare to imagine.” “To know what life is worth you have to risk it once in a while.” “The individual's duty is to do what he wants to do, to think whatever he likes, to be accountable to no one but himself, to challenge every idea and every person.” “To think new thoughts you have to break the bones in your head” “I looked anxiously around me: the present, nothing but the present. Furniture light and solid, rooted in its present, a table, a bed, a closet with a mirror-and me. the true nature of the present revealed itself: it was what exists, and all that was not present did not exist. The past did not exist. Not at all. Not in things, not even in my thoughts. It is true that I had realized a long time ago that mine had escaped me. But until then I had believed that it had simply gone out of my range. For me the past was only a pensioning off: it was another way of existing, a state of vacation and inaction; each event, when it had played its part, put itself politely into a box and became an honorary event: we have so much difficulty imagining nothingness. Now I knew: things are entirely what they appear to be-and behind them... there is nothing.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY RUTHERFORD

Ernest Rutherford is the father of nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics. He discovered and named the atomic nucleus, the proton, the alpha particle, and the beta particle. He discovered the concept of nuclear halflives and achieved the first deliberate transformation of one element into another, fulfilling one of the ancient passions of the alchemists. “Of all created comforts, God is the lender; you are the borrower, not the owner.” “Now I know what the atom looks like.” “Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It's time to start thinking.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY EMMET FOX

Fox taught that Jesus came to teach us to think correctly (not to redeem man from the penalty of sin). According to Fox, all evil originates from wrong thinking, and everything in reality originates from thought. Evil is not from sin -- sin is actually thinking incorrectly, and all illness originates from negative thinking. These are all New Thought tenets. Fox's views included beliefs that the dead are not elsewhere, but are all around us and sometimes come to our aid; you must "have faith in your own faith;" and the Bible needs a special spiritual key to understand it. In short, if you are a Christian according to the historic faith, you do not understand the Bible properly, and Fox is more than happy to guide you away from the traditional view of the Bible. The risk in reading Fox is that some of what he writes sounds accurate, and he uses familiar Christian or biblical terminology that seems appropriate if the reader does not know what Fox means by it. This is a danger with most New Thought teachings and books. According to Fox's book, The Sermon on the Mount, "the term 'Christ' is "not identical with Jesus, the individual" but rather is a "technical term" that represents "Absolute Spiritual Truth". In other words, Fox says that Jesus and Christ are not one and the same. 369

 This is a central teaching of New Thought. "Christ" in Divine/Christian Science is a higher spiritual understanding or state of consciousness that Jesus, a man, merely achieved and exemplified for the rest of humanity. Fox writes that Jesus came to teach us to change our consciousness. In fact, Fox says that changing our consciousness "is in truth the only thing that is really worth doing at all". “If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world.” “There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer: no disease that love will not heal: no door that enough love will not open...It makes no difference how deep set the trouble: how hopeless the outlook: how muddled the tangle: how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world...” “Do it trembling if you must, but do it!” “The art of life is to live in the present moment and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God himself.” “The root of all difficulties is a lack of the sense of the Presence of God.” “It is not possible that you could ever find yourself anywhere where God was not fully present, fully active, able and willing to set you free.” “As you grow in true spiritual power and understanding you will actually find that many outer rules and regulations will become unnecessary; but this will be because you have really risen above them; never, never, because you have fallen below them. This point in your 370

 development, where your understanding of Truth enables you to dispense with certain outer props and regulations, is the Spiritual Coming of Age. When you really are no longer spiritually a minor, you will cease to need some of the outer observances that formerly seemed indispensable; but your resulting life will be purer, truer, freer, and less selfish than it was before; and that is the test.” “Your Heart's Desire is the Voice of God, and that Voice must be obeyed sooner or later.” “All day long the thoughts that occupy your mind, your Secret Place, as Jesus calls it, are moulding your destiny for good or evil; in fact, the truth is that the whole of our life’s experience is but the outer expression of inner thought. Now we can choose the sort of thoughts that we entertain. It will be a little difficult to break a bad habit of thought, but it can be done. We can choose how we shall think—in point of fact, we always do choose—and therefore our lives are just the result of the kind of thoughts we have” “If you have no time for prayer and meditation, you will have lots of time for sickness and trouble.” “You can have anything in life that you really want, but you must be prepared to take the responsibilities that go with it. God is ready the moment you are.” “Prayer does change things.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Philologist, author, mythmaker and creator of "Middle Earth", Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, a brilliant philologist, and a selfdescribed "hobbit," J.R.R. Tolkien created two of the best-loved stories of the 20th century, "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". The Hobbit was a simple fairy tale and adventure for children, hinting at evil things, it still ends in a happy ending for all and is primarily concerned with a triumph of good over evil. The Lord of the Rings, soon became quite different to The Hobbit, both in scope and dimension. Putting its roots into the Silmarillion, it became an epic of unprecedented depth. No longer was Tolkien writing a simplistic adventure story; the triumph of good over evil is no longer so complete. Even in the mission’s success there is no obvious happy ending. There is a feeling of permanent change; nothing can remain as it is. As well as being a fascinating story line, the book deals with many issues of how people respond to certain choices and the influence of power and ego. It can be read in many ways, but it does offer an

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 underlying moral and spiritual dimension, which is inherent in the development of the story. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” – Gandalf the Grey “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – Thorin Oakenshield “It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.” – Samwise Gamgee “Not all those who wander are lost.” “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – Bilbo Baggins “It is not the strength of the body, but the strength of the spirit.” “It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.” – Frodo Baggins “Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.” – Aragorn “Even the smallest person can change the course of history.” – Lady Galadriel “I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.” 373

 “Where there's life there's hope.” “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” “Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” “You can only come to the morning through the shadows.” “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.” “May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.” “So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.” “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.” “What does your heart tell you?” “End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.” “How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.” “Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY C.G. JUNG

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of a neo-psychoanalytic school of psychology, which he named Analytical Psychology. Jung's unique and broadly influential approach to psychology has emphasized understanding the psyche through exploring the worlds of dreams, art, mythology, world religion and philosophy. Although he was a theoretical psychologist and practicing clinician for most of his life, much of his life's work was spent exploring other realms, including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, sociology, as well as literature and the arts. His most notable contributions include his concept of the psychological archetype, his theory of synchronicity and the collective unconscious also known as "a reservoir of the experiences of our species." Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that modern humans rely too heavily on science and logic and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm. Jung's work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a spiritual purpose beyond material goals. Our main task, he believed, is 375

 to discover and fulfill our deep innate potential. Based on his study of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Taoism, and other traditions, Jung believed that this journey of transformation, which he called individuation, is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.” “Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.” “The healthy man does not torture others – generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.” “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” “The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.” “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” “There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotions.” “A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.”

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 “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.” “It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.” “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.” “Shrinking away from death is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose.” “No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.” “The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.” “The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” “The word “happiness” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.” “We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.” “Who has fully realized that history is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood?” “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” 377

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

Simone de Beauvoir was one of the most preeminent French existentialist philosophers and writers. Working alongside other famous existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, de Beauvoir produced a rich corpus of writings including works on ethics, feminism, fiction, autobiography, and politics. She produced an articulate attack on the fact that throughout history women have been relegated to a sphere of “immanence,” and the passive acceptance of roles assigned to them by society. The emphasis on freedom, responsibility, and ambiguity permeate all of her works and give voice to core themes of existentialist philosophy. Her most famous and influential philosophical work, The Second Sex (1949), heralded a feminist revolution and remains to this day a central text in the investigation of women’s oppression and liberation. “I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself”

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 “I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.” “I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finite. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.” “When I was a child, when I was an adolescent, books saved me from despair: that convinced me that culture was the highest of values.” “In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation.” “That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.” “One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion” “On the day when it will be possible for woman to love not in her weakness but in her strength, not to escape herself but to find herself, not to abase herself but to assert herself—on that day love will become for her, as for man, a source of life and not of mortal danger.” “What an odd thing a diary is: the things you omit are more important than those you put in.” “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” 379

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MEISTER ECKHART

The deeply influential German Catholic mystic theologian and spiritual psychologist Meister Eckhart was the most illustrious spiritual instructor of his day. He was also unjustly condemned as a heretic by the papacy after an impressive career of writing, teaching, preaching, directing souls and serving as a high-level administrator of the Dominican Order. Eckhart, virtually forgotten by the Church for centuries, is seen by growing numbers of people in the modern era to be one of the world’s pinnacle “nondual” mystics. His influence is greater now than at any time since the 14th century. “If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” “And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

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 “Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.” “Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, or by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be. We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.” “Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.” “I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.” “Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love a cow - for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage.” “Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this. Others say they would be better off in church. If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are. Your surroundings don't matter. God is with you everywhere -- in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church. If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you. God is not distracted by a multitude of things. Nor can we be.” “The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY FRIDA KAHLO

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is remembered for her self-portraits, pain and passion, and bold, vibrant colors. She is celebrated in Mexico for her attention to Mexican and indigenous culture and by feminists for her depiction of the female experience and form. Life experience is a common theme in Kahlo's approximately 200 paintings, sketches and drawings. Her physical and emotional pain are depicted starkly on canvases, as is her turbulent relationship with her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, who she married twice. Frida Kahlo is one of the highest-selling women in art. “My painting carries with it the message of pain." “The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.” “Feet, what do I need you for, when I have wings to fly?” “I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you.”

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 “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” "Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away." "I used to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you." "The most important thing for everyone is to have ambition and become 'somebody,' and frankly, I don't have the least ambition to become anybody." "You deserve the best, the very best, because you are one of the few people in this lousy world who are honest to themselves, and that is the only thing that really counts." "At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can." “Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. Tragedy is the most ridiculous thing.” “Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic.” “I hope the exit is joyful. And I hope never to return.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NERUDA

Born Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes y Basoalto, Neruda adopted the pseudonym under which he would become famous while still in his early teens. Numerous critics have praised Neruda as the greatest poet writing in the Spanish language during his lifetime. An added difficulty lies in the fact that Neruda’s poetry is very hard to translate; his works available in English represent only a small portion of his total output. Nonetheless, declared John Leonard in the New York Times, Neruda “was, I think, one of the great ones, a Whitman of the South.” “I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,in secret, between the shadow and the soul.” “I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” “Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” 384

 “No one else, Love, will sleep in my dreams. You will go, we will go together, over the waters of time. No one else will travel through the shadows with me, only you, evergreen, ever sun, ever moon.” “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.” “But I love your feet only because they walked upon the earth and upon the wind and upon the waters, until they found me.” “In one kiss, you’ll know all I haven’t said.” You must know that I do not love and that I love you, because everything alive has its two sides; a word is one wing of silence, fire has its cold half. I love you in order to begin to love you, to start infinity again and never to stop loving you: that’s why I do not love you yet. I love you, and I do not love you, as if I held keys in my hand: to a future of joy- a wretched, muddled fate- My love has two lives, in order to love you.” “There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song - but in this dance or in this song there are fulfilled the most ancient rites of our conscience in the awareness of being human and of believing in a common destiny.” He who does not travel, who does not read, who does not listen to music, who does not find grace in himself, she who does not find grace in herself, dies slowly.” “Every day you play with the light of the universe.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ

Nobel Laureate, García Márquez was known for his capacity to create vast, minutely woven plots and brief, tightly knit narratives in the fashion of his two North American models, William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. The easy flow of even the most intricate of his stories has been compared to that of Miguel de Cervantes, as have his irony and overall humour. One Hundred Years of Solitude promptly established García Márquez as the defining member of what was called the boom in Latin American writing and a movement known as magic realism; yet, really, he was throwing open the gates for writers from forgotten everywhere. “No medicine cures what happiness cannot.” “It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.” “What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” “He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, 386

 but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” “It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” “There is always something left to love.” “If I knew that today would be the last time I’d see you, I would hug you tight and pray the Lord be the keeper of your soul. If I knew that this would be the last time you pass through this door, I’d embrace you, kiss you, and call you back for one more. If I knew that this would be the last time I would hear your voice, I’d take hold of each word to be able to hear it over and over again. If I knew this is the last time I see you, I’d tell you I love you, and would not just assume foolishly you know it already.” “The only regret I will have in dying is if it is not for love.” “If God, for a second, forgot what I have become and granted me a little bit more of life, I would use it to the best of my ability. I wouldn't, possibly, say everything that is in my mind, but I would be more thoughtful of all I say. I would give merit to things not for what they are worth, but for what they mean to express. I would sleep little, I would dream more, because I know that for every minute that we close our eyes, we waste sixty seconds of light. I would walk while others stop; I would awake while others sleep. If God would give me a little bit more of life, I would dress in a simple manner, I would place myself in front of the sun, leaving not only my body, but my soul naked at its mercy. To all men I would say how mistaken they are when they think that they stop falling in love when they grow old, without knowing that they grow old when 387

 they stop falling in love. I would give wings to children, but I would leave it to them to learn how to fly by themselves. To old people I would say that death doesn't arrive when they grow old, but with forgetfulness. I have learned so much with you all, I have learned that everybody wants to live on top of the mountain, without knowing that true happiness is obtained in the journey taken and the form used to reach the top of the hill. I have learned that when a newborn baby holds, with its little hand, his father's finger, it has trapped him for the rest of his life. I have learned that a man has the right and obligation to look down at another man, only when that man needs help to get up from the ground. Say always what you feel, not what you think. If I knew that today is the last time that I am going to see you asleep, I would hug you with all my strength and I would pray to the Lord to let me be the guardian angel of your soul. If I knew that these are the last moments to see you, I would say 'I love you'. There is always tomorrow, and life gives us another opportunity to do things right, but in case I am wrong, and today is all that is left to me, I would love to tell you how much I love you and that I will never forget you. Tomorrow is never guaranteed to anyone, young or old. Today could be the last time to see your loved ones, which is why you mustn't wait; do it today, in case tomorrow never arrives. I am sure you will be sorry you wasted the opportunity today to give a smile, a hug, a kiss, and that you were too busy to grant them their last wish. Keep your loved ones near you; tell them in their ears and to their faces how much you need them and love them. Love them and treat them well; take your time to tell them 'I am sorry';' forgive me',' please' 'thank you', 388

 and all those loving words you know. Nobody will know you for your secret thoughts. Ask the Lord for wisdom and strength to express them. Show your friends and loved ones how important they are to you. Send this letter to those you love. If you don't do it today...tomorrow will be like yesterday, and if you never do it, it doesn't matter, either, the moment to do it is now.” “Age isn't how old you are but how old you feel.” “Never stop smiling not even when you're sad, someone might fall in love with your smile.” “And the two of them loved each other for a long time in silence without making love again.” “Just because someone does not love you as you want, it does not mean that you do not love with all his being.” “Just because someone does not love you as you want, it does not mean that you do not love with all his being.” “I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world.” “What is essential, therefore, is not that you no longer believe, but that God continues to believe in you.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JORGE LUIS BORGES

Jorge Luis Borges was a renowned writer, essayist, and poet from Argentina. He is counted among one of the greatest heroes of the country in the field of literature. Borges’s imagination and innovative literary skills were commendable. His works are admired as the “character of unreality in all literature”. Borges was greatly influenced by European culture and English literature. He offered a noticeable contribution to the magical realism genre. Some of the most appreciated works are “Ficciones” and “The Aleph”. These are basically collection of short stories based on the themes like dreams, labyrinths, libraries, fictional writers, religion and God. “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” “I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.” “Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.” “The mind was dreaming. The world was its dream.” 390

 “After some time, you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and imprisoning a soul; You learn that love does not equal sex, and that company does not equal security, and you start to learn…. That kisses are not contracts and gifts are not promises, and you start to accept defeat with the head up high and open eyes, and you learn to build all roads on today, because the terrain of tomorrow is too insecure for plans… and the future has its own way of falling apart in half. And you learn that if it’s too much even the warmth of the sun can burn. So you plant your own garden and embellish your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring flowers to you. And you learn that you can actually bear hardship, that you are actually strong, and you are actually worthy,

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 and you learn and learn…and so every day. Over time you learn that being with someone because they offer you a good future, means that sooner or later you’ll want to return to your past. Over time you comprehend that only who is capable of loving you with your flaws, with no intention of changing you can bring you all happiness. Over time you learn that if you are with a person only to accompany your own solitude, irremediably you’ll end up wishing not to see them again. Over time you learn that real friends are few and whoever doesn’t fight for them, sooner or later, will find himself surrounded only with false friendships. Over time you learn that words spoken in moments of anger continue hurting throughout a lifetime. Over time you learn that everyone can apologize, but forgiveness is an attribute solely of great souls. Over time you comprehend that if you have hurt a friend harshly it is very likely that your friendship will never be the same.

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 Over time you realize that despite being happy with your friends, you cry for those you let go. Over time you realize that every experience lived, with each person, is unrepeatable. Over time you realize that whoever humiliates or scorns another human being, sooner or later will suffer the same humiliations or scorn in tenfold. Over time you learn to build your roads on today, because the path of tomorrow doesn’t exist. Over time you comprehend that rushing things or forcing them to happen causes the finale to be different form expected. Over time you realize that in fact the best was not the future, but the moment you were living just that instant. Over time you will see that even when you are happy with those around you, you’ll yearn for those who walked away. Over time you will learn to forgive or ask for forgiveness, say you love, say you miss, say you need, say you want to be friends, since before a grave, it will no longer make sense. 393

 But unfortunately, only over time…” “Let others pride themselves about how many pages they have written; I'd rather boast about the ones I've read.” “You have wakened not out of sleep, but into a prior dream, and that dream lies within another, and so on, to infinity, which is the number of grains of sand. The path that you are to take is endless, and you will die before you have truly awakened.” “When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation." “Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” “Don't talk unless you can improve the silence.” “A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.” “No one is anyone; one single immortal man is all men. Like Cornelius Agrippa, I am god, I am hero, I am philosopher, I am demon and I am world, which is a tedious way of saying that I do not exist.” “Any life, however long and complicated it may be, actually consists of a single moment — the moment when a man knows forever more who he is.” 394

 “If I could live again my life, In the next – I’ll try, - to make more mistakes, I won’t try to be so perfect, I’ll be more relaxed, I’ll be more full – than I am now, In fact, I’ll take fewer things seriously, I’ll be less hygienic, I’ll take more risks, I’ll take more trips, I’ll watch more sunsets, I’ll climb more mountains, I’ll swim more rivers, I’ll go to more places – I’ve never been, I’ll eat more ice creams and less lima beans, I’ll have more real problems – and less imaginary ones, I was one of those people who live prudent and prolific lives each minute of his life,

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 Of course, that I had moments of joy – but, if I could go back I’ll try to have only good moments, If you don’t know – that’s what life is made of, Don’t lose the now! I was one of those who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, without a hot-water bottle, and without an umbrella and without a parachute, If I could live again – I will travel light, If I could live again – I’ll try to work bare feet at the beginning of spring till the end of autumn, I’ll ride more carts, I’ll watch more sunrises and play with more children, If I have the life to live – but now I am 85, - and I know that I am dying …”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY OCTAVIO PAZ

"The poetry of Octavio Paz," wrote the critic Ramón Xirau, "does not hesitate between language and silence; it leads into the realm of silence where true language lives.” A prolific author and poet, Paz published scores of works during his lifetime, many of which have been translated into other languages. His early poetry was influenced by Marxism, surrealism, and existentialism, as well as religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. His poem, "Piedra de sol" ("Sunstone"), written in 1957, was praised as a "magnificent" example of surrealist poetry in the presentation speech of his Nobel Prize. As an essayist Paz wrote on topics such as Mexican politics and economics, Aztec art, anthropology, and sexuality. Ilan Stavans wrote that he was "the quintessential surveyor, a Dante's Virgil, a Renaissance man.” “Whatever is not stone is light.” “The beloved is already in our being, as thirst and "otherness." Being is eroticism. Inspiration is that strange voice that takes man out of himself to be everything that he is, everything that he desires; another body, 397

 another being. Beyond, outside of me, in the green and gold thicket, among the tremulous branches, sings the unknown. It calls to me.” “Every moment is nothing without end.” “A flower without a stem, is beauty waiting to die. A heart without love, is a tear waiting to cry.” “The Mexican...is familiar with death. He jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it. It is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love.” “It is not proper to project our feelings onto things or to attribute our own sensations and passions to them. Can it also be improper to see in them a guide, a way of life? To learn the art of remaining motionless amid the agitation of the whirlwind, to learn to remain still and to be as transparent as this fixed light amid the frantic branches this may be a program for life.” “Poetry, in the past, was the center of our society, but with modernity it has retreated to the outskirts. I think the exile of poetry is also the exile of the best of humankind.” “Deserve your dream.” “What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death. The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. Every view of the world

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 that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life.” “I thought that the world was a vast system of signs, a conversation between giant beings. My actions, the cricket's saw, the star's blink, were nothing but pauses and syllables, scattered phrases from that dialogue. What word could it be, of which I was only a syllable? Who speaks the word? To whom is it spoken?” “A civilization that denies death ends by denying life.” “Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone, and the only one who seeks out another. His nature - if that word can be used in reference to man, who has ‘invented’ himself by saying ‘no’ to nature - consists in his longing to realize himself in another. Man is nostalgia and a search for communion. Therefore, when he is aware of himself he is aware of his lack of another, that is, of his solitude.” “Today we all speak, if not the same tongue, the same universal language. There is no one center, and time has lost its former coherence: East and West, yesterday and tomorrow exist as a confused jumble in each one of us. Different times and different spaces are combined in a here and now that is everywhere at once.” “It is always difficult to give oneself up; few persons anywhere ever succeed in doing so, and even fewer transcend the possessive stage to know love for what it actually is: a perpetual discovery, and immersion in the waters of reality, an unending re-creation.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY PAULO COELHO

When Coelho was thirty-eight years old, he had a spiritual awakening in Spain and wrote about it in his first book, The Pilgrimage. It was his second book, The Alchemist, which made him famous. He determined early on that he wanted to be a writer but was discouraged by his parents, who saw no future in that profession in Brazil. Coelho's rebellious adolescence spurred his parents to commit him to a mental asylum three times. Coelho eventually got out of institutional care and enrolled in law school, but dropped out to indulge in the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" of hippie life in the 1970s. He was also attracted by Occultism. After drifting among several professions, Coelho changed his life's course while on a visit to Spain. Coelho walked more than five hundred miles along the Road to Santiago de Compostela, a site of Catholic pilgrimage. The walk and the spiritual awakening he experienced en-route inspired him to write The Pilgrimage, an autobiographical account of the trek that would entirely change his life following his inner calling. He quit his other jobs and devoted himself full-time to the craft of writing and inspiring people worldwide.

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 “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” “Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” “One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” “Be Brave. Take Risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” “It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” “So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” 401

 “Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.” “If pain must come, may it come quickly, because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible.” “Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn't have the courage to say "yes" to life?” “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” “When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive.” “Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.” “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.” “We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.” 402

 “When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.” “A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.” “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.” “When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.” “Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” “Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” “If I am really a part of your dream, you'll come back one day.” “Tears are words that need to be written.”

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 “There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.” “The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” “But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence. If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to stretch out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where we find it, even if that means hours, days, weeks of disappointment and sadness. The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us and to save us.” “You are what you believe yourself to be.” “Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them.” “Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.” “No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it” 404

 “Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.” “What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give the best in order to discover what he already knows.” “When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” “Certain things in life simply have to be experienced -and never explained. Love is such a thing.” “You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to what it has to say.” “You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun--and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist--that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists--a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.” 405

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY CONNY MENDEZ

Conny Mendez began in metaphysical studies and later became a direct disciple of the famous metaphysical teacher and lecturer Emmet Fox. In 1960 she learns the teachings of Master Saint Germain from which she receives instructions for two years in New York. She is the first person who writes and teaches about metaphysics in the Spanish-speaking world, revealing the Rays, the Teachers and the Law of Mentalism. She is also a painter, cartoonist, composer and performer of her own songs. “Every word that you utter is a decree. Positive or negative. If it is positive, it is manifested in goodness. If it is negative it is manifested in evil, whether it is against others is the same as if you were decreeing it against you. It returns to you. If you are kind and sympathetic toward others, you'll receive kindness and understanding of others towards you.” “When you are with other people and negative conversations occur, say mentally: I don’t accept this, neither for me nor for them.”

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 “I am intelligent, with the intelligence of God himself, since I am created to the very essence of the creator, by the intelligence, with the intelligence and from the intelligence of God. I am not afraid. I don't want fear. God is love, and in all creation, there is nothing to fear. I have faith. I want to feel faith.” “Whenever we hear or read something new, unknown to us, cells that were asleep in our brain, start to wake up.” “I declare that the truth of this issue (problem or issue) is harmony, love, intelligence, justice, wealth, life, health, whatever the opposite of the negative condition that is manifesting at this time... Thank you Father, for having heard me.” “I deny the appearance of any negative physical condition. I do not accept it either for me or for anyone. The only truth is in the spirit and everything below molds to my word, recognizing the truth. In the name of Jesus Christ who authorized, I decree that I and all are life. Life is health, strength, and joy. Thank you Father, for having heard me.” “I deny the very existence of this grief (grief or depression). God does not authorize it. I delete any tendency towards negativity in me. I don't need it. I do not accept it. God is joy, happiness, bliss. I'm joy, happiness, bliss. Thank you Father for... (List everything you have, up to the most insignificant).”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY ALAN WATTS

Alan Watts was profoundly influenced by the East Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Buddhism, and by Taoist thought, which is reflected in Zen poetry and the arts of China and Japan. Alan Watts, known for spreading Eastern philosophy in the West via his books, lectures and radio appearances, was a maverick British philosopher who moved to the US. His life story includes becoming an Anglican priest, blending Christianity with Eastern mysticism, experimenting with psychedelics, teaching Zen, as well as becoming a Fellow at Harvard University. Watts famously described himself as a “philosophical entertainer.” “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” “Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.” “We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”

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 “This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” “The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.” “I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” “The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.” “A scholar tries to learn something every day; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily.” “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” “Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” 409

 “Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up… now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.” “Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.” “Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However, if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.” “Really, the fundamental, ultimate mystery — the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets — is this: that for every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together.” “We do not “come into” this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean “waves,” the universe “peoples.” Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe.” “In reality there are no separate events. Life moves along like water, it’s all connected to the source of the river is connected to the mouth and the ocean.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY ECKHART TOLLE

Eckhart’s profound yet simple teachings have already helped countless people throughout the world find inner peace and greater fulfillment in their lives. At the age of twenty-nine a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey.At the core of the teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and the highly acclaimed follow-up A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time. “The past has no power over the present moment.”

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 “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.” “Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.” “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” “Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won't die. You will come to life. And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.” “To love is to recognize yourself in another.” “Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: The Now; That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

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 “Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.” “Love is not selective, just as the light of the sun is not selective. It does not make one person special. It is not exclusive. Exclusivity is not the love of God but the "love" of ego. However, the intensity with which true love is felt can vary. There may be one person who reflects your love back to you more clearly and more intensely than others, and if that person feels the same toward you, it can be said that you are in a love relationship with him or her. The bond that connects you with that person is the same bond that connects you with the person sitting next to you on a bus, or with a bird, a tree, a flower. Only the degree of intensity with which it is felt differs.” “Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be.” “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.” “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.” “Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace? Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; inner peace does not.” “Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose” “Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness.”

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 “Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.” “Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.” “Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.” “Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.” “This, too, will pass.” “You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.” “If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.” “All problems are illusions of the mind.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Rabindranath Tagore, also known as Gurudev, is best known as a poet but he was a man of many talents. On the one hand, he was the first nonEuropean to win a Nobel for literature and on the other, a novelist who wrote and composed an entire genre of songs. He was a philosopher and educationist who established a university that challenged conventional education. Tagore was a painter who played an important role in modernising Bengali art. And he was a nationalist who gave up his knighthood to protest British policies in colonial India after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. On July 14, 1930, Albert Einstein welcomed into his home on the outskirts of Berlin the Indian philosopher, musician, and Nobel laureate. The two proceeded to have one of the most stimulating, intellectually riveting conversations in history, exploring the age-old friction between science and religion. Also, it was Tagore who conferred the title of 'Mahatma' on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Tagore is thus the only person to have composed the national anthems of three countries. “It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.” 415

 “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” “If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.” “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.” “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” “I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times... In life after life, in age after age, forever. My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs, that you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms, In life after life, in age after age, forever. Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain, it is an ancient tale of being apart or together. As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge, clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time. You become an image of what is remembered forever. You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.At the heart of time, love of one for another. We have played alongside millions of lovers, shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting, the distressful tears of farewell, Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

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 Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you, The love of all man's days both past and forever: Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life. The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours - And the songs of every poet past and forever.” “Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” “Don't limit a child to your own learning, for she was born in another time.” “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” “Most people believe the mind to be a mirror, more or less accurately reflecting the world outside them, not realizing on the contrary that the mind is itself the principal element of creation.” “By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower.” “If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door- or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.” “Music fills the infinite between two souls” “Let my thoughts come to you, when I am gone, like the afterglow of sunset at the margin of starry silence.” “Those who are near me do not know that you are nearer to me than they are. Those who speak to me do not know that my heart is full with your 417

 unspoken words. Those who crowd in my path do not know that I am walking alone with you. Those who love me do not know that their love brings you to my heart” “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.” “The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.” “Children are living beings - more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love.” “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” “Love adorns itself; it seeks to prove inward joy by outward beauty.Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom. Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it. Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.” “This is my prayer to thee, my lord---strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart. Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows. Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service. 418

 Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles. And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.” “My dearest life, I know you are not mine forever; but do love me even if it’s for this moment. After that I shall vanish into the forest where you cast me, I won’t ask anyone for anything again. Give me something that can last me till I die.” “Where is heaven? you ask me, my child, the sages tell us it is beyond the limits of birth and death, unswayed by the rhythm of day and night; it is not of the earth. But your poet knows that its eternal hunger is for time and space, and it strives evermore to be born in the fruitful dust. Heaven is fulfilled in your sweet body, my child, in your palpitating heart. The sea is beating its drums in joy, the flowers are a-tiptoe to kiss you. For heaven is born in you, in the arms of the mother- dust.” “When I stand before thee at the day's end, thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing.” “Great calm, generous detachment, selfless love, disinterested effort: these are what make for success in life. If you can find peace in yourself and can spread comfort around you, you will be happier than an empress.” “If you shut your door to all errors truth will be shut out.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SWAMI GURU DEVANAND

Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj is a Monk of the Ascetic Order of Shankara, of Hindu origin. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, and later moved to India, where he studied the philosophy of life and Mantra Yoga Meditation for many years. He is a Spiritual Teacher who gives his teachings for the benefit of all humanity. He was a disciple of the famed Teacher Mauna Swami, known as the Great Saint of India, who lived at an altitude of 7,000 meters. He did further studies with the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math: Shri Swami Shantanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj.

After

intensive

practice,

he

later

achieved

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Enlightenment, thus dissipating all his doubts and allowing him to understand the true essence of life. Today, the West benefits from his wise teachings and his extraordinary experience. His Holiness teaches us the technique of Mantra Yoga Meditation. Human beings know enough about the exterior world, but they know nothing about themselves. Who Am I? Where Do I Come From? And Where Am I Going? These are the questions which concern us. Nevertheless, there is an automatic technique, which is 420

 Mantra Yoga Meditation, through the practice of which man comes to understand that happiness is found within oneself. No one wants unhappiness; we flee from it as darkness flees from light. Man was born to be happy, but by unawareness, he falls victim to his own negative actions, and these produce disagreeable situations which we call “Unhappiness”. You Are What You Think. The only instrument that the Human Being has in order to be happy is his Mind. Train your mind by practicing Mantra Yoga Meditation. "It's best not to criticize anybody. If instead we'd use that time to focus on ourselves, we'd find that we'd be so busy working on our own flaws that we wouldn't have time to even look at others." "World peace can be achieved through individual peace, in each of our hearts." “When the moral and spiritual principles decline and humanity falls into the purest ignorance, then the Supreme Being takes human form, manifesting itself as a Spiritual Master to guide humanity towards the Divine Realization which is the source of universal light.” “If you do not take the time for a spiritual development. Why do you take the time to regret the course that your life is taking?” “Happiness is within yourself. Remember that there will be no world peace until there is peace in the heart of every human being.” “You have only triumphed, when you have achieved Divine Realization.”

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 "I do not ask for you to believe in me, it is sufficient thatyou trust in yourself and that you try to improve yourself." “You are perfect, infinite, wise, immortal, and supreme. That is your lineage. Realize this and you will be eternally blissful.” “If your mind is disorganized, everything you do or try to do will be disorganized. If you do not love yourself, how do you intend for others to love you? If you do not accept yourself, how do you intend for others to accept you?” “The purpose of living is to regain the divine paradise. Mantra Yoga Meditation guides you straight to wisdom.” “Absolute truth. Thought cannot imagine it, words cannot explain it, only direct experience comes to it.” “The Spiritual Master is the guide; He is the light that ignites the fire inside the prepared disciple. He is the instrument through which Universal Wisdom is manifested clearly taking human appearance. The Master is the Great Shepherd who takes care of his sheep and routs them towards green pastures and clear waters. He is without a doubt, the dispeller of darkness produced by ignorance; He illuminates every day and in different ways the Path to Wisdom.” “In what we think, we become. It is now the time to change our mental programming. We need to program ourselves with healthy, positive, and limitless ideas. Begin to change already,right now.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MAHATMA GANDHI

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, byname Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule of India. As such, he came to be considered the father of his country. Gandhi is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest (satyagraha) to achieve political and social progress. In the eyes of millions, Gandhi was the Mahatma (“Great Soul”). “The woes of the Mahatmas,” he wrote, “are known only to the Mahatmas.” His fame spread worldwide during his lifetime and only increased after his death. He spent his remaining years working diligently to both remove British rule from India as well as to better the lives of India's poorest classes. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”

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 “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” “Where there is love there is life.” “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” “Nobody can hurt me without my permission.” “God has no religion.” “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”

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 “Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” “My Life is My Message” “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” “It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NELSON MANDELA

Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo. Hearing the elders’ stories of his ancestors’ valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived; and to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.The Nobel Laureate lived one of the most remarkable lives of the twentieth Century. Born in an era of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa, he made it his life’s mission to fight for an equal and democratic society in his country. After twenty-seven years in jail, Mandela helped prevent civil war and became South Africa’s first black president. By the time of his death he'd become a renowned statesman and global icon. “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

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 “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.” “It always seems impossible until it's done.” “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

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 “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.” “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.” “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up”

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 “One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.” “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.” “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” “The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.” 429

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s life had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States. Years after his death, he is the most widely known African-American leader of his era. His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington, D.C.Among many efforts, King headed the SCLC. Through his activism, he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. King received the Nobel Peace Prize among several other honors. King was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of the most lauded AfricanAmerican leaders in history, often referenced by his 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream." “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” “I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

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 “Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.” “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” “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.” “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for.”

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 “Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.” “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” “As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MOTHER TERESA

Mother Teresa taught in India for years before she experienced her “call within a call" to devote herself to caring for the sick and poor. Her order established a hospice; centers for the blind, aged, and disabled; and a leper colony. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work. She died in September 1997 and was beatified in October 2003. Pope Francis recognized a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, clearing the way for her to be canonized as a saint in 2016. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?”

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 “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” “Kind words canbe short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” “It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.” “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” “The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a

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 different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” “These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one's self. To mind one's own business. Not to want to manage other people's affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. To never to stand on one's dignity and to choose always the hardest.” “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” “God made the world for the delight of human beings-- if we could see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs: the phone call we've waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day. As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us -- you just can't resist Him. I believe there's no such thing as luck in life, it's God's love, it's His.” “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” “A life not lived for others is not a life.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY THE 12THTAI SITU RINPOCHE

The present 12th Tai Situpa is a Buddhist master of the Karma Kagyu tradition. He was one of the closest students of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, and in turn became the main teacher of the current Gyalwang Karmapa. Situ Rinpoche oversees a vast network of Karma Kagyu monasteries, retreat centers, and Dharma centers worldwide, and has made great contributions toward training the next generation of Buddhist masters. He is also a scholar, poet, calligrapher, artist, author, architect, and geomancer. Born in 1954 to a family of farmers in the Derge area of the Tibetan province of Kham, Pema Donyö Nyingche Wangpo was considered an emanation of the future Buddha, Maitreya. On the day of his birth, the entire region witnessed two solar orbs illuminating the sky. The details of his birth were completely in accordance with the prediction the 16th Karmapa made in a letter written after he had a vision concerning Situ Rinpoche’s rebirth. “We shouldn’t get carried away. We shouldn’t get lost when things happen to us. Getting lost in good things is as bad as getting lost in bad things. We should not get lost in anything. We should always be aware and mindful. We should always follow the path no matter whether we are 436

 taking baby steps, elephant steps or kangaroo steps. Kangaroo steps are pretty big. Elephants cannot jump because their knees bend backward not forward, but Kangaroos can. Anyway, whether our steps are big or small we will get there. Our destiny is nothing more and nothing less than our potential, and our ultimate potential is no less and no more than Prince Siddhartha’s. Whatever he was able to attain, we will attain. Do not worry too much about your life. Enjoy it. Just do not be too indulgent. Practice diligence but do not let your practice become a burden for you. That is not very good karma. You may find yourself thinking, “Oh no, I have to do my practice. I have to do this hard work. I don’t like it but I have taken vows so I have to do it.” This is very negative. Do not let it happen. Instead practice comfortably, happily, joyfully with honor and gratitude. It may be bad karma for me to speak like this but if it helps you to understand more clearly then that is okay.” “When we have any kind of lust or attachment, which is very natural for all of us, then instead of looking at it as an enemy and as being terrible, or embracing it as wonderful and desirable, just leave it alone and look at that state of mind, which is very noticeable and very clear because of the lust and the desire. We all try to see our mind but we cannot. This is a totally inappropriate example but somehow it helps you to understand. If there was a ghost and you had some special ghost-revealing dustpowder, if you threw the powder on the ghost you would see a powder body with two or four arms and maybe no head; scary. So it is like that – we cannot see our mind but when it is manifesting as second or third generation, as attachment or anger, we can see it, no problem. So instead of looking at the emotion as negative or embracing and going after it, just look at it. Then you are able to see the nature of your mind, which is manifesting negatively in a form of attachment, but in essence it is the 437

 ‘kuntog thobpa yeshe’ (wisdom of perfect discernment or wisdom of great joy) or ‘nyampa nyi kyi yeshe’ (wisdom or equanimity) or ‘so sor tog pai yeshe’ (discriminating wisdom). That way it manifests and is how you are able to transform it ultimately. But relatively it is also very good.” “You are Buddha in your essence. Nothing can corrupt that, nothing can shake that. That is real confidence.” “Out of all the aspects of practice then, the most important is meditation, because without meditating one cannot attain Buddhahood. It is impossible without meditating. This is because what has to be enlightened is our mind, and our mind has the perfect essence in it, as the embodiment of it, and we have to let it manifest. And how can it manifest if we don’t let it manifest? So meditation is letting it manifest, and in this way, meditation is the most important aspect of practice.” “Until we have true devotion nothing deep is going to happen, that is for sure.” “I remind you that each one of you, all sentient beings, ultimately, right now, are in essence perfect, they are Buddha. The only thing is that they don’t realize this. They are not pretending to not realize, they sincerely and truly do not realize this, including me…. This way I thought to remind you about the same thing that helps me very much, by reminding myself. And I remind myself all the time, “You are not just Tai Situ, you are Buddha in the making. You are an unenlightened Buddha, a primordial Buddha. You are not as bad as you might think, but also you are not as good as you should be, very far from being as good as you

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 should be.” So this helps me very much. This does not give me much chance to have any so-called depression, so-called stress, so-called pride or, so-called disappointment. When somebody does something terrible, I don’t like it, but then deep inside I think, why not? Because the person does not know he or she is a Buddha, then why not? When somebody does something wonderful I’m very happy. I’m very delighted. But deep inside I think, why not? He is a Buddha, she is a Buddha, so why not? This way it really benefits me personally, tremendously, and all the credit goes to my great masters because everything is because of them. So I am very happy to share this with you.” “This sacred substance [the nature of everything] we have to, and should, respect, appreciate, uphold and cherish it as it is. I will give a simple example, when you feel shaky, kind of not certain and become confused, then face a mountain and look at the mountain. Mountains do not move. And when you feel so small and so incapable, so inferior, then look at the sky. Your mind is as limitless as sky. You are limitless. You have no limitation. You are not inferior or incapable, that has no space. Space is limitless. Mind is like space, in fact mind is space. That is why some of you could be born here and have come from billions of light years away, because for mind, it covers everything, it is all-pervading. Therefore, you can die billions of light years away and be born here in a split second. It does not take millions of light years to get here.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SRI SARADA DEVI

In the history of humanity there has never been another woman who looked upon herself as the Mother of all beings, including animals and birds, and spent her whole life in serving them as her children, undergoing unending sacrifice and self-denial. About her role in the mission of Sri Ramakrishna on earth, she stated: “My son, you know the Master had a maternal attitude (matri-bhava) towards every one. He has left me behind to manifest that Divine Motherhood in the world.” On account of her immaculate purity, extraordinary forbearance, selfless service, unconditional love, wisdom and spiritual illumination, Swami Vivekananda regarded Sri Sarada Devi as the ideal for women in the modern age. He believed that with the advent of Holy Mother, the spiritual awakening of women in modern times had begun. “Open your grief-stricken heart to the Lord. Weep and sincerely pray, 'O Lord, draw me towards You; give me peace of mind.' By doing so constantly you, will gradually attain peace of mind.”

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 “Pray to God with tears in your eyes whenever you want illumination or find yourself faced with any doubt or difficulty. The Lord will remove all your impurities, assuage your mental anguish, and give you enlightenment.” “We have to surrender ourselves completely to the Lord with faith and devotion in Him, serve others to the best of our capacity, and never be a source of sorrow to anybody.” “Such is life, here today, gone tomorrow! Nothing goes with one, except one's merit and demerit; good and evil deeds follow one even after death.” “He who has really prayed to the Master, even once, has nothing to fear. By, praying to him constantly one gets ecstatic love (Prema Bhakti) through his grace.” “The whole world is a dream; even this (the waking state) is a dream ... What you dreamt last night does not exist now.” “Everything, husband, wife, or even the body, is only illusory. These are all shackles of illusion. Unless you can free yourself from these bondages, you will never be able to go to the other shore of the world.” “No doubt, God alone has become all these objects, animate and inanimate, but in the relative world all beings act and suffer according to their past Karma and innate tendencies.” “We suffer as a result of our own actions; it is unfair to blame anybody for it.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY DILGO KHYENTSE YANGSI RINPOCHE

Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche is the incarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche who passed away in 1991 at the age of 81. When Khyentse Rinpoche passed away, his close students requested Trulshik Rinpoche, his most senior and accomplished disciple, to find his incarnation. He had numerous dreams and visions that clearly indicated the identity of the incarnation. His Holiness the Dalai Lama confirmed that this child was the tulku or reincarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He is a very compassionate and kind young teacher who has a deep commitment and sense of caring for the future of Buddhism. He is always working in order to benefit all sentient beings. “Enlightenment, inherent though it is in the mind, seems so difficult to unveil. But if you develop fervent devotion and fuse the guru’s enlightened nature with your ordinary mind, enlightenment can be realized. Truly, to meditate on the benevolent teacher is a spiritual practice more profound than any other.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SADHGURU

Jaggi Vasudev, a yogi and profound mystic of our times, is a visionary humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. A contemporary Guru, rooted as strongly in mundane and pragmatic matters as he is in inner experience and wisdom, Sadhguru works tirelessly towards the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of all. His mastery of the mechanisms of life, an outcome of his profound experience of the Self, guides in exploring the subtler dimensions of life. He is perhaps the most unusual mystic that one can encounter. Marking a clear departure from mere customs and rituals,

Sadhguru's scientific methods for

self-

transformation are both direct and powerful. Belonging to no particular tradition, Sadhguru incorporates and presents what is most valid for the contemporary life from the yogic sciences. “When your happiness is dependent upon what is happening outside of you, constantly you live as a slave to the external situation.” “Once a person has a certain mastery over his life energies, he can completely change the course of his life.”

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 “Do not try to fix whatever comes in your life. Fix yourself in such a way that whatever comes, you will be fine.” “When you get up in the morning, the first thing you should do is smile. At whom? No one. Because just the fact that you woke up is not a small thing.” “When you walk the spiritual path, your inner situation is on fastforward.” “We don’t need more Hindus, more Christians, more Muslims; we need more Buddha’s, more Jesus’s, more Krishna’s—the real ones. Live ones. That is when true change will happen. And that potential is innate in every human being.” “The quality of your life will change not by changing the content of your life; it will change only by changing the context of your life.” “You become unhappy and depressed when what you want does not happen. When you are already joyful, what happens or does not happen is not the issue. You are released from the fruit of action even before you start the action. This is not because you develop some dispassion or renunciation about but simply because you are so joyful.” “If you want everyone to fall in love with you, the first thing is, you must fall in love with all of them.” “Health is essentially based on balance and harmony within you and with everything around you.”

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 “May the religions of the world strive for an inclusive and harmonious world.” “Every problem is a problem only because you call it so. In life, there are no problems – there are only situations.” “It does not matter what happens as long as at the end of the day, you can look back on your stupidity and laugh at yourself–not at the other.” “If you think there is something more important in this life than you being alive right now, you are bound to end up bitter and frustrated with life.” “Peace and happiness is neither in the silence of the mountains nor in the din of the marketplace. It will only be a permanent station for those who explore the dimensions of inner nature.” “Just desire the highest in life. All your passions, direct them to the Highest. Even if you get angry, direct it only towards Shiva.” “As long as you’re continuously aware that by doing whatever you are doing, you are making a huge contribution to people’s lives, then every activity that you do is successful. It doesn't matter what you do.” “If you are truly joyful, you won’t be looking for satisfaction.” “People have come to the conclusion that body means pain. And yet, just the right food, practices and a little change in attitude, and this body becomes a miracle.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY GURU NANAK

Guru Nanak was an Indian saint who founded Sikhism and became the first of the Sikh Gurus. A visionary and a great soul, he was an original spiritual thinker. His religious ideas draw on both Hindu and Islamic thoughts, but are also unique in their own right. He started displaying signs of his greatness early on in childhood. Even as a boy he used to spend long hours in meditation and was deeply spiritual. He questioned the meaningless rituals his family performed in the name of religion and refused to participate in them. His radical spirituality shocked his parents and they tried to involve him in worldly matters. The kindhearted young boy distributed his father’s money to the poor and needy thus greatly angering his pragmatic father who hoped that his son would one day become a businessman. Even an arranged marriage at an early age did not prevent Nanak from venturing further on the spiritual path. Eventually he went on to found Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that advocates the concept of the oneness of God. He traveled far and wide, mostly on foot, spreading the message of oneness of God who dwells in all living beings.

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 “Burn worldly love, rub the ashes and make ink of it, make the heart the pen, the intellect the writer, write that which has no end or limit.” “Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.” “He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God.” “Dwell in peace in the home of your own being, and the Messenger of Death will not be able to touch you.” “For each and every person, our Lord and Master provides sustenance. Why are you so afraid, O mind? The flamingos fly hundreds of miles, leaving their young ones behind. Who feeds them, and who teaches them to feed themselves? Have you ever thought of this in your mind?” “There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self-illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also True now.” “Speak only that which will bring you honor.” “What should the yogi have to fear? Trees, plants, and all that is inside and outside, is He Himself”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY GORAKHNATH

Osho regarded Gorakhnath as one of the four great innovators of Indian religion, alongside Patanjali,Buddha, and Krishna, who are to be regarded as originating the paths of yoga, meditation, and love respectively. Gorakhnath is one of the acknowledged saints of the Nath tradition. He is revered as the Supreme Manifestation of the Supreme Divinity. He is the originator of the yogic system of Hatha Yoga. Legends also state that Goddess Parvathi, seeing Guru Gorakhnath in Samadhi asked Lord Shiva about the Yogi. Lord Shiva said that the saint was His own manifestation. It is believed that the Lord took incarnation in the form of Gorakhnath to teach and expand the knowledge of Yoga, whenever people forgot it or when Yogic beliefs got distorted. Gorakhnath speaks of six limbs of Hatha Yoga. He does not accept Patanjali’s eight limbs. He accepts only asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dhaarana, dhyaana and Samadhi. It is believed that this saint has been around for thousands of years, watching over the welfare of humanity. “A Yogi always destroys diseases by Asanas; sin by Pranayama and mental disturbance by means of Pratyahara.”

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 “In this way, Pranayama becomes like fire to the fuel in the form of sins. It is always called a mighty bridge across the ocean of sins by the Yogis.” “One should inhale breath slowly and exhale it likewise. One should neither retain breath more than enough i.e. not exceeding one's capacity to retain it, nor should one exhale it rapidly.” “When the air moves, the bindu also moves; when it is immovable, [the bindu also] becomes motionless, [and] the yoga practitioner obtains steadiness. For this reason, one should restrain the air.” “As long as the air stays in the body, so long it is called life; its departure is death. For this reason, [one should] restrain the air.” "When the breath is unsteady, all is unsteady; When the breath is still, all is still; Remain aware of the phenomena of breath, carefully. Inhalation gives strength and a controlled body, Retention gives steadiness of mind and longevity, Exhalation purifies the body and emotional spirit." “The mind itself is the abode of the good as well as of the evil. One may either let the good prevail or may allow free play to the evil instincts. This mind is pure and pious only when it lets the good in it prosper. If the mind promotes the evil instincts residing in it then it becomes impure and impious. Yoga is the means by which the mind can be trained to promote and sustain the good instincts.” “Speak not in haste, walk not in haste. Take slow cautious steps. Let not pride overtake you. Lead a simple life.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY CHATRAL SANGYE RINPOCHE

Kyabje Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche is one of the most accomplished Tibetan Buddhist yogis of our time. In 1947, he had the lofty status of being the head spiritual master of Regent Reting—the political leader of Tibet—but he always preferred to live as a humble yogi in a simple dwelling without the distractions of fame and fortune. He practiced what he preached without compromise and as a result is beloved throughout the Himalayan region by people of all faiths. At age 15, Rinpoche decided to leave his family in order to study and practice Buddhism with the masters of the area. This act of renunciation began his life-long journey as a carefree yogi seeking Enlightenment at any cost in order to effectively help other beings with compassion. From the onset, Rinpoche was highly principled, traveling exclusively on foot and refusing a horse when offered. He stayed only in hermitages, caves or his small tent to avoid involvement with householders and their worldly preoccupations. Chatral Rinpoche is actually considered to be the manifestation of Guru Padmasambhava’s mind, due to prophecies written about Rinpoche’s emergence and his proven wisdom.

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 “I am just an ordinary sentient being and there is nothing special about me. I just follow the teachings of Lord Buddha. Without any cheating on my part, I stand firmly on the ground in practicing the Dharma and in helping all sentient beings. I wish that all sentient beings could let go of the acts of self-deception and self-aggrandizement, so that they can really practice the Dharma in order to liberate themselves from cyclic existence and to help other sentient beings. Otherwise, it will be too late when they are feeling remorseful!” “The chances of finding a human existence are one in a hundred. Now that you have found one, if you fail to practice the sublime Dharma, How could you possibly expect to find such an opportunity again? This is why it’s crucial that you take advantage of your situation.” “To obtain real peace and happiness in this world one has simply to follow the path of ahimsa – nonviolence – which naturally is common to all the religions of the world. If we do not like to experience any pain or suffering of any kind, how can we expect any other creature – whether big or small – to feel otherwise? There is no better prayer or worship we can offer to Lord Buddha than being thoughtful, kind, compassionate and abstaining from taking the life of any fellow human being, animal, bird, fish or insect.” “There are three kinds of dharma practitioners: firstly, there are those who look like practitioners outwardly, but inwardly they are not real practitioners; secondly, there are those who talk very high, but have no realization at all; thirdly there are those who do not look like practitioners outwardly, but who are in fact genuine practitioners inside.” 451

 “No matter where you stay – be it a busy place or a solitary retreat – the only thing that you need to conquer are mind’s five poisons and your own true enemies, the eight worldly concerns, nothing else.” “Turning us back from the road to the lower realms, it shows us the road to the higher realms, and leads to where there is no old age and death. To this bodhicitta, in homage I bow. I bow to those who have given birth to this most precious and sacred of minds, who bring bliss to even those who cause them harm. In such sources of happiness, I take refuge.” “The word 'chatral' has the connotation of an ascetic yogi who abandons all. Usually names are given as labels. But in the one now passing into paranirvana, the name Chatral was not just a label. He was the epitome and embodiment of what the word chatral really means. Many lamas like myself, who make the loudest noises, display the most jarring images, and travel every inch and corner of the world, have achieved next to nothing compared to this man who appears never to have done anything except for keeping his meditation mat from ever getting cold. And if he did manifest in action, this is the man who spent 99.99% of what he had rescuing the lives of animals. So for ignorant beings like us to try and express the great qualities of this enlightened being is like trying to measure the depth and width of the sky.” Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY AJAHN CHAH

Ajahn Chah practiced in the style of an ascetic monk in the austere Forest Tradition, spending his time in forests, caves and cremation grounds, ideal places for developing meditation practice. He wandered through the countryside in quest of quiet and secluded places for developing meditation. He lived in tiger and cobra infested jungles, using reflections on death to penetrate to the true meaning of life. On one occasion he practiced in a cremation ground, to challenge and eventually overcome his fear of death. Then, as he sat cold and drenched in a rainstorm, he faced the utter desolation and loneliness of a homeless monk. Wisdom is a way of living and being, and Ajahn Chah has endeavored to preserve the simple monastic life-style in order that people may study and practice the Dhamma in the present day. Ajahn Chah's wonderfully simple style of teaching can be deceptive. It is often only after we have heard something many times that suddenly our minds are ripe and somehow the teaching takes on a much deeper meaning. His skillful means in tailoring his explanations of Dhamma to time and place, and to the understanding and sensitivity of his audience, was marvelous to see. 453

 Sometimes on paper though, it can make him seem inconsistent or even self-contradictory! At such times the reader should remember that these words are a record of a living experience. Similarly, if the teachings may seem to vary at times from tradition, it should be borne in mind that the Venerable Ajahn Chah spoke always from the heart, from the depths of his own meditative experience. “Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don’t accept praise or gain or anything else. If you let, go a little you a will have a little peace; if you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace; if you let go completely you will have complete peace.” “You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important.” “The heart is the only book worth reading.” “Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.” “If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.” “The Buddha told us to see the way things are and let go of our clinging to them. Take this feeling of letting go as your refuge.”

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 “Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. If you haven’t wept deeply, you haven’t begun to meditate”. “Just try to keep your mind in the present. Whatever arises in the mind, just watch it and let go of it. Don't even wish to be rid of thoughts. Then the mind will return to its natural state. No discriminating between good and bad, hot and cold, fast and slow. No me and no you, no self at all— just what there is. When you walk there is no need to do anything special. Simply walk and see what is there. No need to cling to isolation or seclusion. Wherever you are, know yourself by being natural and watching. If doubts arise, watch them come and go. It's very simple. Hold on to nothing. It's as though you are walking down a road. Periodically you will run into obstacles. When you meet defilements, just see them and overcome them by letting them go. Don't think about the obstacles you've already passed; don't worry about those you have not yet seen. Stick to the present. Don't be concerned about the length of the road or the destination. Everything is changing. Whatever you pass, don't cling to it. Eventually the mind will reach its natural balance where practice is automatic. All things will come and go of themselves.” “If our body really belonged to us, it would obey our commands. If we say, “Don’t get old,” Or “I forbid you to get sick” does it obey us? No! It takes no notice. We only rent this “house”, not own it. If we think it does belong to us, we will suffer when we have to leave it. But in reality, there is no such thing as a permanent self, nothing unchanging or solid that we can hold on to.”

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 “All bodies are composed of the four elements of earth, water, wind and fire. When they come together and form a body we say it’s a male, a female, giving it names, and so on, so that we can identify each other more easily. But actually there isn’t anyone there – only earth, water, wind and fire. Don’t get excited over it or infatuated by it. If you really look into it, you will not find anyone there.” “We say that a meditator should not walk the way of happiness or unhappiness, rather he should know them. Knowing the truth of suffering, he will know the cause of suffering, the end of suffering and the way leading to the end of suffering. And the way out of suffering is meditation itself. To put it simply, we must be mindful.” “We don’t meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering.” “Our birth and death are just one thing. You can’t have one without the other. It’s a little funny to see how at a death people are so tearful and sad, and at a birth how happy and delighted. It’s delusion. I think that if you really want to cry, then it would be better to do so when someone’s born. Cry at the root, for if there were no birth, there would be no death. Can you understand this?” “Death is as close as our breath.” Dharma is in your mind, not in the forest. Don’t believe others. Just listen to your mind. You don’t have to go and look anywhere else. Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one.

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 “Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught us that sort of home is not our real home. It’s a home in the world and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace.” “When you do something bad, there is nowhere you can go to hide. Even if others don’t see you, you must see yourself. Even if you go into a deep hole, you’ll still find yourself there. There’s no way you can commit bad actions and get away with it. In the same way, why shouldn’t you see your own purity? You see it all, the peace, the agitation, the liberation, the bondage; you see all these for yourself.” “There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free.” “With even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher.” “It is so easy once you understand. It is so simple and direct. When pleasant things arise, understand that they are empty. When unpleasant thing arises, see that they are not yours. They pass away. Don’t relate to them as being you, or see yourself as the owner of them.” “In truth, happiness is suffering in disguise. If you cling to happiness, it’s the same as clinging to suffering, but you don’t realize it. When you hold on to happiness, it is impossible to throw away the inherent suffering. So be careful! When happiness arises, don’t be overjoyed, and don’t get carried away and when suffering comes, do not despair.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

Sri Ramana Maharshi was probably the most famous sage of the twentieth century both in India and the rest of the world. He was renowned for his saintly life, for being fully realized, and for the powerful transmissions that often occurred to visitors in his presence. At age 16 he realized spontaneously and ran away to Arunachala, one of India's traditional holy sites, where he stayed for the rest of his life. So many people came to see him there that an ashram was built around him. Many of his close devotees were regarded by their peers as self-realized. Ramana Maharshi always said that his most important teaching was done in silence. He meant that when people were in his physical presence, in his sannidhi, their minds were affected. In some cases, the effects were astonishingly strong. Self-enquiry was taught by Sri Ramana as the continuous effort to focus attention as keenly as possible on the I-thought in order to recognize the I-thought's source, the Self. When this is done, awareness intensifies and thoughts diminish. The practice must be performed continuously for long periods in order to achieve results.

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 “The only true nature of life is impermanence. Accept this and walk your journey in contentment.” “Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.” “Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.” “Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. 'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words 'Be still'. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?” “Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.” “Have faith in God and in yourself; that will cure all. Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end.” “Realization is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage” “If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you.” “It will come all right in the end.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MOOJI

Mooji (Anthony Paul Moo-Young) is a disciple of the great Advaita master, Sri H.W.L. Poonja or Papaji, as he is affectionately known by devotees. Mooji was born in Jamaica. He later moved to Brixton, London. Here, Grace brought an encounter with a Christian mystic that caused Mooji to ‘walk out of his life’—an expression he uses to convey the profundity of that meeting. There was no longer a sense of personal autonomy. In his own words he says, ‘I felt I was sitting on the lap of God. A deep peace and trust in the Supreme arose inside my heart and has remained to this day’. Intrigued by this major shift in perception and wanting to merge fully in Truth, Mooji discovered the teachings of the great Indian saint, Sri Ramakrishna, whose utterances satisfied his heart deeply. Recognising Mooji’s radiance, people from various parts of the world began to approach him in search of the direct experience of Truth. The capacity to guide them arose spontaneously in him. Although Mooji’s presence carries a devotional fragrance, the words that spring from his being are of the nature of non-duality. His guidance evokes the love for and the direct recognition of the timeless Self we are. 460

 “Dying to your own attachments is a beautiful death. Because this death releases you into real life. You have to die as a seed to live as a tree.” “Step into the fire of self-discovery. This fire will not burn you, it will only burn what you are not.” “There is a presence, a silence, a stillness which is here by itself. There is no doer of it, no creator of this stillness. It is simply here in you, with you. It is the fragrance of your own self. There is nothing to do about this, it is naturally present. This fragrance of peace, this spaciousness, it is the fragrance of your own being.” “If you make human company too important you will not discover your true Self. Relationships not based in truth are never entirely reliable and are rarely enduring. Taking time to discover yourself is the best use of time. Prioritize this. One should not excessively seek partners or friends, one should seek to know and be oneself. As you begin to awaken to the Truth, you start noticing how well life flows by itself and how well you are cared for. Life supports the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of the one who is open to self-discovery. Trust opens your eyes to the recognition of this. Surrender allows you to merge in your own eternal being.” “I don’t have to be anything at all. I don’t even have to be myself, because there is no such thing as not being myself. I am inescapably myself.” “Don’t be a storehouse of memories. Leave past, future and even present thoughts behind. Be a witness to life unfolding by itself. Be free of all attachments, fears and concerns by keeping your mind inside your own 461

 heart. Rest in being. Like this, your life is always fresh and imbued with pure joy and timeless presence. Be happy, wise and free.” “You say you want to get rid of the noise, but you and the noise go together. You have to be you without 'you' and all noise will stop. The real You is the formless witness within. The person, the noisy one, is only imagined. To recognize this is Freedom.” “Everything that happened, you never saw it coming. The greatest things in your life, you did not expect, they simply unfolded. As you begin to recognize and accept this, you relax and see that your life is unfolding inside a greater harmony. Free will, destiny, all of these things are only pertaining to your body-mind expression, not to your real Self, which is beyond all that.” “Who gave us this crazy idea that we should know how to live? Does a tree know how to grow? Does a cloud know how to float? Does the wind know where it is blowing? Does a road know that is going somewhere? Don’t know how to live, just recognize that you are life, and life just is.” “All of God’s gifts are perfectly attuned to support your awakening – perfectly auspicious. Don’t go by the size but by the potency. An attitude of gratitude opens your eyes and heart to make the best use of these gifts.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY DZONGSAR KHYENTSE RINPOCHE

The present Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Thubten Chökyi Gyamtso, was recognized as a tulku by H.H. Sakya Trizin, and received empowerments and teachings from many of the greatest masters of Tibetan Buddhism, including H.H. the 16th Karmapa; H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche and Lama Sonam Zangpo (his paternal and maternal grandfathers); Chatral Rinpoche; Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, Khenpo Appey, and many others. His root guru was Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who began training Rinpoche from the age of 7. While still a teenager, Rinpoche built a small retreat center in Ghezing, Sikkim and soon began traveling and teaching around the world. In the 1980s, he began the restoration of Dzongsar Monastery in Derge, the responsibility of which he had inherited from his previous incarnation, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. He established Dzongsar Institute in Bir, India, which has grown to be one of the most respected institutions for advanced dialectical study. He also oversees two monasteries in Bhutan and has established dharma centres in Australia, Europe, North America, and 463

 Asia. He has written several books and made award-winning films. Rinpoche continuously travels all over the world, practicing and teaching the Dharma. “What is the particular view that Buddhists try to get used to? Buddhism is distinguished by four characteristics, or “seals.” Actually, if all these four seals are found in a path or a philosophy, it doesn’t matter whether you call it Buddhist or not. You can call it what you like; the words “Buddhist” or “Buddhism” are not important. The point is that if this path contains these four seals, it can be considered the path of the Buddha. Therefore, these four characteristics are called “the Four Seals of Dharma.” They are: All compounded things are impermanent.

All emotions are painful. This is something that only Buddhists would talk about. Many religious worship things like love with celebration and songs. Buddhists think, “This is all suffering.”

All phenomena are empty; they are without inherent existence. This is actually the ultimate view of Buddhism; the other three are grounded on this third seal. The fourth seal is that nirvana is beyond extremes.” “You do not wash the cup, you wash the dirt; if you were to wash the cup, it would disappear completely. So, it is the dirt that is washable and

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 has nothing at all to do with the cup. This example is quite a good illustration of one of the most profound theories of the bodhisattvayana: we all have the potential to become Buddha’s because we have Buddha nature. The problem is we have yet to realize it.” “If one knows that everything is impermanent, one does not grasp, and if one does not grasp, one will not think in terms of having or lacking, and therefore one lives fully.” “Then if you ask me, then why do we need the guru? Because you want the enlightenment fast, that’s why. It’s as easy as that.” “If you have devotion, the Buddha is always right in front of you.” “Ideally the ultimate retreat is to retreat from the past and the future, to always remain in the present.” “Generally speaking, the ultimate message of Buddhism is that you possess Buddha nature. In other words, you already and quite naturally have within you the qualities of complete enlightenment. But you need to realize this. The fact that you don’t have this realization is the reason why you are wandering in samsara. According to Nagarjuna, the Buddha didn’t say that you need to abandon samsara in order to gain enlightenment. What he said was that you need to see that samsara is empty, that it has no inherent existence. This is the same as saying that you need to recognize your essential Buddha nature.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MATTHIEU RICARD

Sometimes called the "happiest man in the world," Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer. After training in biochemistry at the Institute Pasteur, Matthieu Ricard left science behind to move to the Himalayas and become a Buddhist monk -- and to pursue happiness, both at a basic human level and as a subject of inquiry. Achieving happiness, he has come to believe, requires the same kind of effort and mind training that any other serious pursuit involves. His deep and scientifically tinged reflections on happiness and Buddhism have turned into several books, including The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. At the same time, he also makes sensitive and jaw-droopingly gorgeous photographs of his beloved Tibet and the spiritual hermitage where he lives and works on humanitarian projects. “We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory.” “There is a possibility for change because all emotions are fleeting.”

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 “Meditation is not just blissing out under a mango tree. It completely changes your brain and therefore changes what you are.” “Some people might think that the smartest way to guarantee their own well-being is to isolate themselves from others and to work hard at their own happiness, without consideration for what other people are experiencing. They probably assume that if everybody did that, we’d all be happy. But the result would be exactly the opposite: instead of being happy, they would be torn between hope and fear, make their own lives miserable, and ruin the lives of the people around them too.” “I have also come to understand that although some people are naturally happier than others, their happiness is still vulnerable and incomplete, and that achieving durable happiness as a way of being is a skill. It requires sustained effort in training the mind and developing a set of human qualities, such as inner peace, mindfulness, and altruistic love.” “One is not born wise; one becomes it.” “The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world.” “May every moment of my life and of the lives of others be one of wisdom, flourishing, and inner peace!” “Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NEEM KAROLI BABA

Maharaj-ji’s teachings were simple and universal. He often said, “Sub Ek” — All is One. He taught us to “love everyone, serve everyone, remember God, and tell the truth.” Strongly connected to Hanuman, the Hindu God in the form of a monkey, Maharaj-ji “taught” in a highly personalized, non-traditional way that reflected the deep devotion of the bhakti path of the heart. Known as the “Miracle Baba” throughout north India, He manifested many siddhis (powers), such as being in two places at once or putting devotees in samadhi (state of God consciousness) at the touch of a finger. Maharaj-ji is best known for the unconditional love He showered on all who came into His presence as well as those who never met Him in the body but established a connection to him beyond the physical plane. "I don't want anything. I exist only to serve others." "Love all men as God, even if they hurt you or shame you. Be like Gandhi and Christ."

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 “If you want to see God, kill desires. Desires are in the mind. When you have a desire for something, don't act on it and it will go away. If you desire to drink this cup of tea, don't, and the desire for it will fall away." "Love is the strongest medicine. It is more powerful than electricity." "If you desire a mango at the moment of death, you'll be born an insect. If you even desire the next breath, you will take birth again." "Lust, Greed, Anger, Attachment - These are all paths to hell." "The best service you can do is to keep your thoughts on God. Keep God in mind every minute." "You can leave me. I won't leave you. Once I catch hold of you, I don't let go." "Everything is impermanent, except the love of God." "Whoever works for God, his work will be done by itself. " “Even if a person hurts you, give him love. The worst punishment is to throw someone out of your heart... You should love everyone as God, and love each other. If you cannot love each other, you cannot achieve your goal.” “All religions are the same. They all lead to God. God is everybody ... The same blood flows through us all, the arms, the legs, the heart, all are the same. See no difference. See all the same.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche was a revered Tibetan meditation master, scholar, and poet, whose extraordinary presence and brilliant teaching style made a deep impact on the current generation of Tibetan lamas and on the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the West. A principal lineage holder in the Rime (nonsectarian) movement of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyoshul Khenpo counted twenty-five teachers from all of the Tibetan lineages as his masters. Foremost, he was an authority on the teachings of the Nyingma master Longchenpa and the Longchen Nyingthig, a cycle of teachings that focus on revealing the mind’s fundamental nature of luminous purity. Rinpoche also mastered many of the highest practices of the other Tibetan lineages, including the Six Yogas of Naropa, Lamdre, Kalachakra, and Chod. In India, he received teachings from exiled Tibetan masters such as Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. Later, these same lamas, as well as others (including Tai Situ Rinpoche, Pema Norbu Rinpoche, Sakya Trizin, and Dzogchen Rinpoche) invited him to teach at their monasteries.

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 “Rest in natural great peace this exhausted mind, Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thoughts Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves in the infinite ocean of samsara. Rest in natural great peace.” “Profound and tranquil, free from complexity, Uncompounded luminous clarity, Beyond the mind of conceptual ideas; This is the depth of the mind of the Victorious Ones. In this there is not a thing to be removed, nor anything that needs to be added. It is merely the immaculate looking naturally at itself.” “An effortless compassion can arise for all beings who have not realized their true nature. So limitless is it that if tears could express it, you would cry without end. Not only compassion, but tremendous skillful means can be born when you realize the nature of mind. Also you are naturally liberated from all suffering and fear, such as the fear of birth, death and the intermediate state. Then if you were to speak of the joy and bliss that arise from this realization, it is said by the Buddha that if you were to gather all the glory, enjoyment, pleasure and happiness of the world and put it all together, it would not approach one tiny fraction of the bliss that you experience upon realizing the nature of mind.” “The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, Like they who lick the honey from a razor’s edge. How pitiful they who cling strongly to concrete reality: Turn your attention within, my heart friends.” “Emptiness is the nectar of immortality.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JACK KORNFIELD

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He met and studied as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. Returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a father and activist. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. “In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived How well we have loved How well we have learned to let go” 472

 “Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control. We can love and care for others but we cannot possess our children, lovers, family, or friends. We can assist them, pray for them, and wish them well, yet in the end their happiness and suffering depend on their thoughts and actions, not on our wishes.” “You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember the transforming power of forgiveness and loving kindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.” “There are many ways that I have hurt and harmed others, have betrayed or abandoned them, caused them suffering, knowingly or unknowingly, out of my pain, fear, anger, and confusion. Let yourself remember and visualize the ways you have hurt others. See the pain you have caused out of your own fear and confusion. Feel your own sorrow and regret. Sense that finally you can release this burden and ask for forgiveness. Take as much time as you need to picture each memory that still burdens your heart. And then as each person comes to mind, gently say: I ask for your forgiveness, I ask for your forgiveness.” “When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.” “Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, "I love to go and see all the things I am happy without.” “Open to whatever you experience without fighting.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SHUNRYU SUSUKI

Shunryū Suzuki is probably the most well-known of the early Zen pioneers in North America. His two dharma heirs, son Hoitsu Suzuki and the American Zentatsu Richard Baker, have together created a whole new generation of teachers actively passing on his lineage in the modernday. His was truly a simplistic practice centered around shikantaza. “Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.” “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.” “Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.” “I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and 474

 no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.” “Even though you try to put people under control, it is impossible. You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in a wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good. That is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.” “When you accept everything, everything is beyond dimensions. The earth is not great nor a grain of sand small. In the realm of Great Activity picking up a grain of sand is the same as taking up the whole universe. To save one sentient being is to save all sentient beings. Your efforts of this moment to save one person is the same as the eternal merit of Buddha.” “Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity. Real calmness should be found in activity itself. We say, "It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.” “When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You

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 should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.” “When you bow, you should just bow; when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat.” “Now it is raining, but we don't know what will happen in the next moment. By the time we go out it may be a beautiful day, or a stormy day. Since we don't know, let's appreciate the sound of the rain now.” “Each existence depends on something else... there are no separate individual existences. There are just many names for one existence.” “So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you. So you should not be bothered by your mind. You should rather be grateful for the weeds, because eventually they will enrich your practice.” “Renunciation is not giving up the things of this world, but accepting that they go away.” “We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence. We should find perfection in imperfection... The eternal exists because of non-eternal existence... We should find the truth in this world, through our difficulties, through our suffering... Pleasure is not different from difficulty. Good is not different from bad.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MINGYUR RINPOCHE

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche possesses a rare ability to present the ancient wisdom of Tibet in a fresh, engaging manner. His profound yet accessible teachings and playful sense of humor have endeared him to students around the world. Most uniquely, Rinpoche’s teachings weave together his own personal experiences with modern scientific research, relating both to the practice of meditation. Rinpoche is a rising star among the new generation of Tibetan Buddhist masters. From a young age, Rinpoche was drawn to a life of contemplation. He spent many years of his childhood in strict retreat. At the age of seventeen, he was invited to be a teacher at his monastery’s three-year retreat center, a position rarely held by such a young lama. He also completed the traditional Buddhist training in philosophy and psychology, before founding a monastic college at his home monastery in north India. In addition to extensive training in the meditative and philosophical traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Mingyur Rinpoche has also had a lifelong interest in Western science and psychology. At an early age, he began a series of informal discussions with the famed 477

 neuroscientist Francisco Varela, who came to Nepal to learn meditation from his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He teaches throughout the world, with centers on five continents. His candid, often humorous accounts of his own personal difficulties have endeared him to thousands of students around the world. His best-selling book, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into over twenty languages. In early June, 2011, Mingyur Rinpoche left his monastery in Bodhgaya, India to begin a period of extended solitary retreat. In November of 2015 Mingyur Rinpoche returned after four years of solitary retreat. He is currently teaching his monastic and western students living around the world. “Meditation is a uniquely personal process, and no two people’s experience is alike.” “Thoughts are just thoughts. Feelings are just feelings. Sensations are just sensations. They come and go in waking life as quickly and easily as they do in dreams.” “When we meditate in this objectless state, we’re actually resting the mind in its natural clarity, entirely indifferent to the passage of thoughts and emotions. This natural clarity – which is beyond any dualistic grasping of subject and object – is always present for us in the same way that space is always present.” “In very simple terms, the most effective approach to meditation is to try your best without focusing too much on the results.”

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 “Thoughts aren’t really fixed realities, but simply movements of the mind that is thinking.” “Though we’re conditioned to identify with the thoughts that pass through our awareness rather than with awareness itself, the awareness that is our true nature is infinitely flexible. It is capable of any and every sort of experience – even misconceptions about itself as limited, trapped, ugly, anxious, lonely, or afraid. When we begin to identify with that timeless, pristine awareness rather than with the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that pass through it, we’ve taken the first step toward facing the freedom of our true nature.” “Any attempt to capture the direct experience of the nature of mind in words is impossible. The best that can be said is that it is immeasurably peaceful and, once stabilized through repeated experience, virtually unshakable. It’s an experience of absolute well-being that radiates through all physical, emotional and mental states – even those that might ordinarily be labeled as unpleasant.” “I feel that happiness is really found in appreciation and rejoicing. Everything is a display of clarity, love, and wisdom. This is related to the main view of Vajrayana Buddhism: that we all are Buddha. This enlightened nature is not just within you. It’s everywhere. You can see it and appreciate it. That’s the main cause of happiness — gratitude and appreciation.” “Our life is not preordained. We can change and control the direction of our life regardless of our past or present circumstances. But recognizing that we will die energizes our aspiration to create good

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 karma. Everything is impermanent, and death comes without warning. Understanding karma makes our life meaningful right now. Each moment provides an opportunity to turn toward awakening; and we are more likely to take advantage of each moment once we accept that these moments are limited. If we believe in reincarnation, then the aspiration to create good karma becomes magnified because we want to create the very best conditions for our rebirth, and right now offers the best opportunity. Behavior that leads away from unhappiness and from harming ourselves and others will help alleviate difficult circumstances in our future lives “I feel that happiness is really found in appreciation and rejoicing. Everything is a display of clarity, love, and wisdom. This is related to the main view of Vajrayana Buddhism: that we all are Buddha. This enlightened nature is not just within you. It’s everywhere. You can see it and appreciate it. That’s the main cause of happiness — gratitude and appreciation.” “When we begin to accept, that change expresses the inevitable mature of relative reality, then we can begin to close the gap between what we want and what we get.” “Accepting the impermanence of all phenomena is the best antidote to suffering.” “The truth of impermanence becomes the wind at our backs, urging us not to squander the precious opportunity that we have right now.” “If we want to be happy, we must figure out what causes and conditions lead to well-being.” 480

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY YOGI BHAJAN

Traveling extensively in the seventies and eighties, Yogi Bhajan crusaded tirelessly to educate, uplift, and enlighten everyone he met. His basic message was "It is your birthright to be healthy, happy, and holy". Yogi Bhajan founded 3HO SuperHealth, a remarkably successful drugless, drug rehabilitation program, blending the proven ancient yogic wisdom of the East with the modern technology of the West. Embodying a rare combination of spiritual and down-to-earth practical wisdom, Yogi Bhajan was equally at home in the pulpit, the podium, the board room, the living room, or sitting on the grass in a park, teaching and educating people in all walks of life. His expertise and influence extended into the realms of communication, the healing arts, business, religion, and government. "You have to understand the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to do something which will live forever." "If you can't see God in all, you can't see God at all".

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 “When God gives good times, He wants you to forget him and sleep. When God gives you bad times, He wants you to wake up and face him.” When you don't go within, you go without.” “An attitude of gratitude brings great things.” “Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.” “Make yourself so happy so that when others look at you they become happy too.” “The purpose of life is to watch and experience living. To enjoy living every moment of it. And to live in environments, which are calm, quiet, slow, sophisticated, elegant. Just to be. Whether you are naked or you have a golden robe on you, that doesn’t make any difference. The ideal purpose of your life is that you are grateful - great and full - that you are alive, and you enjoy it.” “When ego is lost, limit is lost. You become infinite, kind, beautiful.” “Feel good, be good, and do good.” "Your mind is your servant, your body is your vehicle and your soul is your residence." "There is nothing outside of us. It's all in us." “The greatest art is to sit, and wait, and let it come.” “Our purpose in this life is to live in higher consciousness and to teach others to live in higher consciousness. But the best test to that 482

 consciousness is humility, selflessness, and sweetness. When you teach, teach with honesty, truthfulness, and straightforwardness. As a teacher, never compromise. As a man, always compromise. The teacher who compromises is an idiot; a person who does not compromise is an idiot. Because the teacher does not teach for himself, but for the higher consciousness. And higher consciousness will never compromise with lower consciousness. This is a straight law and that has to be considered as a law; that has to be observed as a law.” “The whole planet Earth shines with exactly the same radiance, and I am a part of it, and it is a part of me. And I know it is all temporary. Earth has given me a vehicle for staying on it, and I am beyond the vehicle. The day I have to leave, that vehicle has to be left back on this earth, deposited in its bosom safely and securely.” “Life is a book of changes. It should be read only to understand how it works. You can't help the changes in life; they must come whether they are good or bad because the good must follow the bad and the bad must follow the good.” “For every beautiful thing, you have to pass through a valley of hardship. There is no liberation without labor. There is no freedom which is free. To create in you the power to create the intelligence which will give you power to be effective in your own living and give you satisfaction in your own joy, you have to work for it, you have to earn it.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JETSUNMA TENZIN PALMO

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo was raised in London and whilst in her teens she became a Buddhist. At the age of twenty, she decided to go to India to pursue her spiritual path. There she met her guru, His Eminence the Eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche (Gyalwa Dokhampa), a great Drukpa Lineage lama, and became one of the first Westerners to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. She remained with Khamtrul Rinpoche and his community in Himachal Pradesh, northern India, for six years and then he directed her to the Himalayan valley of Lahaul in order to undertake more intensive practice. Tenzin Palmo stayed in a small monastery there for several years, remaining in retreat during the long winter months. Then, seeking more seclusion and better conditions for practice, she found a nearby cave where she remained for another 12 years. Before H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche passed away in 1980, he had on several occasions requested Tenzin Palmo to start a nunnery. She understood the importance of this and remembers when in 1993, the Lamas of the Khampagar monastery in Himachal Pradesh India again made the request. This time Tenzin Palmo was ready to take on the formidable task 484

 and she began slowly raising interest worldwide. In January 2000, the first nuns arrived and in 2001 the construction of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery began and is now, with the ongoing construction of the traditional Temple, nearing completion. In February 2008 Tenzin Palmo was given the rare title of Jetsunma, which means Venerable Master, by His Holiness Gualwang Drukpa, spiritual head of the Drukpa Lineage in recognition of her spiritual achievements as a nun and her efforts in promoting the status of female practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism. “The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside.” “Ultimately there is light and love and intelligence in this universe. And we are it, we carry that within us, it’s not just something out there, it is within us and this is what we are trying to re-connect with, our original light and love and intelligence, which is who we are, so do not get so distracted by all this other stuff, you know, really remember what we are here on this planet for.” “One of the advantages of being born in an affluent society is that if one has any intelligence at all, one will realize that having more and more won't solve the problem, and happiness does not lie in possessions, or even relationships: The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside.” “We have to cultivate contentment with what we have. We really don't need much. When you know this, the mind settles down. Cultivate generosity. Delight in giving. Learn to live lightly. In this way, we can

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 begin to transform what is negative into what is positive. This is how we start to grow up.” “If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually create positive returns. If we respond with a negative attitude, negative things will eventually come our way.” “Meditation is for you to realize that the deepest nature of your existence is beyond thoughts and emotions, that it is incredibly vast and interconnected with all other beings.” “Each of us has something to do in this lifetime. We all have negative emotions to be purified and positive emotions to be cultivated. All of us need to reconnect to our source and drop our personal stories, don't we? Men, women, old, young, from here, from there - it is the same. All you can do is your practice. There is nothing else. Don't get caught up. Don't stop. We have to learn how to get out or our own way. Because ultimately, the only thing standing in our way is ourselves.” “Develop confidence in your innate qualities and believe that these qualities will be brought to fruition.” “We have produced many of our problems through our confused mental states.” “I have made a vow to attain Enlightenment in the female form - no matter how many lifetimes it takes.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MINDROLLING JETSUN KHANDRO RINPOCHE

Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche began receiving teachings and transmissions from a very young age from some of the most revered Tibetan masters, such as Kyabje Mindrolling Trichen, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kyabje Trulshig Rinpoche, Kyabje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, Kyabje Tulku Ugyen Rinpoche and Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche. The Jetsünmas, daughters of various Mindrolling Trichens over the generations, have been some of the greatest and most inspirational figures in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. For the past two decades, Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche has been teaching in Europe, North America, and Asia.

“Simply put: by cultivating diligence in building mindfulness, mindfulness will free you from becoming a cause of suffering to others.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose is often described as the Indian Polymath for having dabbled in various sciences from technical physics to plant biology. He also was an archeologist. Bose is one of the most prominent first Indian scientists who proved by experimentation that both animals and plants share much in common. He demonstrated that plants are also sensitive to heat, cold, light, noise and various other external stimuli. Bose contrived a very sophisticated instrument called Crescograph which could record and observe the minute responses because of external stimulants. It was capable of magnifying the motion of plant tissues to about 10,000 times of their actual size, which found many similarities between plants and other living organisms.

“They who behold the One, in all the changing manifoldness of the universe, unto them belongs the eternal truth, unto none else, unto none else.”

“The true laboratory is the mind, where behind illusions we uncover the laws of truth” 488

 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SRI AUROBINDO

Sri Aurobindo had begun the practice of Yoga in 1905 in Baroda. In 1908 he had the first of several fundamental spiritual realizations. In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry in order to devote himself entirely to his inner spiritual life and work. During his forty years in Pondicherry he evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called the Integral Yoga. Its aim is a spiritual realization that not only liberates man's consciousness but also transforms his nature. “True knowledge is not attained by thinking. It is what you are; it is what you become.” “There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the mind's immobility and thought-free stillness. When mind is still, then truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence.” “But few are those who tread the sunlit path; Only the pure in soul can walk in light.”

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 “Life is life--whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage.” “Then there is the life-force, the Prana, that works in our vital being and nervous system. The Upanishad speaks of it as the first or supreme Breath; elsewhere in the sacred writings, it is spoken of as the chief Breath or the Breath of the mouth, mukhya, asanya; it is that which carries in it the Word, the creative expression. In the body of man there are said to be five workings of the life-force called the five Pranas. One specially termed Prana moves in the upper part of the body and is preeminently the breath of life, because it brings the universal life-force into the physical system and gives it there to be distributed. A second in the lower part of the trunk, termed Apana, is the breath of death; for it gives away the vital force out of the body. A third, the Samana, regulates the interchange of these two forces at their meeting-place, equalizes them and is the most important agent in maintaining the equilibrium of the vital forces and their functions. A fourth, the Vyana, pervasive, distributes the vital energies throughout the body. A fifth, the Udana, moves upward from the body to the crown of the head and is a regular channel of communication between the physical life and the greater life of the spirit. None of these are the first or supreme Breath, although the Prana most nearly represents it; the Breath to which so much importance is given in the Upanishads, is the pure life-force itself, - first, because all the others are secondary to it, born from it and only exist as its special functions. It is imaged in the Veda as the Horse; its various energies are the forces that draw the chariots of the Gods.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS

Kazantzakis, much more of a philosopher than a writer, was deeply influenced by the writings of Nietzsche and Bergson, and the philosophies of Christianity, Marxism and Buddhism. In his work, he attempted to synthesize these different world views. “I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.” “I hope nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.” “This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale.” “True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.” 491

 “God changes his appearance every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises.” “A man needs a little madness, or else... he never dares cut the rope and be free.” “Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.” “You can knock on a deaf man's door forever.” “The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.” “I was happy, I knew that. While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realize - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been.” “I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me of God.' And the almond tree blossomed.” “You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go.” “When everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage! An invisible and all-powerful enemy—some call him God, others the Devil, seem to rush upon us to destroy us; but we are not destroyed.”

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 “All my life one of my greatest desires has been to travel-to see and touch unknown countries, to swim in unknown seas, to circle the globe, observing new lands, seas, people, and ideas with insatiable appetite, to see everything for the first time and for the last time, casting a slow, prolonged glance, then to close my eyes and feel the riches deposit themselves inside me calmly or stormily according to their pleasure, until time passes them at last through its fine sieve, straining the quintessence out of all the joys and sorrows.” “For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.” “The highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe!” “Reach what you cannot” “We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life.” “When everyone drowns and I'm the only one to escape, God is protecting me. When everyone else is saved and I'm the only one to drown, God is protecting me then too.” “Man is able, and has the duty, to reach the furthest point on the road he has chosen. Only by means of hope can we attain what is beyond hope.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY MITSUO AIDA

Mitsuo Aida was a Japanese poet and calligrapher known as “The Poet of Zen”. As a brush-and-ink calligrapher and poet, Mitsuo Aida continued to pursue his own words and his own calligraphy, not imitating anyone. As a young man in the period of upheaval during and following World War II, he established his original style and produced a great number of works while contemplating the preciousness of life. He honestly expresses himself in an unfeigned manner as a human, not hiding his own weaknesses and dependence on others. At times, the effects of his writings permeate softly into the hearts of people living in the “now.” And at other times, his writings reach out and grab you with gripping force.

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 “If you take something by force there is never enough. If you share it, there will always be something left over.” “Because it has lived its life intensely the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by. The flowers merely flower, and they do this as well as they can. The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley, Does not need to explain itself to anyone; It lives merely for beauty. Man, however, cannot accept that 'merely'.

If tomatoes wanted to be melons, they would look completely ridiculous. I am always amazed that so many people are concerned with wanting to be what they are not; what's the point of making yourself look ridiculous? You don't always have to pretend to be strong, there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well, you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking, cry if you need to, it's good to cry out all your tears (because only then will you be able to smile again).”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY OKAKURA KAKUZO

Okakura Kakuzo was a Japanese writer and art curator. He is credited with "explaining" Asian art to American intellectuals. His most famous works are The Ideals of the East and The Book of Tea. “In joy or sadness flowers are our constant friends.” “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.” “Tea ... is a religion of the art of life.” “Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.” “Everyone has to build anew his sky of hope and peace.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SHECHEN RABJAM RINPOCHE

Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche is the grandson and spiritual heir of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Since his grandfather’s passing, Rabjam Rinpoche has taken the responsibility of transmitting Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s teachings, and is bringing his vision for the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist teaching and culture to fruition. Rabjam Rinpoche is the seventh in the line of the Rabjam succession. Rabjam Rinpoche began taking teachings from his revered grandfather and today holds this unbroken lineage. He was raised by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and attended almost every teaching, drupchen (9-day ceremony), and empowerment that he gave during twenty-five years. He traveled throughout the world with Khyentse Rinpoche. Rinpoche supervised the education and upbringing of Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, the young incarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

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 “If you’ve been practicing for years, you should be seeing some results. If you’re not, you may be missing the point. The result of spiritual practice should be our inner transformation into better human beings. After practicing for months or years, we should be less prone to anger, pride, and jealousy. Our practice should lead us to a vaster, calmer mind. For example, the whole point of dieting is to lose a few pounds, not to collect knowledge and become an expert on each and every diet. You may have heard about different diets and read many books, but you won’t lose weight unless you put one of them into practice in your everyday life. Similarly, if you do not implement the teachings, your destructive emotions and self-clinging will not diminish, and the Dharma instructions will be of no use to you, no matter how many you receive.” “You can find a particular antidote to destroy each afflictive emotion. To conquer desire, you can meditate on the unappealing aspects of the object; for hatred, meditate on loving-kindness; for jealousy, joy; and so on. This is how you discard negative mental factors.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SAINT FRANCIS

Francis saw very clearly how necessary it is for all who seek union with God to be humble, to trust Divine Providence, to obey their spiritual guide. Saint Francis had all the shining virtues: courage and humility, love and purity, joy and compassion, courtesy and holiness; so had other saints. It is in the expression of these qualities that he excels them all. No human soul so bright as his ever shone out so clearly through the fleshly veil; there seems to be an actual radiance about him. By reason of this heavenly quality he ranks with the great poets as the creator of the common imagination of mankind; and the simple stories of his life take their place in the world’s literature with those of Dante and the Bible. Ramakrishna shared with Francis this divine quality; he was a poet at heart and he explained to his disciples the deepest truths of religion, not in an abstruse, philosophic language, but by using, with telling effect,, simple and homely parables and images full of charm and beauty. They both loved music and song, because, living in direct communion with God, only in song they could express, at least in a part, the ecstatic love and the unutterable joy that filled their hearts.

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 “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” "Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance." "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching." “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” "We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh, but, instead, we must be simple, humble and pure." "Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt." “A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” 500

 “Keep a clear eye toward life's end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. What you are in his sight is what you are and nothing more. Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received...but only what you have given; a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage.” “No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.” “Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.” “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” “The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today” “I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.” “If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” “We should seek not so much to pray but to become prayer.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY SAINT JUDE

St. Jude is the Patron Saint of Hope and impossible causes and one of Jesus’ original twelve Apostles. He preached the Gospel with great passion, often in the most difficult circumstances. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he made profound differences in people’s lives as he offered them the Word of God. “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that the Lord has once for all entrusted to us, his people.” “Be merciful to those who doubt” “Save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy,”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY RAMTHA

Ramtha is a legendary Master Teacher who mastered his own humanity centuries ago and returned in our modern times to tell his story and teach us what he learned. He explains that in his lifetime he addressed the questions about human existence and the meaning of life, and that through his own observation, reflection, and contemplation he became enlightened and conquered the physical world and death. His philosophy reflects the experience of his own life. Ramtha's teachings are not a religion. They offer a unique perspective from which to view the mystery of life. Ramtha's teachings emphasize that each individual is responsible for their own reality, that your thoughts and attitudes affect and create your life, and that you can intentionally change your life by artfully changing your thought. Ramtha communicates his wisdom by channeling through the body of JZ Knight. She is the only channel through whom Ramtha has chosen to deliver his message. She and Ramtha have inspired audiences worldwide for the last three decades, bridging ancient wisdom and the power of consciousness together with the latest discoveries in science.

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 “Love your body. Be kind to it, nourish it, tender it. It is the pure instrument of expression that allows you to experience life on this plane.” “To let life happen to you is irresponsible. To create your day is your divine right.” “Whatever thoughts you allow yourself to know through your wonderful receiver will become an experienced reality, seen first within your embodiment and then through the conditions of your life. And whatever you desire, you have the ability — through knowing — to manifest into your life in the twinkling of an eye. That is how you create the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” “Face your fears and allow yourself to unmask their illusion.” “How does thought create the experiences of your life? The pineal is the seal of knowing into manifestation. Whatever knowingness you allow yourself to receive will become a reality first in your body, for the pineal is responsible for sending that thought as an electrical current throughout your body, to be registered as emotion. The more unlimited the thought, the greater and faster the frequency that is shot throughout your body; thus the greater the high or rush experienced in your body. That feeling is then recorded and stored in your soul as a given frequency. The feeling of every thought, recorded in your soul, is then put forth into your aura as an expectancy, and that expectancy activates the electromagnetic portion of your light-field to draw to you — much like a magnet — the likeness of whatever your collective-attitude thinking is.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY NICK VUJICIC

Nick Vujicic is an Australian motivational speaker with a rare congenital disorder called Tetra-Amelia Syndrome. He was born with an absence of four limbs, which inspired him to found a non-profit organization called “Life Without Limbs” at the age of 17. Nick Vujicic is an author of an inspirational book called Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life. Heis one of the world’s motivational speakers and has traveled around the world, sharing his story with millions, sometimes in stadiums filled to capacity, speaking to a range of diverse groups such as students, teachers, young people, business professionals and church congregations of all sizes. Today this dynamic young evangelist has accomplished more than most people achieve in a lifetime. “If God can use a man without arms and legs to be His hands and feet, then He will certainly use any willing heart!” “If you can't get a miracle, become one.”

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 “If I fail, I try again, and again, and again. If YOU fail, are you going to try again? The human spirit can handle much worse than we realize. It matters HOW you are going to FINISH. Are you going to finish strong?” “It's a lie to think you're not good enough. It's a lie to think you're not worth anything.” “Life isn't about having, it's about being. You could surround yourself with all that money can buy, and you'd still be as miserable as a human can be. I know people with perfect bodies who don't have half the happiness I've found. On my journeys I've seen more joy in the slums of Mumbai and the orphanages of Africa than in wealthy gated communities and on sprawling estates worth millions. Why is that? You'll find contentment when your talents and passion are completely engaged, in full force. Recognize instant self-gratification for what it is. Resist the temptation to grab for material objects like the perfect house, the coolest clothes or the hottest car. When you look for happiness in mere objects, they are never enough. Look around. Look within.” “I never met a bitter person who was thankful. Or a thankful person who was bitter.” “I encourage you to accept that you may not be able to see a path right now, but that doesn't mean it's not there.” “If I fail, I try again, and again, and again”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY PHAKCHOK RINPOCHE

The Venerable Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche was born into an illustrious family of great Tibetan Buddhist masters including Urgyen Tulku, Chokling, Tsoknyi, Mingyur and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. He is a lineage holder of the Profound Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa from the Nyingma School of Early Translations and one of the throne-holders of the Riwoche Taklung Kagyu Lineage. Phakchok Rinpoche’s primary root gurus are his grandfather, the late Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and late Kyabje Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Phakchok Rinpoche has received a traditional education from the Dzongsar Shedra in India, the complete Chokling New Treasures lineage from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Kyabje Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, and the Great Perfection lineage from Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Rinpoche’s teaching style is direct, addressing the needs of those present; traditional, not compromising the methods of practice and transmission in the slightest; and, accessible, teaching the profound meaning in a way that is able to be understood and glimpsed by people of diverse backgrounds. 507

 “Having the dignity, the confidence that knows “Yes, I can change and I know what to change because I have the role model of the Buddha.” when you can tell yourself “Yes, I can do it. No matter what.” When you have that kind of attitude, half your work on the path is already done. Then all your doubt, and low self-esteem, is gone, it’s finished, even your distraction is not a problem because you have the dignity that not one single condition can take away from you.” “Karma in your day to day life simply means that your actions, are 100% your responsibility. And that is the most empowering spiritual path.” “The real results from your practice arise from not hoping for results. You have the motivation to benefit, without the hope. Please contemplate this important point.” “More judgment you have, the more ego you have. The less judgment you have, the less ego you have.” “The only way to change your world is to change your own mind. Before you change, you tame. Taming the mind IS the Dharma.” “My friends, don't waste your time. This is the whole point of remembering impermanence. Every day is passing. You cannot buy any more moments, anymore hours. Every day you are getting closer to your ending. So please, cherish your precious life. Don't go into fear and expectation. Think about the value of your time. You need to challenge yourself to cherish your life. That is impermanence.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY JOHN LENNON

John Lennon was the most iconic Beatle. He was group's most committed rock & roller, its social conscience, and its slyest verbal wit. Lennon's brutally confessional solo work and his political activism were a huge influence on subsequent generations of singers, songwriters and social reformers. After the Beatles' breakup, he and wife Yoko Ono recorded together and separately, striving to break taboos and to be ruthlessly, publicly honest in their music and public performances. “There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” “I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?” 509

 “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.” “I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.” “War is over ... If you want it.” “I'm not afraid of death because I don't believe in it. It's just getting out of one car, and into another.” “Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.” “When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.” “We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight.” “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY DAVID GILMOUR

David is one of the all-time guitar greats, with an instinctive and distinctive sound; he was voted 'Best Fender Guitar Player Ever' in a poll in Guitarist magazine, beating such greats as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. In 2005, David was made a CBE for services to music. He is an inspiration; the moment you hear his guitar you can feel he is communicating with God. “Our music has depth, and attempts philosophical thought and meaning with discussions of infinity, eternity and mortality. There is a line which people cross that turns it into some magical, mystical realm, for which I don't claim responsibility and don't hold any great truck with.” “Make life an art rather than art from life.” “It's not true that you fall in love only once in your life. But it is true that you only fall in love a certain way, with a certain absoluteness, once.”

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 WORDS AND TEACHINGS BY BRUCE LEE

Bruce Lee remains the greatest icon of martial arts cinema and a key figure of modern popular media. Had it not been for Bruce Lee and his movies in the early 1970s, it's arguable whether or not the martial arts film genre would have ever penetrated and influenced mainstream North American and European cinema and audiences the way it has over the past four decades. “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

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 Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” “Don't fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.” “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.” “The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”

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 CONCLUSION FROM THE BOOK, VEDANTA FOR THE WESTERN WORLD The Hindus, Buddhists and Christians all teach that the Kingdom of God is within, and that is what the mystics of all faiths emphasize, that heaven is within your very soul, and that by completely attaining to this divine realization you attain salvation, or liberation from ignorance and from the bondage of life and death. Christ and Buddha and all the great illumined souls, and all the scriptures point out to us this one truth: that there is salvation from the bondage in which we live; that we can be saved from our limitations and finitude and that we can attain that eternal life, that felicity, if only we enter the Kingdom of God which is within our very souls. Yoga has been defined by Patanjali as the complete control of the waves of the mind. One who can control the waves of the mind attains Yoga, that state when the true nature of the Self becomes revealed. This control of the waves of the mind is not as simple as it would at first appear. It is a complete transformation of the character, when the mind becomes absolutely pure and tranquil. St. Paul said: “Be ye transformed by the renewal of your own mind.” That is it, and this control is the blessedness of purity which Jesus spoke of when He said: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” He meant that complete transformation, that complete overhauling of the mind. In every religion, we find the same truth taught, that the Kingdom of God is within; the Reality is to be found within our own Self. As long as we forget this truth, as long as we seek the Reality outside of ourselves so long shall we be disappointed. We must learn to look within. 514

 All true religions and all spiritual teachers worth the name are empathic in pointing out that the one and only purpose of human life and existence is to attain moksha or liberation, which is the same as perfection and which is attained by entering the Kingdom of God within. All spiritual wisdom in the world tells man that he can consciously unite himself with the divine while living in this body and thus may attain perfection. For in each man is God concealed. Purity, freedom, illumination, peace, perfection is all identical with the immortal Self which only remains to be uncovered. “As people ignorant of a golden treasure that has been hidden underground may walk over it again and again and yet never find it, so all beings, though every moment living in Brahman, never find him, for he is hidden by a covering of ignorance. St. Augustine wrote: “I, Lord, went wandering like a strayed sheep, seeking thee with anxious reasoning without, whilst thou wast within me… I went around the streets and squares of the city of this world seeking thee, and I found thee not, because in vain I sought without for him who was within myself.” To seek for the perfection in Godhead, to seek for the truth that gives us freedom, is to seek for our true Self. Religion is not anything extraneous to ourselves that we have to acquire, neither is it something which we may or may not believe, but it is something living in the soul of each man. And as no man can jump out of himself, so no man can free himself from this living religion. Only it remains hidden in most men and it awaits their finding. Mother Nature, however, is patient and she gradually leads each man by the hand to awaken in him ultimately that which is his birthright.

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 Man may incarnate again and again until he has learned his lesson and is awakened to the worth, the golden treasure, the Kingdom of God which lies within the depths of his own soul. “In this world, there are many religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and so forth. When you look at the essential purpose of all these religions, the essential message of all of them what is it? The essential purpose of all religions is to bring happiness to others and to avoid harming others and causing them pain.” Khensur Rinpoche

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 UNTIL NEXT TIME… It is just like going to the gym, you won’t see the results you want in just a day, but you will start seeing results working on it day by day, and life will be starting to change around you, this I promise, I am a living example of all of this, I am a living proof that the way to live is with all these teachings these great teachers have left us, because this book has saved my life. This book heals me more and more every time I read it, every time I open it I learn something which transforms my mind. I recommend you keep reading about these teachers and their teachings, this is just to guide you through them, but from here, your inner journey and creating your own heaven here on earth begins or continues. All these spiritual masters and teachers are Gurus, for our life, because they dissipate the darkness of ignorance with their knowledge and their wisdom. They are all teachers who have eliminated their own darkness with their wisdom and inner knowledge. There are many more, but what matters is that they all lead us towards our inner light, our Kingdom of God. We must always remember that we are Gods, inside a human body, and we are here to experience the physical world, but the important part is exploring what is inside of us, that divine light. We must know that everything is within and there is no point in looking without. We must acknowledge our true inner light and always remember that we are divine beings, with unlimited power. Teachings from these masters and teachers, are very important because they all teach us that enlightenment is possible, and that is why they are also an inspiration. These teachers are who inspired me in 517

 putting together this book, because it is them who have been showing me the path within. I hope this book inspires you to follow the road within, to meditate, to change negative thoughts and habits, this is the whole intention of putting it together, to make you realize you are perfect and complete. I know this book will change your life, because it has already changed mine. When I was in darkness, these teachings where my light and now they are your light, use them every time you feel you’re on the wrong road, they will not lead you astray. I send you blessings. Que Dios Te Bendiga Siempre.

“When I breathe in,I am the student, When I breathe out, I am the Master.” Ricardo Pare Trejo González (Jigme Dorje)

“Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, "Lighthouses" as the poet said "erected in the sea of time." They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print.” Arthur Schopenhauer

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“You keep going, that is the bodhisattvas’ way. As long as it benefits even one being, you have to, without any sense of discouragement, go on. Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. 16th Karmapa

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 PRAYERS Now, please close your eyes, gently breathe in and breathe out and say this prayers focusing in every word, lets help all who are in darkness, sickness, sadness, hunger and poverty, lets pray for them. At the end of every prayer, smile knowing that words are power and every prayer said with our heart and soul are equivalent, in the eyes of God, to two hundred prayers said in an automatic and ordinary way. Buddhist Prayer for Peace May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened, ceases to be afraid, and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power and may people think of befriending one another. May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses - the children, the aged, the unprotected - be guarded by beneficent celestials, and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood. - U.N. Day of Prayer for World Peace Padmasambhava Seven Line Prayer In the north-west of the land of Oḍḍiyāṇa, In the heart of a lotus flower, Endowed with the most marvellous attainments, You are renowned as the ‘Lotus-born’, Surrounded by many hosts of ḍākinīs. Following in your footsteps I pray to you: Come, inspire me with your blessing

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 Apache Blessing May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. My Prayer Lord, bless our legs which take us far and let us run and feel the breeze. Lord, bless our arms which let us hug our beloved ones. Lord, bless our mind which we must learn to control in a positive way. But above anything bless our soul which will leave our physical body in its path to finding peace and eternity. -Ricardo Pare Trejo Shanti deva’s Bodhisattva Vow May I be the doctor and the medicine And may I be the nurse For all sick beings in the world Until everyone is healed. May all who say bad things to me Or cause me any other harm, Those who insult me and mock me, Have the fortuneto fully awaken.

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 May I be the protector for those without one, A guide for travelers on the way, A path for them to walk on, May I be a bridge, a boat, a ship For all who wish to cross the water. The Prayer Of The Chalice Father, to Thee I raise my whole being, a vessel emptied of self. Accept Lord, this my emptiness, and so fill me with Thyself - Thy Light, Thy Love, Thy Life - that these, Thy precious Gifts radiate through me and overflow the chalice of my heart into the hearts of all with whom I come in contact this day revealing unto them the beauty of Thy Joy and Wholeness And the serenity of Thy Peace which nothing can destroy ~ Francis Nuttall A Buddhist Prayer for the Dead and Dying Oh Buddha and Bodhisattvas abiding in all directions, Endowed with great compassion, Endowed with foreknowledge, Endowed with divine eye, Endowed with love, 522

 Affording protection to sentient beings, Please come forth through the power of your great compassion, Please accept these offerings, both actually presented and mentally created. Oh Compassionate Ones, you who possess The wisdom of understanding, The love of compassion, The power of doing divine deeds, And of protecting in incomprehensible measure, [...................................] is passing from this world to the next, [He/she] is taking a great leap, The light of this world has faded for [him/her], [He/she] has entered solitude with their karmic forces, [He/she] has gone into a vast silence, [He/she] is borne away by the great ocean of birth and death ..… Oh, Compassionate Ones, protect [......................] who is defenseless. Be to [him/her] like a mother and father. Oh, Compassionate Ones, let not the force of your compassion be weak, but aid them. Let [...........................] not go into the miserable states of existence. Forget not your ancient vows. Prosperity Prayer

I am the source of all wealth. I am rich with creative ideas. My mind abounds with new, original, inspired thoughts. What I have to offer is unique, and the world desires it. My value is beyond reckoning. What the world 523

 Needs and desires, I am ready to produce and give. What the world needs and desires, I recognize and fulfill. The bounty of my mind is without hindrance or limit. Nothing can stand in the way of my inspired creativeness. The overflowing power of God life energy overcomes every obstacle, & pours out into the world, blessing & prospering everyone, & everything through me. I radiate blessings, I radiate creativity, I radiate prosperity, I radiate loving service. I radiate Joy, Beauty, Peace, Wisdom & Power. Humanity seeks me and rewards me. I am beloved of the world. I am wanted wherever I go. I am appreciated. What I have to offer is greatly desired. What I have to offer brings a rich reward. Through my vision the world is blessed. Through my clear thinking & steadfast purpose, wonderful new values come into expression. My vision is as the vision of the mighty ones. My faith is as the faith of the undefeatable. My power to accomplish is unlimited. I, in my uttermost God Source, am all wealth, all power, all productivity. I hereby declare my financial freedom, NOW and henceforth forever The Serenity Prayer God grant me the serenity to accept the things, I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. 524

 Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen. --Reinhold Niebuhr I am One with my Father I am one with my father and the universe. I am one with mother earth. I am one with everyone within the reach of my voice. And, in this togetherness, we ask the divine intelligence to eradicate all negatives from our hearts, from our minds, from our words, and from our actions. And, so be it. The Daily Prayer

One of the most important Jain prayers is the Namaskara Sutra which praises the five great beings of Jainism: I bow down to those who have reached omniscience in the flesh and teach the road to everlasting life in the liberated state. 525

 I bow down to those who have attained perfect knowledge and liberated their souls of all karma. I bow down to those who have experienced self-realisation of their souls through self-control and self-sacrifice. I bow down to those who understand the true nature of soul and teach the importance of the spiritual over the material. I bow down to those who strictly follow the five great vows of conduct and inspire us to live a virtuous life. To these five types of great souls I offer my praise. Such praise will help diminish my sins. Giving this praise is most auspicious. So auspicious as to bring happiness and bliss. The prayer of forgiveness

The prayer of forgiveness begins by forgiving all beings for anything. I grant forgiveness to all living beings May all the living beings please forgive me. I have friendship with all the living beings. I have no hostility towards anyone. Dedication of Merit Grant your blessings that we may train in impartial love and compassion, And directly realize the ultimate and co-emergent wisdom As all the Buddhas and their sons and daughters have done.

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 By this virtue may all beings perfect the accumulations of merit and wisdom, And may they attain the sacred two kayas resulting from that merit and wisdom.

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 DEDICATION (Inspired from one of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Rigsel teachings) I am very happy you read these teachings. That is very good, whatever was mentioned in this book it is necessary for your life and your future lives. So thank you very much. We have the merit of receiving and giving these teachings. Thus we have a lot of merit, we now dedicate it to the cause for us to become an enlightened being to benefit all sentient beings. We strongly dedicate in this way. Also we dedicate, through this merit, to purify our negativities and remove any diseases, sicknesses, mental and physical problems, including that of our family, our loved ones, our country and the world. And to stay healthy, happy and peaceful, so we dedicate this merit and pray strongly for this. And through this merit, for the numberless Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arya beings, whatever are their wishes, we pray for them to be fulfilled. So now there is a lot of merit through praying and making dedications to benefit others. It also increases our merit if we rejoice. We are now closer to Buddhahood, so now you can completely rejoice today in our wonderful, incredible, inconceivable perfect merit, so completely rejoice! Thank you! “TADYATHA OM MUNE MUNE MAHA MUNEYE SVAHA” 528

 CONTACT AND DONATIONS Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or inquiries. Also, if you would like to make any donations for “THE BOOK” Donations to support people with cancer. Or Donations for orphan kids. Thanks! [email protected]

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