Religious Thought 294

“This lover of love sings: "Mother! Mother! Mother! Who can fathom your mystery, Your eternal play of love with love? You are divine madness, O goddess, Your love the brilliant crown of madness. Please make this poor poet madly wealthy with the infinite treasure of your love."”

- Ramprasad

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“There is no evil like hatred. And no fortitude like patience.”

- Santideva, "Bodhicaryavatara"

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Religious Thought 293

“Love your true Self, Which is naturally happy And peaceful and bright! Awaken to your own nature, And all delusion melts like a dream. ”

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:1

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Gone to the beyond of becoming, you let go of in front, let go of behind, let go of between. With a heart everywhere let go, you don't come again to birth & aging.”

- Dhammapada, 24, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Religious Thought 292

“The adorable one who is seated In the heart rules the breath of life. Unto him all the senses pay their homage. When the dweller in the body breaks out In the freedom from the bonds of flesh, what remains? For this Self is supreme!”

- Katha Upanishad

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“Although there are countless teachings that instruct how to obtain enlightenment in a future life, almost all of them are nothing more than expedients. As the ultimate instruction there is simply no teaching that is superior to the true practice of the awakening to one's own nature.”

- Hakuin, "Zen Master Hakuin"

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Religious Thought 291

“"The body does this, not I." "My nature is purity." With these thoughts, Whatever he does, He does nothing. But he pretends not to know. He finds freedom in this life, But he acts like an ordinary man. Yet he is not a fool. Happy and bright, He thrives in the world.”

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:25-26

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“The world is apprehended by way of the mind The world is acted upon by way of the mind And all good things and bad Exist in the world by way of the mind.”

- Samyutta Nikaya

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Religious Thought 290

“Oh my heart! The Supreme Spirit, the Great Master, is near you. Wake up! Wake up! Run to the feet of your Beloved, for your Lord is here. You have slept for untold ages, this morning will you not awake?”

- Kabir

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“A monk with a manifold joy, with faith in the Awakened One's teaching, would attain the good state, the peaceful state: stilling-of-fabrications ease. A young monk who strives in the Awakened One's teaching, brightens the world like the moon set free from a cloud.”

- Dhammapada, 25, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

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Religious Thought 289

“The head which cannot bow before the Feet of the Possessor Of eight infinite powers is like the senses lacking the power to perceive. The boundless ocean of births can be crossed, But not without intimate union with Infinity's Holy Feet.”

- Tirukkural 1:9-10

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“For whom, in name & form in every way, there's no sense of mine, & who doesn't grieve for what's not: he's deservedly called a monk.”

- Dhammapada, 25, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

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Religious Thought 288

“Without love in the heart, Life is like a sapless tree in a barren desert. What good is a body perfect in outer ways, If inwardly it is impaired by lack of love? With love enshrined in the heart, one lives. Without it, the body is but bone encased in skin.”

- Tirukkural 8:78-80

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“If you cling to an idea as the inalterable truth, then when the truth does come in person and knock at your door, you will not be able to open the door and accept it.”

- Udana Sutta

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Religious Thought 287

Men who conduct themselves virtuously Are incapable of voicing harmful words, even forgetfully.

- Tirukkural 14:139

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Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.

- Heart Sutra

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Religious Thought 286

Someone who practices only bhakti yoga is like a blind man who cannot see where to go, and in his enthusiasm wanders off in the wrong direction. Someone who practices only gnana yoga, on the other hand, is like a lame man who can see the distant destination but, because his knowledge remains only theoretical, makes no progress towards it. However, if the love and energy of the bhakta is combined with the wisdom and discrimination of the gnani, seekers are sure to reach their destination.

- Hindu teaching story

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From what's loved is born grief, from what's loved is born fear. For one freed from whats loved there's no grief —so how fear?

- Dhammapada, 213, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Religious Thought 285

What you do may seem insignificant, but it's important that you do it.

- Gandhi

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Neither nakedness nor matted hair nor mud nor the refusal of food nor sleeping on the bare ground nor dust & dirt nor squatting austerities cleanses the mortal who's not gone beyond doubt. If, though adorned, one lives in tune with the chaste life --calmed, tamed & assured-- having put down the rod toward all beings, he's a contemplative a brahmin a monk.

- Dhammapada, 10, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Religious Thought 284

“I have worshipped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice.”

- Mahatma Gandhi, 1933

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A mother, even at the risk of her own life, protects her child, her only child. In the same way should you cultivate love without measure toward all beings. You should cultivate toward the whole world--above, below, around--a heart of love unstinted, unmixed with any sense of differing or opposing interests. You should maintain this mindfulness all the time you are awake. Such a state of heart is the best in the world.”

- Majjhima Nikaya

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Religious Thought 283

“No worldly delight is comparable to the delight that will fill your heart when you completely abandon all hopes and desires.”

- Maharamayana

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“Those who argue and discuss without understanding the truth are lost amid all the forms of relative knowledge, running about here and there and trying to justify their view of the substance of ego. If you realize the self in your inmost consciousness, it will appear in its purity. This is the womb of wonder, which is not the realm of those who live only by reason. Pure in its own nature and free from the categories of finite and infinite, Universal Mind is the undefiled wonder, which is wrongly apprehended by many.”

- Lankavatara Sutra

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Religious Thought 282

“Giving simply because it is right to give, without thought of return, at a proper time, in proper circumstances, and to a worthy person, is sattvic giving. Giving with regrets or in the expectation of receiving some favor or of getting something in return is rajasic. Giving at an inappropriate time, in inappropriate circumstances, and to an unworthy person, without affection or respect, is tamasic.”

- Bhagavad Gita 17:20-22

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“Your own self is your own mainstay, for who else could your mainstay be? With you yourself well-trained you obtain the mainstay hard to obtain.”

- Dhammapada, 12, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Religious Thought 281

Blame does not disturb him, Nor does praise delight him. He neither rejoices in life, Nor fears death. His mind is calm. Never seeking the solitude of the forest, Nor running from the crowd. Always and everywhere, He is one and the same.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:99-100

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[I]ndulge in lust a little, and like the child it grows apace. The wise man hates it therefore; who would take poison for food? Every sorrow is increased and cherished by the offices of lust. If there is no lustful desire, the risings of sorrow are not produced, the wise man seeing the bitterness of sorrow, stamps out and destroys the risings of desire;...

- Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King

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Religious Thought 280

There are men who allay today's trials and avert tomorrow's troubles. Befriend and look after them. To cherish and befriend men of greatness Is the rarest of all rare things.

- Tirukkural 45: 442-443

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In religion there are no national boundaries. A religion can and should be used by any people or person who finds it beneficial.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Religious Thought 279

“Water is sufficient to cleanse the body, But only truthfulness will purify the mind. Not all lamps are effective lamps. The lamp of nonlying is the wise man's lamp. Among all great truths which we have ever beheld, Not one can equal the goodness of veracity.”

- Tirukkural, 30: 298-300

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“"Where, for instance, is the identity of myself? There's a special quality that makes me different from everything else and also from all other selves. And I want that identity, my own self, to continue. So where does that identity dwell?" "Where indeed?" asked the Buddha. "That self to which you cling is in constant change. Years ago you were a baby, then a youth, and now a man. Which is your true selfthat of yesterday, that of today, or that of tomorrow which you so long to preserve?" "I see I have misunderstood things," replied Kutadanta slowly, "and although I find it hard to endure the light, the truth now dawns on me that there is no separate and enduring self. I will take my refuge in your teaching and find that which is continuing and everlasting in the truth."”

- Majjhima Nikaya

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Religious Thought 278

“Said Uddalaka to Shvetaketu: "As bees suck nectar from many a flower And make their honey one, so that no drop Can say, 'I am from this flower or that,' All creatures, though one, know not they are that One. There is nothing that does not come from him. Of everything he is the inmost Self. He is the truth; he is the Self supreme. You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."”

- Chandogya Upanishad

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“At a time when people are so conscious of maintaining their physical health by controlling their diets, exercising and so forth, it makes sense to try to cultivate the corresponding positive mental attitudes too.”

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1963

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Religious Thought 277

Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.

- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1: 2-4

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Gains: don't treat your own with scorn, don't go coveting those of others. A monk who covets those of others attains no concentration. Even if he gets next to nothing, he doesn't treat his gains with scorn. Living purely, untiring: he's the one that the devas praise.

- Dhammapada, 15, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

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Religious Thought 276

Liberation, Bondage, What are they to me? What do I care for freedom? For I have known God, The infinite Self, The witness of all things. Without, a fool. Within, free of thought. I do as I please, And only those like me Understand my ways.

- Ashtavakra Gita 14:3-4

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Ordinary life and Buddhahood have no distinction. Great knowledge is not different from ignorance. Why should one seek outwardly for a treasure, when the field of the body has its own bright jewel?

- Pao-chih, "The Nonduality of Buddhahood and Ordinary Life"

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Religious Thought 275

I adore myself. How wonderful I am! I can never die. The whole world may perish, From Brahma to a blade of grass, But I am still here.

- Ashtavakra Gita 2:11

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Like a merchant with a small But well-laden caravan --a dangerous road, like a person who loves life --a poison, one should avoid --evil deeds.

- Dhammapada, 9, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

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