Lama Surya Das · 414 pages
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“Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger, regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue. Let go of the need for approval. Let go of old judgments and opinions. Die to all that, and fly free. Soar in the freedom of desirelessness.
Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home -- at ease.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“before speaking, notice what motivates your words.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead it's about becoming more fully human. . . . It is the end of ignorance.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“I've also learned that you don't always get to pick the people with whom you travel the journey. You sometimes may think you do, but don't be deceived. And the corollary of that - and this was my real lesson - is that you start to realize that you can love even the people you don't like and must love and help everyone.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“It is not the outer objects that entangle us. It is the inner clinging that entangles us." - Tilopa”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“You don’t need to see different things, but rather to see things differently.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“You are in charge of your own karma, your own life, your own spiritual path, and your own liberation, just as I am in charge of mine.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character; So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings…. As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become. —FROM THE DHAMMAPADA (SAYINGS OF THE BUDDHA)”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“Don't do things that everyone can do,Do things that everyone cannot do”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“Tips and Pointers for Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch Pray Meditate Be aware / Stay awake Bow Practice yoga Feel Chant and sing Breathe and smile Relax / Enjoy / Laugh / Play Create / Envision Let go / Forgive / Accept Walk / Exercise / Move Work / Serve / Contribute Listen / Learn / Inquire Consider / Reflect Cultivate oneself / Enhance competencies Cultivate contentment Cultivate flexibility Cultivate friendship and collaboration Open up / Expand / Include Lighten up Dream Celebrate and appreciate Give thanks Evolve Love Share / Give / Receive Walk softly / Live gently Expand / Radiate / Dissolve Simplify Surrender / Trust Be born anew”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“Everything is available in the natural state,”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“To just be--to be--amidst all doings, achievings, and becomings. This is the natural state of mind, or original, most fundamental state of being. This is unadulterated Buddha-nature. This is like finding our balance.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“People sometimes find Buddhism pessimistic, saying there is too much talk about death. It’s essential to understand that Buddhists don’t contemplate death because they are morbid or depressed; they focus on death, mortality, and human frailty as a means of better understanding and appreciating life.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
“New karma is being made all the time. When one acts with a positive motivation, goodness is furthered. When one acts out of negative motivation, negativity is furthered. "We can recondition ourselves to act with wisdom. The important thing to understand here is that you are not a victim. You are your own master. 'As you sow, so shall you reap.”
― Lama Surya Das, quote from Awakening the Buddha Within
Lama Surya Das
Born place: New York, The United States
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“He wanted, in short, a work of art both for what it was in itself and for what it allowed him to bestow on it; he wanted to go along with it and on it, as if supported by a friend or carried by a vehicle, into a sphere where sublimated sensations would arouse within him an unexpected commotion, the causes of which he would strive to patiently and even vainly to analyse.”
― Joris-Karl Huysmans, quote from Against Nature
“You were so quick to judge, weren’t you? Ah, you revealed so much with that contemptuous utterance. And I admit to being amused at my own instinctive response to your words. Naive. Errant take me, I wanted to rip your head from your body, like decapitating a swamp-fly. I wanted to show you true contempt. Mine. For you and your kind. I wanted to take that dismissive expression on your face and push it through an offal grinder. You think you have all the answers? You must, given the ease of your voiced judgement. Well, you pathetic little creature, one day uncertainty will come to your door, will clamber down your throat, and it will be a race to see which arrives first, humility or death. Either way, I will spare you a moment’s compassion, which is what sets you and me apart, isn’t it?”
― Steven Erikson, quote from Reaper's Gale
“What's weird is when you mean a lot more to somebody else than they ever meant to you. I mean, a whole lot more. Like life on two whole different planets.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Pay It Forward
“Life is not what we live; it is what we imagine we are living.”
― Pascal Mercier, quote from Night Train to Lisbon
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