Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/31/2006

All those who suffer in the world do so Because of their desire for their own happiness. All those happy in the world are so Because of their desire for the happiness of others.

~Santideva

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/30/2006

Empty yet aware, the original light shines spontaneously; tranquil yet responsive, the great function manifests. A wooden horse neighing in the wind does not walk the steps of the present moment; a clay ox emerging from the sea plows the springtime of the eon of emptiness. Understand? Where a jade man beckons, even greater marvel is on the way back.

~Hung-chih

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/29/2006

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.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/28/2006

You who are journalists, writers, citizens, you have the right and duty to say to those you have elected that they must practice mindfulness, calm and deep listening, and loving speech. This is a universal thing, taught by all religions.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/27/2006

Relief, Peace, well-being, joy and better relations with others will be possible if we practice mndfulness in our everyday life. I am convinced that everybody can practice mindfulness, even politicians, political parties, even the Congress. This is a body that holds the responsibility for knowing the nation's situation well, and knowledge of this kind requires the practice of looking deeply. If our elected officials are not calm enough, do not have enough concentration, how can they see things deeply?

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/26/2006

We must not be attached to a view or a doctrine, even a Buddhist one. . . . The Buddha said that if in a certain moment or place you adopt something as the absolute truth, and you attach to that, thenyou will no longer have any chance to reach the truth. Even when the truth comes and knocks on your door, and asks you to open the door, you won't recognize it. So you must not be too attached to dogma--to what you believe, and to what you perceive.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/25/2006

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/24/2006

To meditate does not mean to fight with a problem. To meditate means to observe. Your smile proves it. It proves that you are being gentle with yourself, that the sun of awareness is shining in you, that you have control of your situation. You are yourself, and you have acquired some peace.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/23/2006

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/22/2006

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/21/2006

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/20/2006

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/19/2005

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/18/2006

Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/17/2006

Every day we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life..., our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/16/2006

The terms Sunyata (or Shunyata), void and emptiness are synonyms in Buddhist philosophy. They are ways of expressing the sense that all we see, feel and observe is relative, in fact non-essential and not self-sustaining. This insight is called prajna paramita. To find the essential, that is the challenge that Tibetan Buddhism offers us. One clue can be given: compassion, insight and calmness in the mind are part of the essence of things.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/15/2006

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.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/14/2006

When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/13/2006

“If we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving, how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation-our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community, and the situation of our nation and of the other nations?”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/12/2006

"Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/11/2006

"When we are caught in notions, rituals, and the outer forms of the practice, not only can we not receive and embody the spirit of our tradition, we become an obstacle for the true values of the tradition to be transmitted. We lose sight of the true needs and actual suffering of people, and the teachings and practice, which were intended to relieve suffering, now cause suffering. Narrow, fundamentalist, and dogmatic practices always alienate people, especially those who are suffering. We have to remind ourselves again and again of our original purpose, and the original teachings and intention of Buddha, Jesus, and other great sages and saints."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/10/2006

"No single tradition monopolizes the truth. We must glean the best values of all traditions and work together to remove the tensions between traditions in order to give peace a chance. We need to join together and look deeply for ways to help people get re-rooted. We need to propose the best physical, mental, and spiritual health plan for our nation and for the earth. For a future to be possible, I urge you to study and practice the best values of your religious tradition and to share them with young people in ways they can understand. If we meditate together as a family, a community, a city, and a nation, we will be able to identify the causes of our suffering and find ways out. . . . For us to achieve results, our enlightenment has to be collective."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/9/2006

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.

~Thomas Paine

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/8/2006

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.

~Robert Lynd

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/7/2006

What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage.

~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/6/2006

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/5/2006

Our children are not born to hate, they are raised to hate.

~Thomas della Peruta

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/4/2006

The chain reaction of evil--wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/3/2006

Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.

~Buddha

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/2/2006

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

~Buddha

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 12/1/2006

As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.

~Buddha