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Q u o t e s  -  B u d d h i s t
Amida

Thanks go to my good friend Elliott Forge for these inspiring quotes.
I n t r o d u c t i o n

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ETHICS, MORALS, CONCERN FOR OTHERS WELFARE

“…ethical behaviour is important not only for its own sake but because of its effect on the mind, effective meditation being possible only on the basis of a good conscience.”
-Sangharakshita. (WITD, p.39)


“[Meditation] is the basis for the development of wisdom, just as skilful action [ethics] is the basis for the development of meditation.”
-Sangharakshita. (WITD, p.96)


"...when we realise that this apparent separateness between us is only illusory, then we cant help but allow our lives to be lived for the benefit of others." -Ajahn Santacitto. (Peace and Kindness, p.49)


 "The grain of the cosmos is the moral compass. The whole point about morality is that it follows the grain of the universe." -Ken Wilber. (What is Enlightenment magazine. Issue 25 p.50)


“You cannot meditate without practicing the precepts.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (HBT p.82)


“…harmonise and live for the welfare of all beings.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (Mindfulness: The Path to the Deathless, p.64)

 
“…establishing ethical principles is possible when we take as our starting point the observation that we all desire happiness and not to suffer. We have no means of discriminating between right and wrong if we do not take into account others feelings, others suffering.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (AWMW p.29)


“...  almost all the mental and emotional suffering which is such a feature of modern living - including the sense of hopelessness and of loneliness - lessen the moment we begin to engage in actions motivated by concern for others.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (AWMW p.118)


“The more we expand our focus to include others interests along side our own, the more securely we build the foundations of our own happiness.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (AWMW p ?)


“…see how insensitive, cruel and unkind we can be by the attachment we have to views about being kind and sensitive.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (Being Nobody)



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VEGETARIANISM,  DIET


If you have questions about whether you have to be a vegetarian to be a 'proper' buddhist please follow this link veggiebuddhists.

It is a relatively long text, but please persevere till the end, I think you will find it very beneficial.


"To practice nonviolence, first of all we have to practice it within ourselves. In each of us, there is a certain amount of violence and a certain amount of nonviolence. Depending on our state of being, our response to things will be more or less nonviolent. Even if we take pride in being vegetarian, for example, we have to acknowledge that the water in which we boil our vegetables contains many tiny microorganisms. We cannot be completely nonviolent, but by being vegetarian, we are going in the direction of nonviolence. If we want to head north, we can use the North Star to guide us, but it is impossible to arrive at the North Star. Our effort is only to proceed in that direction."

- Thich Nhat Hanh


  "A healthy body and mind put us in a position to better serve our universe."
-Dr Robert Young. (The PH Miracle, p.172)


“The best way is to be vegetarian.” “For those who can follow strict vegetarianism, that is best.” -HH Dalai Lama. (TMOL p.72)

 
“I was deeply impressed the other day when I heard on the BBC radio that the number of vegetarians in this country is growing. This is good news.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (TMOL p.72-3)


“How can anyone who seeks liberation from suffering inflict pain directly or indirectly on another creature? Those who eat the flesh of an animal obviously enjoy it, so in effect they are deriving pleasure from the death of another being.”
-Roshi Phillip Kapleau. (Zen merging of East and West)


“…a proper diet is crucial for self transformation and for the transformation of society.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh.(Fifth mindfulness training)


"He should not kill a living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should he incite another to kill. Do not injure any being, either strong or weak, in the world.”
Sutta Nipata, Khuddaka Nikaya


“What is the one thing, O Gotama, whose killing you approve? Having slain anger, one sleeps soundly; having slain anger, one does not sorrow; the killing of anger, with its poisoned root and honeyed tip: This is the killing the nobles ones praise, for having slain that, one does not sorrow.”
Samyutta Nikaya, chapter 2


“All beings tremble before danger, all fear death. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. All beings fear before danger, life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.”
Dhammapada, 129-130


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SUFFERING, MODERN LIFE, SOCIETY

“There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
Just so there are pleasures in worldly desires,
But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.”
-Nagarjuna. (PG verse 169)


“…it is necessary to analyse, challenge and replace the very structures of society that institutionalise delusion, greed and hatred.”
-Stephen Batchelor. (TAW. p.362)


“The very poisons of the mind (delusion, greed, hatred) to be uprooted through Buddhist practise have become institutionalised in the forms of multinational corporations, consumerism, and the arms industry that increasingly dominate life on earth.”
-Stephen Batchelor. (TAW. p.361)


“If material prosperity were the principle cause of human happiness, westerners would be many times happier than the inhabitants of the third world, but in fact there is far more mental distress and neuroses amongst westerners and a much higher rate of suicide.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (JPGF p.221)


“Underlying our glitzy modern consumer culture there is a deep spiritual under nourishment and malaise that manifests all kinds of symptoms: nervous disorders, lonelyness, alienation, purposelessness....”
-John Snelling. (BD p.35)


“... almost all the mental and emotional suffering which is such a feature of modern living - including the sense of hopelessness and of loneliness - lessen the
moment we begin to engage in actions motivated by concern for others.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (AWMW p.118)


“All the suffering of living beings is our own suffering. We have to see that we are they, and they are us.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.159-60)


“When you are in touch with the suffering in the world, it is so easy for despair to overwhelm you.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.160)


“Physical feelings of pleasure are only a lessening of pain.”
-Nagarjuna. (PG v.347)


“We are not capable of understanding each other, and that is the main source of human suffering.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.34)


“Fame, position, sensual pleasure, and wealth are like plastic bait.  The fish thinks it is a worm & lunges at it, but the hook inside catches him.  If you get caught in fame, position, sensual pleasure, or wealth, you will lose your freedom.  True happiness lies in solidity, freedom, fearlessness, & love.  Develop these qualities in yourself everyday.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. Stepping into Freedom.



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THE MIND, MEDITATION


"You should really forget the word meditation. That word has been corrupted. The ordinary meaning of that word - to ponder over, to consider, to think about - is rather trivial and ordinary. If you want to understand the nature of meditation you should really forget the word because you cannot possibly measure with words that which is not measurable, that which is beyond all measure. No words can convey it, nor any systems, modes of thought, practice or discipline. Meditation - or rather if we could find another word which has not been so mutilated, made so ordinary, corrupt, which has become the means of earning a great deal of money - if you can put aside the word, then you begin quietly and gentley to feel a movement that is not of time. Again, the word movement implies time - what is meant is a movement that has no beginning or end. A movement in the sense of a wave: wave upon wave, starting from nowhere and with no beach to crash upon. It is an endless wave".

-Jiddu Krishnamurti to himself, his last journal, p. 18


"A mind that has not committed itself to anything, to any activity, to any thought, to any dogma, to any family, to a name – it is only such a mind that can be generous; and it is only such a mind that can begin to understand the depth, the beauty and the extraordinary loveliness of meditation".

-Jiddu Krsnamurti


“Since the primary motive underlying the Buddhist investigation of reality is the fundamental quest for overcoming suffering and perfecting the human condition, the primary orientation of the Buddhist investigative tradition has been toward understanding the human mind and its various functions.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (Mind and Life Institute website)


The Buddha “taught the science of the mind.”
-HH Dalai Lama in an interview given to Swati Chopra.  www.swatichopra.com/


“…you know the world from knowing the mind.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.31)


“Mind is the source either of bliss or corruption.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (BTMNA. p.100)


“Buddha taught how to examine our mind and see which states produce misery and confusion, and which states produce health and happiness.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (JPGF p.221)


“Nobody taught the mind like Buddha - which minds lead to piece and happiness and how to cultivate them, and which minds lead to suffering and misery and how to free ourselves of them.”
-Kelsang Palgye, commentary to - (JPGF p.220)


“The nature of mind is clarity. The function of mind is to perceive and understand.”
-Buddha.


“…a philosophy or science which can't account for consciousness is a necessarily incomplete philosophy or science.”
-Danah Zohar. (TQS p.35)


“…mind is connected to every other part of this radically interconnected universe. A change in understanding or motivation is already a change in the web of all things.”
-Graham Harvey. (Listening people, speaking Earth. p.127)

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BUDDHISTS, BUDDHISM, DHARMA, SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

“Just as the goldsmith tests the gold in the fire, so you should test my words.”
-The Buddha. (WITD, p.11)


“…we need not take on the Dharma in blind faith, or believe it because someone (even a great guru or the Buddha himself) tells us to believe it, or because it is written in some holy book.”
-Sangharakshita. WITD, p.11


The Buddha said “…the dharma, my teaching, is a means to an end.”
“This is one of the most striking and important of all the Buddha’s teachings; that Buddhism itself, the dharma itself is just a raft.”
-Sangharakshita. WITD, p.13


The Buddha “taught the science of the mind.”
-HH Dalai Lama in an interview given to Swati Chopra. 
www.swatichopra.com


“The Buddhist method of enquiry [into the nature of reality] has more in common with science than it has with religion, as it does not require a belief system centred upon a creator god or imminent divinity, and makes use of practises based on observation, logical thinking and rigorous experimentation”.
-Swati Chopra (Resurgence No.232, p.26)
 

“…paying attention is meditation”. Satish Kumar (You Are, Therefore I Am, p.21)


"The Buddhist path is one of learning from everything, not of avoiding or turning one's back."
-Ajahn Santacitto. (Peace and Kindness, p.57)



"To see clearly, to see things as they are, free from illususion, is the goal of spiritual practise."
-Andrew Cohen. (Embracing Heaven and Earth, p.55)


“The way the Buddha taught is freed form the neccesity to believe in any supernatural authority. Indeed, when he was asked by what authority he spoke, he cited again and again the law of dependent co-arising; not any entity ruling our world, but the dynamics at work within our world.”
-Joanna Macy. (WLWS, p.54)


“I believe the Buddha's teachings rank as the most comprehensive message of awakening available to humanity.”
-Christopher Titmuss  (Light on Enlightenment)


“Whatever comes into existence on whatever level, does so in dependence on conditions, and in the absence of those conditions, ceases to exist.  If anything is Buddhism, this is Buddhism.”- Sangharakshita


“…in Buddhist practise we are acknowloging the way nature is, rather than try to rationalise with ideas.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.95)


“…consider Buddhism as Art, as the Art of living.
-Buddhadasa. (Handbook for Mankind, p.16)


Dharma is “…the way things actually are, without any kind of bias.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.149)


“Buddhism is, in fact, about life. It is about the constantly changing cycles of the natural world: birth and death, joy and sorrow, the opening of a flower, the waxing and waning of the moon; it is about the impermanence and interdependence that characterizes all that lives.”
-Helena Norberg Hodge. (Buddhism in the global economy)
resurgence.gn.apc.org/home.htm


“Buddhism teaches interconnectedness.  It shows us that nothing is permanent, that change is the only constant, and that everything is part of everything else.  It dissolves the illusory distinctions separating the self from the world.”
-Rev. Stephen A. Landale


“Buddhism is about becoming more conscious, becoming clearer and clearer about WHAT actions will have WHAT consequences: and having the strength to choose the Good. It is a path of discipline and practice with no room for superstition or mumbo-jumbo.”
-Article: The foundation for a Buddhist environmentalism. www.ecopractice.fwbo.org/


“Buddhism teaches that rather than attempt to follow commandments of right and wrong we should become skilled, whereupon we will be able to make our own wise decisions in the complex affairs of life.”
-Article: The foundation for a Buddhist environmentalism www.ecopractice.fwbo.org/


“To be a Buddhist is to be responsive to the world around us and to the issues it faces.”
-Article: The foundation for a Buddhist environmentalism. www.ecopractice.fwbo.org/


“The Buddhist monk is a lover of solitude and seeks out empty places in nature.”
-Padmasiri De Silva. (DG p.15)


“Buddhism is a religion based on intelligence, science and knowledge, whose purpose is the destruction of suffering and the source of suffering. All paying of homage to sacred objects by means of performing rites and rituals, making offerings or praying is not Buddhism. The Buddha rejected all this as foolish, ridiculous and unsound.”
-Buddhadasa. (The Handbook for Mankind)


“Buddhism is an education, not a religion.”
-Ven Master Chin Kung. (A Path to True Happiness. p.15)


“Buddhism is a doctrine of analysis”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.97)


“Buddhism has done more for the advance of civilisation than any other influence in the chronicles of mankind.”
-H.G. Wells. (BTMNA. p.70)


“Buddha did not encourage people to depend on any personality.”
“Buddhists should not depend on others, not even the Buddha himself for their salvation.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.355)


“The Buddha only discovered the path but he did not create it, since it existed from the ancient past. Indeed it is an ancient path.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.156)


“The Buddha encouraged his disciples not to accept any teaching until they had critically investigated and personally verified its reality.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.475)


“The Buddha encouraged the wise not to cling to any theories, scientific or otherwise.”
-Phra Sona Kanti Barua. (BTMNA p.61)


“All the teachings [of the Buddha] are merely similes and comparisons, means to help the mind see the truth.”
-Ajahn Chah. (A taste of freedom, p.25)


“A Buddhist is someone who is determined to know the truth, who has fear of ignorance.”
-Kelsang Palgye, (24.11.02, refuge teaching.)


“I believe that the encounter with Buddhism and the west will bring about
something very exiting, very important.” -Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.83)


“Practising Buddhism is a clever way to enjoy life.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.33)


Buddha’s teachings “…are not rigid articles of faith that we have to embrace totally. The Buddha recognised that truth cannot be pinned down once and for all.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.34)


“…can you nail down a cloud in the sky or tie them up with rope?”
-Zen Master About truth.


“The teachings of the Buddha are skilful means; they are not absolute truth.”
 -Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.52)


“Everything is preaching the Dharma. Each pebble, each leaf, each flower is
preaching the Dharma.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.26)

 
“The teaching on emptiness is a tool helping you to get to the real insight of emptiness, but if you consider the tool as the insight, you get caught in an idea.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.20)


"…the relationship between a teacher and a student is based on the trust that the teacher has practised and continues to practise what he teaches."
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (HBT p.144)


“…all of the teachings I give you are a raft.  All teachings much be abandoned, not to mention non-teachings.”
- Buddha  (Diamond Sutra verse 6)


“Refrain from what is evil, cultivate what is good, completely purify your mind, this is the Buddha’s teaching.”
-Buddha.


One can hardly call the Dharma a religion when the Buddha took no interest in temples, religious worship, belief in God or soul.”
-Christopher Titmuss  (Light on Enlightenment)


“I believe the Buddha's teachings rank as the most comprehensive message of awakening available to humanity.”
-Christopher Titmuss  (Light on Enlightenment)


Buddhist practice is about  “…gradually reducing and eliminating our negative, disturbed states of mind and replacing them with positive, peaceful states.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (TYL p.7)


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EARTH, ENVIRONMENTALISM, NATURE, LIFE


“When we simply attend to what we see, feel, and know is happening in our world, we find authenticity.”
-Joanna Macy. (WLWS, p.30)


“What is destroying our world is the persistant notion that we are independent of it, aloof from other species, and immune to what we do to them.
-Joanna Macy. (WLWS, p.13)


“As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
-Joanna Macy. (WLWS, p.xii)


“When you look deeply into the natural world you look deeply into yourself - when you describe nature you describe yourself.” -Adam Wolpent. (In Love with the World. Resurgence no.223, p.25)


“We can learn from nature enough to be enlightened.”
“Trees can reveal the true nature of reality.”
“…everything in the world is a teacher.”
-Ajahn Chah. (Bodhinyana, p. 27)


“If we make an enemy of the earth, we make an enemy of our own body.”
 -Maya saying.


“The mountain’s offer exceptionally suitably places to practise.” -Ajahn Chah. (Bodhinyana, p.27)


“…seeing our bodies as part of a larger process [as part of the Earth] is a way of recognising non-self.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.84)


“As within, so without:  if humans clear inner pollution, then they will also cease to create outer pollution.” -Eckhart Tolle. (The Power of Now)


“The way of the Dharma is one of observing nature and harmonizing our lives with the natural forces.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (Mindfulness: The Path to the Deathless, p.61)


“Buddhist practice in today's world must include an ecological perspective fully integrated into our everyday lives.”
www.ecopractice.fwbo.org/


“I know that in our previous life we were trees, and even in this life we continue to be trees. Without trees, we cannot have people; therefore, trees and people inter-are. We are trees and air, bushes and clouds. If trees cannot survive, humankind is not going to survive either. We get sick because we have damaged our own environment, and we are in mental anguish because we are so far away from our true mother, Mother Nature.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh.

 
“Buddhist development will arrange for the rhythm of life and movement to be in accordance with nature.”
-Sulak Sivaraksa.  (Buddhist Development)
resurgence.gn.apc.org/home.htm


“Dhamma is nature.”
-Ajahn Chah. (Bodhiyana. p.29-30)


“If one sees nature, one sees Dhamma. If one sees Dhamma, one sees nature.”
-Ajahn Chah. (Bodhiyana. p.29-30)


“Everything is preaching the Dharma. Each pebble, each leaf, each flower is
preaching the Dharma.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.26)


“Human health is a subsystem of the Earth’s health. You cannot have well humans on a sick planet. And that is what we are trying to do, with all our technologies: we are trying to have well humans on a sick planet.”
-Thomas Berry.


“Earth does not belong to us, it is us.”
-Elizabeth Roberts. (DG p.148)


“…several suttas from the Pali Canon show that early Buddhism believes there to be a close relationship between human morals and the natural environment.”
-Lily De Silva. (DR p.94)


“…greed, hatred and delusion produce pollution within and without.”
-Lily De Silva. (DR p.95)


“Pollution of the environment happens when there is psychological pollution within oneself.”
-Lily De Silva. (DR p.102)


“The pollution of the environment and the pollution of the mind must be addressed as aspects of the same problem.”
-Padmasiri De Silva. (DG p.16)


“Pollution of nature and the pollution of the mind are facets of the same problem”
-Padmasiri De Silva. (DG p.16)


“The best way to live is the natural way, and the best things to use are natural things.”
-Ven Phra Ajahn Yantra Amaro Bhikku. (Noble Treasure. p.93)


“…respect all forms of life on earth, the animals, vegetation, and also minerals.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (HBT p.126)


“We are imprisoned in our small selves, thinking only of the comfortable conditions for this small self, while we destroy our large self.”
 -Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.68)


“Everything that lives is holy.” -William Blake.


Walking meditation: “…we have to walk in a way that we only print peace and
serenity on Earth.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.111)


“We can develop a realistic view of the world, based on an understanding of the equality and interdependence of all beings.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (TYL p.102)


“…the universe we inhabit can be understood in terms of a living organism in which each cell works in balanced co-operation with every other cell to sustain the whole. If just one of these is harmed, as it is when disease strikes, that balance is harmed and there is danger to the whole. This in turn suggests that our well being is intimately connected both with that of all others, and with the environment within which we live.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (AWMW p.46)


“Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.” -Thich Nhat Hanh. (PES p.28)


“A human being is not independent of other species, so to protect humans, we have to protect non-human species.”
 -Thich Nhat Hanh. (HBT p. 147)


“We have caused a lot of damage to this Earth.  Now it is time for us to take care of her.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (PES p.28)


“Protecting human life is not possible without also protecting the lives of animals, plants and minerals.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (Commentary on the Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings)


“…a deep, clear, witnessing of un-humanised nature is crucial to our human self-understanding.”
 - Peter Timmerman. (DR p.363)


“The Diamond Sutra is one of many ancient Buddhist texts that teach deep ecology.”
 -Thich Nhat Hanh (Commentary on the First of the Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings)


“The mountains offer exceptionally suitable places for practise.”
-Ajahn Chah. (Bodhinyana, p. 13)


“If we make an enemy of the earth, we make an enemy of our own body.”
 –Maya saying.

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SAMSARA


“Samsara does not exist outside our self.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (JPGF p.269)


“Thinking that we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain, is what in Buddhism is called Samsara.”
-Pema Chodren. (When Things Fall Apart, p. 9)



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DESIRE


“….the more that desires are increased and satisfied, the further [material] development can proceed. From the religious standpoint, the more that desires can be reduced, the further development can proceed.”
-Sulak Sivaraksa.  (Buddhist Development)
resurgence.gn.apc.org/home.htm


“It is the reduction of desires that constitutes development.”
-Sulak Sivaraksa.  (DR. p.183)


“…desire lives and grows by being indulged. When not indulged by the application of ethical restraint and awareness, on the other hand, it stabilizes and begins to diminish."
-John Snelling. (BD p.42)


“This kind of practise [the application of ethical restraint and awareness] of course, cuts directly against the main currents of modern consumer society, where desire is energetically encouraged and refined to new pitches and variations by the powerful agencies of marketing and publicity.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.42)


“There is no such thing as a person who has fulfilled all their wishes.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (TYL p.177)


“There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
Just so there are pleasures in worldly desires,
But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.”
-Nagarjuna. (PG verse 169)


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NIRVANA, THE MIDDLE WAY, EMPTINESS


“Freedom is Nirvana, the aspiration of the heart towards the Devine, toward oneness and non-separation.”
Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.155)


“If reality is described as inconceivable, the tool to directly experience reality must be a mind pure of all concepts.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (TSMH p.85)


Nirvana is “…beyond birth and death, existence and non-existence.” “…beyond the power of words.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.43)


“There is an elusive Middle Way transcending all dualities [*], including life and death. We must seek the truth here.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.37)
[*] - Dualities of annihilation and eternalism, nothing or something, birth/death, pleasure/pain, etc...


“Suchness, Emptiness, the Absolute, all these are concepts and no more until we make them more by knowing them.”
-Christmas Humphries. (TYZ p.101)


“For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible.”
-Nagarjuna. (Buddhism D.S. Lopez p.33)


“…the search [in early Buddhist schools] for the ultimate elements of the world process is taken as far as it will go on the micro level. These ultimate elements are called 'Dharmas' and are said to be insubstantial appearances, perpetually in a state of agitation until finally calmed in Nirvana. They are forces rather than substances.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.37)


“…momentary flashings into the phenomenal world out of an unknown source.”
-T Stcherkatsky.


“Only ignorance makes us think that there is a difference between the world in which we live our daily lives and the ultimate reality of enlightenment.”
-Nagajuna. (LPSE p.97)


“The past, the future, physical space, and individuals are nothing but names, forms of thought, words of common usage, merely superficial realities.”
-Buddha. (CPB p.198)

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INTERDEPENDENCE, INTERCONNECTEDNESS, NO SELF


“Both science and the teachings of the Buddha tell us of the fundamental unity of all things.” -HH Dalai Lama. (Mind and Life Institute website)


"...when we realise that this apparent separateness between us is only illusory, then we cant help but allow our lives to be lived for the benefit of others." -Ajahn Santacitto. (Peace and Kindness, p.49)


“Buddhism teaches interconnectedness.  It shows us that nothing is permanent, that change is the only constant, and that everything is part of everything else.  It dissolves the illusory distinctions separating the self from the world.”
-Rev. Stephen A. Landale


 “…wrong thinking is based on a view in which we are a self that is permanently separated from everything else.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.61)


“…seeing our bodies as part of a larger process [as part of the Earth] is a way of recognising non-self.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.84)


“…since there is no self, there is nothing to be reborn.”
Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.53)


“Everything exists only in fundamental dependence on everything else. That is why if we finally understand the true nature of ourselves, we at the same time understand the true nature of everything else.”
-Phra Sona Kanti Barua. (BTMNA. p.61)


“Interdependence is more than a neat point of logic, it is something of critical importance for both humanity and the world.”
-“William LaFleur. (DR. p.114)


“We are all each within each other.” -Martin Palmer. (Elements of Taoism p.7)


“Emptiness implies the interdependence of all things.” -Nagarjuna. (B.  p.107)
 

“We can develop a realistic view of the world, based on an understanding of the equality and interdependence of all beings.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (TYL p.102)


“…the universe we inhabit can be understood in terms of a living organism in which each cell works in balanced co-operation with every other cell to sustain the whole. If just one of these is harmed, as it is when disease strikes, that balance is harmed and there is danger to the whole. This in turn suggests that our well being is intimately connected both with that of all others, and with the environment within which we live.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (AWMW p.46)


“The world is in fact a seamless and dynamic unity: a single living organism that is constantly undergoing change. Our minds however, chop it up into separate static bits and pieces, which we then try mentally and physically to manipulate.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.36)


“…by creating a separate, enduring ego or self, the
seamless universe is cut in two. There is 'I', and there is all the rest.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.36)


When by practising “…the boundary between self and other is removed, then we know what we should do in our daily lives.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.161)


”All composed things are like a dream, a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightening.  That is how to meditate on them, that is how to observe them.”
-Buddha Shakyamuni. (Diamond Sutra)


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DEPENDENT ORIGINATION

(Paticca-Samuppada; the ‘principle of conditioned co-production’.)

 
“A being present. B arises. In the absence of A, B does not arise. This is the essence of Buddhism.”
-Sangharakshita. WITD, p.31


Dependent Origination or conditioned co-production “…is the single source to which all Buddhist teachings can be traced back, the most basic expression of the Buddha’s spiritual experience.”
-Sangharakshita. WITD, p.23


“Whatever comes into existence on whatever level, does so in dependence on conditions, and in the absence of those conditions, ceases to exist.  If anything is Buddhism, this is Buddhism.”- Sangharakshita


Dependent-arising means: “…that which arises in dependence upon conditions, in reliance upon conditions, through the force of conditions.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (TMOL p.5)


“It is dependent origination that we call emptiness.” -Nagajuna. (B.  p.107)


“Understanding dependent related phenomena is the best way to realise emptiness.”
-Nagarjuna. (JPGF p. 520)


“On a subtle level it [dependent relationship] is explained as the main reason why phenomena are empty of inherent existence.”
-HH Dalai Lama. (TMOL p.5)


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KARMA,  CAUSE AND EFFECT


Once you accept the law of cause and effect, the implication is that there is no 'creator'.
-HH Dalai Lama in an interview given to Swati Chopra.  www.swatichopra.com/


“…everything is affecting everything else.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.149)


“Looking deeply, we find that every cause is at the same time an effect.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.35)


“You are like a candle. Imagine you are sending light out around you. All your words, thoughts and actions are going in many directions.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.122)


“By actions thoughts and words, man is releasing spiritual energy to the universe, and he is in turn affected by influences coming in his direction. Man is therefore the sender and receiver of all these influences. The entire circumstance surrounding him is his Karma.”
-Takashi Tjuji.


“How we live our lives affects everything.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.158)


“…everything we are, individually and collectively, affects everything we do, and vice versa.” -David Scott. (EOZ p.72)


“What you do, you remember; its as simple as that.” -Ajahn Sumedho.


“Karma is a law of the universe, perhaps the greatest law."
 -Christmas Humphries. (TYZ p.xv)


“Everything each of us does affects all the rest of us, directly and
physically.” -Danah Zohar. (TQS p. 151)


“This is, because that is.  This is not, because that is not.  This is like this, because that is like that.” – Buddha.


“This being, that becomes; from the arising of this, that arises; this not being, that does not become; from the ceasing of this, that ceases.”
-Majjhima-Nikaya ii.32; Samyutta-Nikaya ii.28; etc.


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DEATH


“…since there is no self, there is nothing to be reborn.”
Ajahn Sumedho. (TMATW, p.53)


“…once we have generated a fear of dying unprepared, we should search for something that will offer real protection.”
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. (TYL p.43)


“If we think that we cease to exist when we die, we have not looked very deeply at ourselves.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF Back cover.)


“When the flame of the candle has given its light and its heat all around it, that light and heat are the continuation of the candle.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.126)


“…it is not exactly the same being that commutes from body to body down through the procession of ages. The vital connection between one life and its successor is more subtle than that.”
-John Snelling. (BD p.7)


“If we just think it is the end of our life, this will be wrong understanding. But on the other hand, if we think that we do not die, this is also wrong. We die and we do not die. This is the right understanding.”
-Shunryu Susuki. (ZMBM p.25)


“Life and death present the same cyclic continuity observed in all aspects of nature.”
-Roshi Phillip Kapleau. (Zen merging of East and West)


 “Nothing is born, nothing dies.” –Antoine Lavoisier.


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THE BODDHISATTVA


“When we make the decision to have our career be that of the Bodhisattva, we can let go of all the meaningless things that attracted us before.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.162)


“A bodhisattva is a friend of the world.” -Shantideva. (GBWL inside cover.)


“According to Buddhism, compassion is the only source of energy that is useful and safe.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (Commentary on the Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings)


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WISDOM, INSIGHT, UNDERSTANDING


“Insight is a direct intuitive perception that takes place in the depths of meditation when ordinary mental processes have fallen into abeyance.
…ultimately, insight is something that transcends the intellectual workings of the mind.”
-Sangharakshita. (WITD, p.65)


“…to understand is to be able to question.”
-Hans-Georg Gadamer.


“When you understand, you love.” -Thich Nhat Hanh.


“When you grow a tree, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the tree. You look into the reasons it is not doing well.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.107)


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SCIENCE


The Buddha “taught the science of the mind.”
-HH Dalai Lama in an interview given to Swati Chopra.  www.swatichopra.com/


“The Buddhist method of enquiry [into the nature of reality] has more in common with science than it has with religion, as it does not require a belief system centred upon a creator god or imminent divinity, and makes use of practises based on observation, logical thinking and rigorous experimentation”.
-Swati Chopra (Resurgence No.232, p.26)
 

“Modern science and Buddhism - the world's two most powerful traditions for understanding the nature of reality and investigating the mind.”
www.mindandlife.org


“On the philosophical level, both Buddhism and modern science share a deep suspicion of any notion of absolutes, whether conceptualized as a transcendent being, as an eternal, unchanging principle such as soul, or as a fundamental substratum of reality.”
- Talk given by the Dalai Lama at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on November 12, 2005 in Washington DC.


“Science devoid of morality spells only destruction.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.482)


“Can science make man better? If it can, why do violent acts and immoral practises abound in countries which are so advanced in science?”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.477)


“Scientific knowledge is limited to the data received through the sense organs. Scientific truth is therefore relative truth.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.476)


“Religion without science is blind, while science without religion is crippled.”
-Ven DR. K. Sri Dhammananda. (GOBW. p.483)


“If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.”
-Albert Einstein.


"…a philosophy or science which can't account for consciousness is a necessarily incomplete philosophy or science."
-Danah Zohar. (TQS p.35)

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RELIGION

“One can hardly call the Dharma a religion when the Buddha took no interest in temples, religious worship, belief in God or soul.”
-Christopher Titmuss  (Light on Enlightenment)


Once you accept the law of cause and effect, the implication is that there is no 'creator'.
-HH Dalai Lama in an interview given to Swati Chopra.  www.swatichopra.com/
 

“One can hardly call the Dharma a religion when the Buddha took no interest in temples, religious worship, belief in God or soul.”
-Christopher Titmuss  (Light on Enlightenment).


“It [religion] should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology.”
-Albert Einstein.


“If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.”
-Albert Einstein.

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MISC


"Muddy water,
Let stand,
becomes clear." -Lao-Tze.


"Everything that arises is natural." -Unknown.


“In the world we create, we encounter ourselves.”
-Joanna Macy. (WLWS, p.70)


“…we are not a separate species objectively surveying the Universe, but the Universe itself reflecting upon itself.”
-Grace Blindell. (What is Creation Centred Spirituality?)


“…see how insensitive, cruel and unkind we can be by the attachment we have to views about being kind and sensitive.”
-Ajahn Sumedho. (Being Nobody)


“When we simply attend to what we see, feel, and know is happening in our world, we find authenticity.”
-Joanna Macy. (WLWS, p.30)


“Face exactly what one is, not what one should be.”
-Krishnamurti.  (Last Talks at Saanen p. 49)


“Whatever faults there are in this world, their root is ignorance.”
-Je Tsongkapa. (JPGF p.319)


“The Buddha says that whoever sees inter-being [impermanence, interconnectedness, no self] sees the Buddha.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.161)


“There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh. (NDNF p.168)


“Doubt admits the possibility of change and renewal.”
-David Scott. (EOZ p.58)


“The oneness of duality: not two, and not one.” -Shunryu Suzuki. (ZMBM p.25)


“There must be an outside for the inside to have meaning.”
-Allan Bloom. (The closing of the American Mind p.164) (TQS p141)


“The water is in the fish, the fish is in the water.”
-Arthur Miller. (The Independent 3.1.89) (TQS p. 150)


“If things go wrong in the world, this is because something is wrong with the individual, because something is wrong with me. Therefore, if I am sensible, I shall put myself right first.”
-C.G Jung. (The meaning of phychology for modern man) (TQS)


“By focusing on any one thought, that one becomes a classical reality ("…the process of concentration collapses the wave function"), and the others disappear like shadows in the night.” -Danah Zohar. (TQS p.160)


 “There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; my philosophy is kindness.”
-HH The Dalai Lama. (From New Age Living by Paul Roland p.88)


“Living is larger and more elusive than the systems we invent to explain it. So we never quite understand ourselves and the universe in which we live. The Tao is the freedom that comes with not understanding.”
-Ray Grigg (The Tao of being. p.xii)


“The Tao cannot be understood because we are it.” “It is not writing about apples, but walking in an orchard and eating them.”
-Ray Grigg (The Tao of being. p.xiii)


“Only ignorance makes us think that there is a difference between the world in which we live our daily lives and the ultimate reality of enlightenment.”
-Nagajuna. (LPSE p.97)


“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh. (BP p.42)


”All composed things are like a dream, a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightening.  That is how to meditate on them, that is how to observe them.”
-Buddha Shakyamuni. (Diamond Sutra)


“…we are indeed not a separate species objectively surveying the Universe, but the Universe itself reflecting upon itself.”
-Grace Blindell. (What is Creation Centred Spirituality?)


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SOURCE
APTH
A PATH TO TRUE HAPPINESS Ven Master Chin Kung
AWMW ANCIENT WISDOM, MODERN WORLD HH Dalai Lama
B BUDDHISM Denise Cush
BD BUDDHISM John Snelling
BP BEING PEACE Thich Nhat Hanh
BTMNA BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND MEDITATION IN THE NUCLEAR AGE Phra Sona Kanti Barua
CPB CENTRAL PHILOSOPHY OF BUDDHISM
DG DHARMA GAIA By various writers
DR DHARMA RAIN Sources of Buddhist environmentalism
EOZ THE ELEMENTS OF ZEN David Scott
GOBW GEMS OF BUDDHIST WISDOM Various writers
HBT THE HEART OF THE BUDDHAS TEACHING Thich Nhat Hanh
JPGF JOYFUL PATH OF GOOD FORTUNE Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
NDNF NO DEATH, NO FEAR Thich Nhat Hanh
PG PRECIOUS GARLAND OF ADVICE FOR A KING Nagarjuna
TAW THE AWAKENING OF THE WEST Stephen Batchelor
TQS THE QUANTUM SELF Danah Zohar
TMATW THE MIND AND THE WAY Ajahn Sumedho
TMOL THE MEANING OF LIFE, (teachings) translated by
Jeffrey Hopkins		 HH Dalai Lama
TOP THE TAO OF PHYSICS Fritjof Capra
TSMH THE SUN MY HEART Thich Nhat Hanh
TYL TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
WIO WHOLENESS AND THE IMPLICIT ORDER David Bohm
WITD WHAT IS THE DHARMA Sangharakshita
WLWS WORLD AS LOVER, WORLD AS SELF Joanna Macy
ZMBM ZEN MIND, BEGINNERS MIND the teachings of Shunryu Suzuki


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