Joy

Turn away from mischief.
Again and again, turn away,
Before sorrow befalls you.

Set your heart on doing good.
Do it over and over again,
And you will be filled with joy.

-Dhammapada 117-118

Joy

Turn away from mischief.
Again and again, turn away,
Before sorrow befalls you.

Set your heart on doing good.
Do it over and over again,
And you will be filled with joy.

-Dhammapada 117-118

Attain Enlightenment

The dharma that is taught and the dharma that is experienced are descriptions of how to live, how to use your life to wake you up rather than put you to sleep. And if you choose to spend the rest of your life trying to find out what awake means and what asleep means, I think you might attain enlightenment.

-Pema Chödrön, "Wisdom of No Escape"

Passport to rebirth

From contact comes feeling. From feeling comes reaction. This is what keeps us in the cycle of birth and death. Our reactions to our feelings are our passport to rebirth.

-Ayya Khema, "Being Nobody, Going Nowhere"

One practices like this

“I am breathing in and liberating my mind. I am breathing out and liberating my mind.” One practices like this.

-The Sutra on Full Awareness of Breathing, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh

Everything is as it is

Everything is as it is. It has no name other than the name we give it. It is we who call it something; we give it a value. We say this thing is good or it's bad, but in itself, the thing is only as it is. It's not absolute; it's just as it is. People are just as they are.

-Ajahn Sumedho, "The Mind and the Way"

When tranquility is developed

When tranquility is developed,
what purpose does it serve?
The mind is developed.
And when the mind is developed,
what purpose does it serve?
Passion is abandoned.

When insight is developed,
what purpose does it serve?
Discernment is developed.
And when discernment is developed,
what purpose does it serve?
Ignorance is abandoned.

-Anguttara Nikaya