Wisdom for Today
Teachings from the world of Buddhism and beyond, updated each weekday
Although there are numerous kinds of behavior, high and low, coarse and precise, it is more profound to exert as much as you can in practicing virtue and abandoning evil deeds. — Karma Chakmé. 8 December 2023
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- To great sages who have cultivated for a long time, widely varying conditions and environments do not matter; in fact, the more diverse they are, the more focused the minds of these sages become. . . . To bathe in the great ocean is to use the waters of hundreds of rivers. — Master Yin Guang. 7 December 2023
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- Beyond the gift of material things, another dimension of generosity can also be the gift of time and attention, especially when others are suffering and in bodily or mental pain. All such occasions can later become occasions for recollecting our own generosity and thereby strengthening the tendency of the mind to seek the type of joy that does not depend on what is material. – Bhikkhu Analayo. 6 December 2023
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- What is the difference between buddhas and sentient beings? It is nothing other than realizing or not realizing mind. The substance of the awakened state, of buddha, is present within you, but you don’t recognize it. — Padmasambhava. 5 December 2023
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- We all strive, consciously or unconsciously, competently or clumsily, passionately or calmly, adventurously or routinely, to be happier and suffer less. Yet we so often confuse genuine happiness with merely seeking enjoyable emotions. — Matthieu Ricard. 4 December 2023
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- The Buddha taught that greed, anger, and misunderstanding are the causes that give rise to suffering. If we ourselves are not yet acquainted with greed, anger, and misunderstanding, then there is no way we can believe this. When we know ourselves what greed, anger, and delusion are like, and that whenever they arise in the mind, they produce suffering like a fire burning us, then we can believe it on the basis of our own experience. — Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. 1 December 2023
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- We are each living in our own soap opera. We do not see things as they really are. We see only our interpretations. This is because our minds are always so busy … But when the mind calms down, it becomes clear. This mental clarity enables us to see things as they really are, instead of projecting our commentary on everything. ― Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo. 30 November 2023
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- Whatever you do, always apply three essential points: undertake the action with the intention of doing so for the good of all beings; execute it with perfect concentration, free of attachment to concepts of subject, object, and action; and, finally, dedicate the merit you have created to the enlightenment of all beings. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. 29 November 2023
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- There is no other difficult practice equal to patience—not getting angry with someone who harms you, and even if you do get angry, not remaining so. It is the ultimate austerity. Therefore do not allow yourself even the slightest occasion for anger, which is incompatible with such a sublime austerity as patience. — Kangyur Rinpoche. 28 November 2023
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- Buddhism is in the world; it is not realized apart from the world. Seeking enlightenment apart from the world is like looking for horns on a hare. — Master Huineng (The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch). 27 November 2023
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- When you let go of everything, what’s left? When you let go of everything, nothing is left. If there were anything remaining, you’d still have suffering. Therefore, when you truly let go of everything, the one who let go is also gone. Only a mind in its perfected state—one of pure happiness and peace—remains, but there is no longer anyone left to attach to it. — Ajahn Anan. 24 November 2023
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- Pray to your master and to the Three Jewels, and strive to be wholesome – physically, verbally and mentally. Work to gather merit and wisdom by purifying your obscurations, and protecting and freeing the lives of beings in danger. — Sera Khandro. 23 November 2023
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- To write something and leave it behind us, it is but a dream. When we awake we know there is not even anyone to read it. — Ikkyū Sōjun. 22 November 2023
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- Master Shandao taught that a person who “sincerely and joyfully entrusts” has a kind of state of mind that includes repentance with every single name-recitation. This is because, on the one hand, he knows he is a mortal ordinary being who commits offenses life after life, and owes many people a great deal, that he has no way to escape from reincarnation through his own power. Only Amitabha Buddha forgives us, unconditionally loves us, does not argue with us, and unconditionally bestows the merit and virtues of the Land of Bliss upon us. — Master Huijing. 21 November 2023
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- Most beings live immersed in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. Others, driven by the need for power, status, and esteem, pass their lives in vain attempts to fill an unquenchable thirst. Many, fearful of annihilation at death, construct belief systems that ascribe to their individual selves, their souls, the prospect of eternal life. A few yearn for a path to liberation but do not know where to find one. It was precisely to offer such a path that the Buddha has appeared in our midst. — Bhikkhu Bodhi. 20 November 2023
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- Adverse conditions are spiritual friends. Devils and demons are emanations of the victorious ones. Illness is the broom for evil and obscurations. Suffering is the dance of what is. — Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé. 17 November 2023
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- A Realized One is freed from reckoning in terms of form. They’re deep, immeasurable, and hard to fathom, like the ocean. “They’re reborn,” “they’re not reborn,” “they’re both reborn and not reborn,” “they’re neither reborn nor not reborn”—none of these apply. — The Buddha (Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta [MN 72]). 16 November 2023
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- Awareness is the quintessential teaching of the Buddha—from the awareness of cool air as you breathe in and then out, to the profound awareness of natural perfection. And with boundless compassion and courage, the sole purpose and activity of all the buddhas it is to ring the alarm bell that brings us to this awareness. — Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. 15 November 2023
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- To attain rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, nothing is required but the implicit faith that the mere recitation of Namo Amitabha Buddha causes the certain attainment of birth in the Pure Land. — Master Jing Ben. 14 November 2023
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- Like the lotus flower that grows out of muddy water but stays untouched by mud, engage in life without cherishing envy or hatred; live in the world not a life of self but a life of truth. — Aśvaghoṣa. 13 November 2023
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- You can measure the depth of a person’s awakening by how they serve others. — Kükai. 10 November 2023
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- If we believe that mind is continuous, our love for others becomes continuous. If we recognize this continuity, we do not trust temporary, tangible circumstances or take them too seriously. Since it is tiring to switch between changing uncertainties, which are inherently impermanent and unimportant, we become less easily influenced by any circumstance. This creates the habit of stability so that our minds are less erratic, our lives are less chaotic, and our feelings for others are less changeable, which causes love to become increasingly deep and loyal. — Thinley Norbu Rinpoche. 9 November 2023
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- Buddhism offers many practices and insights for working skillfully and compassionately with suffering, pain, dying, failure, loss, and grief — the stuff of what St. John of the Cross has called “the lucky dark.” That great Christian saint recognized that suffering can be fortunate because, without it, there is no possibility for maturation. For years the lucky dark has been the atmosphere that lends clarity to my life, a life that had seen death as an enemy, but was to discover death as a teacher and guide. — Roshi Joan Halifax. 8 November 2023
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- Our life can be: short, dark, distorted, imperfect, and incomplete, with many shortcomings and deficiencies. When we take refuge in Amitabha, we are like drops of water returning to the sea. When a drop of water is on land or in the air, it may evaporate and disappear. In contrast, when this drop of water returns to the sea, it will be as deep and vast as the sea. — Master Jingzong. 7 November 2023
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- Every kind of teaching is transmitted through the culture and knowledge of human beings. But it is important not to confuse any culture or tradition with the teachings themselves, because the essence of the teachings is knowledge of the nature of the individual. Any given culture can be of great value because it is the means which enables people to receive the message of a teaching, but it is not the teaching itself. — Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. 6 November 2023
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- You have to make time. There is enough time. You work eight hours a day. Some people then say: I have no time to practice. But instead they go to a bar, sit front of the television, go to the movies, or do other things. If you really want to practice, then you have to give up those things. It is not necessary to cut yourself off from life completely, but you must slowly eliminate distraction. — Jetsün Kushok Chimey Luding. 3 November 2023
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- Take joy in your sincere intentions. Everything starts with an intention. If you have been able to have beautiful aspirations, these aspirations will always be part of you, a beautiful part. — His Holiness the Karmapa. 2 November 2023
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- It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn’t depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn’t depend on how long you’ve held on to the old view. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn’t matter whether it’s been dark for 10 minutes, 10 years, or 10 decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn’t see before. It’s never too late to take a moment to look. ― Sharon Salzberg. 1 November 2023
