Wisdom for Today
Teachings from the world of Buddhism and beyond, updated each weekday
Maybe you think you can wake up 50 per cent—just enough to get beyond the “crazy” stage but not all the way to “wisdom.” However, it’s not the message of the Buddha or the intention of Buddhism to provide a partial recovery from confusion. The message of the Buddha is that you’re
awake now and that you can, if you apply yourself, realize it. — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. 29 September 2022
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- Money will be washed away, but not suchness. Renown and title have highs and lows, but not Buddha nature. — Master Hsing Yun. 28 September 2022
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- A tree spreads its branches and puts forth leaves, but when its root is cut its foliage withers; so too, when the root of the mind is severed, the branches of the tree of samsara die. — Mahasiddha Tilopa. 27 September 2022
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- Of course we can always imagine more perfect conditions, how it should be ideally, how everyone should behave. But it is not our task to create an ideal. It’s our task to see how it is, and to learn from the world as it is. For the awakening of the heart, conditions are always good enough. — Ajahn Sumedho. 26 September 2022
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- Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy. — Jon Kabat-Zinn. 23 September 2022
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- When we know how to help ourselves and how to work with our situation we can really benefit others, and our feeling of compassion will arise spontaneously, without the need for us to hold ourselves to the rules of behaviour of any given religious doctrine. — Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. 22 September 2022
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- Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, made of the heart. If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart, then happiness follows you, like a shadow that never leaves. — The Buddha Dhammapada I, Yamakavagga: Pairs. 21 September 2022
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- Winter garden, the moon thinned to a thread, insects singing. — Matsuo Bashō. 20 September 2022
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- There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Do not seek anything else. — Dogen Zenji. 19 September 2022
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- When you understand the dualistic mind, there will be no separation from me. May my good wishes fill the sky. — Yeshe Tsogyal. 16 September 2022
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- Every single act we do has the potential of causing pain, and every single thing we do has consequences that echo way beyond what we can imagine. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act. It means we should act carefully. Everything matters. — Sylvia Boorstein. 15 September 2022
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- May I be an isle for those who yearn for land, A lamp for those who long for light; For all who need a resting place, a bed; For those who need a servant, may I be their slave. — Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra. 14 September 2022
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- Do not fear making mistakes in life, fear only not correcting them. — Master Cheng Yen. 13 September 2022
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- It takes courage to become happy―courage to remain true to one’s convictions, courage not to be defeated by one’s weaknesses and negativity, courage to take swift action to help those who are suffering. — Daisaku Ikeda. 9 September 2022
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- We control our karma. Every moment is a new juncture, a chance to improve our way of thinking and thus our circumstances. This principle of interdependent causation is the bedrock of the Buddha’s first teachings, the Four Noble Truths. — Tulku Thondup Rinpoche. 8 September 2022
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- Our body is the Bodhi-tree / And our mind a mirror bright. / Carefully we clean them hour by hour / And let no dust alight. — Master Huineng. 7 September 2022
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- For a state that is not pleasant or delightful to me, must also be to him; and a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another? — Saṃyutta Nikāya. 6 September 2022
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- Meditation is not supposed to be the fabrication or the reinforcement of some particular state, but simply the cultivation of the awareness of whatever is arising in the mind. — Thrangu Rinpoche. 5 September 2022
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- If you are angry when you’re doing something, even if you speak of peace, you are actually engaged in war. — Venerable Pomnyun Sunim. 2 September 2022
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- He who realizes that the nature of things is without solidity, appears in all the boundless lands of the ten directions: Expounding the inconceivability of the realm of Buddhahood, he causes all to return to the ocean of liberation. — Avataṃsaka Sūtra. 1 September 2022
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- The creations of the mind are more numerous than specks of dust in a ray of sunlight. — Milarepa. 31 August 2022
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- Amitabha Buddha made a profound, weighty vow to embrace all beings of the ten directions with his light and transform them with his name, in the event that they have faith in Him, aspire to be reborn [in the Land of Bliss] and recite his Name—up to a lifetime’s recitation, as well as just ten recitations, or even one. Because of the power of Amitabha Buddha’s vow, rebirth [in the Pure Land] is easy. — Master Shandao. 30 August 2022
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- The optimist says the glass is half-full. The pessimist says the glass is half-empty. The Buddhist says that the glass is already broken. When we reflect on the glass as being already broken, we can use it without attachment. We make the most intelligent use of the glass while never forgetting its temporary nature. When it does eventually break, we are not surprised and we don’t suffer. — Ajahn Jayasāro. 29 August 2022
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- Every day, think as you wake up: today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. 26 August 2022
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- We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. — Thich Nhat Hanh. 25 August 2022
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- You may analyze meticulously, but when a wind blows it naturally disperses the clouds and the sky can be seen. Endeavor to see empty clarity, mind itself, in the same way—there is nothing greater than this understanding. If you don’t stir up the silt, the water will remain clear; as such, don’t analyze. Simply rest without contrivance and you will come to see the emptiness of mind itself. There is nothing greater to see than this! — Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo. 24 August 2022
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- As long as we secretly adore ourselves, our own deficiencies will remain to torture us with an apparent defilement. But if we live for others, we will gradually discover that no expects us to be ‘as gods’. We will see that we are human, like everyone else, that we all have weaknesses and deficiencies, and that these limitations of ours play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them that we need others and others need us. — Thomas Merton. 23 August 2022
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- By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another. — The Buddha. 22 August 2022
