Thursday, May 31, 2018

Spiritual - Quotes

I understood myself only after I destroyed myself. And only in the process of fixing myself, did I know how I really was. - Sade Andria Zabala

If I didn’t remember the past and was unable to speculate about the future, all that would be happening would exist only now. - Anton Vetroff

If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. - Morpheus

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation. - J. Krishnamurti

If you don’t go within, you go without. - Neale Donald Walsch

If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath. - Amti Ray

If you wish to advance into the infinite, explore the finite in all directions. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In order to experience everyday spirituality, we need to remember that we are spiritual beings spending some time in a human body. - Barbara De Angelis

In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action. - Dag Hammarskjold

Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee. - Marcus Aurelius

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Religion

The whole religion thing is so potently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life. - Sigmund Freud

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Images / Memes

I don't really have a life philosophy; my thing is just rebelling against pretty much organized religion. That is my main thing, because personally I think it's a crutch for people that are too weak to get through life on their own. I'm the kind of guy that says if I don't see it, then it doesn't work. And nobody can show me God. - Kerry King

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Bodhidharma

Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma, "What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?"
Bodhidharma said, "Empty, without holiness."
The Emperor said, "Who is facing me?"
Bodhidharma replied, "I don't know."
- Bodhidharma

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Spiritual - Quotes

It is not arrogant or egotistical to feel good inside. You had nothing to do with it. It’s simply the honest response to clearly perceived Reality. - Erich Schiffman

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment. - Dogen

Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand – relax. If you relax, it comes. If you relax, it is there. If you relax, you start vibrating with it. - Osho

Every moment that we spend in higher consciousness helps uplift the consciousness of the whole world. - Unknown

Every mortal birth is a heaven-given reminder to prepare for the second birth. - Bruce R. McConkie

Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating. - Wayne Dyer

Everything on Earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian Theory of Existence. - Morning Dove Salish

Except for our bodies there are no other temples in the world - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. - Thich Nhat Hanh

First, we love within, then we love the world. - Elizabeth Lesser

Monday, May 21, 2018

Church

Retired American Bishop explains how the church invented hell and what religion is really used for.

Click here to read all about it and watch the video here

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Bodhidharma

To find a buddha all you have to do is see your nature. Your nature is the buddha. And the buddha is the person who's free: free of plans, free of cares. If you don't see your nature and run around all day looking somewhere else, you'll never find a buddha. The truth is, there's nothing to find. But to reach such an understanding you need a teacher and you need to struggle to make yourself understand. . . . If you don't find a teacher soon, you'll live this life in vain. It's true, you have the buddha-nature. But without the help of a teacher you'll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher's help. If, though, by the conjunction of conditions, someone understands what the Buddha meant, that person doesn't need a teacher. Such a person has a natural awareness superior to anything taught. But unless you're so blessed, study hard, and by means of instruction you'll understand. - Bodhidharma

If, as in a dream, you see a light brighter than the sun, your remaining attachments will suddenly come to an end and the nature of reality will be revealed. Such an occurrence serves as the basis for enlightenment. But this is something only you know. You can't explain it to others. Or if, while you're walking, standing, sitting, or lying in a quiet grove, you see a light, regardless of whether it's bright or dim, don't tell others and don't focus on it. It's the light of your own nature. Or if, while you're walking, standing, sitting, or lying in the stillness and darkness of night, everything appears as though in daylight, don't be startled. It's your own mind about to reveal itself. Or if, while you're dreaming at night, you see the moon and stars in all their clarity, it means the workings of your mind are about to end. But don't tell others. - Bodhidharma

When delusions are absent, the mind is the land of Buddhas. When delusions are present, the mind is hell. Mortals create delusions. And by using the mind to give birth to mind they always find themselves in hell. Bodhisattvas see through delusions. And by not using the mind to give birth to mind they always find themselves in the land of Buddhas. If you don't use your mind to create mind, every state of mind is empty and every thought is still. You go from one Buddha-land to another. If you use your mind to create mind, every state of mind is disturbed and every thought is in motion. You go from one hell to the next. - Bodhidharma

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Food for Thought

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural tratdions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. - Carl Sagan

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Spiritual - Quotes

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls. - Joseph Campbell

For he who has no tranquility there is no concentration. - Bhagavad-Gita Source: Bhagavad-Gita proverb

For true stability and naturalness of mind and essence to emerge, there must be a seamless, unimpeded flow of energy and spirit. - Unknown

Free yourself from anger and desire. This is the means by which you come to know the soul, and thereby attain the highest spiritual state. - The Bhagavad Gita

Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority. - Tom Hopkins 

Great men are they who see that spirituality is stronger than any material force; that thoughts rule the world. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe. - Marcus Aurelius

Honour the healing power of nature. - Hippocrates

How easy it is to repel and erase every impression which is troublesome or unwelcome, and immediately to be tranquil. - Marcus Aurelius

I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my Soul. - Rumi

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Religion

The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain

The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion. - Harvey Milk

The foulest sinner of all is the hypocrite who makes a racket of religion. - Robert A. Heinlein

The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion. - Arthur C. Clarke

The inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains. - Abu’l-‘ala’ Al-Ma’arri

Monday, May 14, 2018

A Parable

The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man. - José Ortega Y Gasset


Some years ago a successful man had a serious identity crisis. He sought help from psychiatrists but nothing came of it, for there were none who could tell him the meaning of life - which is what he wanted to know.

By and by he learned of a venerable and incredibly wise guru who lived in a mysterious and most inaccessible region of the Himalayas. Only that guru, he came to believe, would tell him what life meant and what his role in it ought to be. So he sold all his worldly possessions and began his search for the all-knowing guru.

He spent eight years wandering from village to village throughout the Himalayas in an effort to find him. And then one day he chanced upon a shepherd who told him where the guru lived and how to reach the place.

It took him almost a year to find him, but he eventually did. There he came upon his guru, who was indeed venerable, in fact well over one hundred years old. The guru consented to help him, especially when he learned of all the sacrifices the man had made towards this end.

“What can I do for you, my son?” asked the guru.

“I need to know the meaning of life,” said the man.

To this the guru replied, without hesitation, “Life,” he said, “is a river without end.”

“A river without end?” said the man in a startled surprise. “After coming all this way to find you, all you have to tell me is that life is a river without end?”

The guru was shaken, shocked. He became very angry and he said, “You mean it is not?”


The moral of the story:

The first thing to remember if you want to know what life is, is: never seek it without, never try to find out from somebody else. Nobody can give, nor tell you the meaning of life. The meaning cannot be transferred that way. The greatest masters have never said anything about life - they have always thrown you back upon yourself. Nobody, except you, can come upon it. Only in living your life will the mystery be revealed to you.

Life is already there bubbling within you. Don’t seek life anywhere else. Don’t seek it in scriptures, don’t seek it in clever explanations. Live well, and in so doing, you will find the meaning of life.

Want to read more inspirational, motivational and educational parables? Get a copy of Parables on Amazon or join Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, and read it for free.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Bodhidharma Quotes

Don't hate life and death or love life and death. Keep your every thought free of delusion, and in life you'll witness the beginning of nirvana, and in death you'll experience the assurance of no rebirth. - Bodhidharma

Worship means reverence and humility. It means revering your real self and humbling delusions. If you can wipe out evil desires and harbor good thoughts, even if nothing shows, it's worship. Such form is its real form. - Bodhidharma

A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad. Such is his power that karma can't hold him. No matter what kind of karma, a Buddha transforms it. Heaven and hell are nothing to him. But the awareness of a mortal is dim compared to that of a Buddha, who penetrates everything, inside and out. - Bodhidharma

Not thinking about anything is zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the Buddha. - Bodhidharma

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Meditation

Meditation is not just a rest or retreat from the turmoil of the stream or the impurity of the world. It is a way of being the stream, so that one can be at home in both the white water and the eddies. Meditation may take one out of the world, but it also puts one totally into it. - Gary Snyder

Click on the link to read the article.

What Happens to People Who Meditate for the First Time

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Spiritual - Quotes

There is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. - Alan Watts

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire. - Thomas Merton

As you develop your awareness in nature, you begin to see how we influence all life and how all life influences us; a key and critical feature for us to know. - Unknown

By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life, we become good, deep, and alive. - Albert Schweitzer

Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is essential at the beginning of practice to acknowledge that the path is personal and intimate. It is no good to examine it from a distance as if it were someone else’s. You must walk it for yourself. - Robert Aitken

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. - Thich Nhat Hanh

The whole being finally passes and reaches it’s fulfilment, not in this world of space and time, but in the eternal world which is the world of reality. - Bede Griffiths

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Religion

They DID NOT choose their religion. They were brain-washed into it. Religion is a matter of geography. Religion is a matter of the family you are born into. THINK! It is not you who chose your religion, it was chosen for you! It is time to move on, to realize that religion is man made.