Intro's quote-o-rama

Introspection

I guess I've been inspired by Stephen's quote threads, so I'm going to start one myself.. Not one particular author here, just whatever I can find:

Q: Why do you think that people are so protective of their egos? Why is it so hard to let go of one's ego?
A: People are afraid of the emptiness of space, or the absence of company, the absence of a shadow. It could be a terrifying experience to have no one to relate to, nothing to relate with. The idea of it can be extremely frightening, though not the real experience. It is generally a fear of space, a fear that we will not be able to anchor ourselves to any solid ground, that we will lose our identity as a fixed and solid and definite thing. This could be very threatening.

- Chogyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

(edited for reference)

"To train in compassion, then, is to know all beings are the same and suffer in similar ways, to honor all those who suffer, and to know you are neither separate from nor superior to anyone."

Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

stephenw20

The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds & words, return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy

Florence Scovel

Skimmer

"Always do the right thing. A few people will be gratified; the rest will be amazed."

-- Mark Twain

stephenw20

"Every decision you make is a choice between a grievance and a miracle"

Marianne Williamson
from "a course in miracles"

Seven

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."-Buddha

Seven
*

Introspection

Thanks for the help guys! I was wondering how I can come up with a fresh one each day.. Ok here's something else from the same book: (flips through pages randomly)

I think we must understand the true meaning of the words "discipline" and "asceticism." The basic idea of asceticism, leading a life according to the dharma, is to be fundamentally sane. If you find that leading an ordinary life is a sane thing to do, that is dharma. At the same time you could find that leading the life of an ascetic yogi, as described in the texts, could become an expression of insanity. It depends upon the individual. It is a question of what is sane for you, the really solid, sound, stable approach to life. The Buddha, for example, was not a religious fanatic, attempting to act in accordance with some high ideal. He just dealt with people simply, openly and very wisely. His wisdom came from transcendental common sense. His teaching was sound and open.
The problem seems to be that people worry about a conflict between the religious and the profane. They find it very difficult to reconcile so called "higher consciousness" with practical affairs. But the categories of higher and lower, religious and profane, do not really seem relevant to a basically sane approach to life.

MegaDude

"Preach the gospel every day.

If necessary, use words."

St. Francis

Seven

It is most urgent that you seek
real, true perception
so you can be free in the world
and not confused by ordinary teachers.
It is best to have no obsessions.
Just don't be contrived.
Simply be normal.
You impulsively seek elsewhere,
looking to others for
your own hands and feet.
This is already mistaken.

-- Linji (d. 867)

Introspection

Oh you guys will love this first part.. Actually, I guess it depends - but it could be either funny ironic or funny ha-ha ... what's the difference anyways? From the same book I quoted above:

Generally, when we speak of freedom or liberation or spiritual understanding, we think that to attain these things we need do nothing at all, that someone else will take care of us. "You are all right, don't worry, don't cry, you're going to be all right. I'll take care of you." We tend to think that all we have to do is make a commitment to the organization, pay our initiation fee, sign the register and then follow the instructions given us. "I am firmly convinced that your organization is valid, it answers all my questions. You may program me in any way. If you want to put me into difficult situations, do so. I leave everything to you." This attitude supplies the comfort of having to do nothing but follow orders. Everything is left to the other person, to instruct you and relieve you of your shortcomings. But to our surprise things do not work that way. The idea that we do not have to do anything on our own is extremely wishful thinking.
It takes tremendous effort to work one's way through the difficulties of the path and actually get into the situations of life thoroughly and properly. So the whole point of the hard way seems to be that some individual effort must be made by the student to acknowledge himself, to go through the process of unmasking. One must be willing to stand alone, which is difficult.
This is not to say that the point of the hard way is that we must be heroic. The attitude of "heroism" is based upon the assumption that we are bad, impure, that we are not worthy, are not ready for spiritual understanding. We must reform ourselves, be different from what we are. For instance, if we are middle class Americans, we must give up our jobs or drop out of college, move out of our suburban homes, let our hair grow, perhaps try drugs. If we are hippies, we must give up drugs, cut our hair short, throw away our torn jeans. We think that we are special, heroic, that we are turning away from temptation. We become vegetarians and we become this and that. There are so many things to become. We think our path is spiritual because it is literally against the flow of what we used to be, but it is merely the way of false heroism, and the only one who is heroic in this way is ego.

Intro's quote-o-rama

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