Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.
— Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth)
I only see the faults, flaws, the imperfections. That attracts me.
— Yohji Yamamoto (via kimchiandblue)
We love chocolate. Perhaps so much so that on some level we may believe, “As long as I have chocolate, I’ll be happy.” This is the power of attachment at work. And based on this attachment, we create a chocolate-based philosophy and order our life prioritizing chocolate. But sometimes, we can’t get our hands on any chocolate. And when the chocolate disappears, we get nervous, upset: “Oh no! Now I’m unhappy!” But of course it’s not the absence of chocolate that’s making us unhappy; it’s our fixed ideas, and our misunderstanding the nature of chocolate.
— Lama Yeshe, “When the Chocolate Runs Out”
(via journeytoenlightenment)
(via journeytoenlightenment)
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.
— Marcus Aurelius (via journeytoenlightenment)
Re-examine all that you have been told… dismiss that which insults your soul.
— Walt Whitman (via peaceofshell)
If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion, peace. The ego doesn’t like to hear this, because if it cannot be reactive and righteous anymore, it will lose strength.
— Eckhart Tolle (via peaceofshell)
…“Discipline” is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you’re wrong. But self-discipline is different. It’s the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It’s all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all.
— Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Mindfulness in Plain English” (via peaceofshell)
The Buddha compared being angry with picking up hot coals with bare hands and trying to throw them at one’s enemy. Who gets burnt first? The one who’s picking up the coals, of course — the one who is angry. We may not even hit the target we are aiming at, because if that person is clever and practiced enough, he’ll duck — and we shall still have burnt hands.
— Ayya Khema, “When the Iron Eagle Flies” (via journeytoenlightenment)
