Pema Chödrön biodata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pema_Ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n
Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is a notable American figure in Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she is an ordained nun, [1] author, and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage Trungpa founded.
A prolific author, she has conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in Europe, Australia, and throughout North America. She is resident and teacher of Gampo Abbey, a monastery on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.[2]
Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City. She attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, and grew up on a farm in the countryside with an older brother and sister.[3] She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as an elementary school teacher in California and New Mexico before her conversion to Buddhism.
Following a second divorce, Chödrön began to study with Lama Chime Rinpoche in the French Alps. She became a Buddhist nun in 1974 while studying with him in London.[4] She is a fully ordained bhikṣuṇī in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, having received full ordination in Hong Kong in 1981 at the behest of the sixteenth Karmapa. She was probably the first American woman to become fully ordained.[5] She has been instrumental in trying to reestablish full ordination for nuns in the Mulasarvastivadin order, to which all Tibetan Buddhist monastics have traditionally belonged; various conferences have been convened to study the matter.
Chödrön first met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1972 and, at the urging of Chime Rinpoche, took him as her root guru. She studied with him from 1974 until his death in 1987.[6][7] Trungpa's son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, appointed Chödrön an acharya (senior teacher) shortly after assuming leadership of his father's Shambhala lineage in 1992.
Trungpa appointed Chödrön director of the Boulder Shambhala Center (then Boulder Dharmadhatu) in Colorado in the early 1980s.[8] It was during this period that she became ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. Chödrön moved to Gampo Abbey in 1984 and became its director in 1986.[2] There she published her first two books. Her health gradually improved, she claims, with the help of a homeopath and careful attention to diet. In late 2005, Chödrön published No Time to Lose, a commentary on Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. She published Practicing Peace in Times of War in 2006.
Present[edit]
Pema Chödrön is a member of The Committee of Western Bhikshunis, which was formed in 2005.[9] She is currently studying with the Venerable Lama Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, and spends seven months of each year in solitary retreat under his direction in Crestone, Colorado.[10]
Chödrön continues to teach the traditional Yarne (Tib. rainy season; Sanskrit: Vassāvāsa[11]) retreat for monastics at Gampo Abbey each winter. In recent years, she has spent the summers teaching on the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life in Berkeley. A central theme of her teachings is shenpa,[12][13][14] the Tibetan word for "attachment", which she interprets as anger, low self-esteem, or addiction in response to an insult by another person.[13]
Somebody says a mean word to you and then something in you tightens — that's the shenpa. Then it starts to spiral into low self-esteem, or blaming them, or anger at them, denigrating yourself. And maybe if you have strong addictions, you just go right for your addiction to cover over the bad feeling that arose when that person said that mean word to you. This is a mean word that gets you, hooks you. Another mean word may not affect you but we're talking about where it touches that sore place — that's a shenpa. Someone criticizes you — they criticize your work, they criticize your appearance, they criticize your child — and, shenpa: almost co-arising. [15]
Personal life[edit]
Chödrön has two children and three grandchildren, all of whom live in the San Francisco Bay Area except her granddaughter, who resides in Boulder, Colorado.[16]
Bibliography[edit]
Pema Chödrön giving talk from her book "No Time to Lose"
Books The Wisdom of No Escape And The Path of Loving-Kindness. Shambhala Publications, 1991. ISBN 1-57062-872-6
Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living. Shambhala Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-87773-880-7
Awakening Loving-Kindness (abridged version of The Wisdom of No Escape). Shambhala Publications, 1996. ISBN 1-57062-259-0
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. Element Books, 1996. ISBN 1-57062-969-2
Tonglen: The Path of Transformation. Vajradhatu Publications, 2001. ISBN 1-57062- 409-7
The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times Shambhala Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57062-409-7
Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion. Shambhala Publications, 2003. ISBN 1-59030-078-5
No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva. Shambhala Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-59030-135-8
Practicing Peace in Times of War: A Buddhist Perspective Shambhala Publications, September 2006. ISBN 1-59030-401-2
Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves From Old Habits and Fears. Shambhala Publications, 2010 Reprint. ISBN 1-59030-843-3
Audio
Unconditional Confidence: Instructions for Meeting Any Experience with Trust and Courage. Sounds True, Inc, 2009. ISBN 1-59179-746-2
Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality. Sounds True, Inc, 2006. ISBN 1-59179-238-X
Awakening Compassion: Meditation Practice For Difficult Times. Sounds True, Inc, 1995. ISBN 1-56455-314-0
Noble Heart: A Self-Guided Retreat on Befriending Your Obstacles. Sounds True, Inc, 1998. ISBN 1-56455-576-3
Good Medicine: How to Turn Pain into Compassion With Tonglen Meditation. Sounds True, Inc, 2001. ISBN 1-56455-846-0.
Alice Walker and Pema Chōdrōn in Conversation: On the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy. Sounds True, Inc, 1999. ISBN 1-56455-670-0 Pure Meditation: The Tibetan Buddhist Practice of Inner Peace. Sounds True, Inc, 2000. ISBN 1-56455-811-8
Seven Points of Mind Training: Shenpa Teachings. 2006.
Don't Bite the Hook: Finding Freedom from Anger, Resentment, and Other Destructive Emotions. Shambhala Audio, 2007. ISBN 1-59030-434-9
How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind. Sounds True, Inc, 2007. ISBN 1-59179-794-2
Natural Awareness: Guided Meditations & Teachings for Welcoming All Experience. Sounds True, Inc, 2011. ISBN 978-1-60407-435-2
Compilations
The Compassion Box - includes Start Where You Are, a set of 59 slogan cards with brief commentaries, and a CD of tonglen meditation instruction. Shambhala Publications, 2003. ISBN 1-59030-075-0
Quotes
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/8052.Pema_Ch_dr_n
1. “The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes. ”
2.
3. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”
4.
5. “…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
6.
7. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
8. ― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
9. tags: courage, mindfulness, pain, self-assessment, self-awareness, truth 215 people liked it like
10.“People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.”
11.― Pema Chödrön
12.tags: buddhism, shambhala 207 people liked it like
13.“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth”
14.― Pema Chödrön
15.206 people liked it like
16.“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”
17.― Pema Chödrön, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
18.tags: compassion 203 people liked it like
19.“The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.”
20.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice For Difficult Times
21.195 people liked it like
22.“Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody's eyes because you feel you haven't got anything to lose--you're just there. The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We'd be so depressed, discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn't have enough energy to eat an apple. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.”
23.― Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living
24.188 people liked it like
25.“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”
26.― Pema Chödrön
27.180 people liked it like
28.“Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.”
29.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
30.tags: self-assessment 177 people liked it like
31.“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.”
32.― Pema Chödrön
33.157 people liked it like
34.“You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.”
35.― Pema Chödrön
36.tags: calm, sky, weather 133 people liked it like
37.“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.”
38.― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to Love Yourself and Your World
39.129 people liked it like
40.“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.”
41.― Pema Chödrön
42.126 people liked it like
43.“Most of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy. We use all kinds of ways to escape -- all addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain.”
44.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Hard Times
45.108 people liked it like
46.“I used to have a sign pinned up on my wall that read: Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us...It was all about letting go of everything. p.7”
47.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
48.tags: inspirational 107 people liked it like
49.“Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear? ”
50.― Pema Chödrön 51.102 people liked it like
52.“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. (10)”
53.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Hard Times
54.101 people liked it like
55.“If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart...”
56.― Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living
57.tags: awakening, buddhism, mindfulness 99 people liked it like
58.“We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.”
59.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice For Difficult Times
60.98 people liked it like
61.“When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being and of reality, you increase your capacity to love and care about other people and your capacity to not be afraid. You're able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open. And you notice when you get caught up in prejudice, bias, and aggression. You develop an enthusiasm for no longer watering those negative seeds, from now until the day you die. And, you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently.”
62. “A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us. ”
63.― Pema Chödrön, The Places that Scare You
64.tags: fear, health, trembling 95 people liked it like
65.“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ” 66.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
67.95 people liked it like
68.“When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality. (9)”
69.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Hard Times
70.86 people liked it like
71.“We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society.
72.
73.It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others....Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.”
74.― Pema Chödrön
75.tags: blame, compassion, inspiration 82 people liked it like
76.“Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what's out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.”
77.― Pema Chödrön
78.tags: ecsbjy 74 people liked it like
79.“As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution. However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution. We don't deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.”
80.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
81.tags: buddhism, uncertainty 73 people liked it like
82.“We can spend our whole lives escaping from the monsters of our minds. (36)” 83.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Hard Times
84. “Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, "May I have permission to go into battle with you?" Fear said, "Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission." Then the young warrior said, "How can I defeat you?" Fear replied, "My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power." In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. ”
85.― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.If we really want to communicate, we have to give up knowing what to do. When we come in with our agendas, they only block us from seeing the person in front of us. It’s best to drop our five-year plans and accept the awkward sinking feeling that we are entering a situation naked. We don’t know what will happen or what we’ll do.
93.Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.
94.Whatever you are doing, take the attitude of wanting it directly or indirectly to benefit others. Take the attitude of wanting it to increase your experience of kinship with your fellow beings.
95.At the level of absolute truth, there is no reason to suffer. But at the relative level, we’re all in considerable pain. The cause of our discontent is our mistaken feeling of separateness. This isn’t based on anything tangible. It’s based on beliefs and concepts. The duality of subject and object, self and other, is an illusion imputed by the mind.
This absolute understanding is arrived at through the practice of letting go. Meanwhile, we can work at the level of everyday pain and treat other people’s suffering as our own.
96.None of us wants to be miserable; we all want to be happy. But we can’t achieve this aim is we stay stuck in biased, narrow-minded thinking. No matter how much we long for joy, it will elude us if we continue buying into concepts of right and wrong, good and bad, acceptance and rejection. What ultimately frees us from these constricting patterns is to stop reifying our experience, and to connect with the ineffable, groundless nature of all phenomena.
97.Meditation takes us just as we are
98.Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri, or unconditional friendliness, a simple, direct relationship with the way we are.
99.~ Pema Chodron
100.
101.
102. it is only to the extent that we are
103. it is only to the extent that we are willing to expose ourselves again and again to annihilation that we are able to find that part of ourselves that is indestructible.
104. Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.
105. If you have rage and righteously act it out and blame it all on others, it's really you who suffers. The other people and the environment suffer also, but you suffer more because you're being eaten up inside with rage, causing you to hate yourself more and more
106. The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.
107. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need in order to open your heart.
108. Underneath all that craving or aversion or jealousy or feeling wretched about yourself, underneath all that hopelessness and despair and depression, there’s something extremely soft, which is called bodhicitta. 109. Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
110. The happiness we seek is our birthright. To discover it we need to be more gentle with ourselves, more compassionate toward ourselves and our universe. The happiness we seek cannot be found through grasping, trying to hold on to things. It cannot be found through getting serious and uptight about wanting things to go in the direction we think will bring happiness. We are always taking hold of the wrong end of the stick. The point is that the happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through relaxation and letting go rather than through struggle.
111. I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight. I have to deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence. A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.
112. First, come into the present. Flash on what’s happening with you right now. Be fully aware of your body, its energetic quality. Be aware of your thoughts and emotions.
Next, feel your heart, literally placing your hand on your chest if you find that helpful. This is a way of accepting yourself just as you are in that moment, a way of saying, “This is my experience right now, and it’s okay.” Then go into the next moment without any agenda. 113. Why is it so important to have a teacher? When you’re with a teacher, their wisdom resonates with your wisdom. It transcends the two personalities.
114. Opening to the world begins to benefit ourselves and others simultaneously. The more we relate with others, the more quickly we discover where we're blocked.
115. Every act counts. Every thought and emotion counts too. This is all the path we have. This is where we apply the teachings. This is where we come to understand why we meditate. We are only going to be here for a short while. Even if we live to be 108, our life will be too short for witnessing all its wonders. The dharma is each act, each thought, each word we speak. Are we at least willing to catch ourselves spinning off and to do that without embarrassment? Do we at least aspire to not consider ourselves a problem, but simply a pretty typical human being who could at that moment give him- or herself a break and stop being so predictable? My experience is that this is how our thoughts begin to slow down. Magically, it seems that there’s a lot more space to breathe, a lot more room to dance, and a lot more happiness. 116.
117. The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.
118. ~ Pema Chodron
119.
120.
121. If it weren’t for my mind
122. If it weren't for my mind, my meditation would be excellent.
123. ~ Pema Chodron
124.
125.
126. Nothing ever goes away until it has taught
127. Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to learn
128. ~ Pema Chodron
129.
130.
131. The most difficult times for many of us
132. The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.
133. ~ Pema Chodron
134.
135.
136. The future is completely open
137. The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment. 138. ~ Pema Chodron
139.
140.
141. The only reason we don’t open our hearts
142. The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.
143. ~ Pema Chodron
144.
145.
146. Meditation is about seeing clearly
147. Meditation is about seeing clearly the body that we have, the mind that we have, the domestic situation that we have, the job that we have, and the people who are in our lives. It's about seeing how we react to all these things. It's seeing our emotions and thoughts just as they are right now, in this very moment, in this very room, on this very seat. It's about not trying to make them go away, not trying to become better than we are, but just seeing clearly with precision and gentleness.
148. ~ Pema Chodron
149.
150.
151. You are the sky
152. You are the sky. Everything else – it's just the weather.
153. ~ Pema Chodron
154.
155.
156. It’s helpful to remind yourself that
157. It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing. 158. ~ Pema Chodron
159.
160.
161. Rejoicing in ordinary things is not
162. Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior's world.
163. ~ Pema Chodron
164.
165.
166. The greatest obstacle to connecting with
167. The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.
168. ~ Pema Chodron
169.
170.
171. The happiness we seek cannot be found
172. The happiness we seek cannot be found through grasping, trying to hold on to things. It cannot be found through getting serious and uptight about wanting things to go in the direction we think will bring happiness. We are always taking hold of the wrong end of the stick. The point is that the happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through relaxation and letting go rather than through struggle.
173. ~ Pema Chodron
174. We are like children building a sand
175. We are like children building a sand castle. We embellish it with beautiful shells, bits of driftwood, and pieces of colored glass. The castle is ours, off limits to others. We're willing to attack if others threaten to hurt it. Yet despite all our attachment, we know that the tide will inevitably come in and sweep the sand castle away. The trick is to enjoy it fully but without clinging, and when the time comes, let it dissolve back into the sea.
176. ~ Pema Chodron 177.
178.
179. All situations teach you
180. All situations teach you, and often it's the tough ones that teach you best.
181. ~ Pema Chodron
182.
183.
184.
185. People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.
186.
187. Pema Chodron
188.
189.
190. http://blog.gaiam.com/quotes/authors/pema-chodron
191.
192. Contributed by: ~Matthew
193. Permalink
194. A Quote by Pema Chodron on spiritual path
195. in spiritual path
196. When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.
197.
198.
199. in goodness intelligence wisdom
200. There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness.
201.
202. Pema Chodron
203.
204. Contributed by: ~Matthew
205. Permalink
206. A Quote by Pema Chodron on compassionate action
207. in compassionate action
208. Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live.
209.
210. Pema Chodron
211.
212. Source: In The Gap Between Right and Wrong
213. Contributed by: ~Matthew
214. Permalink
215. A Quote by Pema Chodron on heart
216. in heart
217. We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society. It is a very common, ancient, well- perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others. Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.
218.
219. Pema Chodron
220.
221. Source: In The Gap Between Right and Wrong
222. Contributed by: ~Matthew
223. Permalink
224. A Quote by Pema Chodron on gentleness, heart, and warmth
225. in gentleness heart warmth
226. When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.
227.
228. Pema Chodron
229.
230. Contributed by: ~Matthew
231. Permalink
232. A Quote by Pema Chodron on fear and health
233. in fear health
234. A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.
235.
236. Pema Chodron
237. 238. Contributed by: ~Matthew
239. Permalink
240. A Quote by Pema Chodron
241. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.
242.
243. Pema Chodron
244.
245. Contributed by: ~Matthew
246. Permalink
247. A Quote by Pema Chodron on unique, egoless, and moment
248. in egoless moment unique
249. Every moment is unique, unknown, completely fresh.
250.
251. Pema Chodron
252.
253. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics), Pages: 21
254. Contributed by: CoastalSerenity
255. Permalink
256. A Quote by Pema Chodron on ego, self, awakening, and enlightenment
257. in awakening ego enlightenment self
258. You're the only one who knows when you're using things to protect yourself and keep your ego together and when you're opening and letting things fall apart, letting the world come as it is - working with it rather than struggling against it. You're the only one who knows.
259.
260. Pema Chodron 261.
262. Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe.
263.
264. Pema Chodron
265.
266. Contributed by: Siona
267. Permalink
268. A Quote by Pema Chodron on humanity, loneliness, life, and belonging
269. in belonging humanity life loneliness
270. Better to join in with humanity than to set ourselves apart.
271.
272. Pema Chodron
273.
274. Contributed by: Siona
275. Permalink
276. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron, the wisdom of no escape, buddhism, pain, pleasure, meditation, courage, and growth
277. in buddhism courage growth meditation pain pema chodron pleasure The Wisdom of No Escape
278. There's a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You can see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same.
279.
280. A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is.
281.
282. Pema Chodron
283.
284. Source: The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving Kindness (Shambhala Classics), Pages: 3
285. Contributed by: crow
286. Permalink
287. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism
288. in buddhism
289. “An analogy for bodhichitta is the rawness of a broken heart. Sometimes this broken heart gives birth to anxiety and panic, sometimes to anger, resentment, and blame. But under the hardness of that armor there is the tenderness of genuine sadness. This is our link with all those who have ever loved. This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we’re arrogant and soften us when we are unkind. It awakens us when we prefer to sleep and pierces through our indifference. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all.”
290.
291. Pema Chodron
292.
293. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
294. Contributed by: carleen
295. Permalink
296. A Quote by Pema Chodron on presence, openness, and practice
297. in openness practice presence 298. If your everyday practice is open to all your emotions, to all the people you meet, to all the situations you encounter, without closing down, trusting that you can do that - then that will take you are far as you can go. And then you'll understand all the teachings that anyone has ever taught.
299.
300. Pema Chodron
301.
302. Contributed by: MP
303. Permalink
304. A Quote by Pema Chodron on womenswisdom
305. in womenswisdom
306. When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space."
307.
308. Pema Chodron
309.
310. Contributed by: Peridot
311. Permalink
312. A Quote by Pema Chodron on bodhichitta, compassion, love, sadness, the places that scare you, pema chodron, and broken heart
313. in bodhichitta broken heart compassion love pema chodron sadness The Places That Scare You
314. "Sometimes the completely open heart and mind of bhodichitta is called the soft spot, a place as vulnerable and tender as an open wound. It is equated, in part, with our ability to love. [...]
315.
316. Sometimes this broken heart gives birth to anxiety and panic, sometimes to anger, resentment, and blame. But under the hardness of that armor there is the tenderness of genuine sadness. This is our link with all those who have ever loved. This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind. It awakens us when we prefer to sleep and pierces through our indifference. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all."
317.
318. Pema Chodron
319.
320. Source: The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, Pages: 4
321. Contributed by: crow
322. Permalink
323. A Quote by Pema Chodron on spirituality and enlightenment
324. in enlightenment spirituality
325. Enlightenment is a direct experience with reality.
326.
327. Pema Chodron
328.
329. Contributed by: Aja
330. Permalink
331. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron, ego, peace, fear, irratable, and happiness
332. in ego fear Happiness irratable Peace pema chodron
333. Ego is like a room of your own, a room with a view with the temperature and the smells and the music that you like. You want it your own way. You'd just like to have a little peace, you'd like to have a little happiness, you know, just gimme a break. But the more you think that way, the more you try to get life to come out so that it will always suit you, the more your dear of other people and what's outside your room grows. Rather than becoming more relaxed, you start pulling down the shades and locking the door. When you do go out, you find the experience more and more unsettling and disagreeable. You become touchier, more fearful, more irritable than ever. The more you try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.
334.
335. Pema Chodron
336.
337. Contributed by: David
338. Permalink
339. A Quote by Pema Chodron on fundamental, hope, better, me, emerge, jump, and ourselves
340. in better emerge fundamental hope jump me ourselves
341. We can drop the fundamental hope that there is a better "me" who one day will emerge. We can't just jump over ourselves as if we were not there.
342.
343. Pema Chodron
344.
345. The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new. Pema Chodron
346.
347. Pema Chodron
348.
349. Contributed by: tracey
350. Permalink
351. A Quote by Pema Chodron
352. It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now... with its aches and it pleasures... is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive.
353.
354. Pema Chodron
355. 356. Contributed by: Fiona
357. Permalink
358. A Quote by Pema Chodron on heart, save the world, buddhism, and pema chodron
359. in buddhism heart pema chodron save the world
360. It isn't that we say, "It doesn't matter about me all that much, but if I changed the world, it would be better for other people." It's less complicated than that. We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.
361.
362. Pema Chodron
363.
364. Source: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pages: 100
365. Contributed by: Phaedrus
366. Permalink
367. A Quote by Pema Chodron
368. "...Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know."
369.
370. Pema Chodron
371.
372. Source: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pages: 40
373. Contributed by: Phaedrus
374. Permalink
375. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism, perception, and suffering
376. in buddhism perception suffering 377. It isn't the things that are happening to us that cause us to suffer, it's what we say to ourselves about the things that are happening.
378.
379. Pema Chodron
380.
381. Source: Talking to Ourselves
382. Contributed by: Jessica
383. Permalink
384. A Quote by Pema Chodron on meditation
385. in meditation
386. Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away or become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.
387.
388. Pema Chodron
389.
390. Source: Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion
391. Contributed by: D
392. Permalink
393. A Quote by Pema Chodron on equanimity, pain, pleasure, punishment, and reward
394. in equanimity pain pleasure punishment reward
395. Pain is not a punishment; pleasure is not a reward.
396.
397. Pema Chodron
398.
399. Source: Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion 400. Contributed by: namlet
401. Permalink
402. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism, patterns, karma, and practice
403. in buddhism karma Patterns practice
404. Our patterns are well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wanting for them to be ventilated isn’t enough. Those of us who struggle with this know.
405.
406. Pema Chodron
407.
408. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
409. Contributed by: Jessica
410. Permalink
411. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism, practice, delusion, and reality
412. in buddhism delusion practice reality
413. As we practice, we begin to know the difference between our fantasy and reality.
414.
415. Pema Chodron
416.
417. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
418. Contributed by: Jessica
419. Permalink
420. A Quote by Pema Chodron on practice, buddhism, and emotions
421. in buddhism emotions practice
422. The essence of practice is always the same: instead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we gradually learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
423.
424. Pema Chodron
425.
426.
427. My moods are continuously shifting like the weather.
428.
429. Pema Chodron
430.
431. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
432. Contributed by: Jessica
433. Permalink
434. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism and impermanence
435. in buddhism impermanence
436. That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence. It is the ordinary state of affairs. Everything is in process. Everything—every tree, every blade of grass, all the animals, insects, human beings, buildings, the animate and the inanimate—is always changing, moment to moment.
437.
438. Pema Chodron
439.
440. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
441. Contributed by: Jessica
442. Permalink
443. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism, thoughts, and attachment
444. in attachment buddhism thoughts 445. Sometimes we find that we like our thoughts so much that we don’t want to let them go.
446.
447. Pema Chodron
448.
449. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
450. Contributed by: Jessica
451. Permalink
452. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism, patterns, karma, habits, and practice
453. in buddhism habits karma Patterns practice
454. Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum and don’t interrupt our patterns slightly. When we feel betrayed or disappointed, does it occur to us to practice?
455.
456. Pema Chodron
457.
458. Source: The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
459. Contributed by: Jessica
460. Permalink
461. A Quote by Pema Chodron on hope, fear, spirituality, journey, compassion, and life
462. in compassion fear hope journey life spirituality
463. Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we would like to dream about. The off-center, in between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don't get caught, and in which we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit.
464. 465. The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be to just keep moving. Usually, when we reach our limit, we feel exactly like Rinpoche's attendants and freeze in terror. Our bodies freeze and so do our minds. Rather than indulge or reject our experience, we can somehow let the energy of the emotion, the quality of what we're feeling pierce us to the heart. This is a noble way to live. It’s the path of compassion - the path of cultivating human bravery and kindheartedness.
466.
467. Pema Chodron
468.
469. Source: When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
470. Contributed by: Siona
471. Permalink
472. A Quote by Pema Chodron on feeling, emotion, and communication
473. in communication emotion feeling
474. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space where we're not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly.
475.
476. Pema Chodron
477.
478. Source: When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
479. Contributed by: Siona
480. Permalink
481. A Quote by Pema Chodron on compassion, practice, and communication
482. in communication compassion practice 483. When we talk of compassion, we usually mean working with those less fortunate than ourselves. Because we have better opportunities, a good education, and good health, we should be compassionate toward those poor people who don't have any of that. However, in working with the teachings on how to awaken compassion and in trying to help others, we might come to realize that compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others. Compassionate action is a practice, one of the most advanced. There's nothing more advanced than relating with others. There's nothing more advanced than communication -- compassionate communication.
484.
485. Pema Chodron
486.
487. Source: When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
488. Contributed by: Siona
489. Permalink
490. A Quote by Pema Chodron on compassion, emptiness, freedom, and pain
491. in compassion emptiness freedom pain
492. Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet. For instance, if what we're feeling is rage, we usually assume that there are only two ways to relate to it. One is to blame others. Lay it all on somebody else; drive all blames into everyone else. The other alternative is to feel guilty about our rage and blame ourselves.
493.
494. Pema Chodron
495.
496. Source: When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
497. Contributed by: Siona
498. Permalink 499. A Quote by Pema Chodron on compassion, communication, change, self, and mindfulness
500. in change communication compassion mindfulness self
501. This leads to a bigger underlying issue for all of us: How are we ever going to change anything? How is there going to be less aggression in the universe rather than more? We can then bring it down to a more personal level: how do I learn to communicate with somebody who is hurting me or someone who is hurting a lot of people? How do I speak to someone so that some change actually occurs? How do I communicate so that the space opens up and both of us begin to touch in to some kind of basic intelligence that we all share? In a potentially violent encounter, how do I communicate so that neither of us becomes increasingly furious and aggressive? How do I communicate to the heart so that a stuck situation can ventilate? How do I communicate so that things that seem frozen, unworkable, and eternally aggressive begin to soften up, and some kind of compassionate exchange begins to happen?
502.
503. Well, it starts with being willing to feel what we are going through. It starts with being willing to have a compassionate relationship with the parts of ourselves that we feel are not worthy of existing on the planet. If we are willing through meditation to be mindful not only of what feels comfortable, but also of what pain feels like, if we even aspire to stay awake and open to what we're feeling, to recognize and acknowledge it as best we can in each moment, then something begins to change.
504.
505. Pema Chodron
506.
507. Source: When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
508. Contributed by: Siona
509. Permalink
510. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
511. in buddhism pema chodron
512. Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggression 513. at our own minds. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we
514. ought to be, or who we think we want to be, or who we think other people
515. think we want to be or ought to be. We give it up and just look directly
516. with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and
517. heartache, no punishment.
518.
519. Pema Chodron
520.
521. Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
522.
523. Pema Chodron
524.
525. Contributed by: David Monk
526. Permalink
527. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
528. in buddhism pema chodron
529. A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.
530.
531. Pema Chodron
532.
533. Contributed by: David Monk
534. Permalink
535. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism 536. in buddhism pema chodron
537. People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.
538.
539. Pema Chodron
540.
541. Contributed by: David Monk
542. Permalink
543. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
544. in buddhism pema chodron
545. If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
546.
547. Pema Chodron
548.
549. Contributed by: David Monk
550. Permalink
551. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
552. in buddhism pema chodron
553. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.
554.
555. Pema Chodron 556.
557. Contributed by: David Monk
558. Permalink
559. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
560. in buddhism pema chodron
561. “What's encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we're closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.”
562.
563. Pema Chodron
564.
565. Contributed by: David Monk
566. Permalink
567. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
568. in buddhism pema chodron
569. Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.
570.
571. Pema Chodron
572.
573. Contributed by: David Monk
574. Permalink
575. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
576. in buddhism pema chodron
577.
578. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.
579. 580. Pema Chodron
581.
582. Contributed by: David Monk
583. Permalink
584. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
585. in buddhism pema chodron
586. We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
587.
588. Pema Chodron
589.
590. Contributed by: David Monk
591. Permalink
592. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
593. in buddhism pema chodron
594. Ego could be defined as whatever covers up basic goodness. From an experiential point of view, what is ego covering up? It's covering up our experience of just being here, just fully being where we are, so that we can relate with the immediacy of our experience. Egolessness is a state of mind that has complete confidence in the sacredness of the world. It is unconditional well being, unconditional joy that includes all the different qualities of our experience.
595.
596. Pema Chodron
597.
598. “When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.”
599. 600. Pema Chodron
601.
602. Contributed by: David Monk
603. Permalink
604. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
605. in buddhism pema chodron
606. If you follow your heart, you're going to find that it is often extremely inconvenient.
607.
608. Pema Chodron
609.
610. Source: Pema Chodron
611. Contributed by: David Monk
612. Permalink
613. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
614. in buddhism pema chodron
615. The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
616.
617. Pema Chodron
618.
619. Contributed by: David Monk
620. Permalink
621. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
622. in buddhism pema chodron
623. When things are properly understood, one's whole life is like a ritual or ceremony. 624.
625. Pema Chodron
626.
627. Contributed by: David Monk
628. Permalink
629. A Quote by Pema Chodron on pema chodron and buddhism
630. in buddhism pema chodron
631. Compassion starts with making friends with ourselves -- particularly with our poisons.
632.
633. Pema Chodron
634.
635. Contributed by: David Monk
636. Permalink
637. A Quote by Pema Chodron on compassion
638. in compassion
639. Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
640.
641. Pema Chodron
642.
643. Contributed by: James
644. Permalink
645. A Quote by Pema Chodron on compassion and interconnection
646. in compassion interconnection
647. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. 648.
649. Pema Chodron
650.
651. Source: Unknown
652. Contributed by: James
653. Permalink
654. A Quote by Pema Chodron
655. Get used to the feeling of falling.
656.
657. Pema Chodron
658.
659. Contributed by: Tsultrim
660. Permalink
661. A Quote by Pema Chodron
662. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we go.
663.
664.
665. Pema Chodron
666.
667. Contributed by: Rita
668. Permalink
669. A Quote by Pema Chodron on buddhism
670. in buddhism
671.
672.
673. 674. The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.
675.
676. Pema Chodron
677.
678. There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life, twenty-four hours a day.
679.
680. Pema Chodron
681.
682. Contributed by: D
683. Permalink
684. A Quote by Pema Chodron on death, earth, force, justice, life, energy, sharing, water, and world
685. in death earth energy force justice life sharing water world
686. It's said that when we die, the four elements - earth, air, fire and water - dissolve one by one, each into the other, and finally just dissolve into space. But while we're living, we share the energy that makes everything, from a blade of grass to an elephant, grow and live and then inevitably wear out and die. This energy, this life force, creates the whole world.
687.
688. Pema Chodron
689.
690.
691.
692.
693. 694.
695.
696. Tweets
697. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 28 Jun
698. There seems to be a need to change the fundamental pattern of always protecting against anything touching our soft spot.
699. Expand
700. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 27 Jun
701. When something comes along that doesn’t squeeze and poke and irritate us, we grasp it for dear life and want it to last forever.
702. Expand
703. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Jun
704. If there’s lots of ego, then we’re always getting squeezed and poked and irritated by everything that comes along.
705. Expand
706. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Jun
707. [W]hen things are really heavy and you feel stuck in either your joy or your misery, just do something different to change the pattern.
708. Expand
709. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 24 Jun
710. We are so locked into this sense of burden—Big Deal Joy and Big Deal Unhappiness—that it’s sometimes helpful just to change the pattern.
711. Expand
712. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Jun
713. Curiosity encourages cheering up. So does simply remembering to do something different.
714. Expand
715. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Jun
716. Notice everything. Appreciate everything, including the ordinary. That’s how to click in with joyfulness or cheerfulness.
717. Expand
718. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 21 Jun
719. In addition to a sense of humor, a basic support 4 a joyful mind is curiosity, paying attention, taking an interest in the world around you.
720. Expand
721. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 Jun
722. The key to feeling at home w/ your body, mind, and emotions, to feeling worthy to live on this planet, comes from being able to lighten up.
723. Expand
724. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 Jun
725. [I]t all comes down to how you relate to things—whether you continue to struggle against everything… or you begin to work with things.
726. Expand
727. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 19 Jun
728. If there’s some sense of wanting to change yourself, then it comes from a place of feeling that you’re not good enough.
729. Expand
730. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 19 Jun
731. Resistance is really what causes the pain; more than the anger itself, or the jealousy itself, it’s resistance that causes the pain.
732. Expand
733. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 18 Jun
734. One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not good enough.
735. Expand
736. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 18 Jun
737. As long as you have an orientation toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are. 738. Expand
739. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 17 Jun
740. One of the most powerful teachings of the Buddhist tradition is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will.
741. Expand
742. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 17 Jun
743. [L]et go of the story line, let go of the conversation, and own your feeling completely. -Pema Chödrön
744. Expand
745. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 16 Jun
746. Patience and nonaggression are basically encouragement to wait.
747. -Pema Chödrön
748. Expand
749. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Jun
750. The basis of... compassionate action is the insight that the others who seem to be out there are some kind of mirror image of ourselves.
751. Expand
752. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Jun
753. Rather than always trying to get security, you begin to develop an attitude of wanting to step into uncharted territory.
754. Expand
755. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 Jun
756. We realize that this separateness we feel is a funny kind of mistake.
757. -Pema Chödrön
758. Expand
759. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 Jun
760. The concepts of problem and solution can keep us stuck in thinking that there is an enemy and a saint or a right way and a wrong way. 761. Expand
762. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 Jun
763. This is not about problem resolution. This is more open-ended and courageous approach. It has to do with not knowing what will happen.
764. Expand
765. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 Jun
766. Sometimes when you’re feeling miserable, you challenge people to see if they will still like you when you show them how ugly you can get.
767. Expand
768. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 Jun
769. The basic ground of compassionate action is the importance of working with rather than struggling against... -Pema Chödrön
770. Expand
771. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 Jun
772. The lojong teachings say that the way to help, the way to act compassionately, is to exchange oneself for other.
773. -Pema Chödrön
774. Expand
775. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 Jun
776. not to learn how to prove them wrong and yourself right but how to communicate from the heart. -Pema Chödrön [2/2]
777. Expand
778. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 Jun
779. The next step is to learn to communicate with the people that you feel are causing your pain and misery— [1/2]
780. Expand
781. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 Jun
782. [W]e can also just see what we do—not only w/ honesty but also w/ a sense of humor—& then keep going & not make a whole identity out of it. 783. Expand
784. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 Jun
785. [W]e have all these ways of keeping the “us and them” story solid and strong. That’s what causes all the pain on this earth...
786. Expand
787. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 Jun
788. The aspiration to communicate with another person—to be able to listen and to speak from the heart—is what changes our old stuck patterns.
789. Expand
790. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 21 May
791. Don’t always react so predictably to pleasure and pain.
792. -Pema Chödrön
793. Expand
794. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 May
795. The next moment is always fresh and open. You don’t have to get frozen in an identity of any kind.
796. -Pema Chödrön
797. Expand
798. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 19 May
799. Another part of taking responsibility is gentleness, which goes along with not judging, not calling things right or wrong... -Pema Chödrön
800. Expand
801. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 18 May
802. [P]art of taking responsibility is the quality of being able to see things very clearly. -Pema Chödrön
803. Expand
804. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 17 May
805. When you do the practice both for all sentient beings and for yourself, you begin to realize that self and other are not actually different. 806. Expand
807. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 16 May
808. Their story line is different, but the feeling of pain is the same. -Pema Chödrön
809. Expand
810. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 15 May
811. When you connect with your own suffering, reflect that countless beings at this very moment are feeling exactly what you feel.
812. [W]hat people really need is for others not to be afraid of them and not distance themselves from them.
813. The key to compassionate action is this: everybody needs someone to be there for them, simply to be there.
814. The process is the main thing, not the fruition.
815. [E]verything you say & do & think can support your desire to… step out of this myth of isolation & separateness...
816. Resentment becomes a reminder not to feel bad about ourselves but to open further to the pain and to the awkwardness.
817. Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully. It’s a reminder to stop talking; watch and listen.
818. We could say, “All activities should be done with the intention of communicating.”
819. If you think smoking is hard to give up, try giving up your habitual patterns.
820. If everybody on the planet could experience seeing what they do with gentleness, everything would start to turn around very fast...
821. We don’t get wise by staying in a room with all the doors and windows closed. -Pema Chödrön
822. [T]rying to smooth everything out to avoid confrontation, not to rock the boat, is not what’s meant by compassion or patience.
823. Patience means allowing things to unfold at their own speed rather than jumping in with your habitual response to either pain or pleasure. 824. One of the slogans is “Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.” Whether it is glorious or wretched, delightful or hateful, be patient.
825. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.
826. Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. -Pema Chödrön
827. There is often a discrepancy between our ideals and what we actually encounter.
828. Every time your buttons get pushed is like a big mirror showing you your own face...
829. Maitri—loving-kindness—has to go very deep, because when you practice it, you’re going to see everything about yourself.
830. The more you’re willing to open your heart, the more challenges come along that make you want to shut it.
831. We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
832. [O]ur ways of shutting down and closing off are rooted in the mistaken thinking that the way to get happy is to blame somebody else.
833. Let everything stop your mind and let everything open your heart.
834. To observe the bodhisattva vow is to exchange ourselves for others and develop compassion for ourselves and others.
835. Moment after moment, let yourself die wholeheartedly.
836. Don’t be afraid of losing ground or of things falling apart or of not having it all together.
837. [B]odhichitta can, if we let it, transform any activity, word, or thought into a vehicle for awakening our compassion.
838. The central question of a warrior’s training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.
839. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next.
840. “Doing something different” is anything that interrupts our ancient habit of tenaciously indulging in our emotions.
841. When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta? 842. [T]o be gentle & create an atmosphere of compassion for yourself, it’s necessary to stop talking to yourself about how wrong everything is…
843. Use the tonglen practice to see how you can place the anger or the fear or the loneliness in a cradle of loving-kindness...
844. [W]e’re afraid that this anger or sorrow or loneliness is going to last forever.... Instead, acting it out is what makes it last.
845. If you aren’t feeding the fire of anger or the fire of craving by talking to yourself, then the fire doesn’t have anything to feed on.
846. Try dropping the object of the blame or the object of what you think is wrong.
847. [W]hen we start blaming and talking to ourselves, things seem to have a beginning, a middle, and no end.
848. One way of beginning to practice “Drive all blames into one” is to begin to notice what it feels like when you blame someone else.
849. When the world is filled with ego clinging or with attachment to a particular outcome, there is a lot of pain.
850. You drive all blames into yourself. It take a lot of bravery, & it’s extremely insulting to ego... it destroys the whole mechanism of ego.
851. [A]llow yourself to feel wounded first and then try to figure out what is the right speech and right action that might follow. -Pema Chödrön
852. The path of not being caught in ego is a process of surrendering to situations in order to communicate rather than win.
853. Helping yourself or someone else has to do with opening and just being there; that’s how something happens between people.
854. No one else knows what it takes for another person to open the door.
855. “Be grateful to everyone” means that all situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best.
856. The people who repel us unwittingly show us the aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, which otherwise we can't see.
857. The slogan “Be grateful to everyone” is about making peace with the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected.
858. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings. 859. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us.
860. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world.
861. The journey is all there is, really. The future never comes, because it's always the present moment.
862. You keep thinking, erroneously,"Well, other people have it together,&if I could just scramble enough, I could avoid all these bad feelings."
863. The Buddha said no, it's a myth to think that you can get all the pieces to line up so that everything goes your way.
864. But when you let things be as they are, you will be a much happier, more balanced, compassionate person.
865. Finally somebody told the truth. Suffering is part of life,& we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move.
866. The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong. What a relief.
867. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness,any gesture of gentleness,any gesture of honesty…will affect how you experience your world.
868. What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.
869. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
870. The reason that people harm other people,the reason that the planet is polluted…is that individuals don’t know/trust/love themselves enough.
871. Expand
872. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 24 Nov
873. The reason that people harm other people... is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough. -Pema Chödrön
874. Expand
875. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 24 Nov
876. The reason we’re often not there for others… is that we’re not there for ourselves. -Pema Chödrön 877. Expand
878. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Nov
879. There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away.
880. Expand
881. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Nov
882. [W]e could relate compassionately with that which we prefer to push away,& we could learn to give away & share that which we hold most dear.
883. Expand
884. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Nov
885. [I]t is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads naturally to unconditional compassion for others. -Pema Chödrön
886. Expand
887. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Nov
888. [I]n this present age it is necessary to also emphasize that the first step is to develop compassion for our own wounds. -Pema Chödrön
889. Expand
890. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 21 Nov
891. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are… letting concepts & ideals fall apart. -Pema Chödrön
892. Expand
893. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 21 Nov
894. What makes maitri [loving-kindness] such a different approach is that we are not trying to solve a problem.
895. Expand
896. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 Nov
897. In the morning you feel one way; in the afternoon, it can seem as if years have passed.It’s just astounding how it all just keeps moving on.
898. Expand 899. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 Nov
900. There’s always something happening that you can’t pin down with words or thoughts.
901. [A]ll the passion that’s connected with these thoughts, or all the aggression or all the heartbreak, is simply passing memory.
902. When we contemplate all dharmas as dreams and regard all our thoughts as passing memory…then things will not appear to be so monolithic.
903. Every time your stream of thoughts solidifies into a heavy story line that seems to be taking you elsewhere, label that “thinking.”
904. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It’s not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes.
905. One way to pull out your own rug is by just letting go, lightening up, being more gentle, and not making such a big deal.
906. [T]his shield—this cocoon—is just made up of thoughts that we churn out and regard as solid… it’s made out of passing memory.
907. The armor we erect around our soft hearts causes a lot of misery. But don’t be deceived, it’s very transparent.
908. Expand
909. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Nov
910. Regard all dharmas as dreams. With our minds we make a big deal out of ourselves, out of our pain, and out of our problems.
911. “Regard all dharma as dreams.” ... As the slogan says, each situation & even each word & thought & emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
912. The key is, it’s no big deal. We could all just lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams.
913. The first of the absolute slogans is “Regard all dharma as dreams.” More simply, regard everything as a dream.
914. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream....“Every situation is a passing memory.”
915. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred.There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
916. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
917. If we don’t get swept away by our outrage, then we will see the cause of suffering more clearly.
918. When we don’t buy into our opinions and solidify the sense of enemy, we will accomplish something.
919. It starts w/ seeing our opinions of ourselves & of others as simply our take on reality¬ making them a reason to increase the negativity…
920. The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy.
921. The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval.When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.
922. Expand
923. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 15 Oct
924. Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves, “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”
925. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever.
926. Begin to get the hang of feeling what’s underneath the story line. Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath the addiction, self-loathing…
927. Drop the story line, which means—instead of acting out/repressing— use the situation as an opportunity to feel your heart, to feel the wound.
928. When these things arise, train gradually and very gently without making it into a big deal.
929. By acting out or repressing we invite suffering, bewilderment, or confusion to intensify.
930. Acting out and repressing are the main ways that we shield our hearts, the main ways that we never really connect with our vulnerability…
931. There’s nothing really wrong w/passion or aggression or ignorance,except that we take it so personally&therefore waste all that juicy stuff.
932. All this messy stuff is your richness, but saying this once is not going to convince you. 933. Whatever you do, don’t try to make the poisons go away, because if you’re trying to make them go away, you’re losing your wealth...
934. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.... the poison becomes the source of great beauty & joy...
935. [The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, and dumb.
936. [W]e can never connect with our fundamental wealth as long as we are buying into this advertisement hype that we have to be someone else…
937. Expand
938. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Sep
939. …That all comes under the category of defeat, the defeat of ego. We’re always not wanting to be who we are. -Pema Chödrön
940. You say to yourself, “Nobody loves me, I’m always left out. I have no teeth, my hair’s getting gray, I have blotchy skin, my nose runs.”…
941. There’s a richness to all of the smelly stuff that we so dislike and so little desire.
942. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
943. From this perspective we don’t need to change: you can feel as wretched as you like, and you’re still a good candidate for enlightenment.
944. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—…the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy…—never touch our basic wealth.
945. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good…never touch our basic wealth.
946. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement.
947. But at this point, for most of us, our thoughts are very tied up with our identity, with our sense of problem & our sense of how things are.
948. If you learn to let things go, thoughts are no problem.
949. [I]f you follow the breath and label your thoughts, you learn to let things go. Beliefs of solidness, beliefs of emptiness, let it all go.
950. These thoughts that come up, they’re not bad. Anyway, meditation isn’t about getting rid of thoughts—you’ll think forever.
951. Use the labeling and use it with great gentleness as a way to touch those solid dramas and acknowledge that you just made them all up...
952. This emphasis on gentleness is the pith instruction on how to… liberate ourselves from the small world of ego.
953. This emphasis on gentleness is the pith instruction on how to reconnect with openness and freshness in our lives...
954. We don’t have to make such a big deal about ourselves, our enemies, our lovers, and the whole show.
955. In terms of everyday experience,these methods encourage us not to feel embarrassed about ourselves.There is nothing to be embarrassed about.
956. The point is that we can dissolve the sense of dualism between us and them… by moving toward what we find difficult and wish to push away.
957. The elemental struggle is with our feeling of being wrong, with our guilt and shame at what we are. That’s what we have to befriend.
958. We could question this solid identity that we have, this sense of a person frozen in time and space, this monolithic ME.
959. [We have a pattern of] trying to prove that pain is a mistake and would not exist in our lives if only we did all the rights things.
960. Regarding what arises as awakened energy reverses our fundamental habitual pattern of trying to avoid conflict…
961. It helps to remember that our practice is not about accomplishing anything… but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is.
962. We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy.
963. Whatever or whoever arises, train again & again in looking at it & seeing it for what it is without calling it names, without hurling rocks…
964. Let all those stories go.The innermost essence of mind is w/o bias.Things arise & things dissolve forever & ever. That’s just the way it is.
965. Whatever arises, we can look at it with a nonjudgmental attitude.
966. Meditation practice is how we stop fighting with ourselves, how we stop struggling with circumstances, emotions, or moods. 967. [I]nstead of feeling we are stupid or someone else is unkind, we could drop all the complaints about ourselves and others.
968. Instead of taking what’s occurred as a statement of personal weakness or someone else’s power…we could drop all the complaints…
969. We could be there, feeling off guard, not knowing what to do, just hanging out there with the raw and tender energy of the moment.
970. When we feel squeezed, there’s a tendency for mind to become small. We feel miserable, like a victim, like a pathetic, hopeless case.
971. "We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves" -
972. [D]o everything as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, while all the time knowing that it doesn’t matter at all.
973. We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition.
974. We don’t set out 2 save the world;we set out 2 wonder how other people are doing&to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.
975. Only in an open space where we’re not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are...
976. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. -Pema Chödrön
977. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
978. So the challenge is how to develop compassion right along with clear seeing, how to train in lightening up & cheering up...
979. How we regard what arises in meditation is training for how we regard whatever arises in the rest of our lives. -Pema Chödrön
980. The only reason that we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us...
981. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
982. We are undoing a pattern… It’s the human pattern: we project onto the world a zillion possibilities of attaining resolution. -Pema Chödrön
983. The process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality...
984. We’re always trying to deny that it’s a natural occurrence that things change,that the sand is slipping through our fingers.Time is passing.
985. Reaching our limit is like finding a doorway to sanity & the unconditional goodness of humanity, rather than meeting an obstacle/punishment.
986. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path.
987. To stay w/that shakiness—to stay w/a broken heart…w/the feeling of hopelessness & wanting to get revenge—that is the path of true awakening.
988. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.
989. [T]he truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together & they fall apart. Then they come together again & fall apart again.
990. Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. -Pema Chödrön
991. Let your curiosity be greater than your fear. - Pema Chodron
992. The present moment is our doorway to Liberation. Pema Chodron
993. The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. -Pema Chödrön
994. If an experience is delightful or pleasant,usually we want to grab it &make it last.We’re afraid it will end.We’re not inclined to share it.
995. Share the wealth. Be generous with your joy. Give away what you most want. Be generous with your insights and delights.
996. [W]e are not as solid as we think.
997. Whatever we’re doing, whether we’re having tea or working, we could do that completely. We could be wherever we are completely, 100 percent.
998. Even if you don’t feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious.
999. If we let them, they [lojong slogans] will lead us toward the fact that facts themselves are very dubious.
1000. The more it bothers you, the more awake you’re going to be when you do tonglen.
1001. Because you feel rage, therefore you have the kindling, the connection, for understanding the rage of all sentient beings.
1002. The idea is to develop sympathy for your own confusion. The technique is that you do not blame [others]; you also do not blame yourself.
1003. [W]hen we open up our clenched hearts & let the good things go…& share them with others—that’s also completely reversing the logic of ego…
1004. We shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure.
1005. The story lines vary, but the underlying feeling is the same for us all.
1006. People everywhere feel pain—jealousy, anger, being left out, feeling lonely. Everybody feels that exactly the way you feel it.
1007. As unwanted feelings and emotions arise, you actually breathe them in and connect with what all humans feel.
1008. When the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
1009. That light touch of acknowledging what we’re thinking and letting it go is the key to connecting with this wealth that we have.
1010. The poison already is the medicine. You don’t have to transform anything. Simply letting go of the story line is what it takes...
1011. The more it bothers you, the more awake you’re going to be when you do tonglen.
1012. When we don’t act out and we don’t repress, then our passion, our aggression, and our ignorance become our wealth.
1013. You might think that there are no others on the planet who hate themselves as much as you do. All of that is a good place to start.
1014. [W]e are completely interrelated. What you do to others, you do to yourself. What you do to yourself, you do to others.
1015. By being kind to others—if it’s done properly, with proper understanding—we benefit as well.
1016. The idea is to develop sympathy for your own confusion. The technique is that you do not blame Mortimer; you also do not blame yourself.
1017. [W]hen we open up our clenched hearts & let the good things go…& share them with others—that’s also completely reversing the logic of ego…
1018. By being kind to ourselves we become kind to others. -Pema Chödrön
1019. We will fall flat on our faces again and again, we will continue to feel inadequate, and we can use these experiences to wake up...
1020. We shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure.
1021. By the same token, if you feel some sense of delight… you breathe it out, you give it away, you send it out to everyone else.
1022. The more you just try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.
1023. The story lines vary, but the underlying feeling is the same for us all. -Pema Chödrön
1024. [T]he pain is a result of what’s called ego clinging, of wanting things to work out on our own terms, of wanting “me-victorious.”
1025. People everywhere feel pain—jealousy, anger, being left out, feeling lonely. Everybody feels that exactly the way you feel it.
1026. Ego is something that you come to know—something that you befriend by not acting out or repressing all the feelings that you feel.
1027. As unwanted feelings and emotions arise, you actually breathe them in and connect with what all humans feel.
1028. As long as we hate the enemy, then we suffer & the enemy suffers & the world suffers.
1029. The only way to effect real reform is without hatred.
1030. In its essence, this practice of tonglen is when anything is painful or undesirable, to breathe it in.
1031. Exchanging yourself for others begins to occur when you can see where someone is because you’ve been there.
1032. You’ve been angry, jealous, and lonely. You know what it’s like and you know how sometimes you do strange things.
1033. The way that we can help is by making friends with our own feelings of hatred, bewilderment, & so forth. Then we can accept them in others.
1034. [T]o be gentle & create an atmosphere of compassion for yourself, it’s necessary to stop talking to yourself about how wrong everything is… 1035. [W]e’re afraid that this anger or sorrow or loneliness is going to last forever.... Instead, acting it out is what makes it last.
1036. [W]hen we start blaming and talking to ourselves, things seem to have a beginning, a middle, and no end.
1037. If you aren’t feeding the fire of anger or the fire of craving by talking to yourself, then the fire doesn’t have anything to feed on.
1038. Try dropping the object of the blame or the object of what you think is wrong.
1039. Expand
1040. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 Jul
1041. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go.
1042. [N]o one is ever encouraged to feel the underlying anxiety, the underlying edginess…&therefore we think that blaming others is the only way.
1043. When the world is filled with ego clinging or with attachment to a particular outcome, there is a lot of pain.
1044. You drive all blames into yourself. It take a lot of bravery, & it’s extremely insulting to ego... it destroys the whole mechanism of ego.
1045. When we feel lonely or angry or depressed, we let these dark moods link us with the sorrows of others.
1046. When we get hit hard, we look outward and see how other people also have difficult times.
1047. [Bodhichitta] lifts us out of self-centeredness and gives us a chance to leave dysfunctional habits behind.
1048. The antidote to misery is to stay present. -Pema Chödrön
1049. Shantideva says:If you want to protect your feet, wear shoes;& if you want to protect yourself from the world’s provocations,tame your mind.
1050. Whenever any action takes us beyond self-absorption, it becomes a paramita, but this only happens when we’re willing to tame our minds.
1051. So it is with all of our actions: they either undercut our attachments or strengthen them; they bring us into the present or distract us. 1052. When we are present and awake, emotions have a short lifespan, but when we’re unconscious, they can last for years.
1053. We have to pull the rug out from under our belief systems altogether… by letting go of our beliefs,& also our sense of what is right & wrong.
1054. To have even a few seconds of doubt about the solidity&absolute truth of our own opinions...introduces us to the possibility of egolessness.
1055. All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.
1056.
1057. Cultivating a mind that does not grasp at right and wrong, you will find a fresh state of being.
1058. [N]ever give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others. -Pema Chödrön
1059. When we’re not in meditation, we could begin to notice our opinions just as we notice that we’re thinking when we’re meditating.
1060. If you find yourself becoming aggressive about your opinions, notice that. If you find yourself being nonaggressive, notice that.
1061. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be... or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be.
1062. We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.
1063. Expand
1064. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 Jun 12
1065. Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can’t simply relax with ourselves.
1066. Expand
1067. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 Jun 12
1068. When we feel lonely, when we feel hopeless, what we want to do is move to the right or the left. We don’t want to sit and feel what we feel.
1069. Expand
1070. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 31 May 12 1071. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, to make friends with yourself, to not run away from yourself... -Pema Chödrön
1072. Expand
1073. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 May 12
1074. The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy. -Pema Chödrön
1075. Expand
1076. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 29 May 12
1077. When we don’t run from everyday uncertainty, we can contact bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
1078. Expand
1079. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 29 May 12
1080. There seems to be a need to change the fundamental pattern of always protecting against anything touching our soft spot.
1081. Expand
1082. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 28 May 12
1083. That’s why self-compassion and courage are vital. Staying with pain without loving-kindness is just warfare.
1084. Expand
1085. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 27 May 12
1086. These juicy emotional spots are where a warrior gains wisdom and compassion. -Pema Chödrön
1087. Expand
1088. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 May 12
1089. Maybe you’ve noticed that sometimes you feel like you’re in a battle with reality and reality is always winning.
1090. -Pema Chödrön
1091. Expand
1092. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 May 12
1093. [I]nstead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we… learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
1094. Expand
1095. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 May 12
1096. Rather than spinning off, can we let the emotional intensity of that red- hot or ice-cold moment transform us?
1097. Expand
1098. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 24 May 12
1099. When we feel betrayed or disappointed, does it occur to us to practice? Usually not.
1100. Expand
1101. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 24 May 12
1102. Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum and don’t interrupt our patterns even slightly.
1103. Expand
1104. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 16 May 12
1105. When we feel lonely or angry or depressed, we let these dark moods link us with the sorrows of others.
1106. Expand
1107. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 16 May 12
1108. When we get hit hard, we look outward and see how other people also have difficult times.
1109. Expand
1110. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 15 May 12
1111. [Bodhichitta] lifts us out of self-centeredness and gives us a chance to leave dysfunctional habits behind.
1112. Expand
1113. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 14 May 12
1114. Shantideva says:If you want to protect your feet, wear shoes;& if you want to protect yourself from the world’s provocations,tame your mind. 1115. Expand
1116. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 May 12
1117. Whenever any action takes us beyond self-absorption, it becomes a paramita, but this only happens when we’re willing to tame our minds.
1118. Expand
1119. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 May 12
1120. So it is with all of our actions: they either undercut our attachments or strengthen them; they bring us into the present or distract us.
1121. Expand
1122. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 11 May 12
1123. When we are present and awake, emotions have a short lifespan, but when we’re unconscious, they can last for years.
1124. Expand
1125. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 11 May 12
1126. All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.
1127. Expand
1128. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 May 12
1129. The antidote to misery is to stay present.
1130. Expand
1131. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 May 12
1132. [On thinking:] We’re encouraged to just touch that chatter and let it go, not make much ado about nothing.
1133. Expand
1134. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 May 12
1135. That’s why we are instructed to label it ‘thinking.’ It has no objective reality. It is transparent and ungraspable.
1136. Expand
1137. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 May 12 1138. We don’t even seek the companionship of our own constant conversation with ourselves about how it is and how it isn’t...
1139. Expand
1140. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 May 12
1141. With cool loneliness we do not expect security from our own internal chatter. That’s why we are instructed to label it ‘thinking.’
1142. Expand
1143. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 May 12
1144. Another aspect of cool loneliness is not seeking security from one’s discursive thoughts.
1145. Expand
1146. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 May 12
1147. Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggression at our own minds.
1148. Expand
1149. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 May 12
1150. Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can’t simply relax with ourselves.
1151. Expand
1152. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 May 12
1153. We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.
1154. Expand
1155. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 May 12
1156. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be... or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be.
1157. Expand
1158. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 May 12
1159. When we feel lonely, when we feel hopeless, what we want to do is move to the right or the left. We don’t want to sit and feel what we feel.
1160. Expand
1161. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 May 12
1162. [G]iving up all hope of alternatives to the present moment, we can have a joyful relationship w/our lives, an honest, direct relationship...
1163. Expand
1164. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Apr 12
1165. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, to make friends with yourself, to not run away from yourself...
1166. Expand
1167. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Apr 12
1168. If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity & pain can be exterminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness…
1169. Expand
1170. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Apr 12
1171. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence.
1172. Expand
1173. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Apr 12
1174. This is where renunciation enters the picture—renunciation of the hope that our experience could be different... -Pema Chödrön
1175. Expand
1176. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Apr 12
1177. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness,any gesture of gentleness,any gesture of honesty…will affect how you experience your world.
1178.
1179. What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself. 1180.
1181. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
1182.
1183. The reason that people harm other people... is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough.
1184. The reason we’re often not there for others… is that we’re not there for ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1185.
1186. There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away.
1187.
1188. [W]e could relate compassionately with that which we prefer to push away,& we could learn to give away & share that which we hold most dear.
1189.
1190. [I]t is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads naturally to unconditional compassion for others. -Pema Chödrön
1191.
1192. [I]n this present age it is necessary to also emphasize that the first step is to develop compassion for our own wounds.
1193. True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.
1194.
1195. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are… letting concepts & ideals fall apart.
1196.
1197. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are giving up control altogether...
1198.
1199. What makes maitri [loving-kindness] such a different approach is that we are not trying to solve a problem. 1200.
1201. In the morning you feel one way; in the afternoon, it can seem as if years have passed.It’s just astounding how it all just keeps moving on.
1202.
1203. There’s always something happening that you can’t pin down with words or thoughts.
1204.
1205. [A]ll the passion that’s connected with these thoughts, or all the aggression or all the heartbreak, is simply passing memory.
1206.
1207. When we contemplate all dharmas as dreams and regard all our thoughts as passing memory…then things will not appear to be so monolithic.
1208.
1209. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It’s not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes.
1210.
1211. One way to pull out your own rug is by just letting go, lightening up, being more gentle, and not making such a big deal.
1212.
1213. [T]his shield—this cocoon—is just made up of thoughts that we churn out and regard as solid… it’s made out of passing memory.
1214.
1215. The armor we erect around our soft hearts causes a lot of misery. But don’t be deceived, it’s very transparent.
1216.
1217. “Regard all dharma as dreams.” ... As the slogan says, each situation & even each word & thought & emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
1218.
1219. Every time your stream of thoughts solidifies into a heavy story line that seems to be taking you elsewhere, label that “thinking.” 1220.
1221. With our minds we make a big deal out of ourselves, out of our pain, and out of our problems.
1222.
1223. The key is, it’s no big deal. We could all just lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams.
1224.
1225. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream....“Every situation is a passing memory.”
1226.
1227. The first of the absolute slogans is “Regard all dharma as dreams.” More simply, regard everything as a dream.
1228.
1229. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred.There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
1230.
1231. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
1232.
1233. If we don’t get swept away by our outrage, then we will see the cause of suffering more clearly.
1234. When we don’t buy into our opinions and solidify the sense of enemy, we will accomplish something.
1235. It starts w/ seeing our opinions of ourselves & of others as simply our take on reality¬ making them a reason to increase the negativity…
1236.
1237. The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy.
1238.
1239. The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval.When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness. 1240.
1241. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal.
1242.
1243. Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves, “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”
1244.
1245. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever.
1246.
1247. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others.
1248.
1249. If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person.
1250.
1251. Begin to get the hang of feeling what’s underneath the story line. Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath...
1252.
1253. When these things arise, train gradually and very gently without making it into a big deal.
1254.
1255. [D]rop the story line,which means—instead of acting out/repressing— use the situation as an opportunity to feel your heart,to feel the wound.
1256.
1257. By acting out or repressing we invite suffering, bewilderment, or confusion to intensify.
1258.
1259. Acting out and repressing are the main ways that we shield our hearts, the main ways that we never really connect with our vulnerability… 1260.
1261. Whatever you do, don’t try to make the poisons go away, because if you’re trying to make them go away, you’re losing your wealth...
1262.
1263. There’s nothing really wrong w/passion or aggression or ignorance,except that we take it so personally&therefore waste all that juicy stuff.
1264.
1265.
1266. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.... the poison becomes the source of great beauty & joy...
1267.
1268. When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless.
1269. [The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, and dumb.
1270.
1271. [W]e can never connect with our fundamental wealth as long as we are buying into this advertisement hype that we have to be someone else…
1272.
1273. There’s a richness to all of the smelly stuff that we so dislike and so little desire.
1274.
1275. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
1276.
1277. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good…never touch our basic wealth.
1278.
1279. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement. -Pema Chödrön 1280.
1281. But at this point, for most of us, our thoughts are very tied up with our identity, with our sense of problem & our sense of how things are.
1282.
1283. If you learn to let things go, thoughts are no problem.
1284.
1285. Use the labeling and use it with great gentleness as a way to touch those solid dramas and acknowledge that you just made them all up...
1286.
1287. These thoughts that come up, they’re not bad. Anyway, meditation isn’t about getting rid of thoughts—you’ll think forever.
1288.
1289.
1290. This emphasis on gentleness is the pith instruction on how to reconnect with openness and freshness in our lives...
1291.
1292. We don’t have to make such a big deal about ourselves, our enemies, our lovers, and the whole show.
1293. We could question this solid identity that we have, this sense of a person frozen in time and space, this monolithic ME.
1294.
1295. In terms of everyday experience,these methods encourage us not to feel embarrassed about ourselves.There is nothing to be embarrassed about.
1296.
1297. The elemental struggle is with our feeling of being wrong, with our guilt and shame at what we are. That’s what we have to befriend.
1298.
1299. Regarding what arises as awakened energy reverses our fundamental habitual pattern of… trying to make ourselves better than we are…
1300. 1301. It helps to remember that our practice is not about accomplishing anything... but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is.
1302.
1303. Regarding what arises as awakened energy reverses our fundamental habitual pattern of trying to avoid conflict…
1304.
1305. We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy.
1306.
1307.
1308. Let all those stories go.The innermost essence of mind is w/o bias.Things arise & things dissolve forever & ever. That’s just the way it is.
1309.
1310. Meditation practice is how we stop fighting with ourselves, how we stop struggling with circumstances, emotions, or moods.
1311.
1312. We could be there, feeling off guard, not knowing what to do, just hanging out there with the raw and tender energy of the moment.
1313.
1314. [I]nstead of feeling we are stupid or someone else is unkind, we could drop all the complaints about ourselves and others.
1315.
1316. Instead of taking what’s occurred as a statement of personal weakness or someone else’s power…we could drop all the complaints...
1317.
1318. Pain is not punishment, pleasure is not a reward.
1319. When we feel squeezed, there’s a tendency for mind to become small. We feel miserable, like a victim, like a pathetic, hopeless case.
1320.
1321. [Don Juan:] do everything as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, while all the time knowing that it doesn’t matter at all.
1322.
1323. We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition.
1324.
1325. We don’t set out 2 save the world;we set out 2 wonder how other people are doing&to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.
1326.
1327. This means allowing ourselves to feel what we feel& not pushing it away...accepting every aspect of ourselves, even the parts we don’t like.
1328.
1329. [B]eing there for someone else... means not shutting down on that person, which means, first of all, not shutting down on ourselves.
1330.
1331. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
1332.
1333. So the challenge is how to develop compassion right along with clear seeing, how to train in lightening up and cheering up...
1334.
1335. How we regard what arises in meditation is training for how we regard whatever arises in the rest of our lives.
1336.
1337. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
1338.
1339. [W]e project onto the world a zillion possibilities of attaining resolution. We can have whiter teeth, a weed-free lawn, a strife-free life.
1340.
1341. The process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality...
1342.
1343. Time is passing.... But getting old, getting sick, losing what we love— we don’t see those events as natural occurrences.
1344. Reaching our limit is like finding a doorway to sanity & the unconditional goodness of humanity, rather than meeting an obstacle/punishment.
1345.
1346. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.
1347.
1348. [T]he truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together & they fall apart. Then they come together again & fall apart again.
1349.
1350. To stay w/that shakiness—to stay w/a broken heart…w/the feeling of hopelessness & wanting to get revenge—that is the path of true awakening.
1351.
1352. Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.
1353.
1354. The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.
1355.
1356. If an experience is delightful or pleasant,usually we want to grab it &make it last.We’re afraid it will end.We’re not inclined to share it.
1357.
1358. Share the wealth. Be generous with your joy. Give away what you most want. Be generous with your insights and delights.
1359.
1360. The lojong teachings encourage us, if we enjoy what we are experiencing, to think of other people and wish for them to feel that. 1361.
1362.
1363. [W]e are not as solid as we think.
1364.
1365. Even if you don’t feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious.
1366.
1367. Whatever we’re doing, whether we’re having tea or working, we could do that completely. We could be wherever we are completely, 100 percent.
1368.
1369. The truth is that good and bad coexist; sour and sweet coexist. They aren’t really opposed to each other.
1370.
1371. If we let them, they [lojong slogans] will lead us toward the fact that facts themselves are very dubious.
1372.
1373. If we let them, they [lojong slogans] will lead us toward the fact that facts themselves are very dubious.
1374.
1375. The more it bothers you, the more awake you’re going to be when you do tonglen.
1376.
1377. [W]hen we open up our clenched hearts & let the good things go…& share them with others—that’s also completely reversing the logic of ego…
1378.
1379. We shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure.
1380.
1381. Everybody feels that exactly the way you feel it. The story lines vary, but the underlying feeling is the same for us all. 1382.
1383. People everywhere feel pain—jealousy, anger, being left out, feeling lonely. Everybody feels that exactly the way you feel it.
1384.
1385. As unwanted feelings and emotions arise, you actually breathe them in and connect with what all humans feel.
1386.
1387. In its essence, this practice of tonglen is when anything is painful or undesirable, to breathe it in.
1388.
1389. When the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
1390.
1391. When we don’t act out and we don’t repress, then our passion, our aggression, and our ignorance become our wealth.
1392.
1393. [W]e are completely interrelated. What you do to others, you do to yourself. What you do to yourself, you do to others.
1394.
1395. By being kind to others—if it’s done properly, with proper understanding—we benefit as well. -Pema Chödrön
1396.
1397. By being kind to ourselves we become kind to others.
1398. We will fall flat on our faces again and again, we will continue to feel inadequate, and we can use these experiences to wake up...
1399.
1400. The more you just try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.
1401.
1402. As long as we hate the enemy, then we suffer & the enemy suffers & the world suffers. 1403. The only way to effect real reform is without hatred.
1404.
1405. People harm each other—we harm others and others harm us. To know that is clear seeing.
1406.
1407. [B]y owning our feelings and feeling fully, the ongoing monolithic ME begins to lighten up, b/c it is fabricated w/ our opinions, our moods…
1408.
1409. The way that we can help is by making friends with our own feelings of hatred, bewilderment, and so forth.Then we can accept them in others.
1410.
1411. Ego is something that you come to know—something that you befriend by not acting out or repressing all the feelings that you feel.
1412.
1413. Exchanging yourself for others begins to occur when you can see where someone is because you’ve been there.
1414.
1415. You’ve been angry, jealous, and lonely. You know what it’s like and you know how sometimes you do strange things.
1416.
1417. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance. -Pema Chödrön
1418.
1419. [T]he best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others.
1420.
1421. Through our hopes and fears, our pleasures and pains, we are deeply interconnected.
1422.
1423. We wish not only that…suffering will decrease but also that all of us could stop acting&thinking in ways that escalate ignorance &confusion. 1424.
1425. [Compassion practice] is how we train in lightening up the opinions and prejudices that set us apart from each other.
1426.
1427. Instead of always pulling back and putting up walls, we can do something unpredictable and make a compassionate aspiration.
1428. The fear habit, the anger habit, the self-pity habit—all are strengthened and empowered when we continue to buy into them.
1429. This is a good time to remember that when we harden our heart against anyone, we hurt ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1430. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
1431. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. -Pema Chödrön
1432. Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.
1433. The trick… is to stay with emotional distress without tightening into aversion, to let it soften us rather than harden into resistance.
1434. Compassion, however, is more emotionally challenging than loving- kindness because it involves the willingness to feel pain.
1435.
1436. When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.
1437.
1438. Most of the time we don’t do this. Rather than appreciate where we are, we continually struggle and nurture our dissatisfaction.
1439.
1440. This is the path we take in cultivating joy: learning not to armor our basic goodness, learning to appreciate what we have.
1441.
1442. Abiding with the physical sensation… is a way of relaxing, a way to train in softening rather than hardening. 1443.
1444. Abiding with the physical sensation is radically different from sticking to the story line. It requires appreciation for this very moment.
1445.
1446. Whenever we get caught, it’s helpful to remember the teachings—to recall that suffering is the result of an aggressive mind.
1447. Our practice is to become aware of our kind heart and nurture it. But it is also to get a close look at the roots of suffering...
1448. The point is to find our spontaneous and natural capacity to be glad for another being, whether it feels unshakable or fleeting.
1449. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.
1450. We’ve discovered that the continual search for something better does not work out.
1451. Discomfort of any kind also becomes the basis for practice. We breathe in knowing that our pain is shared... -Pema Chödrön
1452. At the beginning joy is just a feeling that our own situation is workable. We stop looking for a more suitable place to be.
1453. Although there are many such fleeting ordinary moments in our days, we usually speed right past them. We forget what joy they can bring.
1454. In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others. -Pema Chödrön
1455. To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
1456.
1457. On bad days, I’m okay. On good days, I’m also okay.” This is equanimity.
1458.
1459. [Holding a grudge is] rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die. -Pema Chödrön
1460. 1461. We’d be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain.
1462.
1463. In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others.
1464.
1465. [A]rrogance is just a cover-up for really feeling that you’re the worst horse, and always trying to prove otherwise. -Pema Chödrön
1466.
1467. By “cessation” we mean the cessation of hell as opposed to just weather, the cessation of this resistance, this resentment...
1468.
1469. The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.
1470.
1471. We all know what addiction is; we are primarily addicted to ME.
1472.
1473. When I didn’t resist, I could see the world.
1474. Traditionally it’s said that the cause of suffering is clinging to our narrow view.
1475.
1476. The second noble truth says that this resistance is the…mechanism of what we call ego, that resisting life causes suffering.
1477.
1478. The first noble truth says simply that it’s part of being human to feel discomfort.
1479.
1480. The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb and flow like the tides, we wax and wane like the moon.
1481. 1482. Suffering is part of life, and we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move.
1483.
1484. The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong. What a relief.
1485.
1486. We do our best to stay with the strong energy without acting out or repressing. As we do so, our habits become more porous.
1487.
1488. Staying with pain without loving-kindness is just warfare.
1489.
1490. If we can practice when we’re jealous, resentful, scornful, when we hate ourselves, then we are well trained.
1491.
1492. These juicy emotional spots are where a warrior gains wisdom and compassion.... That’s why self-compassion and courage are vital.
1493.
1494. When we can recognize our own confusion with compassion, we can extend that compassion to others who are equally confused.
1495.
1496. [I]nstead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we… learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
1497.
1498. The irony is that what we most want to avoid in our lives is crucial to awakening bodhichitta.
1499.
1500. We could recognize that there are millions who are feeling the way we are and breathe in the emotion for all of us...
1501.
1502. [T]his is not something we do just once or twice. Interrupting our destructive habits and awakening our heart is the work of a lifetime.
1503.
1504. Anything that’s nonhabitual will do—even sing and dance or run around the block. We do anything that doesn’t reinforce our crippling habits.
1505.
1506. “Doing something different” is anything that interrupts our ancient habit of tenaciously indulging in our emotions.
1507.
1508. [3 difficulties:] (1) acknowledging our neurosis as neurosis, (2) doing something different, & (3) aspiring to continue practicing this way.
1509.
1510. Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum and don’t interrupt our patterns even slightly.
1511.
1512. Rather than spinning off, can we let the emotional intensity of that red- hot or ice-cold moment transform us?
1513.
1514. When we see how cold or aggressive we can be, we aren’t asking ourselves to repent.
1515. Expand
1516. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 8 Oct 11
1517. Without the ones who irritate us, we never have a chance to practice.
1518. -Pema Chödrön
1519. Expand
1520. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 8 Oct 11
1521. By noticing & appreciating the people in the streets, at the grocery store,in traffic jams,in airports,we can increase our capacity to love.
1522. Expand
1523. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 8 Oct 11 1524. Just locate that ability to feel good heart and cherish it, even if it ebbs and flows.
1525. Expand
1526. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 11
1527. The practice is about connecting with the soft spot in a way that is real to us, not about faking a particular feeling.
1528. Expand
1529. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 11
1530. If you can easily open your heart to your dog or cat, start there and then move out to more challenging relationships.
1531. Expand
1532. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 11
1533. [E]ven in the rock-hardness of rage, if we look below the surface of the aggression, we’ll generally find fear.
1534. -Pema Chödrön
1535. Expand
1536. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 11
1537. Whether we find it [loving-kindness] in the tenderness of feeling love or the vulnerability of feeling lonely is immaterial.
1538. Expand
1539. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 11
1540. The instruction for cultivating limitless maitri [loving-kindness] is to first find the tenderness that we already have.
1541. Expand
1542. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 11
1543. Rather than nurturing self-denigration, we begin to cultivate a clear- seeing kindness.
1544. Expand
1545. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 11 1546. In cultivating loving-kindness, we train first to be honest, loving, and compassionate toward ourselves.
1547. Expand
1548. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 11
1549. We train in opening our hearts and minds in increasingly difficult situations.
1550. So we train in recognizing our uptightness. We train in seeing that others are not so different from ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1551. One reason we train as warrior-bodhisattvas is to recognize our interconnectedness…when we harm another, we are harming ourselves.
1552. Entrenched in the tunnel vision of our personal concerns, what we ignore is our kinship with others.
1553. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance.
1554. [T]he best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others.
1555. This is what it takes to become involved w/ the sorrows of the world, to extend love & compassion, joy&equanimity to everyone—no exceptions.
1556. Gradually we will get the hang of going beyond our fear of feeling pain. -Pema Chödrön
1557. The aspiration practices of the four qualities are training in not holding back, training in seeing our biases and not feeding them.
1558. [I]nstead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we… learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
1559. When I practice the aspirations on the spot, I no longer feel so separated from others.
1560. Through our hopes and fears, our pleasures and pains, we are deeply interconnected.
1561. We aspire to be free of fixation and closed-mindedness. We wish to dissolve the myth that we are separate.
1562. We wish not only that…suffering will decrease but also that all of us could stop acting&thinking in ways that escalate ignorance &confusion.
1563. As a result of compassion practice, we will start to have a deeper understanding of the roots of suffering.
1564. [Compassion practice] is how we train in lightening up the opinions and prejudices that set us apart from each other.
1565. We make this gesture of compassion in order to unblock our ability to hear the cries of the world.
1566. Instead of always pulling back and putting up walls, we can do something unpredictable and make a compassionate aspiration.
1567. The fear habit, the anger habit, the self-pity habit—all are strengthened and empowered when we continue to buy into them.
1568. This is a good time to remember that when we harden our heart against anyone, we hurt ourselves.
1569. By making this compassionate aspiration, we start to free ourselves from the prison of isolation and indifference.
1570. When we look at someone on the street and wish her to be free of suffering, that person begins to come into focus.
1571. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
1572. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.
1573. Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.
1574. When we practice generating compassion, we can expect to experience our fear of pain.
1575. [S]tay with emotional distress without tightening into aversion, to let it soften us rather than harden into resistance.
1576. Compassion, however, is more emotionally challenging than loving- kindness because it involves the willingness to feel pain.
1577. Just as nurturing our ability to love is a way of awakening bodhichitta, so also is nurturing our ability to feel compassion.
1578. To flash openness, some people visualize a vast ocean or a cloudless sky—any image that conveys unlimited expansiveness.
1579. The first flash of openness reminds us that we can always let go of our fixed ideas and connect with something open, fresh, and unbiased. 1580. If we relax our mind and stop struggling, emotions can move through us without becoming solid and proliferating.
1581. Then when we see someone in distress we’re not reluctant to breathe in the person’s suffering and send out relief.
1582. When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.
1583. Most of the time we don’t do this. Rather than appreciate where we are, we continually struggle and nurture our dissatisfaction.
1584. This is the path we take in cultivating joy: learning not to armor our basic goodness, learning to appreciate what we have.
1585. Abiding with the physical sensation… is a way of relaxing, a way to train in softening rather than hardening. -Pema Chödrön
1586. Whenever we get caught, it’s helpful to remember the teachings—to recall that suffering is the result of an aggressive mind.
1587. Abiding with the physical sensation is radically different from sticking to the story line. It requires appreciation for this very moment.
1588. [Holding a grudge is] rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die.
1589. We’d be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain.
1590. Our practice is to become aware of our kind heart and nurture it. But it is also to get a close look at the roots of suffering...
1591. The point is to find our spontaneous and natural capacity to be glad for another being, whether it feels unshakable or fleeting.
1592. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.
1593. We’ve discovered that the continual search for something better does not work out.
1594. At the beginning joy is just a feeling that our own situation is workable. We stop looking for a more suitable place to be.
1595. This simple way of training with pleasure and pain allows us to use what we have, wherever we are, to connect with other people.
1596. Discomfort of any kind also becomes the basis for practice. We breathe in knowing that our pain is shared...
1597. So the first step is to stop, notice, and appreciate what is happening. Even if this is all we do, it’s revolutionary.
1598. Expand
1599. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 14 Sep 11
1600. Although there are many such fleeting ordinary moments in our days, we usually speed right past them. We forget what joy they can bring.
1601. Expand
1602. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Sep 11
1603. In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others.
1604. Expand
1605. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Sep 11
1606. [W]hen we encounter pain in our life we breathe into our heart with the recognition that others also feel this.
1607. Expand
1608. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Sep 11
1609. When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta?
1610. Expand
1611. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Sep 11
1612. An on-the-spot equanimity practice is to walk down the street with the intention of staying as awake as possible to whomever we meet.
1613. Expand
1614. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Sep 11
1615. [W]e practice catching our mind hardening into fixed views and do our best to soften. Through softening, the barriers come down.
1616. Expand
1617. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Sep 11 1618. In the moment that we choose to abide with the energy instead of acting it out or repressing it, we are training in equanimity...
1619. Expand
1620. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Sep 11
1621. We all desperately need more insight into what leads to happiness and what leads to pain.
1622. Expand
1623. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 11 Sep 11
1624. Whatever arises, no matter how bad it feels, can be used to extend our kinship to others who suffer the same kind of aggression or craving..
1625. Expand
1626. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 11 Sep 11
1627. We train in staying with the soft spot and use our biases as stepping- stones for connecting with the confusion of others.
1628. Expand
1629. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 11 Sep 11
1630. To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
1631. Expand
1632. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Sep 11
1633. Therefore the warrior-bodhisattva cultivates equanimity, the vast mind that doesn’t narrow reality into for & against, liking & disliking.
1634. Expand
1635. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Sep 11
1636. No lasting happiness comes from being caught in this cycle of attraction and aversion.
1637. Expand
1638. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Sep 11
1639. We can never get life to work out so that we eliminate everything we fear and end up with all the goodies.
1640. Expand
1641. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Sep 11
1642. [On Equanimity:] Without this fourth boundless quality, the other 3 are limited by our habit of liking & disliking, accepting & rejecting.
1643. Expand
1644. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Sep 11
1645. On bad days, I’m okay. On good days, I’m also okay.” This is equanimity.
1646. Expand
1647. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 27 Aug 11
1648. When we can recognize our own confusion with compassion, we can extend that compassion to others who are equally confused.
1649. -Pema Chödrön
1650. Expand
1651. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 Aug 11
1652. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream....“Every situation is a passing memory.”
1653. Expand
1654. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 20 Aug 11
1655. The first of the absolute slogans is “Regard all dharma as dreams.” More simply, regard everything as a dream.
1656. Expand
1657. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 19 Aug 11
1658. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred.There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
1659. Expand
1660. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 19 Aug 11
1661. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
1662. -Pema Chödrön
1663. Expand
1664. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 18 Aug 11
1665. If we don’t get swept away by our outrage, then we will see the cause of suffering more clearly.
1666. Expand
1667. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 18 Aug 11
1668. When we don’t buy into our opinions and solidify the sense of enemy, we will accomplish something.
1669. Expand
1670. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 17 Aug 11
1671. It starts w/ seeing our opinions of ourselves & of others as simply our take on reality¬ making them a reason to increase the negativity…
1672. Expand
1673. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 17 Aug 11
1674. The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy.
1675. Expand
1676. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 16 Aug 11
1677. The trick then is to practice gentleness & letting go. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal.
1678. Expand
1679. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 16 Aug 11
1680. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go.
1681. Expand
1682. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 15 Aug 11
1683. The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval.When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.
1684. Expand
1685. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 15 Aug 11
1686. Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves, “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”
1687. Expand
1688. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 15 Aug 11
1689. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever.
1690. Expand
1691. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 14 Aug 11
1692. ...It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in our heart and to relate to the wound.
1693. Expand
1694. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 14 Aug 11
1695. If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person....
1696. Expand
1697. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 14 Aug 11
1698. Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger.
1699. Expand
1700. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Aug 11
1701. When these things arise, train gradually and very gently without making it into a big deal.
1702. Expand
1703. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Aug 11
1704. [D]rop the story line,which means—instead of acting out/repressing— use the situation as an opportunity to feel your heart,to feel the wound. 1705. Expand
1706. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Aug 11
1707. By acting out or repressing we invite suffering, bewilderment, or confusion to intensify.
1708. Expand
1709. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Aug 11
1710. Acting out and repressing are the main ways that we shield our hearts, the main ways that we never really connect with our vulnerability…
1711. Expand
1712. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Aug 11
1713. There’s nothing really wrong w/passion or aggression or ignorance,except that we take it so personally&therefore waste all that juicy stuff.
1714. Expand
1715. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Aug 11
1716. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.... the poison becomes the source of great beauty & joy...
1717. Expand
1718. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 29 Jul 11
1719. [The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, and dumb.
1720. Expand
1721. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 28 Jul 11
1722. [W]e can never connect with our fundamental wealth as long as we are buying into this advertisement hype that we have to be someone else…
1723. Expand
1724. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 28 Jul 11
1725. …That all comes under the category of defeat, the defeat of ego. We’re always not wanting to be who we are. -Pema Chödrön 1726. Expand
1727. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 28 Jul 11
1728. You say to yourself, “Nobody loves me, I’m always left out. I have no teeth, my hair’s getting gray, I have blotchy skin, my nose runs.”…
1729. Expand
1730. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 27 Jul 11
1731. There’s a richness to all of the smelly stuff that we so dislike and so little desire.
1732. Expand
1733. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 27 Jul 11
1734. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
1735. Expand
1736. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Jul 11
1737. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—…the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy…—never touch our basic wealth.
1738. Expand
1739. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Jul 11
1740. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement.
1741. Expand
1742. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 24 Jul 11
1743. But at this point, for most of us, our thoughts are very tied up with our identity, with our sense of problem & our sense of how things are.
1744. Expand
1745. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Jul 11
1746. Beliefs of solidness, beliefs of emptiness, let it all go. If you learn to let things go, thoughts are no problem.
1747. Expand 1748. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Jul 11
1749. These thoughts that come up, they’re not bad. Anyway, meditation isn’t about getting rid of thoughts—you’ll think forever.
1750. Expand
1751. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Jul 11
1752. Use the labeling and use it with great gentleness as a way to touch those solid dramas and acknowledge that you just made them all up...
1753. This emphasis on gentleness is the pith instruction on how to reconnect with openness and freshness in our lives...
1754. We could question this solid identity that we have, this sense of a person frozen in time and space, this monolithic ME.
1755. [T]hese methods encourage us not to feel embarrassed about ourselves. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.
1756. The point is that we can dissolve the sense of dualism between us and them...by moving toward what we find difficult and wish to push away.
1757. The elemental struggle is with our feeling of being wrong, with our guilt and shame at what we are. That’s what we have to befriend.
1758. We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy.
1759. Let all those stories go.The innermost essence of mind is w/o bias.Things arise & things dissolve forever & ever. That’s just the way it is.
1760.
1761. [D]o everything as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, while all the time knowing that it doesn’t matter at all.
1762. We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition.
1763. Meditation practice is how we stop fighting with ourselves, how we stop struggling with circumstances, emotions, or moods.
1764. We could be there, feeling off guard, not knowing what to do, just hanging out there with the raw and tender energy of the moment.
1765. Instead of taking what’s occurred as a statement of personal weakness... we could drop all the complaints about ourselves and others. 1766. When we feel squeezed, there’s a tendency for mind to become small. We feel miserable, like a victim, like a pathetic, hopeless case.
1767. [I]nstead of feeling we are stupid or someone else is unkind, we could drop all the complaints about ourselves and others.
1768. Only in an open space where we’re not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are...
1769. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. -Pema Chödrön
1770. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
1771. Expand
1772. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 17 Jul 11
1773. How we regard what arises in meditation is training for how we regard whatever arises in the rest of our lives. -Pema Chödrön
1774. Expand
1775. Elena Bacash þ@Backcrack 17 Jul 11
1776. We welcome these strong negative emotions because they're familiar. Rage & hatred make us feel right & entitled. Pema Chödrön
1777. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
1778. There always is the potential to create an environment of blame -- or one that is conducive to loving-kindness. -Pema Chodron RT
1779. We don’t get wise by staying in a room with all the doors and windows closed.
1780. ...and made a lot of mistakes, but that they used those occasions as opportunities to humble themselves and open their hearts.
1781. Expand
1782. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 28 Jun 11
1783. If you ask people whom you consider to be wise and courageous about their lives, you may find that they have hurt a lot of people...
1784. Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.
1785. Expand
1786. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Jun 11
1787. When you open the door and invite in all sentient beings as your guests, you have to drop your agenda. -Pema Chödrön
1788. Expand
1789. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Jun 11
1790. We can begin to open our hearts to others when we have no hope of getting anything back. We just do it for its own sake.
1791. Patience is not learned in safety. It is not learned when everything is harmonious and going well.
1792. There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out.
1793. Patience means allowing things to unfold at their own speed rather than jumping in with your habitual response to either pain or pleasure.
1794. One of the slogans is “Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.” Whether it is glorious or wretched, delightful or hateful, be patient.
1795. The key to compassionate action is this: everybody needs someone to be there for them, simply to be there.
1796. [T]rying to smooth everything out to avoid confrontation, not to rock the boat, is not what’s meant by compassion or patience.
1797. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked back. Simply keep the door open without expectations.
1798. I’m saying that when there’s a forest fire, don’t resist that kind of power—that’s you.
1799. By “cessation” we mean the cessation of hell as opposed to just weather, the cessation of this resistance, this resentment...
1800. The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.
1801. We all know what addiction is; we are primarily addicted to ME.
1802. 1803. It’s as if, when you resist, you dig in your heels....you’re a block of marble&you carve yourself out of it, you make yourself really solid.
1804.
1805. When I didn’t resist, I could see the world. -Pema Chödrön
1806.
1807. Traditionally it’s said that the cause of suffering is clinging to our narrow view.
1808. The second noble truth says that this resistance is the…mechanism of what we call ego, that resisting life causes suffering.
1809.
1810. The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb and flow like the tides, we wax and wane like the moon.
1811.
1812. Nothing in its essence is one way or the other.
1813.
1814. The first noble truth says simply that it’s part of being human to feel discomfort.
1815. [A]rrogance is just a cover-up for really feeling that you’re the worst horse, and always trying to prove otherwise. -Pema Chödrön
1816.
1817. The ground of loving-kindness is this sense of satisfaction with who we are and what we have.
1818.
1819. We can lead our life so as to become more awake to who we are & what we’re doing rather than trying to improve/change/get rid of who we are…
1820.
1821. Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are...
1822. 1823. 1 of the major obstacles to what is traditionally called enlightenment is resentment, feeling cheated, holding a grudge about who you are...
1824.
1825. Precision is being able to see very clearly, not being afraid to see what’s really there…Openness is being able to let go and to open.
1826.
1827. Gentleness is a sense of goodheartedness toward ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1828.
1829. Inquisitiveness or curiosity involves being gentle, precise, and open— actually being able to let go and open.
1830.
1831. 1of the main discoveries of meditation is seeing how we continually run away from the present moment,how we avoid being here just as we are.
1832.
1833. The path of meditation and the path of our lives altogether has to do with curiosity, inquisitiveness.…we’re here to study ourselves…
1834.
1835. Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.
1836.
1837. But loving-kindness—maitri—toward ourselves doesn’t mean getting rid of anything…We can still be timid or jealous or full of…unworthiness.
1838.
1839. If we’re committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run… -Pema Chödrön
1840.
1841. [W]e must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is…
1842. There always is the potential to create an environment of blame -- or one that is conducive to loving-kindness. Pema Chodron 1843.
1844. There’s a common misunderstanding among all the human beings… that the best way to
1845. Finally somebody told the truth. Suffering is part of life, &we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move.
1846.
1847. The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong. What a relief. -Pema Chödrön
1848.
1849. We have to pull the rug out from under our belief systems altogether… by letting go of our beliefs,& also our sense of what is right & wrong.
1850.
1851. Our sense of victory just means that we guarded our heart enough so that nothing got through, and we think we won the war.
1852.
1853. To have even a few seconds of doubt about the solidity&absolute truth of our own opinions...introduces us to the possibility of egolessness.
1854.
1855. All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are. -Pema Chödrön
1856.
1857. [W]e have a lot of opinions, and we tend to take them as truth. But actually they aren’t truth. They are just our opinions. -Pema Chödrön
1858.
1859. When we’re not in meditation, we could begin to notice our opinions just as we notice that we’re thinking when we’re meditating.
1860.
1861. [N]ever give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others. -Pema Chödrön
1862. 1863. Cultivating a mind that does not grasp at right and wrong, you will find a fresh state of being. -Pema Chödrön
1864.
1865. If you find yourself becoming aggressive about your opinions, notice that. If you find yourself being nonaggressive, notice that.
1866.
1867. We’re encouraged to just touch that chatter and let it go, not make much ado about nothing.
1868.
1869. That’s why we are instructed to label it ‘thinking.’ It has no objective reality. It is transparent and ungraspable.
1870. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence.
1871. We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.
1872.
1873. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be... or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be.
1874.
1875. [G]iving up all hope of alternatives to the present moment, we can have a joyful relationship w/our lives, an honest, direct relationship...
1876.
1877. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, to make friends with yourself, to not run away from yourself...
1878.
1879. With cool loneliness we do not expect security from our own internal chatter.
1880.
1881. Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggression at our own minds.
1882. 1883. If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity & pain can be exterminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness..
1884.
1885. We use them [sex & drugs & alcohol, etc.] as a way to escape; we use them to try to get comfort and to distract ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1886.
1887. The Buddhist monastic rules that advise renouncing liquor, renouncing sex, and so on are [pointing out] that we use them as babysitters.
1888.
1889. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness,any gesture of gentleness,any gesture of honesty…will affect how you experience your world.
1890.
1891. The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.
1892.
1893. What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.
1894. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
1895.
1896. The reason that people harm other people... is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough.
1897. The reason we’re often not there for others… is that we’re not there for ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1898. Expand
1899. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 8 May 11
1900. There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away.
1901. -Pema Chödrön
1902. Expand 1903. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 8 May 11
1904. [W]e could relate compassionately with that which we prefer to push away,& we could learn to give away & share that which we hold most dear.
1905. Expand
1906. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 May 11
1907. [I]t is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads naturally to unconditional compassion for others. -Pema Chödrön
1908. Expand
1909. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 May 11
1910. [I]n this present age it is necessary to also emphasize that the first step is to develop compassion for our own wounds. -Pema Chödrön
1911. Expand
1912. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 May 11
1913. True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.
1914. Expand
1915. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 May 11
1916. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are… letting concepts & ideals fall apart. -Pema Chödrön
1917. Expand
1918. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 May 11
1919. @stream_enterer I love ginger tea. I pop some chopped garlic in as well.
1920. View conversation
1921. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 May 11
1922. In the morning you feel 1 way; in the afternoon, it can seem as if years have passed. It’s just astounding how it all just keeps moving on.
1923. Expand
1924. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 May 11 1925. [T]his shield—this cocoon—is just made up of thoughts that we churn out and regard as solid… it’s made out of passing memory.
1926. Expand
1927. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 May 11
1928. There’s always something happening that you can’t pin down with words or thoughts.
1929. -Pema Chödrön
1930. Expand
1931. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 May 11
1932. The armor we erect around our soft hearts causes a lot of misery. But don’t be deceived, it’s very transparent.
1933. Expand
1934. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 May 11
1935. When we contemplate all dharmas as dreams and regard all our thoughts as passing memory…then things will not appear to be so monolithic.
1936. Expand
1937. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 May 11
1938. “Regard all dharma as dreams.” ... As the slogan says, each situation & even each word & thought & emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
1939. Expand
1940. BonBizzle* þ@BonnieHenna 29 Apr 11
1941. It has been said that studying ourselves provides all the books we need -Pema Chodron
1942.
1943. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It’s not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes.
1944.
1945. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings. 1946.
1947. One way to pull out your own rug is by just letting go, lightening up, being more gentle, and not making such a big deal.
1948.
1949. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us.
1950.
1951. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world.
1952.
1953. [A]ll the passion that’s connected with these thoughts, or all the aggression or all the heartbreak, is simply passing memory.
1954.
1955. Every time your stream of thoughts solidifies into a heavy story line that seems to be taking you elsewhere, label that “thinking.”
1956.
1957. When we contemplate all dharmas as dreams and regard all our thoughts as passing memory…then things will not appear to be so monolithic.
1958.
1959. [T]his shield—this cocoon—is just made up of thoughts that we churn out and regard as solid… it’s made out of passing memory.
1960.
1961. The armor we erect around our soft hearts causes a lot of misery. But don’t be deceived, it’s very transparent.
1962.
1963. “Regard all dharma as dreams.” ... As the slogan says, each situation & even each word & thought & emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
1964.
1965. With our minds we make a big deal out of ourselves, out of our pain, and out of our problems.
1966. 1967. The key is, it’s no big deal. We could all just lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams.
1968.
1969. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream....“Every situation is a passing memory.”
1970.
1971. The first of the absolute slogans is “Regard all dharma as dreams.” More simply, regard everything as a dream.
1972.
1973. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred.There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
1974.
1975. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
1976.
1977. The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy. -Pema Chödrön
1978.
1979. The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval.When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.
1980.
1981. Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves, “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”
1982. Expand
1983. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 12 Apr 11
1984. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever....
1985.
1986. Begin to get the hang of feeling what’s underneath the story line. -Pema Chödrön 1987.
1988. When these things arise, train gradually and very gently without making it into a big deal. -Pema Chödrön
1989.
1990. [D]rop the story line,which means—instead of acting out/repressing— use the situation as an opportunity to feel your heart,to feel the wound.
1991.
1992. When we do that, the three poisons become three seeds of how to make friends with ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
1993.
1994. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in our heart and to relate to the wound.
1995.
1996. If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person.
1997.
1998. Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger. -Pema Chödrön
1999.
2000. All this messy stuff is your richness, but saying this once is not going to convince you.
2001.
2002. Whatever you do, don’t try to make the poisons go away, because if you’re trying to make them go away, you’re losing your wealth...
2003.
2004. [The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, and dumb.
2005.
2006. By acting out or repressing we invite suffering, bewilderment, or confusion to intensify. 2007. Acting out and repressing are the main ways that we shield our hearts, the main ways that we never really connect with our vulnerability...
2008.
2009. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.... the poison becomes the source of great beauty & joy...
2010.
2011. Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri...
2012.
2013. [Meditation] is a method of cultivating unconditional friendliness toward ourselves & for parting the curtain of indifference...
2014.
2015. Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity?
2016.
2017. Sitting meditation cultivates loving-kindness and compassion, the relative qualities of bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
2018.
2019. To be encouraged to stay with our vulnerability is news that we can use. Sitting meditation is our support for learning how to do this.
2020.
2021. As a species, we should never underestimate our low tolerance for discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
2022.
2023. Of the two witnesses—self and other—we’re the only one who knows the full truth about ourselves.
2024. When we’re feeling confused about our words&actions&about what does&does not cause harm, [think] “Of the 2 witnesses, hold the principal 1”.
2025.
2026. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on. -Pema Chödrön 2027.
2028. We do our best to stay with the strong energy without acting out or repressing. As we do so, our habits become more porous.
2029.
2030. [P]ractice means not continuing to strengthen the habitual patterns that keep us trapped...-Pema Chödrön
2031.
2032. If we can practice when we’re jealous, resentful, scornful, when we hate ourselves, then we are well trained. -Pema Chödrön
2033.
2034. That’s why self-compassion and courage are vital. Staying with pain without loving-kindness is just warfare.
2035.
2036. These juicy emotional spots are where a warrior gains wisdom and compassion. -Pema Chödrön
2037.
2038. The irony is that what we most want to avoid in our lives is crucial to awakening bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
2039.
2040. When we can recognize our own confusion with compassion, we can extend that compassion to others who are equally confused. -Pema Chödrön
2041.
2042. When we see how cold or aggressive we can be, we aren’t asking ourselves to repent.
2043.
2044. Rather than spinning off, can we let the emotional intensity of that red- hot or ice-cold moment transform us?
2045.
2046. Without the ones who irritate us, we never have a chance to practice.
2047. 2048. Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum and don’t interrupt our patterns even slightly. -Pema Chödrön
2049.
2050. By noticing & appreciating the people in the streets, at the grocery store,in traffic jams,in airports,we can increase our capacity to love.
2051.
2052. Just locate that ability to feel good heart and cherish it, even if it ebbs and flows.
2053.
2054. [E]ven in the rock-hardness of rage, if we look below the surface of the aggression, we’ll generally find fear. -Pema Chödrön
2055.
2056. In cultivating loving-kindness, we train first to be honest, loving, and compassionate toward ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2057.
2058. The instruction for cultivating limitless maitri is to first find the tenderness that we already have. -Pema Chödrön
2059.
2060. One reason we train as warrior-bodhisattvas is to recognize our interconnectedness…when we harm another, we are harming ourselves.
2061.
2062. If you can easily open your heart to your dog or cat, start there and then move out to more challenging relationships.
2063.
2064. Entrenched in the tunnel vision of our personal concerns, what we ignore is our kinship with others. -Pema Chödrön
2065.
2066. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance. -Pema Chödrön
2067. 2068. [T]he best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others.
2069.
2070. Positives of loneliness:not wandering in the world of desire; contentment; avoiding unnecessary activity;not seeking security from thoughts.
2071.
2072. This is what it takes to become involved w/ the sorrows of the world, to extend love & compassion, joy&equanimity to everyone—no exceptions.
2073.
2074. Gradually we will get the hang of going beyond our fear of feeling pain. . . .
2075.
2076. The aspiration practices of the four qualities are training in not holding back, training in seeing our biases and not feeding them.
2077.
2078. Through our hopes and fears, our pleasures and pains, we are deeply interconnected.
2079. -Pema Chödrön
2080.
2081. This is how we train in lightening up the opinions and prejudices that set us apart from each other. -Pema Chödrön
2082.
2083. We wish not only that…suffering will decrease but also that all of us could stop acting&thinking in ways that escalate ignorance &confusion.
2084.
2085. The story lines vary, but the underlying feeling is the same for us all. -Pema Chödrön
2086. As a result of compassion practice, we will start to have a deeper understanding of the roots of suffering. -Pema Chödrön
2087. We make this gesture of compassion in order to unblock our ability to hear the cries of the world. -Pema Chödrön 2088.
2089. . Instead of always pulling back and putting up walls, we can do something unpredictable and make a compassionate aspiration.
2090.
2091. The fear habit, the anger habit, the self-pity habit—all are strengthened and empowered when we continue to buy into them.
2092.
2093. This is a good time to remember that when we harden our heart against anyone, we hurt ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2094.
2095. By making this compassionate aspiration, we start to free ourselves from the prison of isolation and indifference.
2096.
2097. When we look at someone on the street and wish her to be free of suffering, that person begins to come into focus.
2098.
2099. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
2100.
2101. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.
2102. Expand
2103. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 31 Jan 11
2104. Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.
2105. Expand
2106. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Jan 11
2107. Compassion, however, is more emotionally challenging than loving- kindness because it involves the willingness to feel pain.
2108. To flash openness, some people visualize a vast ocean or a cloudless sky—any image that conveys unlimited expansiveness. 2109. The first flash of openness reminds us that we can always let go of our fixed ideas and connect with something open, fresh, and unbiased.
2110. So the first stage of tonglen is a moment of open mind, or unconditional bodhichitta.
2111. Then we train in softening, relaxing, and opening to the energy without interpretations or judgments.
2112. If we relax our mind and stop struggling, emotions can move through us without becoming solid and proliferating.
2113. Then when we see someone in distress we’re not reluctant to breathe in the person’s suffering and send out relief.
2114. When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.
2115. Most of the time we don’t do this. Rather than appreciate where we are, we continually struggle and nurture our dissatisfaction.
2116. This is the path we take in cultivating joy: learning not to armor our basic goodness, learning to appreciate what we have.
2117. Abiding with the physical sensation… is a way of relaxing, a way to train in softening rather than hardening. -Pema Chödrön
2118. Abiding with the physical sensation is radically different from sticking to the story line. It requires appreciation for this very moment.
2119. Our desire for relief and the methods we use to achieve it are definitely not in sync. -Pema Chödrön
2120. [Holding a grudge is] rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die. -Pema Chödrön
2121. We’d be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain. -Pema Chödrön
2122. Our practice is to become aware of our kind heart and nurture it. But it is also to get a close look at the roots of suffering...
2123. The point is to find our spontaneous & natural capacity to be glad for another being, whether it feels unshakable or fleeting.
2124. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.
2125. Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. -Pema Chödrön
2126. We’ve discovered that the continual search for something better does not work out.
2127. At the beginning joy is just a feeling that our own situation is workable. We stop looking for a more suitable place to be.
2128. This simple way of training with pleasure and pain allows us to use what we have, wherever we are, to connect with other people.
2129. Discomfort of any kind also becomes the basis for practice. We breathe in knowing that our pain is shared...
2130. So the first step is to stop, notice, and appreciate what is happening. Even if this is all we do, it’s revolutionary.
2131. Although there are many such fleeting ordinary moments in our days, we usually speed right past them. We forget what joy they can bring.
2132. In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others. -Pema Chödrön
2133. [W]hen we encounter pain in our life we breathe into our heart with the recognition that others also feel this. -Pema Chödrön
2134. When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta? -Pema Chödrön
2135. An on-the-spot equanimity practice is to walk down the street with the intention of staying as awake as possible to whomever we meet.
2136. [W]e practice catching our mind hardening into fixed views and do our best to soften. Through softening, the barriers come down.
2137. In the moment that we choose to abide with the energy instead of acting it out or repressing it, we are training in equanimity...
2138. We all desperately need more insight into what leads to happiness and what leads to pain.
2139. Whatever arises, no matter how bad it feels, can be used to extend our kinship to others who suffer the same kind of aggression or craving..
2140. We train in staying with the soft spot and use our biases as stepping- stones for connecting with the confusion of others.
2141. To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity. 2142. Therefore the warrior-bodhisattva cultivates equanimity, the vast mind that doesn’t narrow reality into for & against, liking & disliking.
2143. We can never get life to work out so that we eliminate everything we fear and end up with all the goodies. -Pema Chödrön
2144. No lasting happiness comes from being caught in this cycle of attraction and aversion. -Pema Chödrön
2145. [On Equanimity:] Without this fourth boundless quality, the other 3 are limited by our habit of liking & disliking, accepting & rejecting.
2146. "On bad days, I’m okay. On good days, I’m also okay.” This is equanimity. -Pema Chödrön
2147. [T]he energy that causes us to live and be whole and awake and alive is just the energy that creates everything, and we’re part of that.
2148. I’m talking about not resisting, not grasping, not getting caught in hope and in fear, in good and in bad, but actually living completely.
2149. When there’s an earthquake, let the ground tremble and rip apart, and when it’s a rich garden with flowers, let that be also.
2150. When it’s warm and cozy, don’t resist that or nest in it. I’m not saying turn an earthquake into a garden of flowers. -Pema Chödrön
2151. I’m saying that when there’s a forest fire, don’t resist that kind of power—that’s you. -Pema Chödrön
2152. It’s as if… instead of sitting still in the middle of the fire, we have developed this self-created device for fanning it, keeping it going.
2153. By “cessation” we mean the cessation of hell as opposed to just weather, the cessation of this resistance, this resentment...
2154. The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2155. We all know what addiction is; we are primarily addicted to ME.
2156. It’s as if, when you resist, you dig in your heels....you’re a block of marble&you carve yourself out of it, you make yourself really solid.
2157. When I didn’t resist, I could see the world. -Pema Chödrön
2158. Traditionally it’s said that the cause of suffering is clinging to our narrow view. -Pema Chödrön 2159. The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb and flow like the tides, we wax and wane like the moon.
2160. Nothing in its essence is one way or the other.
2161. The first noble truth says simply that it’s part of being human to feel discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
2162. [A]rrogance is just a cover-up for really feeling that you’re the worst horse, and always trying to prove otherwise. -Pema Chödrön
2163. The ground of loving-kindness is this sense of satisfaction with who we are and what we have.
2164. We can lead our life so as to become more awake to who we are & what we’re doing rather than trying to improve/change/get rid of who we are…
2165. Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are... -Pema Chödrön
2166. 1 of the major obstacles to what is traditionally called enlightenment is resentment, feeling cheated, holding a grudge about who you are...
2167. Basically, making friends with yourself is making friends with all those [other] people too... -Pema Chödrön
2168. Precision is being able to see very clearly, not being afraid to see what’s really there…Openness is being able to let go and to open.
2169. Gentleness is a sense of goodheartedness toward ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2170. Inquisitiveness or curiosity involves being gentle, precise, and open— actually being able to let go and open. -Pema Chödrön
2171. 1 of the main discoveries of meditation is seeing how we continually run away from the present moment, how we avoid being here just as we r.
2172. The path of meditation and the path of our lives altogether has to do with curiosity, inquisitiveness. -Pema Chödrön
2173. Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.
2174. [W]e must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is…
2175. A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity… -Pema Chödrön
2176. There’s a common misunderstanding among all the human beings… that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain &just try to get comfortable.
2177. If we’re committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run... -Pema Chödrön
2178. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings. -Pema Chödrön
2179. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. -Pema Chödrön
2180. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world.
2181. So on the spot you can do tonglen 4 all the people who are just like you, 4 everyone who wishes to be compassionate but instead is afraid...
2182. So you breathe in for all the people who are caught with that same emotion and you send out relief or whatever opens up the space...
2183. We use them [sex & drugs & alcohol, etc.] as a way to escape; we use them to try to get comfort and to distract ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2184. The Buddhist monastic rules that advise renouncing liquor, renouncing sex, and so on are [pointing out] that we use them as babysitters.
2185. The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.
2186. What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.
2187. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness…will affect how you experience your world. -Pema Chödrön
2188. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
2189. The reason that people harm other people,the reason that the planet is polluted…is that individuals don’t know/trust/love themselves enough.
2190. There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away.
2191. The reason we’re often not there for others… is that we’re not there for ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2192. [W]e could relate compassionately with that which we prefer to push away,& we could learn to give away & share that which we hold most dear.
2193. [I]t is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads naturally to unconditional compassion for others. -Pema Chödrön
2194.
2195. [I]n this present age it is necessary to also emphasize that the first step is to develop compassion for our own wounds. -Pema Chödrön
2196.
2197. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are giving up control altogether... -Pema Chödrön
2198.
2199. There’s always something happening that you can’t pin down with words or thoughts.
2200.
2201. As the slogan says, each situation and even each word and thought and emotion is passing memory.
2202.
2203. In the morning you feel one way; in the afternoon, it can seem as if years have passed.It’s just astounding how it all just keeps moving on.
2204.
2205. [A]ll the passion that’s connected with these thoughts, or all the aggression or all the heartbreak, is simply passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
2206.
2207. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It’s not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes. -Pema Chödrön
2208.
2209. One way to pull out your own rug is by just letting go, lightening up, being more gentle, and not making such a big deal. -Pema Chödrön
2210.
2211. As the slogan says, each situation and even each word and thought and emotion is passing memory. 2212.
2213. With our minds we make a big deal out of ourselves, out of our pain, and out of our problems. -Pema Chödrön
2214.
2215. The key is, it’s no big deal. We could all just lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams. -Pema Chödrön
2216.
2217. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream. “Every situation is a passing memory.”
2218.
2219. The first of the absolute slogans is “Regard all dharma as dreams.” More simply, regard everything as a dream. -Pema Chödrön
2220.
2221. One can appreciate &celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred. There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
2222.
2223. If we don’t get swept away by our outrage, then we will see the cause of suffering more clearly. -Pema Chödrön
2224.
2225. When we don’t buy into our opinions and solidify the sense of enemy, we will accomplish something. -Pema Chödrön
2226.
2227. The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy. -Pema Chödrön
2228.
2229. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
2230.
2231. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal.
2232. 2233. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go.
2234.
2235. The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval.When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.
2236.
2237. Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves, “Am I going to add to the aggression
2238. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever. -Pema Chödrön
2239.
2240. When we do that, the three poisons become three seeds of how to make friends with ourselves.
2241.
2242. Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger. -Pema Chödrön
2243.
2244. Acting out and repressing are the main ways that we shield our hearts, the main ways that we never really... http://twitpic.com/3cc66x
2245.
2246. Whatever you do, don’t try to make the poisons go away, because if you’re trying to make them go away, you’re... http://twitpic.com/3cc737
2247.
2248. There’s nothing really wrong w/passion or aggression or ignorance,except that we take it so personally&therefore waste all that juicy stuff.
2249.
2250. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant. That’s the traditional image... http://twitpic.com/3cc119
2251. 2252. [The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, and dumb. -Pema Chödrön
2253.
2254. The discipline of opening to "I am not measuring up". That is the instruction. Open instead of closing. Pema Chödrön
2255.
2256. Don't escalate. That is the best dharma advice. Pema Chödrön
2257.
2258. [W]e can never connect with our fundamental wealth as long as we are buying into this advertisement hype that we have to be someone else...
2259.
2260. …That all comes under the category of defeat, the defeat of ego. We’re always not wanting to be who we are. -Pema Chödrön
2261.
2262. You say to yourself, “Nobody loves me, I’m always left out. I have no teeth, my hair’s getting gray, I have blotchy skin, my nose runs.”...
2263.
2264. There’s a richness to all of the smelly stuff that we so dislike and so little desire. -Pema Chödrön
2265.
2266. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
2267.
2268. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—…the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy…—never touch our basic wealth.
2269. Expand
2270. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Nov 10
2271. People everywhere feel pain—jealousy, anger, being left out, feeling lonely. Everybody feels that exactly the way you feel it. -Pema Chödrön
2272. Expand 2273. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 26 Nov 10
2274. Resistance is really what causes the pain; more than the anger itself, or the jealousy itself, it’s resistance that causes the pain.
2275. Expand
2276. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10
2277. Even if you don’t feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious. -Pema Chödrön
2278. Expand
2279. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10
2280. The slogan “Be grateful to everyone” is about making peace with the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected. -Pema Chödrön
2281. Expand
2282. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10
2283. I feel gratitude to the Buddha for pointing out that what we struggle against all our lives can be acknowledged as ordinary experience.
2284. Expand
2285. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10
2286. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked back. Simply keep the door open without expectations. -Pema Chödrön
2287. Expand
2288. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10
2289. [I]t’s good to express our gratitude to others. It’s helpful to express our appreciation of others. -Pema Chödrön
2290. Expand
2291. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10
2292. We can begin to open our hearts to others when we have no hope of getting anything back. We just do it for its own sake. -Pema Chödrön
2293. Expand
2294. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 25 Nov 10 2295. More than to expect thanks, it would be helpful just to expect the unexpected; then you might be curious and inquisitive... -Pema Chödrön
2296. Tibetan adage: Without character, intelligence is of no use.
2297. སོད༌པ༌མེད༌ན༌རིག༌པ༌དོན༌མེད༎ 2298. Expand
2299. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 23 Nov 10
2300. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement. -Pema Chödrön
2301. But at this point, for most of us, our thoughts are very tied up with our identity, with our sense of problem & our sense of how things are.
2302. Beliefs of solidness, beliefs of emptiness, let it all go. If you learn to let things go, thoughts are no problem. -Pema Chödrön
2303. These thoughts that come up, they’re not bad. Anyway, meditation isn’t about getting rid of thoughts—you’ll think forever. -Pema Chödrön
2304. Use the labeling and use it with great gentleness as a way to touch those solid dramas and acknowledge that you just made them all up...
2305.
2306. We don’t have to make such a big deal about ourselves, our enemies, our lovers, and the whole show. -Pema Chödrön
2307.
2308. We could question this solid identity that we have, this sense of a person frozen in time and space, this monolithic ME.
2309.
2310. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.
2311.
2312. The elemental struggle is with our feeling of being wrong, with our guilt and shame at what we are. That’s what we have to befriend.
2313.
2314. Regarding what arises as awakened energy reverses our fundamental habitual pattern of trying to avoid conflict, trying to make… [1/2] 2315.
2316. …ourselves better than we are…trying to prove that pain is a mistake and would not exist in our lives if only we did all the rights things.
2317.
2318. It helps to remember that our practice is not about accomplishing anything... but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is.
2319.
2320. We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy. -Pema Chödrön
2321.
2322. Let all those stories go.The innermost essence of mind is w/o bias.Things arise & things dissolve forever & ever. That’s just the way it is.
2323.
2324. Meditation practice is how we stop fighting with ourselves, how we stop struggling with circumstances, emotions, or moods. -Pema Chödrön
2325.
2326. We could be there, feeling off guard, not knowing what to do, just hanging out there with the raw and tender energy of the moment.
2327.
2328. [I]nstead of feeling we are stupid or someone else is unkind, we could drop all the complaints about ourselves and others. -Pema Chödrön
2329. When we feel squeezed, there’s a tendency for mind to become small. We feel miserable, like a victim, like a pathetic, hopeless case.
2330.
2331. [D]o everything as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, while all the time knowing that it doesn’t matter at all.
2332.
2333. We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition. -Pema Chödrön
2334. 2335. We don’t set out 2 save the world;we set out 2 wonder how other people are doing&to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.
2336.
2337.
2338. Only in an open space where we’re not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly
2339.
2340. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. -Pema Chödrön
2341.
2342.
2343. This means allowing ourselves to feel what we feel& not pushing it away...accepting every aspect of ourselves, even the parts we don’t like.
2344.
2345. [B]eing there for someone else... means not shutting down on that person, which means, first of all, not shutting down on ourselves.
2346.
2347. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
2348.
2349. The only reason that we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us... -Pema Chödrön
2350.
2351. So the challenge is how to develop compassion right along with clear seeing, how to train in lightening up & cheering up... -Pema Chödrön
2352.
2353. How we regard what arises in meditation is training for how we regard whatever arises in the rest of our lives. -Pema Chödrön
2354. 2355. We are undoing a pattern… It’s the human pattern: we project onto the world a zillion possibilities of attaining resolution. -Pema Chödrön
2356.
2357. The process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality...
2358.
2359.
2360. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
2361.
2362. We’re always trying to deny that it’s a natural occurrence that things change,that the sand is slipping through our fingers.Time is passing.
2363.
2364. Reaching our limit is like finding a doorway to sanity & the unconditional goodness of humanity, rather than meeting an obstacle/punishment.
2365.
2366. "If you follow your heart, you're going to find that it is often extremely inconvenient."
2367.
2368. "The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant." -Pema Chödrön (Always my favorite allegory.)
2369.
2370. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path.
2371.
2372. To stay w/that shakiness—to stay w/a broken heart…w/the feeling of hopelessness & wanting to get revenge—that is the path of true awakening.
2373.
2374. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know. 2375.
2376. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
2377. Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. -Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart
2378.
2379. [T]he truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together & they fall apart. Then they come together again & fall apart again.
2380. Expand
2381. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Nov 10
2382. The trick is to keep exploring & not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.
2383.
2384. The lojong teachings encourage us, if we enjoy what we are experiencing, to think of other people and wish for them to feel that.
2385.
2386. If an experience is delightful or pleasant,usually we want to grab it &make it last.We’re afraid it will end.We’re not inclined to share it.
2387.
2388. [W]e are not as solid as we think.
2389. Joy has to do with seeing how big, how vast, how precious things are. ~Pema Chodron
2390.
2391. Even if you don’t feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious. -Pema Chödrön
2392.
2393. Whatever we’re doing, whether we’re having tea or working, we could do that completely. We could be wherever we are completely, 100%.
2394.
2395. The truth is that good and bad coexist; sour and sweet coexist. They aren’t really opposed to each other. -Pema Chödrön, Start Where you Are
2396.
2397. Time is passing.... But getting old, getting sick, losing what we love— we don’t see those events as natural occurrences. -Pema Chödrön
2398.
2399. If we let them, they [lojong slogans] will lead us toward the fact that facts themselves are very dubious.
2400.
2401. …you could genuinely understand the whole situation because you understand so well where everybody’s coming from. -Pema Chödrön
2402.
2403. In that way your own pain is like a stepping stone. Your heart develops more and more, and even if someone comes up and insults you…
2404.
2405. [T]onglen practice is both a practice of making friends with yourself and a practice of compassion. -Pema Chödrön
2406.
2407. [W]hen we open up our clenched hearts & let the good things go…& share them with others—that’s also completely reversing the logic of ego…
2408.
2409.
2410. Because you feel rage, therefore you have the kindling, the connection, for understanding the rage of all sentient beings. -Pema Chödrön
2411.
2412. The more it bothers you, the more awake you’re going to be when you do tonglen.
2413.
2414. The idea is to develop sympathy for your own confusion. The technique is that you do not blame Mortimer; you also do not blame yourself.
2415. 2416. We shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure.
2417.
2418. The story lines vary, but the underlying feeling is the same for us all. -Pema Chödrön
2419.
2420. People everywhere feel pain—jealousy, anger, being left out, feeling lonely. Everybody feels that exactly the way you feel it.
2421.
2422. As unwanted feelings and emotions arise, you actually breathe them in and connect with what all humans feel. -Pema Chödrön
2423.
2424. In its essence, this practice of tonglen is when anything is painful or undesirable, to breathe it in. -Pema Chödrön
2425.
2426. When the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
2427.
2428. Simply letting go of the story line is what it takes, which is not that easy. -Pema Chödrön
2429.
2430. The poison already is the medicine. You don’t have to transform anything. Simply letting go of the story line is what it takes...
2431.
2432. When we don’t act out and we don’t repress, then our passion, our aggression, and our ignorance become our wealth. -Pema Chödrön
2433. We shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure.
2434. You might think that there are no others on the planet who hate themselves as much as you do. All of that is a good place to start.
2435. [W]e are completely interrelated. What you do to others, you do to yourself. What you do to yourself, you do to others. -Pema Chödrön 2436. By being kind to ourselves we become kind to others.By being kind to others—if it’s done properly,w/proper understanding—we benefit as well.
2437. We will fall flat on our faces again and again, we will continue to feel inadequate, and we can use these experiences to wake up...
2438. The more you just try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.
2439. Ego is something that you come to know—something that you befriend by not acting out or repressing all the feelings that you feel.
2440. As long as we hate the enemy, then we suffer & the enemy suffers & the world suffers.
2441. The only way to effect real reform is without hatred.
2442. Exchanging yourself for others begins to occur when you can see where someone is because you’ve been there. -Pema Chödrön
2443. You’ve been angry, jealous, and lonely. You know what it’s like and you know how sometimes you do strange things. -Pema Chödrön
2444. The way that we can help is by making friends with our own feelings of hatred, bewilderment, & so forth. Then we can accept them in others.
2445. People harm each other—we harm others and others harm us. To know that is clear seeing. -Pema Chödrön
2446. Use the tonglen practice to see how you can place the anger or the fear or the loneliness in a cradle of loving-kindness... -Pema Chödrön
2447. If you aren’t feeding the fire of anger or the fire of craving by talking to yourself, then the fire doesn’t have anything to feed on.
2448. Try dropping the object of the blame or the object of what you think is wrong. -Pema Chödrön
2449. [It] is a healthy & compassionate instruction that short-circuits the overwhelming tendency we have to blame everybody else...-Pema Chödrön
2450. “Drive all blames into one”... doesn’t mean, instead of blaming the other people, blame yourself. -Pema Chödrön
2451. One way of beginning to practice “Drive all blames into one” is to begin to notice what it feels like when you blame someone else.
2452. [N]o one is ever encouraged to feel the underlying anxiety…the underlying soft spot,&therefore we think that blaming others is the only way. 2453. When the world is filled with ego clinging or with attachment to a particular outcome, there is a lot of pain. -Pema Chödrön
2454. You drive all blames into yourself. It take a lot of bravery, & it’s extremely insulting to ego... it destroys the whole mechanism of ego.
2455. [A]llow yourself to feel wounded first and then try to figure out what is the right speech and right action that might follow.
2456. Compassionate action, compassionate speech, is not a one-shot deal; it’s a lifetime journey.
2457. The path of not being caught in ego is a process of surrendering to situations in order to communicate rather than win. -Pema Chödrön
2458. Something between repressing and acting out is what’s called for, but it is unique and different each time. -Pema Chödrön
2459. Helping yourself or someone else has to do with opening and just being there; that’s how something happens between people.
2460. No one else knows what it takes for another person to open the door.
2461. “Be grateful to everyone” means that all situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best.
2462. The people who repel us unwittingly show us the aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, which otherwise we can't see.
2463. The slogan “Be grateful to everyone” is about making peace with the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected. -Pema Chödrön
2464. Everything in our lives can wake us up or put us to sleep, and basically it’s up to us to let it wake us up.
2465. "We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment. " Pema Chodron
2466. See the great uncertainty in the world as the opportunity to smile at fear, engage and transform it step by step. Pema Chödrön @pemaquotes
2467. We usually spin off into what’s been called negative negativity, which is pettiness, resentment, aggression, righteous indignation.
2468. Just as you accumulate merit by going beyond hope & fear and saying, “Let it be,” the same with the dön; there’s some sense of “let it be.”
2469. [T]he initial harsh word might give you some feeling of well-being, but it’s followed by the chain reaction of misery... -Pema Chödrön 2470. Refraining comes about spontaneously when you see how your neurotic action works.
2471. It’s much better that you see that you harmed somebody than that you protect yourself from that. But you only get two minutes for regret.
2472. Because of mindfulness and seeing what you do, which is the result of your practice, it gets harder and harder to hide from yourself.
2473. Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment—all are synonyms for accumulating merit. -Pema Chödrön
2474. As a result of opening yourself, you begin to experience your world as more friendly. That is merit.
2475. The way to accumulate merit is to be willing to give, willing to open, willing not to hold back. -Pema Chödrön
2476. Expand
2477. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Oct 10
2478. Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.
2479. -Pema Chödrön
2480. Expand
2481. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 13 Oct 10
2482. [T]he best kind of protection is to see the empty, dreamlike quality of the confusion.
2483. Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.
2484. Aspiration, yet again, is to talk to yourself, to be an eccentric bodhisattva. It is a way to empower yourself.
2485. You might be feeling completely hopeless, down on yourself, and you can voice your heartfelt aspiration: [continued...]
2486. A heartfelt sense of aspiring cuts through negativity about yourself; it cuts through the heavy trips you lay on yourself. -Pema Chödrön 2487. Each time you’re willing to see your thoughts as empty, let them go, & come back to your breath, you’re sowing seeds of wakefulness...
2488. Expand
2489. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 10
2490. Reproach doesn’t have to be a negative reaction to your personal brand of insanity. -Pema Chödrön
2491. Expand
2492. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 10
2493. [R]ather than blaming yourself or yelling at yourself, you can teach the dharma to yourself. -Pema Chödrön
2494. Expand
2495. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 7 Oct 10
2496. Searching for happiness prevents us from ever finding it.
2497. Expand
2498. DaveRoel þ@myxyz42 6 Oct 10
2499. Pema Chodron: Befriend Who You Are | Tricycle - The Buddhist Review - Daily Dharma: http://bit.ly/bcaWoK
2500. Retweeted by Pema Chödrön Quotes
2501. Expand
2502. MissingLynxx þ@MissingLynxx 7 Oct 10
2503. "There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness" -Pema Chodron
2504. Retweeted by Pema Chödrön Quotes
2505. Expand
2506. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 10
2507. @digitgidget Hehehe, so true.
2508. View conversation
2509. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 10 2510. @de_ideen Ah -- ich bin nicht Pema Chödrön.
2511. View conversation
2512. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 10
2513. It’s all in the “pleasantness of the presentness”... -Pema Chödrön
2514. Expand
2515. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 10
2516. It’s determination to use every challenge you meet as an opportunity to open your heart and soften, determination not to withdraw.
2517. Expand
2518. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 6 Oct 10
2519. Rather than some kind of dogged pushing through, strong determination involves connecting with joy, relaxing, & trusting. -Pema Chödrön
2520. Expand
2521. Hermanos Cervantes þ@LosCervantes 5 Oct 10
2522. El miedo es la reacción natural al acercarse a la verdad. Pema Chodron
2523. Retweeted by Pema Chödrön Quotes
2524. Expand
2525. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 Oct 10
2526. All those thoughts, as they come up, just see them and let them go, let the whole story line die; let the space for something new arise.
2527. Expand
2528. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 5 Oct 10
2529. As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. -Pema Chödrön
2530. Expand
2531. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 Oct 10
2532. Stop struggling against the fact that nothing’s solid to begin with and things don’t last. -Pema Chödrön
2533. Expand
2534. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 4 Oct 10
2535. The point is that the happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through relaxation and letting go rather than through struggle.
2536. Expand
2537. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 Oct 10
2538. Late #FF thanks to @harrxyz & @curtissesq!
2539. Expand
2540. Boston Yoga þ@bostonyoga 3 Oct 10
2541. "what we need is here. now. always." -Pema Chodron
2542. Retweeted by Pema Chödrön Quotes
2543. Expand
2544. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 3 Oct 10
2545. The happiness we seek cannot be found through grasping, trying to hold on to things. -Pema Chödrön
2546. Expand
2547. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 Oct 10
2548. Maybe you’ve noticed that sometimes you feel like you’re in a battle with reality and reality is always winning.
2549. -Pema Chödrön
2550. Expand
2551. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 2 Oct 10
2552. You’re the only one who knows when you’re opening and when you’re closing.
2553. -Pema Chödrön
2554. Expand
2555. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 Oct 10 2556. There seems to be a need to change the fundamental pattern of always protecting against anything touching our soft spot. -Pema Chödrön
2557. Expand
2558. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 Oct 10
2559. When something comes along that doesn’t squeeze and poke and irritate us, we grasp it for dear life and want it to last forever.
2560. Expand
2561. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 Oct 10
2562. Thankyou @lotusbat and @punkrockbuddha for #FF!
2563. Expand
2564. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 1 Oct 10
2565. If there’s lots of ego, then we’re always getting squeezed and poked and irritated by everything that comes along. -Pema Chödrön
2566. Expand
2567. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Sep 10
2568. @stream_enterer OMJ, me too! :)
2569. View conversation
2570. Gillian þ@GillianTheGreat 30 Sep 10
2571. @PemaQuotes I just saw a Pema quote at the end of #TheBigBangTheory :)
2572. Retweeted by Pema Chödrön Quotes
2573. Expand
2574. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Sep 10
2575. @GillianTheGreat No way! I never would've guessed. What was it??
2576. View conversation
2577. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Sep 10
2578. If the ego or the cocoon starts getting lighter, then suffering is lighter as well. -Pema Chödrön, Start Where you Are 2579. Expand
2580. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 30 Sep 10
2581. [I]f the way that we protect ourselves is strong, then suffering is really strong too. -Pema Chödrön
2582. [W]hen things are really heavy & you feel stuck in either your joy or your misery, just do something different to change the pattern.
2583. [T]he best gift you can give yourself is to lighten up. One way to do that is to let distraction bring you back to the present moment.
2584. We are so locked into this sense of burden—Big Deal Joy and Big Deal Unhappiness—that it’s sometimes helpful just to change the pattern.
2585. Curiosity encourages cheering up. So does simply remembering to do something different. -Pema Chödrön
2586. send out spaciousness...whatever would be healing...what you feel for one person you can extend to all people. - Pema Chodron
2587. "A psychotic drowns in the very same stuff a mystic swims in." ~Pema Chödrön
2588. Notice everything. Appreciate everything, including the ordinary. That’s how to click in with joyfulness or cheerfulness. -Pema Chödrön
2589. This practice is about repatterning ourselves, changing the basic pattern and unpatterning ourselves altogether. -Pema Chödrön
2590. In addition to a sense of humor, a basic support 4 a joyful mind is curiosity, paying attention, taking an interest in the world around you.
2591. The key to feeling at home w/ your body, mind, and emotions, to feeling worthy to live on this planet, comes from being able to lighten up.
2592. [I]t all comes down to how you relate to things—whether you continue to struggle against everything… or you begin to work with things.
2593. Anything that begins to lighten up that resistance helps us to relax and open and celebrate. -Pema Chödrön
2594. Resistance is really what causes the pain; more than the anger itself, or the jealousy itself, it’s resistance that causes the pain.
2595. Experience feelings w/out labels, beyond being good or bad. Welcome them. Invite them. Do anythng that helps melt resistance. -Pema Chodron 2596. "The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is #resentment." -Pema Chodron #quotes
2597. If you enter into an unconditional relationship w/ yourself, that means sticking w/ the buddha right now on the spot as you find yourself.
2598. [A]nything that you can experience or think is worthy of compassion; anything you could think or feel is worthy of appreciation.
2599. If there’s some sense of wanting to change yourself, then it comes from a place of feeling that you’re not good enough. -Pema Chödrön
2600. To me it seems that at the root of healing… is the premise that you’re not going to try to make anything go away… -Pema Chödrön
2601. One of the things that keeps us unhappy is this continual searching for pleasure or security... -Pema Chödrön
2602. When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless.
2603. One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not good enough. -Pema Chödrön
2604. As long as you have an orientation toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are. -Pema Chödrön
2605. One of the most powerful teachings of the Buddhist tradition is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will.
2606. [L]et go of the story line, let go of the conversation, and own your feeling completely. -Pema Chödrön
2607. Patience and nonaggression are basically encouragement to wait.
2608. [R]ather than always trying to get security, you begin to develop an attitude of wanting to step into uncharted territory.
2609. The basis of [...] compassionate action is the insight that the others who seem to be out there are some kind of mirror image of ourselves.
2610. We realize that this separateness we feel is a funny kind of mistake. -Pema Chödrön
2611. The concepts of problem and solution can keep us stuck in thinking that there is an enemy and a saint or a right way and a wrong way.
2612. This is not about problem resolution. This is more open-ended and courageous approach. It has to do with not knowing what will happen. 2613. [W]e can also just see what we do—not only w/ honesty but also w/ a sense of humor—& then keep going & not make a whole identity out of it.
2614. "Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found." ~ Pema Chödrön
2615. Through seeing these things we can begin to have a lot of compassion, because in studying ourselves we’re studying the whole human race.
2616. The basic ground of compassionate action is the importance of working *with* rather than struggling *against*... -Pema Chödrön
2617. The lojong teachings say that the way to help, the way to act compassionately, is to exchange oneself for other.
2618. The aspiration to communicate with another person—to be able to listen and to speak from the heart—is what changes our old stuck patterns.
2619. The next step is to learn to communicate with the people that you feel are causing your pain and miserynot to learn how to prove them wrong and yourself right but how to communicate from the heart.
2620. The next moment is always fresh and open. You don’t have to get frozen in an identity of any kind.
2621. Don’t always react so predictably to pleasure and pain.
2622. When you connect with your own suffering, reflect that countless beings at this very moment are feeling exactly what you feel. -Pema Chödrön
2623. Train without bias, without the labels. -Pema Chödrön
2624. We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us...or we can let them soften us and make us kinder.
2625. The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.
2626. [W]hat people really need is for others not to be afraid of them and not distance themselves from them.
2627. The key to compassionate action is this: everybody needs someone to be there for them, simply to be there.
2628. Everything you say can further polarize the situation and convince you of how separate you are.
2629. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. 2630. [T]o care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous... means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves.
2631. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world.
2632. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. -Pema Chödrön
2633. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings. -Pema Chödrön
2634. If we really want to communicate, we have to give up knowing what to do. -Pema Chödrön
2635. “Feel the feelings and drop the story.” ~Pema Chodron
2636. Resentment becomes a reminder not to feel bad about ourselves but to open further to the pain and to the awkwardness. -Pema Chödrön
2637. Tibetan adage: Do all sorts of things, and all sorts of things will happen. མི༌བེད༌དག༌བེད༌བས༌ན༎ མི༌ཡོང༌དག༌ཡོང༌ཡོང༌ ༎ 2638. Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, & hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully. It’s a reminder to stop talking; watch & listen.
2639. This is a practical suggestion: all activities should be done with the intention of speaking so that another person can hear you...
2640. We could say, “All activities should be done with the intention of communicating.” -Pema Chödrön
2641. We don’t get wise by staying in a room with all the doors and windows closed. -Pema Chödrön
2642. Our quickest road to Awakening is to begin seeing all obstacles as Teachers.
2643. At the beginning of your day... you could encourage yourself to keep your heart open, to remain curious, no matter how difficult things get.
2644. If you think smoking is hard to give up, try giving up your habitual patterns.
2645. If everybody on the planet could experience seeing what they do with gentleness, everything would start to turn around very fast...
2646. Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening. 2647. You don’t really know what’s going to benefit somebody, but it doesn’t benefit anybody to allow someone to beat you up...
2648. [T]rying to smooth everything out to avoid confrontation, not to rock the boat, is not what’s meant by compassion or patience. -Pema Chödrön
2649. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked back. Simply keep the door open without expectations.
2650. We can begin to open our hearts to others when we have no hope of getting anything back. We just do it for its own sake. -Pema Chödrön
2651. Most of the striking out at other people, for us in this culture, comes from feeling bad about ourselves. -Pema Chodron
2652. Spinning off when things are painful or pleasant presents an opportunity to practice lojong [mind training]. -Pema Chödrön
2653. There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out. -Pema Chödrön
2654. Patience is not learned in safety. It is not learned when everything is harmonious and going well. -Pema Chödrön
2655. Patience means allowing things to unfold at their own speed rather than jumping in with your habitual response to either pain or pleasure.
2656. One of the slogans is “Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.” Whether it is glorious or wretched, delightful or hateful, be patient.
2657. Tibetan adage: Even children and dogs recognize kindness.
བམས༌པོ༌ཁི༌དང༌ཕ༌གས༌ཀང༌ཤེས ༎ 2658. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.
2659. “Trying to find lasting happiness from relationships or possessions is like drinking salt water to quench your thirst.”
2660. Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both.
2661. There is often a discrepancy between our ideals and what we actually encounter.
2662. Every time your buttons get pushed is like a big mirror showing you your own face...
2663. Maitri—loving-kindness—has to go very deep, because when you practice it, you’re going to see everything about yourself. -Pema Chödrön 2664. The more you’re willing to open your heart, the more challenges come along that make you want to shut it. -Pema Chödrön
2665. Tibetan adage: Genuine affection never turns a heart into a stone boulder. བཙ༌གདང༌ཟབ༌ལ༌ཛན༌མེད༌ན ༎ ཕ༌བོང༌དོ༌ལར༌སེམས༌མི༌འགར ༎ 2666. [O]ur ways of shutting down and closing off are rooted in the mistaken thinking that the way to get happy is to blame somebody else.
2667. Moment after moment, let yourself die wholeheartedly. -Pema Chödrön
2668. Let everything stop your mind and let everything open your heart. -Pema Chödrön
2669. Don’t be afraid of losing ground or of things falling apart or of not having it all together. -Pema Chödrön
2670. [B]odhichitta can, if we let it, transform any activity, word, or thought into a vehicle for awakening our compassion. -Pema Chödrön
2671. The central question of a warrior’s training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
2672. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next. -Pema Chödrön
2673. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all. -Pema Chödrön
2674. Tibetan adage: To hear sweet echoes off a cliff, first speak sweet words. བག༌ལ༌སད༌ཆ༌སན༌པོམ༌བཤད༌ན ༎ བག༌གི༌བག༌ལན༌སན༌པོ༌སོགས༌མི༌ཡོང ༎ 2675. This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we’re arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.
2676. But under the hardness of that armor there is the tenderness of genuine sadness. This is our link with all those who have ever loved.
2677. [W]e can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful & afraid, or we can let them soften us...
2678. Expand
2679. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Aug 10
2680. @_karmadorje Now for the analysis: Why do twice as many Buddhists love cats?
2681. View conversation 2682. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Aug 10
2683. The radical approach of bodhichitta practice is to pay attention to what we do. -Pema Chödrön
2684. Expand
2685. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Aug 10
2686. On the cliff of jealousy, the tender shoots of merit will not grow.
ཕག༌དོག༌གི༌བག༌ལ༌བསོད༌ནམས༌ཀི༌ས༌ག༌མ༌སེས ༎ 2687. Expand
2688. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 22 Aug 10
2689. When we don’t run from everyday uncertainty, we can contact bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
2690.
2691. [W]e can misuse any substance or activity to run away from insecurity. -Pema Chödrön
2692.
2693. Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well. -Pema Chödrön
2694.
2695. The Buddha taught that flexibility & openness bring strength & that running from groundlessness weakens us & brings pain.
2696. Finding the courage to go to the places that scare us cannot happen without compassionate inquiry into the workings of ego.
2697. We become habituated to reaching for something to ease the edginess of the moment.
2698. "We can spend our whole lives escaping from the monsters of our minds."— Pema Chödrön
2699.
2700. Third, we look for happiness in all the wrong places. The Buddha called this habit “mistaking suffering for happiness...” -Pema Chödrön
2701. 2702. We waste precious time exaggerating or romanticizing or belittling ourselves with a complacent surety that yes, that’s who we are.
2703.
2704. Second, we proceed as if we were separate from everything else, as if we were a fixed identity, when our true situation is egoless.
2705.
2706. First, we expect that what is always changing should be graspable and predictable.
2707.
2708. We suffer, not because we are basically bad or deserve to be punished, but because of three tragic misunderstandings. -Pema Chödrön
2709.
2710. To put it concisely, we suffer when we resist the noble and irrefutable truth of impermanence and death. -Pema Chödrön
2711.
2712. [Egolessness is:] not being at all sure about who we are—or who anyone else is either. -Pema Chödrön
2713.
2714. In the most ordinary terms, egolessness is a flexible identity. It manifests as inquisitiveness, as adaptability, as humor, as playfulness.
2715.
2716. [T]o train in staying open and curious—to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs—is the best use of our human lives.
2717.
2718. Self-importance hurts us, limiting us to the narrow world of our likes and dislikes. -Pema Chödrön
2719.
2720. It is possible to move through the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play. -Pema Chödrön
2721. 2722. We cling to a fixed idea of who we are and it cripples us. Nothing and no one is fixed. -Pema Chödrön
2723.
2724. [The Buddhist teachings] encourage us to relax gradually and wholeheartedly into the ordinary & obvious truth of change. -Pema Chödrön
2725.
2726. [W]hat we struggle against all our lives can be acknowledged as ordinary experience. Life *does* continually go up and down. -Pema Chödrön
2727.
2728.
2729. Anger without the fixation is none other than clear-seeing wisdom. Pride without fixation is experienced as equanimity. -Pema Chödrön
2730.
2731. In vajrayana Buddhism it is said that wisdom is inherent in emotions. When we struggle against our energy we reject the source of wisdom.
2732.
2733. We become so stuck in repetitive behavior that we become experts at getting all worked up. -Pema Chödrön
2734.
2735. Not abiding with our energy is a predictable human habit. Acting out and repressing are tactics we use to get away from our emotional pain.
2736.
2737. Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
2738.
2739. If we can stay with it [emotion/energy], neither acting it out nor repressing it, it wakes us up. -Pema Chödrön
2740.
2741. When emotional distress arises uninvited, we let the story line go and abide with the energy. -Pema Chödrön
2742. 2743. (om mani peme hung) ༀ་མ་ཎི་པ་དེ་ཧྃ། 2744.
2745. Emotion can’t proliferate without our internal conversations. -Pema Chödrön
2746.
2747. We really don’t want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. -Pema Chödrön
2748.
2749. One aspect of steadfastness is simply being in your body. -Pema Chödrön
2750.
2751. Without maitri, renunciation of old habits becomes abusive. This is an important point. -Pema Chödrön
2752.
2753. [L]asting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion. -Pema Chödrön
2754.
2755. Trying to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy. -Pema Chödrön
2756.
2757. Denigrating ourselves is probably the major way that we cover over bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
2758.
2759. Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion & our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri...
2760.
2761. Sitting meditation cultivates loving-kindness and compassion, the relative qualities of bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
2762.
2763. To be encouraged to stay with our vulnerability is news that we can use. Sitting meditation is our support for learning how to do this.
2764.
2765. As a species, we should never underestimate our low tolerance for discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
2766.
2767. Of the two witnesses—self and other—we’re the only one who knows the full truth about ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2768.
2769. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on. -Pema Chödrön
2770.
2771. Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity? -Pema Chödrön
2772.
2773. We do our best to stay with the strong energy without acting out or repressing. As we do so, our habits become more porous. -Pema Chödrön
2774.
2775. Practice means not continuing to strengthen the habitual patterns that keep us trapped... -Pema Chödrön
2776.
2777. If we can practice when we’re jealous, resentful, scornful, when we hate ourselves, then we are well trained. -Pema Chödrön
2778.
2779.
2780. When we can recognize our own confusion with compassion, we can extend that compassion to others who are equally confused. -Pema Chödrön
2781.
2782. Rather than spinning off, can we let the emotional intensity of that red- hot or ice-cold moment transform us? -Pema Chödrön
2783. 2784. Without the ones who irritate us, we never have a chance to practice. -Pema Chödrön
2785.
2786. Just locate that ability to feel good heart and cherish it, even if it ebbs and flows. -Pema Chödrön
2787.
2788. If you can easily open your heart to your dog or cat, start there and then move out to more challenging relationships. -Pema Chödrön
2789.
2790. [E]ven in the rock-hardness of rage, if we look below the surface of the aggression, we’ll generally find fear. -Pema Chödrön
2791.
2792. Whether we find it in the tenderness of feeling love or the vulnerability of feeling lonely is immaterial. -Pema Chödrön
2793.
2794. The instruction for cultivating limitless maitri is to first find the tenderness that we already have. -Pema Chödrön
2795.
2796. In cultivating loving-kindness, we train first to be honest, loving, and compassionate toward ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2797. One reason we train as warrior-bodhisattvas is to recognize our interconnectedness... [W]hen we harm another, we are harming ourselves.
2798. Entrenched in the tunnel vision of our personal concerns, what we ignore is our kinship with others. -Pema Chödrön
2799. Clinging to a fixed idea of who we are cripples us. Nothing and no one is fixed. ~Pema Chodron
2800. "The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment." ~ Pema Chodron
2801. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance. -Pema Chödrön
2802. The root of confidence comes from friendliness to one's self. - Pema Chodron
2803. [T]he best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others.
2804.
2805. If we relax our mind and stop struggling, emotions can move through us without becoming solid and proliferating. -Pema Chödrön
2806.
2807. Then when we see someone in distress we’re not reluctant to breathe in the person’s suffering and send out relief. -Pema Chödrön
2808.
2809. When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it. -Pema Chödrön
2810.
2811. This is the path we take in cultivating joy: learning not to armor our basic goodness, learning to appreciate what we have. -Pema Chödrön
2812.
2813. Abiding with the physical sensation is radically different from sticking to the story line. It requires appreciation for this very moment.
2814.
2815. Whenever we get caught, it’s helpful to remember the teachings—to recall that suffering is the result of an aggressive mind. -Pema Chödrön
2816.
2817. We’d be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain. -Pema Chödrön
2818.
2819. Our practice is to become aware of our kind heart and nurture it. But it is also to get a close look at the roots of suffering...
2820.
2821. The point is to find our spontaneous and natural capacity to be glad for another being, whether it feels unshakable or fleeting.
2822. 2823. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world. -Pema Chödrön
2824.
2825. We’ve discovered that the continual search for something better does not work out. -Pema Chödrön
2826.
2827. At the beginning joy is just a feeling that our own situation is workable. We stop looking for a more suitable place to be. -Pema Chödrön
2828.
2829. We voice the aspiration that all of us equally be free of suffering and its causes. -Pema Chödrön
2830.
2831. Instead of always pulling back and putting up walls, we can do something unpredictable and make a compassionate aspiration. -Pema Chödrön
2832.
2833. The fear habit, the anger habit, the self-pity habit—all are strengthened and empowered when we continue to buy into them. -Pema Chödrön
2834.
2835. This is a good time to remember that when we harden our heart against anyone, we hurt ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2836.
2837. By making this compassionate aspiration, we start to free ourselves from the prison of isolation and indifference. -Pema Chödrön
2838.
2839. When we look at someone on the street and wish her to be free of suffering, that person begins to come into focus....the barriers come down.
2840.
2841. [W]e practice catching our mind hardening into fixed views and do our best to soften. Through softening, the barriers come down.
2842. 2843. Whatever arises, no matter how bad it feels, can be used to extend our kinship to others who suffer the same kind of aggression or craving..
2844.
2845. In the moment that we choose to abide with the energy instead of acting it out or repressing it, we are training in equanimity...
2846.
2847. We all desperately need more insight into what leads to happiness and what leads to pain. -Pema Chödrön
2848.
2849. To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
2850.
2851.
2852. The first noble truth says simply that it’s part of being human to feel discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
2853.
2854. The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb and flow like the tides, we wax and wane like the moon.
2855.
2856. When there’s an earthquake, let the ground tremble and rip apart, and when it’s a rich garden with flowers, let that be also. -Pema Chödrön
2857.
2858. By “cessation” we mean the cessation of hell as opposed to just weather... -Pema Chödrön
2859.
2860. The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.... [to be continued]
2861.
2862. When I didn’t resist, I could see the world. -Pema Chödrön
2863. 2864.
2865. The key is, it’s no big deal. We could all just lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams.
2866. As the slogan says, each situation and even each word and thought and emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
2867.
2868. One way to pull out your own rug is by just letting go, lightening up, being more gentle, and not making such a big deal. -Pema Chödrön
2869.
2870. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are giving up control altogether... -Pema Chödrön
2871.
2872. In the morning you feel one way; in the afternoon, it can seem as if years have passed.It’s just astounding how it all just keeps moving on.
2873.
2874. There’s always something happening that you can’t pin down with words or thoughts. -Pema Chödrön
2875.
2876. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It’s not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes. -Pema Chödrön
2877.
2878. The path of not being caught in ego is a process of surrendering to situations in order to communicate rather than win. -Pema Chödrön
2879.
2880. “Be grateful to everyone” means that all situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best. -Pema Chödrön
2881.
2882. The people who repel us unwittingly show us the aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, which otherwise we can't see. -Pema Chödrön
2883. 2884. The slogan “Be grateful to everyone” is about making peace with the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected. -Pema Chödrön
2885.
2886. Everything in our lives can wake us up or put us to sleep, and basically it’s up to us to let it wake us up. -Pema Chödrön
2887.
2888. “If you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom.” Pema Chodron
2889. We usually spin off into what’s been called negative negativity, which is pettiness, resentment, aggression, righteous indignation.
2890.
2891. All those thoughts, as they come up, just see them and let them go, let the whole story line die; let the space for something new arise.
2892.
2893. Maybe you’ve noticed that sometimes you feel like you’re in a battle with reality and reality is always winning. -Pema Chödrön :)
2894.
2895. [I]f the way that we protect ourselves is strong, then suffering is really strong too. -Pema Chödrön
2896.
2897. Patience and nonaggression are basically encouragement to wait. -Pema Chödrön
2898. The antidote to misery is to stay present.
2899. When you do the practice both for all sentient beings and for yourself, you begin to realize that self and other are not actually different.
2900.
2901. [W]hat people really need is for others not to be afraid of them and not distance themselves from them.
2902.
2903. The key to compassionate action is this: everybody needs someone to be there for them, simply to be there. 2904. Train without bias, without the labels. -Pema Chödrön
2905.
2906. The process is the main thing, not the fruition. -Pema Chödrön
2907.
2908.
2909. [E]verything you say &do &think can support your desire to communicate, to move closer &step out of this myth of isolation & separateness...
2910.
2911. If we really want to communicate, we have to give up knowing what to do. -Pema Chödrön
2912. Resentment becomes a reminder not to feel bad about ourselves but to open further to the pain and to the awkwardness. -Pema Chödrön
2913. Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully. It’s a reminder to stop talking; watch and listen.
2914. We could say, “All activities should be done with the intention of communicating.” -Pema Chödrön
2915.
2916. The key to feeling at home with your body, mind, & emotions, to feeling worthy to live on this planet, comes from being able to lighten up.
2917.
2918. [A]nything that you can experience or think is worthy of compassion; anything you could think or feel is worthy of appreciation.
2919.
2920. [G]ive up any hope of fruition. Otherwise the treatment won’t work. -Pema Chödrön
2921.
2922. One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not good enough. -Pema Chödrön
2923. 2924. As long as you have an orientation toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are. -Pema Chödrön
2925.
2926. One of the most powerful teachings of the Buddhist tradition is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will.
2927.
2928. As Shantideva says, the more we benefit others, the more happiness comes our way. -Pema Chödrön
2929.
2930. Our greatest suffering is sometimes caused by rejecting kindness & support. -Pema Chödrön
2931.
2932. Our greatest suffering is sometimes caused by rejecting kindness and support. -Pema Chödrön
2933. Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time. -Pema Chödrön
2934. A heartfelt sense of aspiring cuts through negativity about yourself; it cuts through the heavy trips you lay on yourself. -Pema Chödrön
2935. Searching for happiness prevents us from ever finding it. -Pema Chödrön
2936. The point is that the happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through relaxation and letting go rather than through struggle.
2937. Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality-Pema Chodron #quote #wisdom
2938. The happiness we seek cannot be found through grasping, trying to hold on to things. -Pema Chödrön
2939. "Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do."
2940.
2941. Each day, we're either strengthening or weakening negative patterns. -Pema Chödrön 2942. The problem is not our friends & foes, per se; the problem is the way we relate to them, or to any external circumstance. -Pema Chödrön
2943. We can get beyond the solid opinions & prejudices that cause us to act unwisely; & we can uncover our basic openness & goodness.
2944. With the right methods for working with our minds & the willingness to use them, we all have the ability to turn anything around.
2945. Instead of condemning ourselves, we can connect with the openhearted tenderness of regret. -Pema Chödrön
2946. The role of others, whether it's the great protectors or our friends, is simply to hear us out, without judging or needing to fix us.
2947. Once we determine to free ourselves from our fear-based habits, opportunities to practice will arise everywhere. -Pema Chödrön
2948. When we feel the familiar tug of resistance, we could offer ourselves, even though it takes a leap. -Pema Chödrön
2949. [A]nything that lures us out of self-centeredness bodes well. -Pema Chödrön (& Shantideva)
2950. When we side with our sanity instead of the small-mindedness of self- absorption, we gather merit. -Pema Chödrön
2951. Suffering is part of life, and we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move. -Pema Chödrön
2952. It is our own aggression that hurts us. It's not that we're punished and sent to hell; hell is the manifestation of a vindictive mind.
2953. The all-consuming hells described graphically in many Tibetan texts do not exist apart from the minds of the beings who experience them.
2954. We sow the seeds of our future hells or happiness by the way we open or close our minds right now. -Pema Chödrön
2955. [T]he best friend is one who realizes our sameness and is skilled in helping us help ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
2956. Even we baby bodhisattvas don't design our lives to escape the chaos of the world; we go into the thick of things &work w/ whatever we find.
2957. Don't worry about results; just open your heart in an inconceivably big way, in that limitless way that benefits everyone you encounter.
2958. [T]he more we connect with the inconceivable, indescribable vastness of mind, the more joyful we will be. -Pema Chödrön
2959. [T]here is no prison; there are only very strong habits, and no sane reason for strengthening them further. -Pema Chödrön
2960. At some point, we realize that what we do for ourselves benefits others, and what we do for others benefits us. -Pema Chödrön
2961. No matter how dark and gloomy or joyful and uplifted our lives are, we can cultivate a sense of shared humanity. -Pema Chödrön
2962. By aspiring for all beings to be free of their suffering, we free ourselves from our own cocoons & life becomes bigger than "me."
2963. When we feel lonely or angry or depressed, we let these dark moods link us with the sorrows of others. -Pema Chödrön
2964. Whatever happens to us--good, bad, happy, or sad--can free us from self-absorption. -Pema Chödrön
2965. The myth of separateness is very convincing. Even though it causes us enormous pain, it's definitely not easy to shake. -Pema Chödrön
2966. The #Buddha taught that we're not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea.
2967. .. we all get so caught up in the goal, but the path itself is the goal.
2968. With a fraction of the time and effort we spend on our worldly existence, what tremendous progress we could make on the bodhisattva path.
2969. Aversion and attraction are frequently based on cultural bias and are not in any way absolute realities. -Pema Chödrön
2970. Worldly delights could, of course, support our awakening.... Usually, however, they lure us into further busyness and shenpa. -Pema Chödrön
2971. Since impermanence defies our attempts to hold on to anything, outer pleasures can never bring lasting joy. -Pema Chödrön
2972. The only way to heal ourselves is to build on the foundation of loving- kindness. -Pema Chödrön
2973. It may be hard work now;but refraining from kleshas&being open to whatever arises is like learning to drive a car:it gets easier w/practice.
2974. Where do we want to put our enthusiasm, into short-term gratification or the long-range happiness of a bodhisattva's life? -Pema Chödrön 2975. These fleeting moments of no-big-deal me, no internal conversations, no frozen opinions, are very simple yet powerful. -Pema Chödrön
2976. If we want to overcome the world, the first step is to have steadfast trust that we can work wisely with our kleshas. -Pema Chödrön
2977. When we're confidant that our mind is workable, our failings don't seem like such a big deal. -Pema Chödrön
2978. [B]uying into negative thinking only slows down our spiritual journey. -Pema Chödrön
2979. Appreciate everything, including the ordinary. Especially the ordinary. ~Pema Chodron
2980. This is how we find ourselves in hell: it's a projection of our former harmful deeds that we've justified or repressed. -Pema Chödrön
2981. If we've already looked honestly at our actions and been saddened by our misdeeds, there will be nothing left to haunt us when we die.
2982. Instead of appreciating each unique and fleeting day, don't we generally use life's pleasures to numb or distract ourselves? -Pema Chödrön
2983. There will always be challenges, but they need not be seen as obstacles. -Pema Chödrön
2984. We can put our whole heart into whatever we do; but if we freeze our attitude into for or against, we're setting ourselves up for stress.
2985. [T]here is no time to lose, so don't waste your life sowing seeds of misery. -Pema Chödrön
2986. Wind is an apt metaphor for enthusiasm. Like wind in the sails of a ship, there's nothing heavy-handed about it. -Pema Chödrön
2987. We can put our whole heart into whatever we do; but if we freeze our attitude into for or against, we're setting ourselves up for stress.
2988. The troublemakers in our lives harm themselves, but benefit us by provoking us to practice patience. -Pema Chödrön
2989. In any encounter, we have a choice: we can strengthen our resentment OR our understanding and empathy. -Pema Chödrön
2990. The way I regard those who hurt me today will affect how I experience the world in the future. -Pema Chödrön
2991. [W]hen someone harms us, they create the cause of their own undoing. -Pema Chödrön
2992. We can work on relaxing with the restlessness of our energy by remaining like a log and not retaliating. -Pema Chödrön
2993. Don't get trapped by set ideas of self, or other, or anything else. Don't buy into the fixated thinking that results in anger.
2994. We can't stop others from saying mean words, but we can work on developing patience. -Pema Chödrön
2995. What makes us suffer is the way we think about what's happening. -Pema Chödrön
2996. It isn't what happens to us that makes us happy or unhappy; it is how the mind is set. -Pema Chödrön
2997. We do whatever inspires people to help themselves, and whatever it takes to remove suffering. -Pema Chödrön
2998. The deepest ignorance is our misperception of reality, our dualistic perception. This is the illusion of subject and object, self and other.
2999. The antidote to misery is to stay present. -Pema Chödrön
3000. No matter how trapped we feel, we can always be of benefit. -Pema Chödrön
3001. The slightest willingness to interrupt our old habits predisposes us to greater bravery, greater strength, and greater empathy for others.
3002. It isn't what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it's what we say to ourselves about what happens.
3003. [I]t is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads naturally to unconditional compassion for others. -Pema Chödrön
3004. There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away.
3005. ...is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough. -Pema Chödrön
3006. The reason that people harm other people, the reason that the planet is polluted and people and animals are not doing so well these days...
3007. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness... will affect how you experience your world. -Pema Chödrön 3008. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, to make friends with yourself, to not run away from yourself... -Pema Chödrön
3009. The reason we're often not there for others... is that we're not there for ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
3010. As the slogan says, each situation and even each word and thought and emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
3011. This body isa precious vessel...but if we spend allof our time painting the decks,we'll never leave port&this brief opportunity willbe lost.
3012. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can. -Pema Chödrön
3013. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
3014. [I]t is our state of mind that determines whether we live in misery or bliss. -Pema Chödrön
3015. [T]he energy that causes us to live and be whole and awake and alive is just the energy that creates everything, and we’re part of that.
3016. An on-the-spot equanimity practice is to walk down the street with the intention of staying as awake as possible to whomever we meet.
3017. [W]e practice catching our mind hardening into fixed views & do our best to soften. Through softening, the barriers come down. -Pema Chödrön
3018. In the moment that we choose to abide with the energy instead of acting it out or repressing it, we are training in equanimity...
3019. We all desperately need more insight into what leads to happiness and what leads to pain. -Pema Chödrön
3020. Whatever arises, no matter how bad it feels, can be used to extend our kinship to others who suffer the same kind of aggression or craving..
3021. To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
3022. Therefore the warrior-bodhisattva cultivates equanimity, the vast mind that doesn’t narrow reality into for & against, liking & disliking.
3023. We can never get life to work out so that we eliminate everything we fear and end up with all the goodies. -Pema Chödrön
3024. No lasting happiness comes from being caught in this cycle of attraction and aversion. -Pema Chödrön
3025. This simple way of training with pleasure and pain allows us to use what we have, wherever we are, to connect with other people.
3026. Discomfort of any kind also becomes the basis for practice. We breathe in knowing that our pain is shared... -Pema Chödrön
3027. Although there are many such fleeting ordinary moments in our days, we usually speed right past them. We forget what joy they can bring.
3028. In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others. -Pema Chödrön
3029. When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta? -Pema Chödrön
3030. Most of the time we don’t do this. Rather than appreciate where we are, we continually struggle & nurture our dissatisfaction. -Pema Chödrön
3031. This is the path we take in cultivating joy: learning not to armor our basic goodness, learning to appreciate what we have....
3032. Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. -Pema Chödrön
3033. Abiding with the physical sensation is radically different from sticking to the story line. It requires appreciation for this very moment.
3034. Whenever we get caught, it’s helpful to remember the teachings—to recall that suffering is the result of an aggressive mind. -Pema Chödrön
3035. Our desire for relief and the methods we use to achieve it are definitely not in sync. -Pema Chödrön
3036. It's rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die. -Pema Chödrön
3037. We’d be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain....
3038. Our practice is to become aware of our kind heart and nurture it. But it is also to get a close look at the roots of suffering...
3039. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world. -Pema Chödrön
3040. Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. -Pema Chödrön 3041. We’ve discovered that the continual search for something better does not work out. -Pema Chödrön
3042. At the beginning joy is just a feeling that our own situation is workable. We stop looking for a more suitable place to be. -Pema Chödrön
3043. If we relax our mind and stop struggling, emotions can move through us without becoming solid and proliferating. -Pema Chödrön
3044. Then when we see someone in distress we’re not reluctant to breathe in the person’s suffering and send out relief. -Pema Chödrön
3045. When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it. -Pema Chödrön
3046. [T]he best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others. -Pema Chödrön
3047. This is what it takes to become involved with the sorrows of the world, to extend love&compassion, joy&equanimity to everyone—no exceptions.
3048. Gradually we will get the hang of going beyond our fear of feeling pain. -Pema Chödrön
3049. The aspiration practices of the four qualities are training in not holding back, training in seeing our biases and not feeding them.
3050. We aspire to be free of fixation and closed-mindedness. We wish to dissolve the myth that we are separate. -Pema Chödrön
3051. Through our hopes and fears, our pleasures and pains, we are deeply interconnected. -Pema Chödrön
3052. [Compassion practice] is how we train in lightening up the opinions and prejudices that set us apart from each other.
3053. As a result of compassion practice, we will start to have a deeper understanding of the roots of suffering. -Pema Chödrön
3054. We make this gesture of compassion in order to unblock our ability to hear the cries of the world. -Pema Chödrön
3055. Instead of always pulling back and putting up walls, we can do something unpredictable and make a compassionate aspiration. -Pema Chödrön
3056. The fear habit, the anger habit, the self-pity habit—all are strengthened and empowered when we continue to buy into them. -Pema Chödrön 3057. This is a good time to remember that when we harden our heart against anyone, we hurt ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
3058. When we look at someone on the street and wish her to be free of suffering, that person begins to come into focus. -Pema Chödrön
3059. I’m talking about not resisting, not grasping, not getting caught in hope and in fear, in good and in bad, but actually living completely.
3060. Expand
3061. Pema Chödrön Quotes þ@PemaQuotes 10 Jun 10
3062. It’s as if,curiously enough,instead of sitting still in the middle of the fire, we have developed this self-created device for fanning it...
3063. When there’s an earthquake, let the ground tremble and rip apart, and when it’s a rich garden with flowers, let that be also. -Pema Chödrön
3064. I’m not saying turn an earthquake into a garden of flowers. -Pema Chödrön
3065. I’m saying that when there’s a forest fire, don’t resist that kind of power—that’s you.When it’s warm&cozy, don’t resist that or nest in it.
3066. It’s as if,curiously enough,instead of sitting still in the middle of the fire, we have developed this self-created device for fanning it...
3067. By “cessation” [of suffering] we mean the cessation of hell as opposed to just weather, the cessation of this resistance, this resentment...
3068. The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
3069. We all know what addiction is; we are primarily addicted to ME. -Pema Chödrön
3070. It’s as if, when you resist, you dig in your heels....you’re a block of marble&you carve yourself out of it, you make yourself really solid.
3071. When I didn’t resist, I could see the world.
3072. [R]esisting our complete unity w/ all of life,resisting the fact that we change&flow like the weather...resisting that is what’s called ego.
3073. Traditionally it’s said that the cause of suffering is clinging to our narrow view.
3074. The2nd noble truth says that this resistance isthe fundamental operating mechanism of what we call ego,that resisting life causes suffering.
3075. The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb and flow like the tides, we wax and wane like the moon.
3076. Nothing in its essence is one way or the other. -Pema Chödrön
3077. The first noble truth says simply that it’s part of being human to feel discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
3078. If we’re committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run...
3079. Refraining comes about spontaneously when you see how your neurotic action works.
3080. Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want. -Pema Chödrön
3081. Suffering is part of life, and we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move. -Pema Chödrön
3082. Without the ones who irritate us, we never have a chance to practice. -Pema Chödrön
3083. By noticing&appreciating the people in the streets,at the grocery store, in traffic jams, in airports, we can increase our capacity to love.
3084. Exchanging yourself for others begins to occur when you can see where someone is because you’ve been there. -Pema Chödrön
3085. You’ve been angry, jealous, and lonely. You know what it’s like and you know how sometimes you do strange things. -Pema Chödrön
3086. Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.
3087. Just locate that ability to feel good heart and cherish it, even if it ebbs and flows. -Pema Chödrön
3088. The [loving-kindness] practice is about connecting with the soft spot in a way that is real to us, not about faking a particular feeling.
3089. If you can easily open your heart to your dog or cat, start there and then move out to more challenging relationships. -Pema Chödrön
3090. [E]ven in the rock-hardness of rage, if we look below the surface of the aggression, we’ll generally find fear. -Pema Chödrön 3091. Whether we find it in the tenderness of feeling love or the vulnerability of feeling lonely is immaterial. -Pema Chödrön
3092. The instruction for cultivating limitless maitri is to first find the tenderness that we already have....
3093. In cultivating loving-kindness, we train first to be honest, loving, and compassionate toward ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
3094. One reason we train as warrior-bodhisattvas is to recognize our interconnectedness... that when we harm another, we are harming ourselves.
3095. Entrenched in the tunnel vision of our personal concerns, what we ignore is our kinship with others. -Pema Chödrön
3096. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance. -Pema Chödrön
3097. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on. -Pema Chödrön
3098. Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity? -Pema Chödrön
3099. If we can practice when we’re jealous, resentful, scornful, when we hate ourselves, then we are well trained. -Pema Chödrön
3100. Staying with pain without loving-kindness is just warfare. -Pema Chödrön
3101. These juicy emotional spots are where a warrior gains wisdom and compassion. -Pema Chödrön
3102. The irony is that what we most want to avoid in our lives is crucial to awakening bodhichitta. -Pema Chödrön
3103. When we can recognize our own confusion with compassion, we can extend that compassion to others who are equally confused. -Pema Chödrön
3104. Rather than spinning off, can we let the emotional intensity of that red- hot or ice-cold moment transform us? -Pema Chödrön
3105. In vajrayana Buddhism it is said that wisdom is inherent in emotions. When we struggle against our energy we reject the source of wisdom.
3106. We become so stuck in repetitive behavior that we become experts at getting all worked up. -Pema Chödrön
3107. Not abiding with our energy is a predictable human habit. Acting out and repressing are tactics we use to get away from our emotional pain.
3108. When emotional distress arises uninvited, we let the story line go and abide with the energy. -Pema Chödrön
3109. Emotion can’t proliferate without our internal conversations. -Pema Chödrön
3110. One aspect of steadfastness is simply being in your body. -Pema Chödrön
3111. Israel-Gaza reminds me: "All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever." -Pema Chödrön
3112. Without maitri, renunciation of old habits becomes abusive. This is an important point. -Pema Chödrön
3113. Trying to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy.
3114. Denigrating ourselves is probably the major way that we cover over bodhichitta.
3115. Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri...
3116. As a species, we should never underestimate our low tolerance for discomfort.
3117. Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive...
3118. [Egolessness is:] not being at all sure about who we are—or who anyone else is either. -Pema Chödrön
3119. In the most ordinary terms, egolessness is a flexible identity. It manifests as inquisitiveness, as adaptability, as humor, as playfulness.
3120. In Buddha’s opinion, to train in staying open & curious—to train in dissolving our assumptions & beliefs—is the best use of our human lives.
3121. Third, we look for happiness in all the wrong places. The Buddha called this habit “mistaking suffering for happiness"...
3122. Second, we proceed as if we were separate from everything else, as if we were a fixed identity, when our true situation is egoless.
3123. First, we expect that what is always changing should be graspable and predictable. 3124. We suffer, not because we are basically bad or deserve to be punished, but because of three tragic misunderstandings. -Pema Chödrön
3125. To put it concisely, we suffer when we resist the noble and irrefutable truth of impermanence and death. -Pema Chödrön
3126. If you learn to let things go, thoughts are no problem. -Pema Chödrön
3127. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
3128. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.... the poison becomes the source of great beauty & joy...
3129. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
3130. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence.
3131. [N]ever give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
3132. The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.
3133. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement.
3134. Self-importance hurts us, limiting us to the narrow world of our likes and dislikes.
3135. It is possible to move through the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play.
3136. Buddha was pointing out that the fixed idea that we have about ourselves as solid and separate from each other is painfully limiting.
3137. We cling to a fixed idea of who we are and it cripples us. Nothing and no one is fixed.
3138. [W]hat we struggle against all our lives can be acknowledged as ordinary experience. Life does continually go up and down.
3139. When we don’t run from everyday uncertainty, we can contact bodhichitta.
3140. The radical approach of bodhichitta practice is to pay attention to what we do.
3141. [W]e can misuse any substance or activity to run away from insecurity. 3142. Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well.
3143. The Buddha taught that flexibility and openness bring strength and that running from groundlessness weakens us and brings pain.
3144. Finding the courage to go to the places that scare us cannot happen without compassionate inquiry into the workings of ego.
3145. [B]odhichitta can, if we let it, transform any activity, word, or thought into a vehicle for awakening our compassion. -Pema Chödrön
3146. It isn't what happened to us that causes us to suffer; it's what we say to ourselves about what happened -- Pema Chodron
3147. Don’t be afraid of losing ground or of things falling part or of not having it all together. -Pema Chödrön
3148. The central question of a warrior’s training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort. -Pema Chödrön
3149. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next. -Pema Chödrön
3150. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all. -Pema Chödrön
3151. This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we’re arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.
3152. But under the hardness of that armor there is the tenderness of genuine sadness. This is our link with all those who have ever loved.
3153. We don’t get wise by staying in a room with all the doors and windows closed. -Pema Chödrön
3154. Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening. -Pema Chödrön
3155. You don’t really know what’s going to benefit somebody, but it doesn’t benefit anybody to allow someone to beat you up... -Pema Chödrön
3156. You are the sky. Everything else, it's just the weather.
3157. [T]rying to smooth everything out to avoid confrontation, not to rock the boat, is not what’s meant by compassion or patience.
3158. Moment after moment, let yourself die wholeheartedly. 3159. Let everything stop your mind and let everything open your heart.
3160. To observe the bodhisattva vow is to exchange ourselves for others and develop compassion for ourselves and others.
3161. Maitri—loving-kindness—has to go very deep, because when you practice it, you’re going to see everything about yourself.
3162. The more you’re willing to open your heart, the more challenges come along that make you want to shut it.
3163. If you think smoking is hard to give up, try giving up your habitual patterns.
3164. At the beginning of your day... you could encourage yourself to keep your heart open, to remain curious, no matter how difficult things get.
3165. As soon as we wish to be happier, we are no longer happy.
3166. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked back. Simply keep the door open without expectations.
3167. We can begin to open our hearts to others when we have no hope of getting anything back. We just do it for its own sake.
3168. Patience means allowing things to unfold at their own speed rather than jumping in with your habitual response to either pain or pleasure.
3169. One of the slogans is “Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.” Whether it is glorious or wretched, delightful or hateful, be patient.
3170. Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. -Pema Chödrön
3171. There is often a discrepancy between our ideals and what we actually encounter.
3172. When you connect with your own suffering, reflect that countless beings at this very moment are feeling exactly what you feel. -Pema Chödrön
3173. [W]hat people really need is for others not to be afraid of them and not distance themselves from them. -Pema Chödrön
3174. The key to compassionate action is this: everybody needs someone to be there for them, simply to be there. -Pema Chödrön
3175. If we really want to communicate, we have to give up knowing what to do. -Pema Chödrön
3176. Resentment becomes a reminder not to feel bad about ourselves but to open further to the pain and to the awkwardness.
3177. Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully. It’s a reminder to stop talking; watch and listen.
3178. This is a practical suggestion: all activities should be done with the intention of speaking so that another person can hear you...
3179. We could say, “All activities should be done with the intention of communicating.” -Pema Chödrön
3180. [W]e can also just see what we do—not only w/ honesty but also w/ a sense of humor— & then keep going & not make a whole identity out of it.
3181. Through seeing these things we can begin to have a lot of compassion, because in studying ourselves we’re studying the whole human race.
3182. The aspiration to communicate with another person—to be able to listen and to speak from the heart—is what changes our old stuck patterns.
3183. Don’t always react so predictably to pleasure and pain. -Pema Chödrön
3184. The next moment is always fresh and open. You don’t have to get frozen in an identity of any kind. -Pema Chödrön
3185. The lojong teachings say that the way to help, the way to act compassionately, is to exchange oneself for other. -Pema Chödrön
3186. This is not about problem resolution. This is more open-ended and courageous approach. It has to do with not knowing what will happen.
3187. "The essence of bravery is to be without self-deception" - Pema Chodron
3188. Patience and nonaggression are basically encouragement to wait. -Pema Chödrön
3189. [A]nything that you can experience or think is worthy of compassion; anything you could think or feel is worthy of appreciation.
3190. If there’s some sense of wanting to change yourself, then it comes from a place of feeling that you’re not good enough.
3191. To me it seems that at the root of healing... is the premise that you’re not going to try to make anything go away...
3192. One of the things that keeps us unhappy is this continual searching for pleasure or security... 3193. One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not good enough.
3194. As long as you have an orientation toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are.
3195. One of the most powerful teachings of the Buddhist tradition is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will.
3196. The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.
3197. [L]et go of the story line, let go of the conversation, and own your feeling completely.
3198. The basis of [...] compassionate action is the insight that the others who seem to be out there are some kind of mirror image of ourselves.
3199. We realize that this separateness we feel is a funny kind of mistake.
3200. The concepts of problem and solution can keep us stuck in thinking that there is an enemy and a saint or a right way and a wrong way.
3201. [L]et distraction bring you back to the present moment.
3202. In addition to a sense of humor, a basic support for a joyful mind is curiosity,paying attention,taking an interest in the world around you.
3203. What will happen to us today is as unknown as what will happen at death.
3204. The key to feeling at home with your body, mind, & emotions, to feeling worthy to live on this planet, comes from being able to lighten up.
3205. You have a certain life, and whatever life you're in is a vehicle for waking up. -Pema Chodron
3206. Renunciationis realizing that our nostaglia for wanting to stay in a protected, limited, petty world is insane.
3207. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
3208. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good...—never touch our basic wealth.
3209. When we do that, the three poisons become three seeds of how to make friends with ourselves. 3210. Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger.
3211. Whatever you do, don’t try to make the poisons go away, because if you’re trying to make them go away, you’re losing your wealth...
3212. There’s nothing really wrong w/passion or aggression or ignorance,except that we take it so personally&therefore waste all that juicy stuff.
3213. [The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, and dumb.
3214. Our wisdom is all mixed up with what we call our neurosis.
3215. As the slogan says, each situation and even each word and thought and emotion is passing memory.
3216. The first of the absolute slogans is “Regard all dharma as dreams.” More simply, regard everything as a dream.
3217. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
3218. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred.There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
3219. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves. -Pema Chödrön
3220. There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away. -Pema Chödrön
3221. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. -Pema Chödrön
3222. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. -Pema Chödrön
3223. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, to make friends with yourself, to not run away from yourself...
3224. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence. -Pema Chödrön
3225. If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be exterminated, then we can have the courage to relax... -Pema Chödrön
3226. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be... and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are.
3227. Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggression at our own minds.
3228. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.
3229. To have even a few seconds of doubt about the solidity&absolute truth of our own opinions...introduces us to the possibility of egolessness.
3230. [N]ever give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
3231. Cultivating a mind that does not grasp at right and wrong, you will find a fresh state of being.
3232. Resistance is really what causes the pain; more than the anger itself, or the jealousy itself, it’s resistance that causes the pain.
3233. Maybe you’ve noticed that sometimes you feel like you’re in a battle with reality and reality is always winning.
3234. There seems to be a need to change the fundamental pattern of always protecting against anything touching our soft spot. -Pema Chödrön
3235. If there’s lots of ego, then we’re always getting squeezed and poked and irritated by everything that comes along.
3236. [I]f the way that we protect ourselves is strong, then suffering is really strong too. -Pema Chödrön
3237. As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new.
3238. Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.
3239. Aspiration, yet again, is to talk to yourself, to be an eccentric bodhisattva. It is a way to empower yourself. -Pema Chödrön
3240. “May my sense of being obstructed decrease. May my experience of wakefulness increase. May I experience my fundamental wisdom..."
3241. You might be feeling completely hopeless, down on yourself, and you can voice your heartfelt aspiration:
3242. A heartfelt sense of aspiring cuts through negativity about yourself; it cuts through the heavy trips you lay on yourself. -Pema Chödrön 3243. It’s all in the “pleasantness of the presentness...”
3244. The point is that the happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through relaxation and letting go rather than through struggle.
3245. Searching for happiness prevents us from ever finding it. -Pema Chödrön
3246. Get out there. Don't wait to be perfect.
3247. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.
3248. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
3249. ...Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves, “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”
3250. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever....
3251. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal.
3252. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go.
3253. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence. -Pema Chödrön
3254. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred.There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
3255. Helping yourself or someone else has to do with opening and just being there; that’s how something happens between people.
3256. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement.
3257. One way of beginning to practice “Drive all blames into one” is to begin to notice what it feels like when you blame someone else.
3258. [It] is a healthy & compassionate instruction that short-circuits the overwhelming tendency we have to blame everybody else...
3259. “Drive all blames into one”... doesn’t mean, instead of blaming the other people, blame yourself. 3260. But these painful situations can be transformed into the path of bodhi.
3261. When the world is filled with ego clinging or with attachment to a particular outcome, there is a lot of pain.
3262. Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment—all are synonyms for accumulating merit.
3263. The way to accumulate merit is to be willing to give, willing to open, willing not to hold back.
3264. Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.
3265. Don't become undone by fear and trembling, take it as a message to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.
3266. Everything in our lives can wake us up or put us to sleep, and basically it’s up to us to let it wake us up.
3267. We want to wake up, we want to ripen our compassion, and we want to ripen our ability to let go.
3268. The path of not being caught in ego is a process of surrendering to situations in order to communicate rather than win.
3269. Compassionate action, compassionate speech, is not a one-shot deal; it’s a lifetime journey.
3270. Allow yourself to feel wounded first and then try to figure out what is the right speech and right action that might follow.
3271. All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.
3272. Cultivating a mind that does not grasp at right and wrong, you will find a fresh state of being. -Pema Chödrön
3273. If you find yourself becoming aggressive about your opinions, notice that. If you find yourself being nonaggressive, notice that.
3274. We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.
3275. “Regard all dharma as dreams.” ... As the slogan says, each situation & even each word & thought & emotion is passing memory. -Pema Chödrön
3276. “Be grateful to everyone” means that all situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best. -Pema Chödrön 3277. The slogan “Be grateful to everyone” is about making peace with the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected. -Pema Chödrön
3278. Use the tonglen practice to see how you can place the anger or the fear or the loneliness in a cradle of loving-kindness... -Pema Chödrön
3279. If you aren’t feeding the fire of anger or the fire of craving by talking to yourself, then the fire doesn’t have anything to feed on.
3280. We will fall flat on our faces again and again, we will continue to feel inadequate, and we can use these experiences to wake up...
3281. Ego is something that you come to know—something that you befriend by not acting out or repressing all the feelings that you feel.
3282. The only way to effect real reform is without hatred. -Pema Chödrön
3283. Exchanging yourself for others begins to occur when you can see where someone is because you’ve been there. -Pema Chödrön
3284. You’ve been angry, jealous, and lonely. You know what it’s like and you know how sometimes you do strange things. -Pema Chödrön
3285. The way that we can help is by making friends with our own feelings of hatred, bewilderment, & so forth. Then we can accept them in others.
3286. People harm each other—we harm others and others harm us. To know that is clear seeing.
3287. Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what's out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.
3288. The people who repel us unwittingly show us the aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, which otherwise we can't see.
3289. The more you just try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.
3290. As long as we hate the enemy, then we suffer and the enemy suffers and the world suffers.
3291. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.
3292. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
3293. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can. 3294. One way to pull out your own rug is by just letting go, lightening up, being more gentle, and not making such a big deal.
3295. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence.
3296. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be... or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be.
3297. ...never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
3298. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.
3299. Suffering is part of life, and we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move.
3300. The process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality...
3301. By being kind to ourselves we become kind to others.
3302. The more it bothers you, the more awake you’re going to be when you do tonglen.
3303. The idea is to develop sympathy for your own confusion. The technique is that you do not blame [another]; you also do not blame yourself.
3304. We shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure.
3305. When the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
3306. The poison already is the medicine. You don’t have to transform anything. Simply letting go of the story line is what it takes...
3307. As unwanted feelings and emotions arise, you actually breathe them in and connect with what all humans feel.
3308. When we don’t act out and we don’t repress, then our passion, our aggression, and our ignorance become our wealth.
3309. We are completely interrelated. What you do to others, you do to yourself. What you do to yourself, you do to others.
3310. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
3311. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
3312. Reaching our limit is like finding a doorway to sanity&the unconditional goodness of humanity, rather than meeting an obstacle or a punishment.
3313. Share the wealth. Be generous with your joy. Give away what you most want. Be generous with your insights and delights.
3314. Whatever we’re doing, whether we’re having tea or working, we could do that completely.
3315. neurosis is temporary, sanity is permanent
3316. The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong.
3317. Beliefs of solidness, beliefs of emptiness, let it all go.
3318. These thoughts that come up, they’re not bad. Anyway, meditation isn’t about getting rid of thoughts—you’ll think forever.
3319. If you learn to let things go, thoughts are no problem.
3320. We can spend our whole lives escaping from the monsters of our minds. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness...—will affect how you experience your world.
3321. “Regard all dharma as dreams.” ... As the slogan says, each situation & even each word & thought & emotion is passing memory.
3322. The key is, it’s no big deal. We could all just lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams.
3323. What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.
3324. What you do for yourself—any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness... —will affect how you experience your world.
3325. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.
3326. Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself.
3327. The truth is that good and bad coexist; sour and sweet coexist. They aren’t really opposed to each other.
3328. If we let them, they [lojong slogans] will lead us toward the fact that facts themselves are very dubious.
3329. Don't bring things to a painful point.
3330. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.... the poison becomes the source of great beauty & joy...
3331. All this messy stuff is your richness, but saying this once is not going to convince you.
3332. Whatever you do, don’t try to make the poisons go away, because if you’re trying to make them go away, you’re losing your wealth...
3333. The 3 poisons ― passion, aggression, & ignorance] keep us from seeing the world as it is; they make us blind, deaf, & dumb.
3334. Only in an open space where we’re not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see & hear & feel who others really are...
3335. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling.
3336. This means allowing ourselves to feel what we feel & not pushing it away...accepting every aspect of ourselves,even the parts we don’t like.
3337. [B]eing there for someone else... means not shutting down on that person, which means, first of all, not shutting down on ourselves.
3338. [N]ever give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
3339. There’s always something happening that you can’t pin down with words or thoughts.
3340. ...all the passion that’s connected with these thoughts, or all the aggression or all the heartbreak, is simply passing memory.
3341. Every time your stream of thoughts solidifies into a heavy story line that seems to be taking you elsewhere, label that “thinking.”
3342. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.
3343. At the root of all harm we cause is ignorance.
3344. The peacock eats poison and that’s what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.
3345. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go. 3346. The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval. When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.
3347. We could relate compassionately with that which we prefer to push away,& we could learn to give away & share that which we hold most dear.
3348. The reason that people harm other people... is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough.
3349. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.
3350. If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
3351. Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
3352. Suffering is part of life, and we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move.
3353. Each day, we’re given many opportunities to open up or shut down."
3354. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream.
3355. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It’s not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes.
3356. Life is a dream. Death is also a dream, for that matter; waking is a dream and sleeping is a dream.... Every situation is a passing memory.
3357. One can appreciate & celebrate each moment—there’s nothing more sacred. There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
3358. We can never connect with our fundamental wealth as long as we are buying into this advertisement hype that we have to be someone else...
3359. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon.
3360. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good...—never touch our basic wealth.
3361. We already have everything we need. There is no need for self- improvement.
3362. ...we are not as solid as we think. 3363. The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong.
3364. True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.
3365. It is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads naturally to unconditional compassion for others.
3366. In this present age it is necessary to also emphasize that the first step is to develop compassion for our own wounds.
3367. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.
3368. If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
3369. We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.
3370. We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition.
3371. The first noble truth recognizes that we also change like the weather, we ebb & flow like the tides, wax & wane like the moon.
3372. W/ cool loneliness we do not expect security from our own internal chatter...It has no objective reality. It is transparent and ungraspable.
3373. We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.
3374. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be, or who we think we want to be... (cont.)
3375. ...or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be.
3376. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path.
3377. If we totally experience hopelessness,giving up all hope of alternatives to the present moment,we can have a joyful relationship with our lives.
3378. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, to make friends with yourself, to not run away from yourself...
3379. Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, & hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.
3380. If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence.
3381. ...never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
3382. ...we have a lot of opinions, and we tend to take them as truth. But actually they aren’t truth. They are just our opinions.
3383. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
3384. Every situation is a passing memory.
3385. We set out... to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.
3386. We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing...
3387.
3388. It's worth repeating: "Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
3389. To have even a few seconds of doubt about the solidity&absolute truth of our own opinions...introduces us to the possibility of egolessness.
3390. All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.
3391. Meditation is how we learn to interrupt the chain reaction of habitual responses that otherwise will rule our lives.
3392. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
3393. Notice your opinions.... Cultivating a mind that does not grasp at right and wrong, you will find a fresh state of being.
3394. Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.
3395. As long as we hate the enemy, then we suffer and the enemy suffers and the world suffers.
3396. "Our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to but who we are right now.
3397. The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.
3398. The reason we're often not there for others... is that we're not there for ourselves.
3399. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
3400. [T]he truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together & they fall apart. Then they come together again & fall apart again.
3401.
3402. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.
3403. Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.
3404. Let all those stories go.... Things arise and things dissolve forever and ever. That’s just the way it is.
3405. The elemental struggle is with our feeling of being wrong, with our guilt and shame at what we are. That’s what we have to befriend.
3406. [O]ur practice is not about accomplishing anything—not about winning or losing—but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is.
3407. If we don’t get swept away by our outrage, then we will see the cause of suffering more clearly.
3408. When we don’t buy into our opinions and solidify the sense of enemy, we will accomplish something.
3409. To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.
3410. Reaching our limit is like finding a doorway to sanity and the unconditional goodness of humanity...
3411. The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
3412. The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.
3413. Suffering is part of life, and we don’t have to feel it’s happening because we personally made the wrong move.
3414. The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong. What a relief. 3415. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.
3416. The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. http://www.wisdomquotes.com/authors/pema-chodron/
3417. It's not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share.
3418. Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.
3419. It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing.
3420. Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
3421. Healing comes from letting there be room for all of "this" to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
3422. When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.
3423. We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.
3424. Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we are.
3425. It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.
3426. A thoroughly good relationship with ourselves results in being still, which doesn't mean we don't run and jump and dance about. It means there's no compulsiveness. We don't overwork, overeat, oversmoke, overseduce. In short, we begin to stop causing harm.
3427. Everything is material for the seed of happiness, if you look into it with inquisitiveness and curiosity. The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment. There always is the potential to create an environment of blame -- or one that is conducive to loving-kindness.
3428. What's encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we're closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.
3429. Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future. In other words, if we're going to be more cheerful in the future, it's because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful in the present. What we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.
3430. When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.
3431. When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.