Lama Surya Das Quotes

It is not the outer objects that entangle us. It is the inner clinging that entangles us. - Tilopa

The heart is an organ of perception.

pleasure and pain arise from virtuous and non-virtuous actions which come not from outside, but from within yourself.

My constant daily question is, "What is the best thing I can do now in this situation, given these circumstances? Much is provided; now what is required from me?

I've also learned that you don't always get to pick the people with whom you travel the journey. You sometimes may think you do, but don't be deceived. And the corollary of that - and this was my real lesson - is that you start to realize that you can love even the people you don't like and must love and help everyone.

Everything passes, nothing remains. Understand this, loosen your grip and fine serenity ...

We all have certain desires and undesired outcomes related to whatever possible course and attitude we take in life, whether it be at the larger macro scale (what shall I do with the rest of my life?) or at the micro level (as in, what route shall I take to work this morning). These include all the myriad choices we make each hour and each day. These choices determine our karma and our destiny. It's no accident, nor any great mystery, how this evolves; although one would have to utterly omniscient to understand all the many gross and subtle interconnections and causative links that determine happenings and outcomes.

As long as we're preoccupied with our former traumas and triumphs, or our fears and dreams about what might happen down the road, or who said what to whom, it's very difficult to appreciate and cherish the intrinsically joyful gift of life right here and now.

The more truthful I am with myself and others, the more my conscience is clear and tranquil. Thus, I can more thoroughly and unequivocally inhabit the present moment and accept everything that happens without fear, knowing that what goes around comes around (the law of karma). Ethical morality and self-discipline represent the good ground, or stable basis. Mindful awareness is the skillful and efficacious grow-path, or way. Wisdom and compassion constitute the fruit, or result. This is the essence of Buddhism [ ... ]

Taking the decision-making process away from people disempowers them. It also makes them much less likely to buy into the decision, however right it may be. One's own conscience remains the ultimate arbiter.

Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger, regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue. Let go of the need for approval. Let go of old judgments and opinions. Die to all that, and fly free. Soar in the freedom of desirelessness.
Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home
at ease.

Don't do things that everyone can do,Do things that everyone cannot do

When we ground ourselves in the present moment, we spontaneously connect better with others. We become more responsive and less reactive, listening more deeply and speaking with greater clarity.

Before speaking, recognize what motivates your words.

Often we cling to habits that aren't even comforting or satisfying, simply because we are unable to let go or explore new ways to do things.

Everything is available in the natural state,

We need to learn how to live consciously and, trusting ourselves, purposefully on that inevitable balance point between form and emptiness, relative and absolute, being and non-being, self and non-self, time and eternity, the finite and infinite. It is between all such dichotomies and poles that our life actually flows.

Before speaking, notice what motivates your words.

I have been thinking that the crux of happiness matter for me is whether or not I am in the moment, in the flow, at one with what is happening and I am doing. Otherwise, I'm lost in worry, and anxiety about past and future, plagued by what Buddhist meditators call "comparing mind," comparing what is to other so-called possibilities.

We have to know about the world around us: whom and what we're voting for and how best to address the vital social, political, and economic issues facing our communities, our nation, and our planet. No one person can do it all, yet no one person is exempt from participating. We need and depend upon each other.

The secret, or innermost, level of wisdom is pure intuition, clarity, lucidity, innate wakefulness, presence, and recognition of reality. This transcendental wisdom is within all of us - it just needs to be discovered and developed, unfolded and actualized.

With every breath, the old moment is lost; a new moment arrives. We exhale and we let go of the old moment. It is lost to us. In doing so, we let go of the person we used to be. We inhale and breathe in the moment that is becoming. In doing so, we welcome the person we are becoming. We repeat the process. This is meditation. This is renewal. This is life.

No one knows everything. No one knows nothing. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead it's about becoming more fully human ... It is the end of ignorance.

We are in the habit of rating our lives in real time - a sad day, a nice visit, a terrible commute, a good meditation - qualifying and quantifying everything. There are actually neither unequivocally good nor bad events, things, or people - only the wanted and the unwanted - and everything is subjective. This is strong medicine; think about it. It's a matter of perspective.

An answer seeks to dissolve the question, a response recognizes the ongoing validity of the question, and seeks to remain in connection with it.

Learning how to love is the goal and the purpose of spiritual life - not learning how to develop psychic powers, not learning how to bow, chant, do yoga, or even meditate, but learning to love. Love is the truth. Love is the light.

To just be--to be--amidst all doings, achievings, and becomings. This is the natural state of mind, or original, most fundamental state of being. This is unadulterated Buddha-nature. This is like finding our balance.

Seekers inevitably want to get a better handle on life; we want to figure things out. We know intuitively that the events of our lives are not always arbitrary. We feel connected, however intangibly. We know that it is in our higher self-interest to unravel the mysteries in our own lives. There must be a higher purpose and greater meaning. As we become more and more spiritually evolved, we become more determined to find wisdom and reach a deeper understanding of our lives and our paths.

We are so identified with who we think we are that it limits how we can be, determines how we live, and conditions how we react. As Mark Twain said, It's not what we don't know that gets us in trouble, but what we are sure we know.

The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character; So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings ... . As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become. - FROM THE DHAMMAPADA (SAYINGS OF THE BUDDHA)

We must never confuse the teacher with the truth.

Having a calling or meaningful and fulfilling purpose in life does not necessarily mean being drawn to a certain kind of job, task, or professional mission. Many people are compelled instead to commit themselves to a particular set of values - ones that they infuse into every aspect of their life, regardless of the various roles they play or situations they address as they go through their daily lives.

Other people can't cause us to be impatient unless we let them do so. In other words, others don't make us impatient. We make ourselves impatient, through our expectations and demands, fixated attachments and stuckness.

It is usually a mistake to believe that any opinion or situation is objectively good or bad, since everything depends on the perspective of the viewer.

For it is not what happens to us that determines our character, our experience, our karma, and our destiny - but how we relate to what happens.