Sati Quotes

The universe is not more beautiful than your pure thoughts-enlighten the world around you, the rest is complementary... ~ Vedang Sati

When society does something wrong and extremely immoral, ironically it is not called 'madness'. For example, 'sati burning' and 'forced conversion into another religion' etc. Sometimes, an 'unreasonable' society tries to present itself as 'reasonable' by unfairly and selfishly defining 'madness' according to its own wish and for its own interest! ~ Md. Ziaul Haque

Take three grains of sand and put them in the middle of a vast cathedral. Now the cathedral is as full with sand as the universe is with stars...Most of the universe is empty space! ~ Vedang Sati

Anapana means breath and sati means mindfulness. Tang Hoi translated it as "Guarding the Mind." The Anapanasati Sutra, that is, is the sutra on using one's breath to maintain mindfulness. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Apparently the earth sometimes thinks of the possibility of coming closer to the sun,' said Sati. 'But she can't do that. She is so base and his brilliance so searing, that she will cause destruction if she draws him closer. ~ Anonymous

Spiritual yearning is the homesickness of the soul. ~ Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

Shared secrets have a way of creating bonds. Sati ~ Amish Tripathi

The term satipaṭṭhāna can be explained as a compound of sati, "mindfulness" or "awareness", and upaṭṭhāna, with the u of the latter term dropped by vowel elision. The Pāli term upaṭṭhāna literally means "placing near", and in the present context refers to a particular way of "being present" and "attending" to something with mindfulness. In the discourses [of the Buddha], the corresponding verb upaṭṭhahati often denotes various nuances of "being present", or else "attending". Understood in this way, "satipaṭṭhāna" means that sati "stands by", in the sense of being present; sati is "ready at hand", in the sense of attending to the current situation. Satipaṭṭhāna can then be translated as "presence of mindfulness" or as "attending with mindfulness."

The commentaries, however, derive satipaṭṭhāna from the word "foundation" or "cause" (paṭṭhāna). This seems unlikely, since in the discourses contained in the Pāli canon the corresponding verb paṭṭhahati never occurs together with sati. Moreover, the noun paṭṭhāna is not found at all in the early discourses, but comes into use only in the historically later Abhidhamma and the commentaries. In contrast, the discourses frequently relate sati to the verb upaṭṭhahati, indicating that "presence" (upaṭṭhāna) is the etymologically correct derivation. In fact, the equivalent Sanskrit term is smṛtyupasthāna, which shows that upasthāna, or its Pāli equivalent upaṭṭhāna, is the correct choice for the compound. ~ Analayo

Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.[To Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati religious funeral practice of burning widows alive on her husband's funeral pyre.] ~ Charles James Napier

Sati was a custom religiously followed by a few, toed halfheartedly by rather more, sidestepped by many and ignored by most ~ Tim Mackintosh-Smith