The results of
ignorance -- greed, hatred, and delusion -- are the real causes of conflict,
not particular people, political parties, or countries. So while there may be people who we could
name -- and blame -- as culprits, we would all be better served by recognizing
ignorance as the true enemy. (Andrea Miller)
Forgiveness isn't
about condoning harmful behavior but, rather, attending to our own hurt there
thereby recognizing that the person who harmed us also hurts. (Andrea Miller)
In the way that a
gardener knows how to transform compost into flowers, we can learn the art of
transforming anger, depression, and racial discrimination into love and
understanding. (Thich Nhat Hanh,
Chapter: Sowing the Seeds of Love)
According to
Buddhist psychology, our consciousness is divided into two parts, like a house
with two floors. On the ground floor
there is a living room, and we call this "mind consciousness". Below the ground level, there is a basement,
and we call this "store consciousness". In the store consciousness, everything we
have ever done, experienced, or perceived is stored in the form of a seed, or a
film. Our basement is an archive of
every imaginable kind of film stored on a video cassette. Upstairs in the living room, we sit in a
chair and watch these films as they are brought up from the basement…. We spend
so much of our time watching these films, and many of them are destroying us.
Learning how to stop them is important for our well-being. (Thich Nhat Hanh, Chapter: Sowing the Seeds
of Love)
If we water our
wholesome seeds carefully, we can trust that our store consciousness will do
the work of healing. (Thich Nhat Hanh,
Chapter: Sowing the Seeds of Love)
We live in
forgetfulness, looking for happiness somewhere else, ignoring and crushing the
precious elements of happiness that are already in us and around us. (Thich Nhat Hanh, Chapter: Sowing the Seeds
of Love)
How we react to any
given situation depends on our outlooks, our attitudes and assumptions, and our
emotional habits -- our modes. Our mode
of the moment organizes our entire state of being, shaping what we seek out,
notice. (Tara
Bennett-Goleman, Chapter: The World of Modes and Why They Matter)
A dysfunctional
mode does not doom us. These are
learned habits: so with reparative learning, we can alter them. (Tara Bennett-Goleman, Chapter: The World of
Modes and Why They Matter))
Both worry and fear
focus our attention on some imaged event or experience in the future. (Toni Bernhard, Chapter: Five Habits of Mind
that are Obstacles to Waking Up)
If your meditation
is like the garden in winter and you think you've eradicated all the weeds of
negative emotion, just wait for the spring. (Carolyn Gimian, Chapter: Anger is
a Poison)
The pain and anxiety
we experience in our lives are equal in proportion to the size of our
self-importance. (Dzigar Kongtrul, Chapter: The Other Side of the Fence)
The more we know,
the more we can resolve; while the more we reject, the more we alienate
ourselves from our experience. (Dzigar
Kongtrul, Chapter: The Other Side of the Fence)
Summon up all your
strength and let yourself feel how strong the tendency is, without rejecting it
or giving in to it. (Dzigar Kongtrul,
Chapter: The Other Side of the Fence)
For most people,
full-blown anger isn't a daily occurrence.
But milder forms of anger -- which occur whenever we are slighted,
disrespected, frustrated, or in any way thwarted in what we expect or desire in
a given moment -- do rise up everyday.
It seems anger isn't just one emotion among others; it's basic. Because we organize the world around our
self-interest, naturally wanting things to go our way, and because, just as
naturally, the world and other people usually don't cooperate with this
understandable if unrealistic request, we are likely to be at least a little
angry a lot of the time. (Norman Fischer, Chapter: Acupressure Point of the
Heart)
The closer you look
at anger, the clearer it is that anger is deceptive. (Norman Fischer, Chapter:
Acupressure Point of the Heart)
Anger is actually a
cover-up for some other powerful emotion that we don't want to face, usually
fear, grief, or sorrow. (Norman Fischer,
Chapter: Acupressure Point of the Heart)
The mountain of
suffering in the world can never be lessened by adding yet more bitterness and
hatred to it. (Christina Feldman, Chapter: Compassion for Those Who Cause
Suffering)
Just as suffering
can be the forerunner of bitterness and despair, it can equally be the
forerunner of a deeper wakefulness and the first steps on a path of
healing. (Christina Feldman, Chapter:
Compassion for Those Who Cause Suffering)
Facing the immensity
of the suffering in the world, you come to see the pathways that are open to
you. You can align yourself with hatred,
bitterness, and division, joining the perpetrators of pain in their nightmare. Or you can learn to open, to commit yourself
to healing. (Christina Feldman, Chapter:
Compassion for Those Who Cause Suffering)
Your mechanisms of
self-protection are endlessly provoked to the surface. (Christina Feldman, Chapter: Compassion for
Those Who Cause Suffering)
To find a pathway
through anger, you are asked to take the first step of releasing blame. Blames binds you to the unending song of
resentment; it can paralyze you. You
replay the story in an endless loop, blaming those who misuse power, those who
abuse the vulnerable. The continued
retelling of the story can become a substitute for action. (Christina Feldman, Chapter: Compassion for
Those Who Cause Suffering)
It is our enemies
that awaken our hearts. (Christina
Feldman, Chapter: Compassion for Those Who Cause Suffering)
Tolerance cannot be
built overnight; like raising a child, it asks for perseverance and dedication,
even in the face of tantrums and outrage.
(Christina Feldman, Chapter: Compassion for Those Who Cause Suffering)
Equanimity and
tolerance ask you to meet your own demons of aversion, self-righteousness, and
prejudice. (Christina Feldman, Chapter:
Compassion for Those Who Cause Suffering)
Compassion is born
of your commitment not to bar anyone from your heart. (Christina Feldman, Chapter: Compassion for
Those Who Cause Suffering)
Forgiveness is about
loosening our hold on the one thing we most want to hold on to -- the suffering
of resentment. (Ezra Bayda, Chapter: Forgiveness in Our True Nature)
To free ourselves,
each of us will have to say, "These cycles of suffering and retribution
stop here, with me. I refuse to pass
this suffering on to my children". (Jack Kornfield, Chapter: The Practice
of Forgiveness)
When we deny our
experience, we are always moving away from something real to something
fabricated. To live by this web of
legend will always harm us. The truth
may be difficult to open to, but it will never hurt us. (Sharon Salzberg, Chapter: Developing the
Compassionate Heart)
The goal of our
spiritual practice is to be able to understand, to be able to look without
illusion at what is natural in this life, at what is actually happening for
others and for ourselves. (Sharon Salzberg, Chapter: Developing the
Compassionate Heart)
To view life
compassionately, we have to look at what is happening and at the conditions
that gave rise to it. (Sharon Salzberg,
Chapter: Developing the Compassionate Heart)
Compassion is the
spontaneous wisdom of the heart. It's
always with us. It always has been and
always will be. When it arises in us,
we've simply learned to see how strong and safe we really are. (Yongey Mingyur
Rinpoche, Chapter: Survival of the Kindest)
As their hearts
became kind, their environment became safe.
(Noah Levine, Chapter: Kindness Changes Everything)