LarsonsWorld -- just another persons /dev/null

All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?

- Dhammapada 129-130

Living in forests far away from other people is not true seclusion. True seclusion is to be free from the power of likes and dislikes. It is also to be free from the mental attitude that one must be special because one is treading the path. Those who remove themselves to far forests often feel superior to others. They think that because they are solitary they are being guided in a special way and that those who live an ordinary life can never have that experience. But that is conceit and is not help to others. The true recluse is one who is available to others, helping them with affectionate speech and personal example.

- Prajnaparamita

All the wealth you've acquired from beginningless time until now has failed to fulfill all your desires. Cultivate therefore this wish-granting gem of moderation, O fortunate ones.

-- Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream"

There is no fire like greed and no crime like hatred. There is no sorrow like being bound to this world; there is no happiness like freedom.

- Dhammapada

You can confront the prospect of your own death and try to analyze it and, in so doing, try to minimize some of the inevitable sufferings it causes. Neither way can you actually overcome it. However, as a Buddhist, I view death as a normal process of life. Knowing that I cannot escape it, I see no point in worrying about it.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

All the delightful things of the world--sweet sounds, lovely forms, all the pleasant tastes and touches and thoughts--these are all agreed to bring happiness if they are not grasped and possessed. But if you regard them merely as pleasures for your own use and satisfaction and do not see them as passing wonders, they will bring suffering.

- Sutta Nipata

Remain silent, and you sink into a realm of shadows; speak, and you fall into a deep pit. Try, and youre as far away as sky from earth; give up, and youll never attain. Enormous waves go on and on, foaming breakers flood the skies whos got the bright pearl that calms the oceans?

- I Ching

As free human beings we can use our unique intelligence to try to understand ourselves and our world. But if we are prevented from using our creative potential, we are deprived of one of the basic characteristics of a human being.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Listen to the sound of water. Listen to the water running through chasms and rocks. It is the minor streams that make a loud noise; the great waters flow silently.

The hollow resounds and the full is still. Foolishness is like a half-filled pot; the wise man is a lake full of water.

- Sutta Nipata

There is no pleasure without some degree of pain. There is no pain without some amount of pleasure.

- Bhante Henepola Gunaratana