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Robert Aitken Books

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“It comes down to practice, and practice, after all, is conduct in keeping with Right Views. Of course, Right Views are not merely opinions, not even Skākyamuni’s opinions, but are views that accord with this realization: we are all in this together and we aren’t here very long. Let’s take care of one another while we can.”

CompassionBuddhismUnityZenZen BuddhismSpiritual PracticeRight View
Book:Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students
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“When you reflect on the infinite number of happenstances that coalesced to produce you, then you understand how unique, how precious, how sacred you really are. Your task is to cultivate that precious, sacred nature and help it to flower.”

LifeSpiritSpiritualityBuddhismBirthSacredZenHuman LifeTrue SelfSpiritual Practice
Book:Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students
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“Clover is incapable of not nurturing. It can’t do anything but nurture. Shakyamuni is capable of not nurturing. With a poisonous thought, he is a poisonous person. With an enlightened thought, he is an enlightened person. With his great realization, he is unlikely to slip back into poisonous ways, but he could, for he is human.”

Human NatureBuddhismEnlightenment
Book:The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics
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“The Buddha challenged the idea of an immutable soul. He said nothing about the mutable soul, and its survival, though his successors in most streams of Buddhism have had a lot to say on this subject. For all their words, the question of what happens when one dies remains a mystery.”

DeathHeavenBuddhismZenAfterlifeEternal LifeEverlasting LifeLfe
Book:Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students
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