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Quote by Robert A.F. Thurman

“The strange thing about the messianic ideal of liberating yourself so that you can free all others is that just trying to adopt it makes you feel happier. Even though you know on some level that there is only so much you can get done in any given period of time, the fact that you do not let go of the determination to do everything gives you immense good cheer. (p. 20)”

Quote by Robert A.F. Thurman

Book:Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness
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Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness

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Robert A.F. Thurman

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“Tibet became a laboratory for the enlightenment movement to create its model society, to evolve into an actual manifestation of a buddha‘s pure universe, a „buddhaverse“. A social buddhaverse is a place where everything is geared toward enlightenment, where every lifetime is made meaningful by dedication to optimal evolutionary development. Because that nation embraced the enlightenment movement for more than a millennium, Tibet is the prime example of a sustained attempt by an entire people to create a society, culture, and civilization that cherish the individual‘s pursuit of enlightenment over the needs of society. Instead of believing that a strong central government can force a group of people into making a better place to live, the Tibetans, influenced by ancient India, saw that helping the individual is what transforms society. Imagine a culture in which everything is geared toward helping all individuals become the best human beings they can be; in which individuals are driven to devoting their lives to becoming enlightened by the natural flood of compassion for others that arises out of their wisdom. Once an individual attains enlightenment, society at large automatically becomes enriched. This was the heart of the Buddha‘s social revolution. (p. 32-33)”

BuddhismEnlightenmentAwakeningTibetThe Path Of The BodhisattvaSpiritual RevolutionBuddhaverseThe Enlightenment Movement
Book:Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness
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“We can help people a great deal by thinking about them positively and developing metta towards them. And sometimes we can help people just by keeping out of their way – or rather by not getting in their way. Sometimes people need space, and we help them most by giving it to them, or at least not taking it from them.”

BuddhismThe Path Of The Bodhisattva
Book:The Bodhisattva Ideal : Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism
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“Still, the word hierarchy is very unpopular these days, and the dictionary definition – ‘a body of ecclesiastical rulers’ – does nothing to make the term more appealing. But in its original sense, hierarchy meant something like an embodiment, in a number of different people, of different degrees of manifestation of reality. So one can speak, for instance, of a hierarchy of living forms – some lower, expressing or manifesting less reality, others higher, expressing or manifesting more reality. There is a continuous hierarchy of living forms from amoebas right up to human beings – the higher the level, the greater the degree of reality. And there is another hierarchy of living forms: the hierarchy from the unenlightened human being right up to the Enlightened Buddha. This corresponds to what in other contexts I have described as the Higher Evolution. Just as the unenlightened human being embodies or manifests more reality, more truth, than the amoeba, in the same way the Enlightened human being embodies or manifests more reality in his or her life and work, and even speech, than does the unenlightened person. The Enlightened person is like a clear window through which the light of reality shines, through which that light can be seen almost as it is. Or one can say that he or she is like a crystal or diamond concentrating and reflecting that light. Between the unenlightened human being and the Enlightened one, the Buddha, there are a number of intermediate degrees, embodied in different people at different stages of spiritual development. Most people are still short of Enlightenment, to a greater or lesser extent, but at the same time they are not wholly unenlightened. They stand somewhere between the unenlightened state and the state of full Enlightenment, and thus make up the spiritual hierarchy, the higher reaches of which can be referred to as the Bodhisattva hierarchy. By now we know enough about Bodhisattvas to have an appreciation of the intensity of their aspiration and commitment to the spiritual life. But even among Bodhisattvas there are degrees of spiritual attainment. The principle of spiritual hierarchy is very important.”

BuddhismThe Path Of The BodhisattvaSpiritual Hierarchy
Book:The Bodhisattva Ideal : Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism
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“It is of the utmost importance for us to be in contact with people who are at least a little more spiritually advanced than we are ourselves, through whom the light of reality shines a little more clearly than it shines through us. Such people are known traditionally in Buddhism as our spiritual friends, our kalyana mitras, and they are more important to us than even a Buddha would be. If we happened to have the opportunity to meet a Buddha, we probably wouldn’t be able to make much of the encounter, or even realize the nature of the person in front of us. We are likely to benefit much more from contact with those who are just a little more spiritually developed than we are.”

BuddhismThe Path Of The BodhisattvaSpiritual Friends
Book:The Bodhisattva Ideal : Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism
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“Once you have entered the Stream, yon are irreversibly bound for Enlightenment, one could say; you have sufficient spiritual momentum to take you all the way. You may still have a long way to go, but you are now safe from any danger of losing what you have gained. It is therefore said of the Buddha’s ‘victory’, his attainment of Enlightenment, that it is irreversible. It cannot be undone. There is no outside power that can make a Buddha no longer a Buddha. This applies not only to the Buddha, but also to the Arhant, the Once-Returner, and the Stream Entrant – and of course the irreversible Bodhisattva. But until we have passed through that gate of irreversibility we are in a precarious position. This is why we need to make a constant effort in our spiritual life and also make sure that we are living and working in conditions that support our spiritual efforts. Until we have reached that point of no return, we need the most positive situation, the most helpful environment, we can possibly get.”

BuddhismThe Path Of The BodhisattvaSpiritual Momentum
Book:The Bodhisattva Ideal : Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism
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“Many people become aware of the effect of positive conditions when they go on retreat for the first time. The degree to which one can change in the course of just a few days is remarkable. Just leaving the city and staying in the country, being undisturbed by the pull of trivial distractions, and doing a bit more meditation and Dharma study than you usually have time for, can transform you into quite a different person – much happier, much more positive. So it isn’t enough to try to change one’s mental state through meditation; one needs the co-operation of one’s environment. Without this it is very difficult, even impossible, to develop spiritually up to the point of irreversibility.”

BuddhismSpiritual TransformationThe Path Of The BodhisattvaDharma PracticePositive Conditions
Book:The Bodhisattva Ideal : Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism
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“The Enlightened mind sees truly – without distinction – anything that comes before it; it understands the true nature of everything, just as a mirror faithfully reflects all objects. If one looks into the depths of the Enlightened mind one sees everything. It is like the experience of Sudhana as described in the Gandavyuha-Sutra. Sudhana is a pilgrim wandering in search of truth, and at the crucial point of the sutra he reaches a magnificent tower in south India. Entering the tower he sees the whole cosmos mirrored, stretching out to infinity – but all contained within this magical tower. In fact, the tower is a symbol of the bodhicitta, or of the Enlightened mind itself.”

BuddhismThe Path Of The BodhisattvaThe Enlightened Mind
Book:The Bodhisattva Ideal : Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism
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