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Quote by Thomas à Kempis

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The Imitation of Christ : In Four Books

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Thomas à Kempis

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“Patience leads to Nibbana,” as the saying goes. This saying is most relevant in meditational effort. One must be patient in meditation. If one shifts or changes one’s posture too often because one cannot be patient with the sensation of stiffness or heat that arises, samadhi (good concentration) cannot develop. If samadhi cannot develop, insight cannot result and there can be no attainment of magga (the path that leads to Nibbana), phala (the fruit of that path) and Nibbana. That is why patience is needed in meditation. It is patience mostly with unpleasant sensations in the body like stiffness, sensations of heat and pain, and other sensations that are hard to bear. One should not immediately give up one’s meditation on the appearance of such sensations and change one’s meditational posture. One should go on patiently, just noting as “stiffness, stiffness” or “hot, hot.” Moderate sensations of these kinds will disappear if one goes on noting them patiently. [...] One then reverts to noting the rising and falling of the abdomen.”

MeditationBuddhismPatienceVipassana
Book:Fundamentals of Vipassana Meditation
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“Lingering is another time-consuming practice. Perception that latches on to information does not have a lasting and slow gaze. Information makes us short-sighted and short of breath. It is not possible to linger on information. Lingering on things in contemplation, intentionless seeing, which wold be a formula for happiness, gives way to the hunt for information. Today, we pursue information without gaining knowledge. We take notice [nehmen Kenntnis] of everything without gaining any insight [Erkenntnis]. We travel [fahren] across the world without having an experience [Erfahrung].”

InformationPerceptionPatienceContemplationLingering
Book:No-cosas: Quiebras del mundo de hoy
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