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Bodhisattva Quotes

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Bodhisattva Quotes

“We have traded our intimacy for social media, our romantic bonds for dating matches on apps, our societal truth for the propaganda of corporate interests, our spiritual questioning for dogmatism, our intellectual curiosity for standardized tests and grading, our inner voices for the opinions of celebrities and hustler gurus and politicians, our mindfulness for algorithmic distractions and outrage, our inborn need to belong to communities for ideological bubbles, our trust in scientific evidence for the attractive lies of false leaders, our solitude for public exhibitionism. We have ignored the hunter-gatherer wisdom of our past, obedient now to the myth of progress. But we must remember who we are and where we came from. We are animals born into mystery, looking up at the stars. Uncertain in ourselves, not knowing where we are heading. We exist with the same bodies, the same brains, as Homo sapiens from thousands of years past, roaming on the plains, hunting in forests and by the sea, foraging together in small bands. Except now, our technology is exponentially increasing at a scale that we cannot predict. We are overwhelmed with information; lost in a matrix that we do not understand. Our civilizational “progress” is built on the bones of the indigenous and the poor and the powerless. Our “progress” comes at the expense of our land, and oceans, and air. We are reaching beyond what we can globally sustain. Former empires have perished from their unrestrained greed for more resources. They were limited in past ages by geography and capacity, collapsing in regions, and not over the entire planet. What will be the cost of our progress? We have grown arrogant in our comfort, hardened away from our compassion, believing that our reality is the only reality. Yet even at our most uncertain, there are still those saints who are unknown and nameless, who help even when they do not need to help. They often are not rich, don’t have their profiles written up in magazines, and will never win any prestigious awards. They may have shared their last bit of food while already surviving on so little. They may have cherished the disheartened, shown warmth to the neglected, tended to the diseased and dying, spoken kindly to the hopeless. They do not tremble in silence while the wheels of prejudice crush over their land. Withering what was once fertile into pale death and smoke. They tend to what they love, to what they serve. They help, even when they could fall back into ignorance, even when they could prosper through easy greed, even when they could compromise their values, conforming into groupthink for the illusion of security. They help.”

CompassionSocial MediaMinimalismLoving KindnessBodhisattvaSocial ActivismAnti MaterialismMyth Of ProgressCivilized To Death
Author:Bremer Acosta
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“The fact that you have the intention to work for others is important. Act on your wholesome intentions and altruistic impulses. If you have the thought of benefiting society, that is significant. Nurture and treasure that thought, and act on it as best you can. Doing so will certainly change you, and that in itself can be the start of the change you want to see in your world. – 17th Karmapa”

CompassionBuddhismEnlightenmentAwakeningAltruismBodhisattva
Book:The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out
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“Even when you find yourself in the best of situations, you never feel it is enough. You always want more. You give little thought to others' wishes and desires, and only want favorable circumstances for yourself. If you do the slightest favor for someone, you feel you have done something quite extraordinary. That you are so preoccupied with your own happiness and welfare, and neglect the welfare and happiness of others, is the reason you are wandering in samsara.”

HappinessCompassionSamsaraBodhisattvaSelf CherishingSelf Grasping
Book:The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva
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“If the bodhisattvas live during a time of armed conflict, they give rise to the mind of compassion, transforming those who are fighting, and causing them to dwell in a land without contention. If there are great wars, the bodhisattvas make the strength on both sides equal. They manifest their spiritual authority and subdue people so that peace is restored.”

WarSpiritualityPeaceCompassionBuddhismBodhisattva
Book:The Bodhisattva Path: Commentary on the Vimalakirti and Ugrapariprccha Sutras
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“The way to develop the altruistic intention a. Seven points of cause and effect 1. Equanimity between fnend, enemy and stranger is the preliminary. 2. Seven points: recognizing sentient beings as your mother, remembening their kindness, wishing to repay it, heart-warming love, compassion, great determination, altruistic intention b. Equalizing and exchanging self and others: equalizing self and others, disadvantages of selfishness, advantages of cherishing others, exchanging self and others, taking others’ suffering and giving them your happiness and its causes c. Combining the above two methods into one”

SpiritualityBuddhismGuidesBuddhistBodhisattvaTibetan BuddhismBodhicittaMahayana
Author:Thubten Chodron
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“For Leadbeater, the resurrection of Christ is our symbolic awakening from material slumber into astral life. If we can awaken to the reality of our situation despite our embodied condition, then we achieve a sort of solidity of soul that allows us to jump outside the cycle of reincarnation. In this state we can incarnate at our leisure in the vehicle of our choice. Now hinting at a sort of Bodhisattva-Christ ideal, Leadbeater suggests we might, after our own awakenings and ascensions into the astral (and then the transastral) planes, descend again to aid the evolution of humanity.”

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Book:The Subtle Body: A Genealogy
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“A bodhisattva is someone who has compassion within himself or herself and who is able to make another person smile or help someone suffer less. Every one of us is capable of this.”

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Book:Be Free Where You Are: A Talk Given at the Maryland Correctional Institute: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition
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“The antidote to hatred in the heart, the source of violence, is tolerance. Tolerance is an important virtue of bodhisattvas [enlightened heroes and heroines] - it enables you to refrain from reacting angrily to the harm inflicted on you by others. You could call this practice "inner disarmament," in that a well-developed tolerance makes you free from the compulsion to counterattack. For the same reason, we also call tolerance the "best armor," since it protects you from being conquered by hatred itself.”

WellsHeartImportantReasonPracticeVirtueViolenceSourceHeroProtectHatredHarmToleranceEnlightenedCompulsionAntidoteArmorRefrainDisarmamentHeroinesReactingProtect YouBodhisattvaHeroes And Heroines
Author:Dalai Lama
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“I could draw ideas. I remember writing a paper for a seminar class. I remember writing a paper about - and this is going to sound really sort of pretentious, but that's where my mind was at the time - how acting and the performing artist can really be like a Bodhisattva, how they can communicate ultimately an idea in a way that can move and shift things. And that was wonderful. I didn't know many classes where I could try and relate the thing that I really loved and wanted to do into an intellectual idea, and that happened to be one of them.”

KnowsWayWritingTryingMindIdeasWantedRememberMovingArtistSoundActingClassWonderfulHappenedPaperIntellectualDrawsCommunicateRelatePerformingPretentiousPerforming ArtsSeminarsBodhisattvaPerforming Artist
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
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“When Buddhists say, "A bodhisattva fears not the result, but only the cause," they mean that we must expend the bulk of our energy planting good roots today, rather than fretting about the plants that are already growing from the roots we planted in the past.”

MeanTodayPastEnergyCausesResultsGrowingRootsPlantBuddhistFear NotFrettingBodhisattva
Book:Describing the Indescribable: A Commentary on the Diamond Sutra
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“In Buddhism, we say reincarnation is the conscious taking of rebirth by a Bodhisattva, or by a high being, whereas rebirth, is what most people do. Rebirth is an involuntary process where they seek traction by finding a new body after their subtle mind loses the old one. There are two things commonly said about this. One- there is no evidence for it and two- if there is evidence, what's the mechanism which carries the consciousness from one life to another.”

PeopleIfsMindSaidTwoBodyProcessLosesConsciousnessBuddhismFindingsConsciousEvidenceTwo ThingsSubtleCarrieMechanismReincarnationRebirthInvoluntaryBodhisattvaTraction
Author:Robert Thurman
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“If you are a Buddhist, inspire yourself by thinking of the bodhisattva. If you are a Christian, think of the Christ, who came not to be served by others but to serve them in joy, in peace, and in generosity. For these things, these are not mere words, but acts, which go all the way, right up to their last breath. Even their death is a gift, and resurrection is born from this kind of death. (157)”

IfsThinkingWayKindChristianLastsJoyPeaceChristBornMeditationInspireBreathsMereBuddhistGenerosityResurrectionBodhisattva
Author:Jean Leloup
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“We have compassion because of the incredible pain and suffering which we as unenlightened beings cause to ourselves and all others through our ignorance. This is why we're trying to get out. This is why the bodhisattva has meaning. Because we're saying, no we won't get out, we won't escape until we've helped all other beings to escape, but most other beings don't even want to escape. They don't even know that there is an escape, and it's hard, so it's going to take an awfully long time.”

KnowsWantTryingLongHardPainSufferingCausesCompassionIgnoranceLong TimeIncrediblesSaying NoPain And SufferingBodhisattva
Author:Tenzin Palmo
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“Is this what you have in mind,' I asked the Dalai Lama, 'when you say in teachings that the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the world are the most selfish beings of all, that by cultivating altruism they actually achieve ultimate happiness for themselves?' Yes. That's wise selfish,' he replied. 'Helping others not means we do this at our own expense. Not like this. Buddhas and bodhisattvas, these people very wise. All their lives they only want one thing: to achieve ultimate happiness. How to do this? By cultivating compassion, by cultivating altruism.”

PeopleWorldWantMindMeanHelpingCompassionWiseOne ThingTeachingAchieveUltimateSelfishHelping OthersExpensesAltruismCultivatingLamaDalaiVery WiseBodhisattvaUltimate Happiness
Author:Dalai Lama
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“There are several realms which ordinary persons do not perceive. Because they cannot see them, that doesn't mean they don't exist. One of these realms is the sambhogakaya that can only be visited by highly realized Bodhisattvas. In the pure realm of the sambhogakaya, the Dharma is continuously taught. One sambhogakaya realm is Tushita, which is presided over by the next Buddha, the Maitreya Buddha. Buddha Shakyamuni dwelled there before coming to earth to give Dharma teachings.”

GivingMeanPersonsEarthNextTeachingAwarenessTaughtPureOrdinaryPerceiveRealmsDharmaOrdinary PersonBodhisattva
Author:Thrangu Rinpoche
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“There is no you in NewVillager, but there is a we. Your job thenceforth will be that of the bodhisattva, the guru, the gap-toothed docent with a serious thing for Whistler's Mother. There will be others, newervillagers than yourself, who never stood a chance either. Only through them do you stand any hope of tracing your footsteps back to where you began.”

JobsMotherChanceSeriousGapsGuruFootstepsTracingSerious ThingsBodhisattvaWhistlerDocents
Author:Daniel Levin Becker
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“To feel overflowing love and almost unbearable compassion for all living creatures is the best way to fulfil the wishes of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Even if for the moment you cannot actually help a sentient being in an external way, meditate on love and compassion constantly over the months and years until compassion is knit inseparably into the very fabric of your mind.”

IfsWayFeelsYearsMindMomentsHelpingWishCompassionMonthsCreaturesBest WayFabricUnbearableLiving CreaturesLove And CompassionSentient BeingsBodhisattva
Author:Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
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“A virtuous man or woman who is determined to develop the Supreme Enlightened Mind, should thus develop it: I have to lead all living beings to put a stop to (reincarnation) and escape (suffering), and when they have been so led, not one of them in fact stops (reincarnating) or escapes suffering. Why? Because, if a Bodhisattva believes in the notion of an ego, a personality, or a living being, he is not a true Bodhisattva.”

IfsMenShouldMindBelieveHas BeensFactsSufferingPersonalityEgoNotionDeterminedSupremeBuddhistEnlightenedVirtuousReincarnationBodhisattva
Author:Gautama Buddha
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“Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will for seven days appear to you in their benign and peaceful aspect. Their light will shine upon you, ... Wonderful and delightful though they are, The Buddhas may nevertheless frighten you. Do not give in to your fright! Do not run away! Serenely contemplate the spectacle before you! Overcome your fear, and feel no desire! Realize that these are the rays of the grace of the Buddhas, who come to receive you into their Buddha-realms. Pray to them with intense faith and humility.”

GivingFeelsMayBookLightRunningDesireRealizingGraceWonderfulHumilityPrayingHolyAspectOvercomingShiningSevenIntensePeacefulRealmsRaysRunning AwayContemplatingNeverthelessDelightfulFrightBenignSeven DaysHoly BooksBodhisattva
Author:Gautama Buddha
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“The true bodhisattva spirit grows out of this personal sense of freedom. You discover that you don't feel so needy anymore. You don't crave another refueling - with shamatha or with other people's love and attention - because you know within yourself how to be free, how to be confident. With this sense of security and freedom, you begin to direct your attention to the needs of others. The compassion expands.”

PeopleKnowsNeedsFeelsSpiritGrowsAttentionCompassionSecurityDirectCraveNeedyBe ConfidentNeeds Of OthersBodhisattvaSecurity And Freedom
Author:Tsoknyi Rinpoche
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“Once renunciation and the awakened mind have been fully realized, the way to Buddhahood is clear. Liberation is complete and such liberated beings are then Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: "enlightened ones," or "empty dwellers." Their usefulness to others both before and after their physical death, is impossible to conceive. They are nothing but useful energy leading to liberation for all beings still caught in conditioned existence.”

WayMindHas BeensStillsEnergyExistenceClearImpossibleEmptyCaughtAwakeningLiberationEnlightenedAwakenedLiberatedUsefulnessRenunciationDwellersBefore And AfterBodhisattva
Author:Maura O'Halloran
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