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Enlightenment Quotes

Browse 3092 quotes about Enlightenment.

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Enlightenment Quotes

“Right now we have obtained a human rebirth and have the opportunity to attain enlightenment through Dharma practice, so if we waste this precious opportunity in meaningless activities there is no greater loss and no greater foolishness.”

IfsHumansOpportunityLossPracticeGreaterRight NowActivityWasteEnlightenmentMeaninglessFoolishnessRebirthDharma
Book:Modern Buddhism: The Path of Compassion and Wisdom - Volume 1 Sutra
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“Enlightenment is construed as seeing things as they really are rather than as they appear; it is a direct insight into, and discernment of, the nature of reality that is apprehended only by wisdom, which transcends and is prior to the activity of discriminative thought. In this view, delusion is defined as all that is opposed to enlightenment.”

RealityNatureViewsSeeingActivityEnlightenmentDirectInsightDefinedDelusionDiscernment
Book:Dogen on Meditation and Thinking: A Reflection on His View of Zen
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“The effect of the post-Enlightenment project for human society is that all human activity is absorbed into labor. It becomes an unending cycle of production for the sake of consumption. The modern concept of "built-in obsolescence" makes this clear. The cycle of production and consumption has to be kept going, and the work of the artist or craftsman who aims to create something enduring becomes marginal to the economic order.”

HumansArtistOrderClearEconomicModernEffectsActivityProjectsEnlightenmentConceptsBuiltLaborAimEndureSakeProductionsPostsCyclesConsumptionConsumerismHuman SocietyOverconsumptionHuman ActivityUnendingCraftsmanObsolescenceEconomic Order
Author:Lesslie Newbigin
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“To be politically activated is to dare to care about the happiness of others and that is just about the most important activity anyone can be involved in at this time, because it changes a person - it lifts them from normal self-centeredness to a state of other centeredness. That is a good thing because it expands our perception of self. This expansion of consciousness leads to enlightenment, which is the meaning of yoga.”

PersonsImportantSelfStatesCareConsciousnessInvolvedActivityNormalPerceptionEnlightenmentYogaGood ThingsDareLiftsExpansionSelf CenterednessCenteredness
Author:Sharon Gannon
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“If enlightenment comes first, before thinking, before practice, your thinking and your practice will not be self-centered. By enlightenment I mean believing in nothing, believing in something which has no form or no color, which is ready to take form or color. This enlightenment is the immutable truth. It is on this orginal truth that our activity, our thinking, and our practice should be based.”

IfsThinkingShouldFirstsBelieveMeanSelfFormPracticeColorReadyActivityEnlightenmentBuddhistSelf CenteredBelieving In Something
Book:Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
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“Climbing is the lazy man's way to enlightenment. It forces you to pay attention, because if you don't, you won't succeed, which is minor - or you may get hurt, which is major. Instead of years of meditation, you have this activity that forces you to relax and monitor your breathing and tread that line between living and dying. When you climb, you always are confronted with the edge. Hey, if it was just like climbing a ladder, we all would have quit a long time ago.”

IfsMenWayYearsMayLongForceHurtLinesPayAttentionMeditationDyingActivitySucceedMajorsLong TimeEnlightenmentEdgesQuittingHeyBreathingPay AttentionClimbsLazyRelaxClimbingHikingMinorsLaddersLong Time AgoMountaineeringMountain ClimbingClimbing MountainRock ClimbingInspirational Mountain ClimbingHiking In The MountainsClimbing Mountains InspirationalClimbing UpLazy ManClimbing The Ladder
Author:Duncan Ferguson
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“Whoever accepts the higher mission of art and comes nearer and nearer to it through his creative activity, will then go on from art to the Spirit deep within his own self... The philosophic search for enlightenment and the artist's search for perfection of work can meet and unite. Art can be a path to spiritual enlightenment but not to complete and lasting enlightenment. It can be born out of, and can give birth itself to, only Glimpses. For art is a search for beauty, which by itself is not enough. Beauty must be supported by virtue and both require wisdom to guide them.”

GivingArtSelfEnoughSpiritualSpiritArtistBornAcceptingCreativeVirtuePathGoes OnBirthHigherActivityEnlightenmentArt IsPerfectionMissionsGuidesLastingGlimpseDeep WithinPhilosophicSpiritual Enlightenment
Author:Paul Brunton
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“As soon as the mouth is opened, evils spring forth. People either neglect the root and speak of the branches, or neglect the reality of the 'illusory' world and speak only of Enlightenment. Or else they chatter of cosmic activities leading to transformations, while neglecting the Substance from which they spring--indeed, there is NEVER any profit in discussion.”

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Author:Huangbo Xiyun
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