Siddhartha

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse at Google Books


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mindfulness

“Mindfulness is the path to the Deathless,
Heedlessness is the path to death.
The mindful never die,
the heedless are as if dead al ready.”

Dhammapada


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dependent arising

Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches dependent arising in his latest writing.

The Shape of Suffering

dark places

"Sometimes the road lead through dark places.
Sometimes, the darkness is your friend."




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compassion is space

When you meet the pain of another with fear, it is often called pity.
When you're motivated by pity, you're motivated by a dense self-interest.
When you're motivated by pity, you're acting on the aversion you have to experiencing someone else's predicament.
You want to alleviate their discomfort as a means of alleviating your own.
Pity creates more fear and separation.
When love touches upon the pain of another, it is called compassion.
Compassion is just space.
Whatever that other person is experiencing, you have room for it in your heart.
It becomes work on yourself -to let go, to stay open, to feel that being within you.
When somebody is in incredible pain, though you can't do anything to alleviate it, you don't withdraw.
When people say, "Help me," you stay soft, your hand in theirs, sharing their pain without closing around it.
To have room in your heart for whatever pain arises, not differentiating between "I" and "other" is compassion.


Taken from: Who Dies - An Investigation of Conscious Living and Dying by Stephen Levine

Picture: All Rights Reserved ® aml.2009