Great Throughts Treasury

"The message of love and peace can be spread by constant dialogue and interaction between scholars of various religions."

"The mind's own basic nature is ultimately neutral. It can be influenced by negative as well as by positive emotions. Take, for instance, those who have a short tempter. When I was young I was quite short-tempered. However, the mood never lasted for twenty-four hours. If negative emotions are in the very nature of our mind, then as long as the mind is functioning the anger must remain. That, however is not the case. Similarly, positive emotions are also not in the nature of the mind. The mind is something neutral, reflecting all sorts of different experiences or phenomena."

"The most important thing is practice in daily life; then you can know gradually the true value of religion. Doctrine is not meant for mere knowledge, but for the improvement of our minds. In order to do that, it must be part of our life. If you put religious doctrine in a building and when you leave the building depart from the practices, you cannot gain its value."

"The more you nurture a feeling of loving kindness, the happier and calmer you will be."

"The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one’s life."

"The motivation of all religious practice is similar: love, sincerity, honesty. The way of life of practically all religious persons is consistent. The teachings of tolerance, love, and compassion are the same."

"The problems we face today, violent conflicts, destruction of nature, poverty, hunger, and so on, are human-created problems which can be resolved through human effort, understanding and the development of a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share. Although I have found my own Buddhist religion helpful in generating love and compassion, even for those we consider our enemies, I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion."

"The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be."

"The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated. Our struggle must remain non-violent and free of hatred."

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy."

"The question of world peace, the question of family peace, the question of peace between wife and husband, or peace between parents and children, everything is dependent on that feeling of love and warmheartedness."

"The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts."

"The time has come to think, to try to find a solution through dialogue based on mutual respect."

"The rationale for universal compassion is based on the same principle of spiritual democracy. It is the recognition of the fact that every living being has an equal right to and desire for happiness. The true acceptance of the principle of democracy requires that we think and act in terms of the common good. Compassion and universal responsibility require a commitment to personal sacrifice and the neglect of egotistical desires."

"The real test of compassion is not what we say in abstract discussions but how we conduct ourselves in daily life."

"The sea of bitterness has no bounds; repent, and the shore is at hand."

"The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness."

"The topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is important to know it is human business, it is a question of human survival."

"The truly good gaze upon everything is with love and understanding."

"The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred."

"The time has come to educate people, to cease all quarrels in the name of religion, culture, countries, different political or economic systems. Fighting is useless. Suicide."

"The second stage is the elimination of desire and attachment to this samsara. Then in the third stage, self-cherishing is eliminated"

"The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis."

"The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness."

"The universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with everything in it."

"The underlying principle of this teaching is the universal principle of causality. What becomes important in the understanding of this basic teaching is a genuine awareness of one´s own potentials and the need to utilize them to their fullest. Seen in this light, every human action becomes significant."

"The way to change others' minds is with affection, and not anger."

"The whole of human history has developed on the basis of this feeling. In fact it is not limited to human beings; from the Buddhist point of view, even the tiniest insect has this feeling and, according to its capacity, is trying to gain some happiness and avoid unhappy situations."

"The ultimate source of happiness is our mental attitude."

"The very purpose of our life is to seek happiness."

"The various features and aspects of human life, such as longevity, good health, success, happiness, and so forth, which we consider desirable, are all dependent on kindness and a good heart."

"The world has also learned that economic growth, by itself, cannot close the gap between rich and poor."

"The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life."

"The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, and forgiveness."

"There are some among us who say our neighbor only understands the language of violence, ... It is easy to say 'jihad,' but actual implementation is very complicated, very hard, and too risky."

"There are techniques of Buddhism, such as meditation, that anyone can adopt."

"Then, some portion of prayer is to appeal to Buddha. Although we do not consider Buddha as a Creator, at the same time we consider Buddha as a higher being who purified himself. So he has special energy, infinite energy or power. In certain ways, then, in this type of prayer, the appeal to Buddha can be seen as similar to the appeal to God as the Creator."

"There is a saying in Tibetan, "Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength." No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster."

"There is an intense delight in abandoning faulty states of mind and in cultivating helpful ones in meditation."

"There are two kinds of satisfaction or happiness: one mainly through mental peace; another physical comfort"

"There are two types of prayer. I think prayer is, for the most part, simply reminders in your daily practice. So, the verses look like prayers, but are actually reminders of how to speak, how to deal with other problems, other people, things like that in daily life. For example, in my own daily practice, prayer, if I am leisurely, takes about four hours. Quite long. For the most part, I think my practice is reviewing: compassion, forgiveness, and, of course, shunyata. Then, in my case, the tantric practices including visualization of death and rebirth. In my daily practice, the deity mandala, deity yoga, and the visualization of death, rebirth, and intermediate state is done eight times. So, eight times death is eight times rebirth. I am supposed to be preparing for my death. When actual death comes, whether I will succeed or not, still, I don't know."

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness."

"There is no need to mention the great difference between the amount of satisfaction there is in just oneself being happy and the amount of satisfaction there is in an infinite number of people being happy."

"There is nothing to trust seeking happiness from outside, you will only become exhausted with suffering, with is without satisfaction and without end."

"There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must ask yourself how is it you want to live your life. We live and we die, this is the truth that we can only face alone. No one can help us, not even the Buddha. So consider carefully, what prevents you from living the way you want to live your life?"

"There should be a balance between material and spiritual progress, a balance achieved through the principles based on love and compassion."

"Therefore, in order to achieve more effective environmental protection and conservation, internal balance within the human being himself or herself is essential. The negligence of the environment, which has resulted in great harm to the human community, resulted from our ignorance of the very special importance of the environment. We must now help people to understand the need for environmental protection. We must teach people to understand the need for environmental protection. We must teach people that conservation directly aids our survival."

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complication. One's own mind, one's own heart is the temple, and loving-kindness is the philosophy."

"This is a priceless human asset and one you don't have to pay income tax on!"

"This lack of respect extends even to the earth´s human descendants, the future generations who will inherit a vastly degraded planet if world peace does not become a reality, and if destruction of the natural environment continues at the present rate."