You Are IT

Love is a mind that brings peace, and happiness to another person. Compassion is a mind that removes the suffering that is present in the other. We all have the seeds of love and compassion in our minds, and we can develop these fine and wonderful sources of energy. We can nurture the unconditional love that does not expect anything in return and therefore does not lead to anxiety and sorrow.

–Thich Nhat Hanh

This is what we call ignorance: not recognizing the void nature of phenomena and assuming that phenomena possess the attribute of true existence although in fact they are devoid of it. With ignorance comes attachment to all that is pleasant to the ego as well as hatred and repulsion for all that is unpleasant. In that way the three
poisons—ignorance, attachment, and hatred—come into being.

Under the influence of these three poisons, the mind becomes like a servant running here and there. This is how the suffering of samsara is built up. It all derives from a lack of discernment and a distorted perception of the nature of phenomena.

– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

— Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”

There are only two thoughts we need to be mindful not to believe: (1) I am not enlightened, and (2) I am enlightened. Neither of them are true. Our true nature is already enlightened. The "I" can never possess enlightenment. The truth flows radiantly and majestically in between. Already home, still arriving.

~ Nithya Shanti

You are what you want to become. Why search anymore? You are a wonderful manifestation. The whole universe has come together to make your existence possible. There is nothing that is not you. The kingdom of God, the Pure Land, nirvana, happiness, and liberation are all you.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathing in, breathing out.
Breathing in, breathing out.
I am blooming as a flower.
I am fresh as a dew.
I am solid as a mountain.
I am firm as the earth.
I am free.
Breathing in, breathing out.
Breathing in, breathing out,.
I am water reflecting.
What is real, what is true.
And I feel there is space.
Deep inside of me.
I am free; I am free; I am free.

– Thich Nhat Hanh

People who believe heaven comes after death, are right, but also wrong. Because the true message is not about physical death. It is actually about the death of the ‘ego’ which assumes separation from others, from heaven, from the Divine. When we die before we die, it is called ‘heaven on earth’.

~ Nithya Shanti

I believe that the idea that God is a being who can be damaged or offended by God’s creations, and who feels a need to punish human beings for not doing what God demands, is at the root and at the heart of humanity’s so-often dysfunctional dealings with each other.

~ Neale Donald Walsch

When you simply ride with your impulses, you don’t understand their force. They’re like the currents below the surface of a river: only if you try to build a dam across the river will you detect those currents and appreciate how strong they are.

So we have to look at what’s important in life, develop a strong sense of priorities, and be willing to say no to the currents that would lead to less worthwhile pleasures.

— “The Dignity of Restraint” by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Your soul mate lives inside you.
God hooked you up with your own heart
when you took your first breath.
With a lover like that, you should be satisfied!

Meet the one who turns this ray of seeking
inward: bask in the shimmer of folded wings.
Come home, there is something delicious
bubbling in the kitchen of your body.

If there was ever a journey, it ends here.
The world is the pilgrim, not you.
All creatures enter the doorway of your face
searching for a hearth, a fireside.

Greet each one with the name Beloved,
a cup of soup and common bread.
Some of them seem to have nowhere to go
but You.

– Fred LaMotte