Life never seems to be the way we want it,
but we live it the best way we can.
There is no perfect life,
but we can fill it with perfect Moments.
~hamariweb
Making everyone happy is not possible; so decide to be
happy with everyone. I was looking out the windows
thinking about the ones I care most and the people
that came into my mind are you. ~hamariweb sms
“Those who do not know satisfaction, even when living in a heavenly palace,
are still not satisfied. Those who do not know satisfaction, even if rich, are poor.
People who know satisfaction, even if poor, are rich.” ~Buddha
People don’t usually create the right causes. They want goodness so much, and yet they don’t work to bring it about. All they get are bad results, embroiling the mind in suffering. All people want these days is money. They think that is they just get enough money everything will be alright; so they spend all their time looking for money, they don’t look for goodness. This is like wanting meat, but not wanting salt to preserve it: you just leave the meat around the house to rot. Those who want money should know not only how to find it, but also how to look after it. If you want meat, you can’t expect to buy it and then just leave it laying around in the house. It’ll just go rotten. This kind of thinking is wrong. The result of wrong thinking is turmoil and confusion. The Buddha taught the Dhamma so that people would put it into practice, in order to know it and see it, and to be one with it, to make the mind Dhamma. When the mind is Dhamma it will attain happiness and contentment. The restlessness of samsara is in this world, and the cessation of suffering is also in this world. ~Ajahn Chah
Success isn’t the key to happiness.
Happiness is the key to success.
~Buddha
Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
Turtles cannot protrude their tongues from their mouths, but they can smell. Flapping the loose skin under the chin or throat moves air over the Jacobsen’s organ. Tortoises and turtles do not have teeth. The growth rings on the scutes or scales on a tortoise cannot be used to determine the animal’s age with any degree of accuracy, as in most instances, growth spurts and interruptions in growth are determined largely by environmental conditions. Some species have hinges on either the carapace or the plastron, which allow closure of the shell. Source: PetPlace
The friendship between a man and a woman which does not lead to marriage or desire for marriage may be a life long experience of the greatest value to themselves and to all their circle of acquaintance and of activity; but for this type of friendship both a rare man and a rare woman are needed. Perhaps it should be added that either the man or the woman thus deeply bound in lifelong friendship who seeks marriage must find a still rarer man or woman to wed, to make such a three cornered comradeship a permanent success. ~Anna Garlin Spencer
Respect the emotions in someone’s heart,
rather than the expressions on someone’s face
because expression is just a formality
but emotions are reality.
~sms4smile
Go
by Venerable Ajahn Chah
Today is the day on which we Buddhists come together to observe the Uposatha precepts and listen to the Dhamma, as is our custom. The point of listening to the Dhamma is firstly to create some understanding of the things we don’t yet understand, to clarify them, and secondly, to improve our grasp of the things we understand already. We must rely on Dhamma talks to improve our understanding, and listening is the crucial factor.
For today’s talk please pay special attention, first of all straightening up your posture to make it suitable for listening. Don’t be too tense. Now, all that remains is to establish your minds, making your minds firm in samadhi. The mind is the important ingredient. The mind is that which perceives good and evil, right and wrong. If we are lacking in sati for even one minute, we are crazy for that minute; if we are lacking in sati for half an hour we will be crazy for half an hour. However much our mind is lacking in sati, that’s how crazy we are. That’s why it’s especially important to pay attention when listening to the Dhamma.
All creatures in this world are plagued by nothing other than suffering. There is only suffering disturbing the mind. Studying the Dhamma is for the purpose of utterly destroying this suffering. If suffering arises it’s because we don’t really know it. No matter how much we try to control it through will power, or through wealth and possessions, it is impossible. If we don’t thoroughly understand suffering and its cause, no matter how much we try to “trade it off” with our deeds, thoughts or worldly riches, there’s no way we can do so. Only through clear knowledge and awareness, through knowing the truth of it, can suffering disappear. And this applies not only to homeless ones, the monks and novices, but also to householders: for anybody who knows the truth of things, suffering automatically ceases. Continue reading
Night has ended for another day;
Morning has come in a special way;
May you smile like the sunny rays;
And leave your worries for some other day.
~Santabanta sms
You are as the yellow leaf.
The messengers of death are at hand.
You are to travel far away.
What will you take with you?
You are the lamp
To lighten the way.
Then hurry, hurry.
When your light shines
Without impurity or desire
You will come into the boundless country.
Your life is falling away.
Death is at hand.
Where will you rest on the way?
What have you taken with you?
You are the lamp
To lighten the way.
Then hurry, hurry.
When your light shines purely
You will not be born
And you will not die.
― Gautama Buddha, The Dhammapada
