“My clouds, sorrowing in the dark,
forget that they themselves have hidden the sun.” Rabindranath Tagore
"Despair is global, but hope is local. Hope is face to face, body to
body, friend to friend and family to family, unmediated by technology or
clickbait."
Lewis Richmond https://www.lewisrichmond.com/hope-in-a-time-of-sadness/
"... the Dalai Lama and Suzuki Roshi are ... offering the same Buddhist recipe for going beyond our discouragement. Even when a situation seems hopeless it’s important to keep a calm, clear mind. That is something (( we all )) can offer the world, to remain relatively clear-eyed when everyone else has gone crazy. If we can do that, then we are actually doing something. Is it enough, is it effective, will it work? Don’t worry about it, I think Suzuki would say. Keep your mind clear, your eyes open, and watch for an opportunity to do something, anything. Large or small is not important. In a real crisis, when there is no choice, people can suddenly wake up. We never know when that might happen. We should be ready." Lewis Richmond https://www.speakingtree.in/article/buddhist-recipe
“Life will always remain unfulfilled and the heart will always remain restless UNTIL it comes to rest in that mystery beyond name & form.” Daniel Schmidt http://www.johnlovas.com/2025/02/we-can-experience-light.html
“One must seek awakening like one with their hair on fire seeks a pond to jump into.” Ramakrishna
In a recent blog ( http://www.johnlovas.com/2025/02/fear-to-love.html ) I suggested that instead of cultivating ever-increasing hatred & other dark adversarial emotions towards today's top-of-the-heap 'bad actor', WE CAN CHOOSE an INFINITELY more useful, beneficial alternative - to imagine as if he were our only child, and therefore wish that, instead of swift punitive revenge, he be mercifully contained, prevented from continuing to hurt others (& himself) and provided safe conditions for psycho-social rehabilitation.
ALSO HIGHLY RELEVENT & RECOMMENDED is carefully reading or re-reading Sue Morter's "Bus Stop Conversation" and watching Natalie Sudman's video BOTH on my blog: http://www.johnlovas.com/2023/01/the-nearly-unforgivables.htmlALL THIS makes it easier to LET GO of hatred and FREE our heart from prison!
Has come through wishing happiness for others;
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.”
Shantideva
“We are here to find that dimension within, that is deeper than thought.” Eckhart Tolle
“… the larger ties that bind us – ties of love, connection, purpose – have ripple effects on our health and the world at large.”
Kelli Harding. “The Rabbit Effect. Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness.” Atria Books, 2019.
“through our activity we communicate with each other, intentionally and unintentionally. We should always be alert enough to communicate with or without words.”
Shunryū Suzuki. "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." Weatherhill, 1970.
"The great Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki came to Columbia to teach [in 1951] and I went for two years to his classes. From Suzuki's teaching I began to understand that a sober and quiet mind is one in which the ego does not obstruct the fluency of things that come in through the senses and up through our dreams. Our business in living is to become fluent with the life we are living, and art can help this."
John Cage, in Mark Epstein. "Psychotherapy without the Self. A Buddhist Perspective." Yale University Press, 2007.
"We should never ignore or deny our weaknesses, or tell ourselves we don't have to work on becoming better or stronger. But we should also, and simultaneously, see right through it all to the perfect one inside. We must put on our bifocals and see both parts of ourselves because together, both parts of ourselves constitute the full truth about ourselves."
Alter RM, Alter J. “How Long Till My Soul Gets It Right?: 100 Doorways on the Journey to Happiness.” Regan Books, 2001.