Dragonnet - "Words of the Wise"

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What is Buddhism? The entire Buddhist path is based on the discovery of egolessness and the maturing of insight or knowledge that comes from egolessness. (More) Chogyam Trungpa in Journey Without Goal
False Self The false self, encased in the hard shell of egocentric awareness, rejects all such interpenetration with God (with whom our true self is bound in a union which is our own ultimate reality) and with others (with whom our true self is bound in a union of perfect charity). (More) James Finley in Merton's Palace of Nowhere
Mindfulness A video documentary about Buddhism by Joyce Chan and Cameille Fan, 2005, for their Senior Project. This was inspired by the "Who is Buddha?" course and participation in training at a meditation center in Wan Chai. View with Real Media Player.
The Real Illusion What, then, is the relation of man and the universe to this absolute Being? Man is an image of God; the universe is a finite reflection of this infinite Being, a reflection of the One in the many, of the eternal in time, of the infinite in space. Here again this relationship may be differently conceived, but fundamentally it will be found that this is its nature. The universe is not an 'illusion' as it is sometimes said; it has a certain reality, but it is the reality of a reflection in a mirror. Apart from its source it has no reality at all. The real illusion is to mistake the material universe for an independent reality.(more) Bede Griffiths in Christ in India
The Problem of the Ego-Driven Life It is really only through an intense life of spiritual practice that we become aware of our human condition. As long as people are content not to look, not to embrace their ultimate vocation to become deified beings, they will chase after every distraction that comes along as a substitute for a life of depth. (more) Wayne Teasdale in The Mystic Heart
The Mature Christian Life "Contemplation is the mark of a fully mature Christian life. It makes the believer no longer a slave or a servant of a Divine Master, no longer the fearful keeper of a difficult law, (More) Thomas Merton in The New Man
The Path of Compassionate Living "Setting out to enter into the contemplatively realized community that compassionate love discloses will result in frustration if we expect to succeed in living up to some hoped for ideal of becoming, in word and action, the compassionate person we know deep down we really are and are called to be." (More) James Finley in The Contemplative Heart
The Illusion of Separateness "We go through life with the idea that "I" am a separate entity, that there is this independent "me" that I have to be concerned about: my private life, my needs, my wants, my career, my advancement. In fact, threr is no "me" that is separate from the rest of creation. Everything is relationship. . ." (More) Terence Grant in The Silence of Unknowing
The Day Will Come "Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood." Josephine Baker
Taming the Tiger As human beings there is a great deal of desire and attachment in our lives. This can cause much suffering, both to ourselves ant to others. If the desire is unfulfilled we become unhappy. (More) Akong Tulku Rinpoche in Taming the Tiger
Spirit and Soul Although spirit and soul tend to be confused, overlapping, and even the same in most peoples' minds, they were clearly two different parts of the human person: spirit tending toward mind, universals, absolutes, God; soul tending toward psyche, experience, particualars, and "me". (More) Richard Rohr in Everything Belongs
A Direct Look at Your Own Mind When we look directly at the mind . . . we don't see any solid thing . . . when we see that there is nothing there, thoughts automatically cease on their own without having to be intentionally altered, without viewing them as enemies, without attempting to diminish them. (More) Khenchen Thrangu Rimpoche on Tilopa's Teaching to Naropa
Process without End The ancient maxim "Know Thyself" has come to mean "Turn inward and away from the world." Self-knowledge, however, actually means knowing, experiencing, feeling, sensing, the world fully. We know ourselves through the world, and the world is enhanced with our every act of self-knowledge. . . My intent is to promote a fully healthy ego to which nothing is foreign, nothing is excluded. (More) by Robert Sardello, psychotherapist
Exploring the biology of religious experience Those who deeply and regularly pray report that when praying they feel at one with the universe, unafraid of death and in awe of the Mystery they connect with. Scientists have connected some of these people to instruments that peer into the enchanted loom that is their brain, tracing the weaving, flashing shuttles of their neural connections. They seek understanding of the physical dynamics beneath those beatific experiences. They are probing the biology of religion. . . Humans, it seems, are literally made for contemplation. (More) By RICH HEFFERN, NCR Staff
Pacific Rim For several reasons, the emergence of the new Pacific-Aerospace culture-ecology is related to the historical events of World War II. Hiroshima announced the beginnings of the Atomic Age, and the airplane industries of the West Coast were rather quickly transformed into aerospace technologies. With the postwar rise to greatness of Stanford and Berkeley, and with the emergence of Silicon Valley, the Pacific Shift of America from Europe to Japan and China was irresistible. Perhaps in the next generation or two, a great artist from one of the cultures of the Pacific Rim will create the formative work of art for this new culture . . .(More) William Irwin Thompson
"The implications of broadband communication technology for the workforce are clear. ... Second, all of us will need to become effective communicators: (More) David Thornburg		"Poverty is not created by the poor but by concepts and institutions. The basic responsibility of any society is to ensure human dignity to all its members." (More) Muhammad Yunnus
"I am concerned about the relationship between 'spirituality' and 'religion' and the way those terms are being used because it's become increasingly common for spirituality to indirectly denigrate religion. (More) Houston Smith		"Like the drug and slave trade (arms trading) traffics in death. War and the preparation for war are the greatest obstacles to human progress." (More) Oscar Arias Sanchez
"Right at the heart of the most materialistic institutions in society we find spirit." (More) Walter Wink		"Some people think of the creation as though God made this thing and then tossed it out into space to let it fend for itself. By no means." (More) M. Basil Pennington
Beginner's mind is a posture of eagerness, of spiritual hunger. The beginner's mind knows it needs something. It is hard to remain spiritually hungry today. (More) Richard Rohr		"Christianity is Western, but Jesus and his Judaism were not. There's much in his teaching that resonates with that of Asian spiritual masters. (More) Winifred Gallagher

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