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Quotations on:
Love
With a boundless mind one could cherish all living beings, radiating friendliness over the entire world, above, below, and all around without limit.
From the Maitri Sutra, quoted by Pema Chodron in The Places that Scare You
His Holiness the Dalai Lama |
Human beings will continue to deceive and overpower one another. Basically,
everyone exists in a state of suffering, so to abuse or mistreat each other
is futile. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love. That you practice
this well is my only request
From the earliest stages of our growth, we are completely dependent upon
our mother's care and it is very important for us that she express her love.
if children do not receive proper affection, in later life they will often find
it hard to love others.
In the beginning of Buddhist practice, our ability to serve others is
limited. The emphasis is on healing ourselves, transforming our minds and hearts.
But as we continue, we become stronger and increasingly able to serve others.
The Buddhist notion of attachment is not what people in the West assume.
We say that the love of a mother for her only child is free of attachment.
Cultivating closeness and warmth for others automatically puts the mind
at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
Love and compassion are necessities,
not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive. |
I pursue the good in life because it is beautiful and attracts me; and shun the bad because it is ugly and repulsive.
All our acts should originate from the spring of unselfish love, whether there be a continuation after death or not.
Heinrich Hein (Not a Buddhist)
If you have no love, do what you will -
go after all the gods on earth, do all the social activities, try to reform the
poor, the politics, write books, write poems
- you are a dead human being.
Without love your problems will increase, multiply endlessly.
And with love, do what you will, there is no risk; there is no conflict.
Then love is the essence of virtue. And a mind that is not
in a state of
love, is not a religious mind at all.
Talks by Krishnamurti in India 1965
(Not a Buddhist)
True love is the desire to maintain the happiness of all beings impartially, regardless of whether we like them or not.
Ling Rinpoche
The myth of romantic love is a dreadful lie.
Perhaps it is a necessary lie in that it assures the 'falling
in love'- experience that traps us into marriage. But as a psychiatrist
I weep in my heart almost daily for the ghastly confusion and
suffering that this myth fosters. Millions of people waste vast
amounts of energy desperately in an attempt to make the reality
of their lives conform to the unreality of the myth.
M. Scott Peck (Not a Buddhist)
O love, O pure deep love, be here, be now
Be all; worlds dissolve into your stainless endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with you brighter than cold stars:
Make me your servant, your breath, your core.
Rumi (Not a Buddhist)
There is
a saying in the Buddhist tradition:
"You can explore the universe looking
for somebody
who is more deserving of your love and affection than you
are
yourself,
and you will not find that person anywhere."
Sharon Salzberg
When we accept the way things are we are able to love everything and everybody. When we are not able to accept even one thing in this world right now, then how could we ever develop boundless love? Lack of acceptance is conflict. Conflict is pain. It is psychological pain. It is a spiritual illness. As long as our hearts are tormented by that pain, we do not have the strength to give our heart to anything and because of that it is impossible to bring about inner awakening. Enlightenment, you see, is just another name for boundless love.
It is almost impossible to practice loving-kindness towards all living beings without addressing, in a meaningful way, the innumerable problems arising in our own lives. It is a contradiction, you see. It does not work. If our heart is tormented because we are not able to accept things the way they are, then it is impossible to open our heart. It is impossible to let go of all of our defenses and embrace others. Therefore we have to constantly practice and deepen our awareness. We have to remind ourselves to accept things as they are. This is pretty much what the teachings called Mind Training are all about. Mind Training in Buddhism is about carrying those perspectives and even reciting slogans, phrases like "I shall accept the way things are."
Anam Thubten, No Self, No Problem
Last
updated:
December 11, 2016
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