Sentient Beings

In Buddhism, Sentient Beings are Beings with consciousness, sentience.

Consciousness is awareness of oneself and that outside oneself.

Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive or experience subjectively. 

2018

Life

Life is a dance . . . and the dance goes on with us and without us.

~Osho

A New Role for Aging

A new model for aging is needed. Instead of trying to be gray-haired teenagers still grabbing for the imaginary gusto of youth or, conversely, slipping into the depressive role of useless baggage, waiting to die, we must recapture the traditional role of elder, or sage.

~William Martin,

in the Introduction to his

The Sage's Tao Te Ching

Life

If this life, Mahali, were exclusively steeped in dukkha and if it were also not steeped in pleasure, then beings would not become enamored of it.

~The Buddha

Ahimsa

The more I practice it the clearer I see how far I am from the full expression of ahimas* in my life.

~Gandhi

* Not to injure, compassion.

Peace

The destiny of a nation is too important to leave to politicians alone.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Lord Cernunnos Celebrating the Vernal Equinox

The Vernal Equinox

The Tree

In 1973, E. F. Schumacher wrote, “Every follower of the Buddha ought to plant a tree every few years and look after it until it is safely established.”
I'll take the liberty and rephrase his suggestion, “Everyone who cares about Earth and the life upon it ought to plant a tree every few years and look after it until it is safely established.”

Life

Life

Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no fear.
Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no grief.
How can the multiplicity of life
Delude the one who sees its unity?

                                                               ---Isha Upanishad---

Life

There is enough in the world for everyone's need; there is not enough for everyone's greed.

---Gandhi---

Abundance

                                        Then the well spoke to me.

                                         It said: Abundance is scooped from abundance
                                         yet abundance remains.

                                                                                               ---Anne Sexton---

You Must Also Take Care of You

Life is challenging enough as it is. Don't add to the struggle by fighting with yourself.

---Sam Morris---

Aging and Death

Everyone who is alive will age and die. The reality of aging and death is a simple fact of our existence and is beyond dispute. However, particularly in the West, many people are extremely reluctant to accept the reality of aging and death. This is so much the case that to even make the observation that someone is old is perceived to be unkind. Yet if we look at the attitudes of different societies, say, for example, of Tibetan society, the very same phenomena—aging and death—are seen in a radically different light. Advanced age is perceived to be a basis for greater respect. Thus, what from one cultural perspective is seen as negative is, from another, quite positive—but the phenomenon of aging itself has no intrinsic qualities in this regard.

---His Holiness the Dalai Lama---