No God

Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. ~Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking

January 8, 1942, Oxford, United Kingdom - March 14, 2018, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Joy

True joy happens when the ego is not involved.

~Steve Thayer

Do Not Waste - Anything

We do not inherit the world from our parents, we borrow it from our children. Words to help with this practice come from Ruth Rowen, a woman who was a child during the Great Depression. Ruth says, "We prided ourselves on our economy. You never threw anything away."

We Do Not Want Riches

Look at me—I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches, but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.

~ Red Cloud of the Sioux

Truth

It does not require many words to speak the truth.

~Chief Joseph

The Mother

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.

~Chief Seattle

Right Effort

If your practice is good, you may become proud of it. What you do is good, but something more has been added. Pride is extra. Right effort is to get rid of something extra.

~Shunryu Suzuki

The Moon on Waves

There is only one moon, but as it sets into the sea, each wave reflects it a little differently. It's the same way with us human beings and the truth. "The truth is only one," as Nishijima Roshi used to say. But each of us reflects that truth a bit differently.

~Brad Warner, in It Came From Beyond Zen

The Avatamsaka Sutra

As to the Avatamsaka-Sutra, it is really the consummation of Buddhist thought, Buddhist sentiment, and experience. To my mind, no religious literature in the world can ever approach the grandeur of conception, the depth of feeling, and the gigantic scale of composition, as attained by the sutra. Here not only deeply speculative minds find satisfaction. but humble spirits and heavily oppressed hearts, too, will have their burdens lightened. Abstract truths are so concretely, so symbolically represented here that one will finally come to a realization of the truth that even in a particle of dust the whole universe is seen reflected—not this visible universe only, but a vast system of universes, conceivable by the highest minds only.

~D. T. Suzuki

An Alternative to Materialism

Americans seem to assume that the alternative to materialism is poverty. I find that ironic because it’s clear to me that the necessary result of materialism is emotional and mental impoverishment.

So the alternative to materialism isn’t poverty. The alternative to materialism is an indifference to wealth that provides a relative immunity to greed.

~Dan Hagen

Wisdom

There's an old story of a Cherokee woman sharing wisdom with her grandson. "Everything in life comes to you as a teacher," the grandmother said. "Pay attention. Learn quickly."

A Great Pilgrimage

I felt in need of a great pilgrimage, so I sat still for three days.

~Kabir

The Cause and Condition for Liberation

It is precisely because impermanent, conditioned phenomena are unsatisfying that we are motivated to awaken. Seeing these characteristics clearly becomes the cause of and condition for liberation.

~Joseph Goldstein

Every Moment is A Teaching

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.

~Eckhart Tolle

The Five Ethical Precepts

1 To Respect and Protect Life

2 To Respect and Protect the Property of Others

3 To Respect and Protect Sexual Boundaries

4 To Respect and Protect the Truth

5 To Respect and Protect One's Body and Mind