Donald S. Lopez Jr. > Quotes

“Only the ignorant would believe that things exist in the way that they appear.”
― Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Story of Buddhism

“To seek the self, one must first have a clear idea of what one is looking for. Thus, some meditation manuals advise actively cultivating the sense of self, despite the fact that this sense is the target of the analysis. Our sense of identity is often vaguely felt. Sometimes, for example, we identify with the body, saying, "I am sick." At other times, one is the owner of the body, "My stomach hurts." It is said that by imagining a moment of great pride or imagining a false accusation, a strong and palpable sense of the "I" appears in the center [of] the chest: "I did it," or, "I did not do that." This sense of self is to be carefully cultivated, until one is convinced of its reality. One then sets out to find this self, reasoning that, if it exists, it must be located somewhere in the mind or the body.”
― Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Story of Buddhism

“Each being in the universe, therefore, inhabits a private world. It is as if the universe were populated by countless cinemas, each occupied by a single person, each eternally viewing a different film projected by consciousness, each eternally suspending disbelief. For the Yogacara, ignorance and suffering result from believing the movie to be real, from mistaking the projections to be an external world, from thinking that what appear to be external objects are independent of consciousness, and then running after them, desiring some and hating others. For the Yogacara, wisdom is the insight that everything is of the nature of consciousness and the product of one's own projections. With this insight, desire and hatred, attachment and aversion, naturally cease, for their objects are seen to be illusions. With the achievement of enlightenment, the substratum consciousness is transformed into the mirror like wisdom of a buddha.”
― Donald Lopez

“Accustomed to the habit of gathering a little of what I have heard.
If [what I have written] somehow enters the door of a wise person, intent on learning, Then the fruit of my labor will have been achieved. For the smiles of the stupid and the approval of the rich, I have never yearned even in my dreams.
When”
― Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel