Dale S. Wright > Quotes

“Equanimity is the learned capacity to experience pain without added suffering.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Dualism is an isolating sense of separation, a feeling of being fully on one's own in life, unconnected to others, to the natural world, to the whole of reality. Overcoming dualism is the cure for suffering.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Enlightenment is is the point of practice, but if you cling to any conception of enlightenment too rigidly that idea and that clinging will at some point stand in the way of its attainment.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Buddhist teachings on the capacity for tolerance are related to the realization that human suffering is an inevitable factor in our lives and that everything depends on how we respond to the impact of pain, threats, and a whole range of difficulties.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The Vimalakīrti Sūtra names generosity as an essential feature of Buddhist enlightenment. The Buddha and enlightened bodhisattvas are pictured as generous above all else. They give themselves—their time, their resources, their wisdom, and their compassionate action—to all living beings. As with other human virtues, though, their generosity is not innate. It "arises dependent" upon specific causes and conditions that need to be cultivated. Bodhisattvas' ability to give is the result of a discipline of mental training. They have trained their minds to respond to others in a spirit of open generosity by visualizing the plight of suffering beings and all of the ways that they might help alleviate their suffering. Meditating repeatedly on possible acts of giving, they strive to internalize deep feelings of generosity so that when real opportunities for giving appear, generosity comes forth naturally and spontaneously.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The sutra pictures Vimalakirti living his bodhisattva vow, that is, caring as much about the well-being of others as he does about his own. He lives selflessly, as though he has or is "no isolated self," because his sense of identity now encompasses his relations with others. The self/other dichotomy has been transformed in the paramita of morality. The boundaries that once defined his identity in opposition to others have been enlarged to include others. That is a significant dimension of what it means to live selflessly. Although Buddhist texts routinely refer to this as an experience of "no-self," it could just as easily be described as an expansion of the self, an enlargement empowered by a profound reverence for the whole of life.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“We will all make mistakes, we will all get sick, we will all be diminished by aging, and, against every fragment of our willpower, we will all be ruthlessly eliminated by the powers of death. What Buddhist philosophy of life asks is, given that the world just is this way, and given that both joy and pain are inevitable parts of life, what would a healthy, insightful response to the sheer fact of this reality be?”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The bodhisattva's practice is aimed not at the suppression of desire but at its reorientation to a purpose larger than individual gain and personal pleasure.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“What is the basis of freedom and why is it so satisfying? Vimalakirti says that in an authentic moment of giving we are "free of the habits of 'I' and 'mine'" (32), that the feeling derives from being "without grasping," "without attachment" (32), and "free of the habitual notion of possession" (25). He says further than in a generous act we are "joyful and without regret" because the weight of our "selves" has been momentarily lifted. That sense of exhilarating selflessness is what generates "the great joy of the bodhisattva" (57). In being able to give, we feel some degree of elation, a sense of being lifted out of ourselves into an experience of liberation that is buoyant and joyful, even if momentary.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Acts of self-promotional generosity are nonetheless still acts of giving. In most cases that is better than no giving at all.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“To renounce active life in the world rather than one's own grasping and clinging is to forgo the chance to awaken.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Although bodhisattva vows may all aim in the same direction, the particular intentions of each bodhisattva would inevitably vary. We all work out of our own background, our own genealogy and family heritage, our own dispositions, characters, and problems. No one can just start from scratch wherever they choose. We have no choice but to begin right where we are, with all of the trajectories and all of the issues that have already shaped our lives.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The universe is largely indifferent to us and when it rages, anyone in its path will suffer.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Rules are social conventions that generalize what would be good to do in situations of a certain kind. Although these rules are a convenient standard against which to judge the quality of our actions, the variety and uniqueness of moral situations require a fine-tuned sense of perception and judgment to determine when and how the rules apply to particular circumstances.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Either you live the life of a layperson or you live a monastic life― one or the other. That was the standard assumption. Yet Vimalakirti is pictured as a layperson who at least in certain respects lives like a monk.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“While the elders are mostly set in their mental ways, and while the middle-aged folks are busy scratching out a living, the children can be remarkably flexible of mind. They are often able to envision ways of being that are fundamentally different and occasionally better than the customs and habits of their families and communities.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The motives for giving are numerous, each rationale showing us something basic about who we really are behind the act of giving.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Vimalakirti's solitude is a state of mind rather than a living arrangement.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The Buddha imagines his role not predominantly as a philosopher, mystic, prophet, or warrior against evil but instead as a physician, a healer.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Buddhist texts often emphasize how being intelligent and knowing a lot, while certainly helpful, are not the same as being skillful in life—nor are they as effective in awakening us from unhealthy, self-destructive ways of living.

Calling certain ways of living "skillful" and others "unskillful" implies that these are capacities that can be cultivated, skills that can be acquired through practice. Although some people might seem to have more or less innate talent for a particular skill, or were raised din a way that emphasized or reinforced that skill, the development of skill is a possibility open to anyone and everyone. And they are always matters of degree.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The practice of tolerance asks us to learn to face fear and difficulty directly rather than to turn away from them in denial, flight, or fantasy.”
― Dale S. Wright

“The bodhisattva vow is to be there with us and for us, not above us or beyond us.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Working past deeply embedded habits of self-absorption is extremely difficult, precisely because these habits are so much a part of our cumulative character, the result of literally millions of unconscious acts generated out of concern for our own safety and well-being. For this reason, the Vimalakīrti Sūtra insists that practices of generosity must be accompanied by skillfully honed wisdom and that we should always be on the lookout for false forms of generosity.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“What Vimalakirti demonstrates in every aspect of his life is the ability to excel at the most sophisticated teachings and practices of Buddhist monastic culture while simultaneously living a very worldly life. By picturing this conjunction of presumed opposites in the life of its central character, the sutra suggests a possibility for Buddhism that no one had previously imagined. It claims boldly that the highest and most refined achievements of Buddhism are in fact open to anyone regardless of their vocation in life.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The Sanskrit word kṣānti, frequently translated as "tolerance," means being "able to endure," "able to withstand," "unaffected by" situations in the world that would overwhelm and undermine the rest of us. It indicates a deep composure and strength of character that allow the bodhisattva to face enormous difficulties without collapsing under the pressures of fear and anxiety.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Different generations think and speak differently and crossing those cultural barriers takes wisdom and empathetic rapport.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“True justice demands deep understanding, and neither self-righteous anger nor revenge can bring that about.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“Desires are the source of drive and aspiration in human life. They provide the energy for a whole range of human accomplishments, including the spiritual quest for awakening. Bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment for all living beings, evolves in the minds of bodhisattvas to become the primal desire, the deepest source of energy.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“The basic Buddhist insight is that if much suffering is self-caused through habitual maladaptive behavior, then much suffering can also be alleviated through the intentional development of a skillful life of health and awareness.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“For Vimalakirti, everything—every encounter, every problem, frustration, and issue—is an opportunity for practice.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra