Ratnaguna > Quotes

“He who binds to himself a joy Does the wingèd life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sunrise.”
― Ratnaguna, Great Faith, Great Wisdom: Practice and Awakening in the Pure Land Sutras of Mahayana Buddhism

“In the repertoire of Buddhist practices that are available to us, reflection is one of the most neglected by contemporary writers on Buddhist practice. In fact, reading some books, you’d think that Buddhists aren’t supposed to think at all, as if thinking somehow contaminates the mind. Of course, if we’re honest, we have to admit that a lot of what we think about does contaminate our minds, but that doesn’t mean that all thinking is bad. Someone who eats only junk food will become ill, but they shouldn’t stop eating altogether; they need to eat nutritious food, and similarly, we shouldn’t stop thinking, we just need to be careful what we think and how we think about it. It’s also possible to think too much, to over-conceptualize, to be ‘too much in our head’ as we say, and when we do that we lose touch with our actual lived experience. The remedy for this is not to stop thinking altogether, but to learn to think more consciously and when it’s appropriate.”
― Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection

“Reflection comes from the Latin reflectere, which is made up of two parts: re, meaning ‘back’, and flectere, ‘to bend, curve or bow’. Reflectere therefore means bend back, turn back, or turn round.”
― Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection

“A few years ago I came across a very useful distinction between the urgent and the important. The urgent consists of things that have to be done right now, or at least very soon. The important is made up of things that you value – friendship, loved ones, meaningful activities, reading, listening to music, self-development, etc.”
― Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection

“Enlightenment is a state of wholeness which includes the body, heart and mind, and we won’t achieve wholeness by denying any part of ourselves.”
― Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection

“Reflection is disinterested thought. This doesn’t mean uninterested, it means unbiased by personal interest or advantage. When we reflect, what we’re interested in is discovering the truth, even if the truth is uncomfortable or inconvenient to us.”
― Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection

“Modern Western society places a high value on the notion of ‘thinking for oneself’, the goal of which is to have one’s own original thoughts on everything. This is not the aim of Buddhist reflection, which is to see things as they are.”
― Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection