Sean > Sean's Quotes

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
― Rene Daumal

“It’s vital always to bear in mind that we practise for the sake of all other beings, and that the enormity of this aspiration is what makes dharma practice both extremely powerful and inexhaustible, virtually guaranteeing that the result will be infinitely beneficial.”
― Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices

“The essence of Buddhist practice is not so much an effort at changing your thoughts or your behavior so that you can become a better person, but in realizing that no matter what you might think about the circumstances that define your life, you’re already good, whole, and complete. It’s about recognizing the inherent potential of your mind. In other words, Buddhism is not so much concerned with getting well as with recognizing that you are, right here, right now, as whole, as good, as essentially well as you could ever hope to be.”
― Yongey Mingyur, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

“Here, in this book, I will try to show that the guru is actually like the horizon. A horizon is apparent—a line where earth and sky appear to meet. But in reality, they never meet. There is only an illusion of an ending point, a point of reference where we can stand and measure and assess. In this way, the guru is like a horizon between wisdom and method, myth and truth, science and faith. D”
― Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, The Guru Drinks Bourbon?

“The Vajrayana is the path of the rug being pulled out from under your feet, so you need someone who knows how to do that.”
― Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, The Guru Drinks Bourbon?

“It’s a remarkable fact that the people who have gone the very deepest into the mind—the sages and saints of every religious tradition—all say essentially the same thing: your fundamental nature is pure, conscious, peaceful, radiant, loving, and wise, and it is joined in mysterious ways with the ultimate underpinnings of reality, by whatever name we give That.”
― Rick Hanson, Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

“To become happier, wiser, and more loving, sometimes you have to swim against ancient currents within your nervous system. For example, in some ways the three pillars of practice are unnatural: virtue restrains emotional reactions that worked well on the Serengeti, mindfulness decreases external vigilance, and wisdom cuts through beliefs that once helped us survive.”
― Rick Hanson, Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

“ABOUT 13.5 BILLION YEARS AGO, MATTER, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“For as long as space endures 
And for as long as living beings remain, 
Until then may I too abide 
To dispel the misery of the world.”
― Shantideva