Eastern Religion Quotes

“Whenever the Christian idea of meditation is taken seriously, there are those who assume it is synonymous with the concept of meditation centered in Eastern religions. In reality, the two ideas stand worlds apart. Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind. The two ideas are quite different.”
― Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

“A wide and vague impression exists that so-called Eastern religion is more contemplative, innocuous, and humane than the proselytizing monotheisms of the West. Don't believe a word of this: try asking the children of Indochina who were dumped by their parents for inherited deformities that were attributed to sins in a previous 'life.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“Many questing young people and stressed older people nowadays seek relaxation through meditation. They look for it in Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religions. They are often surprised to learn that there is such a way within the Christian tradition, a way that is known as contemplation.”
― Ray Simpson, Exploring Celtic Spirituality

“We in the West regard the universe as a creation of God; like an invention or a product. After he created the universe, God set himself to oversee it and manage it. We see God as our boss. He created the universe, he is present in it, he manages every part of it, but he is still separate from it. It's like he installed video cameras all over the universe, so he can see everything that happens, and he can cause this or that to happen, but he is not a part of what happens. The Eastern view is very different. To the Hindu, for example, God didn't create the universe, but God became the universe. Then he forgot that he became the universe. Why would God do this? Basically, for entertainment. You create a universe, and that in itself is very exciting. But then what? Should you sit back and watch this universe of yours having all the fun? No, you should have all the fun yourself. To accomplish this, God transformed into the whole universe. God is the Universe, and everything in it. But the universe doesn't know that because that would ruin the suspense. The universe is God's great drama, and God is the stage, the actors, and the audience all at once. The title of this epic drama is "The Great Unknown Outcome." Throw in potent elements like passion, love, hate, good, evil, free will; and who knows what will happen? No one knows, and that is what keeps the universe interesting. But everyone will have a good time. And there is never really any danger, because everyone is really God, and God is really just playing around.”
― Warren Sharpe, Philosophy For The Serious Heretic: The Limitations of Belief and the Derivation of Natural Moral Principles

“Some of the events described in this book may well offend the reader's sensitivities. Part of this was Vimalananda's intention. He wanted Western holier-than-thou renunciates to know that "filth and orgies in the graveyard" (as one American once described Aghori) can be as conducive to spiritual advancement as can asanas, pranayama, and other "purer" disciplines.”
― Robert E. Svoboda

“All your thoughts, imagination, feelings, emotions and sensation are part of the mechanical process that can be understood, at the state of self-realization.”
― Roshan Sharma

“Though you might conquer in battle
A thousand times a thousand men,
You're the greatest battle-winner
If you conquer just one - yourself.”
― Dhammapada

“The second part of the motto of the left-hand path, “Love is the law׳, love under will,” became for the Nazis: “Hatred is the law, hatred under will”—a powerful formula indeed.

The inescapable historical parallel to all of this is to be seen in the innumerable cruelties committed by Christians against Jews, pagans, witches, heretics, and each other: a disgrace to the Solar tradition, as the Nazis are to the Polar. Yet many of the worst offenders were pious, and believed themselves to be sincere Christians; some of them were even "mystics". All this goes to show that any religious tradition can do more harm than good, unless it is tempered by the simple humanity and compassion that come more readily to women than to men. When the Dalai Lama says with his characteristic smile, “My religion is Kindness,” he is pointing the way to the Golden Age more surely than any priest, shaykh, or esoteric pundit.”
― Joscelyn Godwin, ARKTOS: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism & Nazi Survival

“One of the most radical shifts we can make is from understanding waking up as an event to seeing awakened life as the expression of beneficial qualities - generosity, patience, virtue, honesty, wisdom, lovingkindness, enthusiasm, equanimity - cultivated in our relationships with other. Here, awakening is measured not by the depth of our insight but based on our behavior: how we act and interact with each other and the world.”
― Pamela Weiss, A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism

“Jains teach that your karma, meaning the deeds or actions that you perform in one birth, decides the level of birth in your next incarnation. For Jains, karma is a particulate substance, especially something produced by violence of any type. Some actions are so bad in karmic terms, like killing another jiva, that they are very substantial. Other actions are less violent, like violent thoughts, so the bad karmic matter they produce is subtler. [...] How can a person get rid of the karma that attaches to his or her jiva? The process of living in this world burns off some karma. People, animals, divinities, and other beings who burn off more karma than they produce through violence will move a little higher in the next life.”
― Michael H. Fisher, A History of India

“Beginner's Guide to The East
(Naskaristana 2758-2760)

Even when the west does embrace the east, it ends up drawing from superstitious fringes, and rebrands it as self awareness and spirituality - thus catholic guilt gets replaced with chakra cleansing, and christian afterlife is substituted with karmic justice -

for once in your life grow the brain and backbone to look at life as a living being, not as shape shifting vegetable, trading one gullibility for another, one fanaticism for another, one dogma for another -

there's no point in denouncing domestic dogma, if you end up importing your prejudices and blind faith from elsewhere.

Problem is, the race of apes have a stronger affinity to superstition than common sense, no matter the country or culture - westerners are drawn to eastern superstitions, just like easterners are drawn to western superstitions like ultraindividualism.

However, there is one little caveat here, while western ultraindividualism is rather straightforward and easy to detect, superstitions of the east, or in fact, any of the civilizations of global south, are often too complex for western comprehension -

so be very careful while calling out superstitions of the global south, in fact, put your caucasian cleverness aside, and take your cues from actual native thinkers, otherwise chances are, you'd be continuing your filthy ancestral habits of calling the natives savages, brainwashed by your subconscious colonial mindset, while believing yourself to be the voice of reason, not unlike how many of the brilliant militant atheists behave.

Remember one thing, the entire colonial terrorist lot not only believed that God was on their side, they also thought they were the voice of reason - so no matter how sure you are about your sense of truth, dehumanization always comes bearing the badge of religion, and waving the flag of reason.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace