“Is there any fire without smoke?” he asked in the afternoon. He sat in the big chair, the light of the sunset from the open door on his face. “No,” I said. “And what is smoke?” “The impurities which are expelled because they cannot be consumed by the fire.” “Correct,” he nodded briefly.”
― Rising in Love: My Wild and Crazy Ride to Here and Now, with Amma, the Hugging Saint
― Rising in Love: My Wild and Crazy Ride to Here and Now, with Amma, the Hugging Saint
“The cure for suffering–which, as we have said, is the collision of consciousness with unconsciousness–is not to be submerged in unconsciousness, but to be raised to consciousness and to suffer more. The evil of suffering is cured by more suffering, by higher suffering. Do not take opium, but put salt and vinegar in the soul’s wound, for when you sleep and no longer feel the suffering, you are not. And to be, that is imperative. Do not then close your eyes to the agonizing Sphinx, but look her in the face and let her seize you in her mouth and crunch you with her hundred thousand poisonous teeth and swallow you. And when she has swallowed you, you will know the sweetness of the taste of suffering.”
―
―
“The magical worldview is this: As above, so below. As within, so without.”
― Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power
― Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power
“This notion that we must wait and wait while we slowly progress out of enslavement into liberation, out of ignorance into knowledge, out of the present limitations into a future union with the Divine, is only true if we let it be so. But we need not. We can shift our identification from the ego to the Overself in our habitual thinking, in our daily reactions and attitudes, in our response to events and the world. We have thought our way into this unsatisfactory state; we can unthink our way out of it. By incessantly remembering what we really are, here and now at this very moment, we set ourselves free. Why wait for what already is?”
― Advanced Contemplation: The Peace Within You
― Advanced Contemplation: The Peace Within You
“But when you try to stop your rising anger, [your mind] is split between your angry thoughts and your thoughts of stopping them. It’s as if you’re chasing after someone who is running away, except that you’re both the runner and the one pursuing him as well! [...] So the idea of trying to stop [your thoughts] is wrong. Since that’s how it is, when you no longer bother about those rising thoughts, not trying either to stop them or not to stop them, that’s the Unborn Buddha Mind.”
― Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of Bankei
― Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of Bankei
Catira006’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Catira006’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Not selected yet.
Polls voted on by Catira006
Lists liked by Catira006






































