By the [East] Indian painter Aziz. "Buddha Purinama". 3 dimensional mural painting.
" In order to produce the powerful energy of enlightenment, compassion, understanding, you need a sangha, a community."--Thich Nhat Hanh
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"Lamps of Enlightenment." 2007. Collage on canvas board. 8" x 10".
Buddhist art collage made in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Includes images of: The
Dalai Lama,Sakyong Mipham, Pema Chodron, Silvia Boorstein, Roshi Joan
Halifax, Thich Nhat Hanh andmany other Buddhist teachers.
This collage is available for print on demand from:
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The quotes below are from "In Search of the Genuine" by Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo which was published in the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine.
"We self medicate with denial."
"We ordinary human beings are filled with self-attachment, which causes us to have all kinds of hidden agendas and unconscious motivations."
"On the Buddhist path, motivation is paramount. Motivation can seem like a small thing, but actually it is everything. After all, it only takes a single match to burn down a forest. Even very small thoughts and actions can be the cause of things that are very great or very destructive."
"When we lack mindfulness, we forget to reflect on and maintain a positive and unselfish motivation. Checking in with what is happening within us and becoming more mindful of our own selfish thought patterns help us purify and cultivate a more genuine motivation. ...work for the benefit of others and, ultimately, for peace."
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" Be A Lamp Unto Yourself" poster by Peter Gumaer Ogden. Archival giclee print is available from:http://peter-gumaer-ogden.fineartamerica.com
The Quotes below are from "Be A Lamp Unto Yourself" by Larry Rosenberg which appeared in the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine.
"...open you mind to take a fresh look at your views and opinions, and to accept nothing on faith alone. As you practice, you will be encouraged to investigate your most cherished convictions..."
"You live in a great swirling spiritual marketplace, full of promises and claims."
"Do you really want freedom? Can you handle the responsibility? Or would you just prefer an impressive teacher to provide answers and do the hard work for you?"
"He [Buddha] cautions us against blind obedience to the authority of traditions and teachers, or to the authority of our own ideas. He also cautions against blind obedience to reason and logic."
"Whatever is unskillful, leading to harm or suffering for you and others, should be recognized and abandoned. Whatever is skillful, leading to happiness and peace for you and others, should be pursued."
"...he [Buddha] gave us a set of practices that emphasizes learning how to live and how to lessen suffering, called the four noble truths: there is suffering; there is a cause of suffering, which is craving and attachment; there is cessation of suffering; and there is a path of practice that brings about this cessation."
"...ethics, stability of mind, and wisdom."
"Rather than rush to let go, he [Ajahn Chah] urged us to make direct contact with the suffering and to see whether it was caused by some form or craving and attachment, of wanting things to be other than the way they were."
Buddha at Seret and Son, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo: copyright 2010 Peter Gumaer Ogden
Seret and Sons. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo: copyright 2010 Peter Gumaer Ogden.
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The quotes below are taken from "You have the Buddha in You / An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh" which appeared in the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine. The interviewer is Andrea Miller. The excerpts here represent only about 1% of the article.
AM: "What is the role of a teacher in spiritual practice?"
TNH: "You have to be intelligent and not be dependent on your teacher. If you follow him or her with blind faith, it's not good."*[see my note below].
AM: "Why is it important for Buddhism to evolve?"
TNH: "Society has changed. Young people have a lot of suffering, a lot of doubt. If you want them to ponder the sound of one hand clapping or ask them if a dog has buddhanature, they cannot stand it. If you continue to teach like that, you lose people. Buddhism has become marginal in Korea and Japan because that is what they are doing."
"Throughout the history of Buddhism, teachers tried to offer the teachings in such a way as to respond to the needs of their time. If they invented silent illumination, if they invented koans, it was because at that time those things worked. But when these things do not work anymore, why cling to them?"
"Our practice has to respond to the suffering of modern people."
"Vietnamese Buddhism is very close to original Buddhism..."
AM: "Some people say that once someone reaches enlightenment, they no longer produce karma. What do you think of that?"
TNH: "Karma is action. When you produce a thought, that's karma, either good or bad. When you say something, that's karma. When you do something, that's karma. ...you cannot say that the Buddha, because he is enlightened, has stopped producing karma. That's not true."
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TNH: " To be happy is the real success."
AM: "In our society, it feels like everything's speeding up and people are feeling overwhelmed."
TNH: The problem is that people believe that happiness is in the future. We are running away from ourselves, our families, and nature. We lose ourselves in our little devices. I myself have a 'Now Watch.' When I look for the hour, it always says 'Now.'"
AM: "How do we find a positive purpose for our lives?
TNH: "Instead of wrong view, you want right view. Instead of wrong thinking, you want right thinking--thinking with compassion and understanding."
AM: "What is the key to happiness?"
TNH: "Stopping and learning to be happy in the present moment is the key. Buddhism is the teaching of waking up."
*Note: "...it's not good." This is the language of rational instruction in wise behavior. It is NOT the type of moralistic, judging, absolutist religious language which uses such words as: "wrong", "a sin", an "abomination", etc. --PGO
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