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1 " The secret, or innermost, level of wisdom is pure intuition, clarity, lucidity, innate wakefulness, presence, and recognition of reality. This transcendental wisdom is within all of us—it just needs to be discovered and developed, unfolded and actualized. "
― Surya Das
2 " I believe that this is the time to become warriors for peace and dialogue, not warmongers or mere worriers. "
― Surya Das , Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be: Lessons on Change, Loss, and Spiritual Transformation
3 " When we ground ourselves in the present moment, we spontaneously connect better with others. We become more responsive and less reactive, listening more deeply and speaking with greater clarity. "
― Surya Das , Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now
4 " Forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past. "
5 " Taking the decision-making process away from people disempowers them. It also makes them much less likely to buy into the decision, however right it may be. One’s own conscience remains the ultimate arbiter. "
6 " To just be--to be--amidst all doings, achievings, and becomings. This is the natural state of mind, or original, most fundamental state of being. This is unadulterated Buddha-nature. This is like finding our balance. "
― Surya Das , Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment
7 " With every breath, the old moment is lost; a new moment arrives. We exhale and we let go of the old moment. It is lost to us. In doing so, we let go of the person we used to be. We inhale and breathe in the moment that is becoming. In doing so, we welcome the person we are becoming. We repeat the process. This is meditation. This is renewal. This is life. "
8 " By meditating, we´re learning to disengage ourselves from habitual clinging and disperse the defilements and obscurations that hinder our capacity to serve others, such as illusory feelings of scarcity and fears of deprivation. We gradually learn to be more conscious and make better choices. We develop simplicity instead of comlexity, open-mindedness instead of narrow-mindedness, flexibility rather than rigidity. We feel ourselves to be more available to others and to give more generously of ourselves. "
― Surya Das , Buddha Is as Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living
9 " Other people can’t cause us to be impatient unless we let them do so. In other words, others don’t make us impatient. We make ourselves impatient, through our expectations and demands, fixated attachments and stuckness. "
10 " It almost seems as though this roiling world is conspiring to test our patience at every turn. In fact, it is. With this in mind, we would be wise to look on our imperfect environment as a teacher rather than an antagonist. It constantly shows us that we need to be patient on an ongoing basis, not just every now and then, if we´re going to realize true inner peace, happiness, and fulfillment. "
11 " Our sorrows provide us with the lessons we most need to learn. "
12 " before speaking, notice what motivates your words. "
13 " Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead it's about becoming more fully human. . . . It is the end of ignorance. "
14 " I've also learned that you don't always get to pick the people with whom you travel the journey. You sometimes may think you do, but don't be deceived. And the corollary of that - and this was my real lesson - is that you start to realize that you can love even the people you don't like and must love and help everyone. "
15 " The more truthful I am with myself and others, the more my conscience is clear and tranquil. Thus, I can more thoroughly and unequivocally inhabit the present moment and accept everything that happens without fear, knowing that what goes around comes around (the law of karma). Ethical morality and self-discipline represent the good ground, or stable basis. Mindful awareness is the skillful and efficacious grow-path, or way. Wisdom and compassion constitute the fruit, or result. This is the essence of Buddhism [...] "
16 " It is not the outer objects that entangle us. It is the inner clinging that entangles us." - Tilopa "
17 " The heart is an organ of perception. "
― Surya Das , Words of Wisdom
18 " You don’t need to see different things, but rather to see things differently. "
19 " Non-attachment is not complacency. It doesn't imply a lack of caring and commitment. The philosophy of non-attachment is based in the understanding that holding on too tightly to those things, which in any case are always going to be slipping through our fingers, hurts and gives us rope burn. "
20 " For it is not what happens to us that determines our character, our experience, our karma, and our destiny - but how we relate to what happens. "
