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1 " May I take refuge in my capacity to awaken.May I take refuge in the ways of living that bring about my freedom and happiness.May I feel open to all those who can support me on this path of freedom. "
― , The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation
2 " When we look at waves in the ocean, we see each one as independent in its formation and at the same time inseparable from the whole. The is no such thing as a wave without the ocean. In the same way we are inseparable from each other and are connected to the whole body of life "
3 " When we look at waves in the ocean, we see each one as independent in its formation and at the same time inseparable from the whole. There is no so such thing as a wave without the ocean. In the same way we are inseparable from each other and are connected to the whole body of life. "
4 " Desire persuades us that if only we have a pleasant breath or if only we have that spacious feeling we had earlier, then we would be happy. But desire is insatiable. As soon as we get the object or experience we have been longing for, we move on to another desire, because the more we pursue desire, the more desire we experience. "
5 " Investigation helps us to go beyond the surface of things to discover the underlying laws of the universe and the three characteristics that the Buddha described as dukkha, anicca, and anatta, the Pali words for “unsatisfactoriness,” “impermanence,” and “selflessness. "
6 " We can also see how desire sees just the attractive qualities of the breath we imagine we want, divorced from the reality of our breathing - which is sometimes tight and sometimes smooth, and always is changing. This examination can give us exceptional insight as to how desire operates in our lives - how it adheres to its object, how it makes its object more attractive than it really is and makes us blind to unattractive aspects. We can examine how insatiable it is. "
7 " We are in training to be all right no matter what our experience is. This is not to say that there will not be countless times when we will judge the pain in our back or our breath - that is the nature of a wobbly mind - but we will increasingly see clearly that we do not want to go down this route. "
8 " One of our greatest advantages as human beings is that as long as we are alive, we can change. "
