Thursday, January 21, 2010

Kwotes





I have been reading "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path" by Jack Kornfield. He is a Buddhist teacher and a very nurturing, caring writer. And he fills his books with page after page of wonderful stories and sayings from friends and famous alike. I will list a few for starters that have meant something to me over the last week or two. They are by anonymous teachers, monks and nuns unless otherwise attributed.

"The white swan in the snow is a white swan in the snow."


"Spiritual practice is what we are doing now. Anything else is a fantasy."


"Enlightenment is an accident. Spiritual practice simply makes us accident prone."


"To neither suppress our feelings nor be caught by them, but to understand them - that is the art." - Jack Kornfield


"It’s either here and now or we’ve missed it."


My life has been filled with terrible misfortunes...most of which never happeend.” Mark Twain


“The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it.” Sri Nisargadatta


And one from a friend on Facebook:

"Whether one is atheist, agnostic, religiously affiliated, or self-declared spiritual, an existential struggle with the absurdity of suffering is critical to wisdom."

2 comments:

  1. That's great, Steven- Kornfield works out of Spirit Rock here in Marin. You should come by sometime!

    I have really enjoyed a related publication of the local Buddhist community:

    http://www.inquiringmind.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't realize you were so close to Spirit Rock! I would love to check it out.

    I will certainly look at the link you sent. thanks!

    ReplyDelete