Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Generosity
"You are the sky. Everything else, it's just the weather."
~ Pema Chodron
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"You can measure the depth of a person's awakening by how they serve others"
~ Kobo Daishi (774-835 CE)
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The end and the sum total of all mysticism, philosophy, and meditation, of everything one learns and develops, is to be a better servant to humanity. Everything from the beginning to the end in the spiritual path is a training to be able to serve mankind better, and if one does not do it with that intention, one will find in the end that one has accomplished nothing.
~ Hazrat Inayat Khan
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"Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to
either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live."
~ Pema Chodron
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Gratitude, the simple and profound feeling of being thankful, is the foundation of all generosity. I am generous when I believe that right now, right here, in this form and this place, I am myself being given what I
need. Generosity requires that we relinquish something, and this is impossible if we are not glad for what we have. Otherwise the giving hand closes into a fist and won't let go.
~ Sallie Jiko Tisdale, "As If There is Nothing to Lose"
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When you are practicing generosity, you should feel a little pinch when you give something away. That pinch is your stinginess protesting. If you give away your old, worn-out coat that you wouldn't be caught dead wearing, that is not generosity. There is no pinch. You are doing nothing to overcome your stinginess; you're just cleaning out your closet and calling it something else. Giving away your coat might keep someone warm, but it does not address the problem we face as spiritual practitioners: to free ourselves from self-cherishing and self-grasping.
~ Gelek Rinpoche
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"Generosity is revolutionary, counter-instinctual . Our survival instinct is to care only for ourselves and our loved ones. But we can transform our relationship to that survival instinct by constantly asking ourselves, "How can I use my life's energy to benefit all living beings?"
~ Noah Levine
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"Wherever you are is the entry point"
~ Kabir
Labels:
awakening,
awareness,
being,
consciousness,
forgiveness,
freedom,
God,
gratitude,
joy,
liberation,
life,
meditation,
nonduality,
spirituality,
truth,
zen
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