Henepola Gunaratana Quotes
The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.
Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves.
No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you.
When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.
You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.
Watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior.
The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side.
We have to learn to be kind to ourselves. In the long run avoiding unpleasantness is a very unkind thing to do to yourself.
You can't ever get everything you want. It is impossible. Luckily, there is another option: You can learn to control your mind, to step outside of the endless cycle of desire and aversion.
By silencing the mind, we can experience real peace. As long as various kinds of thoughts agitate the brain, we don't experience 100 percent peace.
Vipassana: looking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct, piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of that thing.
You can't make radical changes in the pattern of your life until you see yourself exactly as you are now. As soon as you do that changes will flow naturally.
Civilization changes man on the outside. Meditation softens him within, through and through.
No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way, and you just never noticed.
Each step along the Buddha's path to happiness requires practising mindfulness until it becomes part of your daily life.