All violence is injustice. The fire of hatred and violence cannot be extinguished by adding more hatred and violence to the fire. The only antidote to violence is compassion. And what is compassion made of? It is made of understanding. When there is no understanding, how can we feel compassion, how can we begin to relieve the great suffering that is there? So understanding is the very real foundation upon which we build our compassion. – What I Would Say to Osama bin Laden – Thich Nhat Hanh, Interview by Anne A. Simpkinson
“How do you find equanimity in this,” [...]
“Emptiness is described as the basis that makes everything possible”
- The Twelfth Tai Situpa Rinpoche, Awakening the Sleeping Buddha
“The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.”
- Pema Chodron
Emptiness is a tough concept to swallow. Most Western minds immediately go to “nothingness” as the equivalent, which I am learning is not accurate. Yongey Mingur Rinpoche has a fantastic chapter on emptiness in The Joy of Living. In it he makes my language geek happy by explaining the Tibetan words for emptiness – “tongpa-nyi”. He says Tongpa means empty, but only in the sense of [...]
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