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The very first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings as long as we believe that things last—that they don’t disintegrate, that they can be counted on to satisfy our hunger for security.

Pema Chodron

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Pema Chodron
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: July 14
Clergyman
Philosopher
Writer
New York City
New York
Deirdre Blomfield-Brow
Long
Suffering
Buddha
Believe
Lasts
Satisfy
Things
Last
Points
Truth
Inevitable
Firsts
Hunger
Human
Noble
Humans
Beings
Disintegrate
First
Security
Counted

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Enlightenment is a direct experience with reality.
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In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.
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Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.
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I'm here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away.
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People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all.
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As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. . .
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All situations teach you, and often it's the tough ones that teach you best.
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We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
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Whatever you are doing, take the attitude of wanting it directly or indirectly to benefit others. Take the attitude of wanting it to increase your experience of kinship with your fellow beings.
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Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
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The approach is that the best way to use unwanted circumstances on the path of enlightenment is not to resist but to lean into them.
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Sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. We can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day simply by exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment—over and over again.
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As our kindness for ourselves grows, so does our kindness for other people.
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In the end, that's what we all need more than anything else: to be there for each other, in every kind of situation.
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Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior's world.
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Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.
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But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.
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All the terrible things we do to ourselves and others from alcoholism to character assignation to abuse to murder come from one cause: the inability to stay present with an uncomfortable feeling in the body and seek short-term relief.
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This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky - that's called liberation.
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When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality. (9)
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