Gems of Wisdom

[Nicholas]

Spirituality is on its ascending arc, and the animal or physical impedes it from steadily progressing on the path of its evolution only when the selfishness of the personality has so strongly infected the real inner man with its lethal virus, that the upward attraction has lost all its power on the thinking reasonable man.
In sober truth, vice and wickedness are an abnormal, unnatural manifestation, at this period of our human evolution — at least they ought to be so. The fact that mankind was never more selfish and vicious than it is now, civilized nations having succeeded in making of the first an ethical characteristic, of the second an art, is an additional proof of the exceptional nature of the phenomenon.

Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine II:110

[DNS]

Wise men don't need to prove their point;
men who need to prove their point aren't wise.
The Master has no possessions.
The more he does for others, the happier he is.
The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is.
The Tao nourishes by not forcing.
By not dominating, the Master leads.

Lao Tzu
Tao Te Ching

[Nicholas]

FIVE METHODS OF EXPELLING EVIL THOUGHTS

If, whilst regarding a certain object, there arise in the disciple,
on account of it, evil and unwholesome thoughts connected
with greed, hatred and delusion, then the disciple
(1) should, by means of this object, gain another and wholesome object.
(2) Or, he should reflect on the misery of these thoughts;
‘Unwholesome, truly, are these thoughts! Blamable are these
thoughts! Of painful result are these thoughts!’
(3) Or he should pay no attention to these thoughts.
(4) Or, he should consider the compound nature of these thoughts.
(5) Or, with teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the gums, he
should with his mind restrain, suppress and root out these
thoughts; and in doing so these evil and unwholesome
thoughts of greed, hatred and delusion will dissolve and disappear;
and the mind will inwardly become settled and calm, composed and concentrated.

This is called the effort to overcome.

MN 20 or Word of the Buddha p. 56

[DNS]

"What is called mind is a wondrous power existing in Self. It projects all thoughts. If we set aside all thoughts and see, there will be no such thing as mind remaining separate; therefore, thought itself is the form of the mind. Other than thoughts, there is no such thing as the mind."

Ramana Maharshi

[Nicholas]

Devi:

This man has total enlightenment. This man has total perfection. This man has the power of total knowledge, the eye of total vision. He has found the total ending, he has lost the basic grasping and is free.
He is enlightenment, he’s a Buddha. He’s a Lord, a Master of Blessings for the world. He has the eye of vision and he teaches the Way Things Are.

Excerpt From: Saddhatissa, H. The Sutta-Nipata

[Nicholas]

On this day, 8 May 1891, Helena Blavatsky left her body and went beyond to serve humanity more.

A little of her sage advice:

The power to know does not come from book-study nor from mere philosophy, but mostly from the actual practice of altruism in deed, word, and thought; for that practice purifies the covers of the soul and permits that light to shine down into the brain-mind. As the brain-mind is the receiver in the waking state, it has to be purified from sense-perception, and the truest way to do this is by combining philosophy with the highest outward and inward virtue.

[DNS]

On this day, 8 May 1891, Helena Blavatsky left her body and went beyond to serve humanity more.

It was a New Moon Day (Uposatha in Buddhism)

http://www.moongiant.com/calendar/May/1891/

[DNS]

A living body is not merely an integration of limbs and flesh but it is the abode of the soul which potentially has perfect perception (Anant-darshana), perfect knowledge (Anant-jnana), perfect power (Anant-virya), and perfect bliss (Anant-sukha).

Mahavira

[Nicholas]

You heavens, send dew from above, you skies, pour down upon us the rain we long for, him, the Just One; may he, the Saviour, spring from the closed womb of earth, and with him let right order take its being.

Isaiah 45:8

[DNS]

To have compassion means to have passion for all things, not just between two people, but for all human beings, for all things of the earth, the animals, the trees, everything the earth contains. When we have such compassion we will not despoil the earth as we are doing now, and we will have no wars.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

[Nicholas]

We are unknown to ourselves, we men of knowledge—and with good reason. We have never sought ourselves—how could it happen that we should ever find ourselves? It has rightly been said: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” [Matthew 6:21]; our treasure is where the beehives of our knowledge are. We are constantly making for them, being by nature winged creatures and honey-gatherers of the spirit...

Nietzsche

[DNS]

The tao that can be described
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken
is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of creation.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.

Laozi

[DNS]

Non-violence and kindness to living beings is kindness to oneself.

Mahavira

[DNS]

Make compassion the cotton, contentment the thread, modesty the knot and truth the twist.
This is the sacred thread of the soul; if you have it, then go ahead and put it on me.

Guru Nanak
Raag Aasaa 471:5383-4

[Nicholas]

There is in man a higher than Love of Happiness: he can do without Happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness! Was it not to preach forth this same higher that sages and martyrs, the Poet and the Priest, in all times, have spoken and suffered; bearing testimony, through life and through death, of the Godlike that is in Man, and how in the Godlike only has he Strength and Freedom?

Thomas Carlyle

[DNS]

A journey of a thousand [miles] starts with a single step.

Laozi (Lao Tzu)

[Nicholas]

Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous.

Chuang Tzu, from On Leveling All Things

[DNS]

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

John F. Kennedy
(100th birthday today)

[Lucas Oliveira]

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

John F. Kennedy
(100th birthday today)

[DNS]

My true religion is Kindness.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama