Buddhism

Impermanence

Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibet

Death is a vast mystery, but there are two things we can say about it: It is absolutely certain that we will die, and it is uncertain when or how we will die. The only surety we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death, which we seize on as the excuse to postpone facing death directly. We are like children who cover their eyes in a game of hide-and-seek and think that no one can see them. For all its technological achievements, modern Western society has no real understanding of death or what happens in death or after death.

Feelings

Lama Thubten Yeshe, Tibet

(Submitted by The Art of Living Team)

We often suffer from strong desire or craving for something. This follows from uncontrolled “happy” feelings experienced in relation to the object. When such feelings arise, you have to check up and see clearly what is happening. It is very important to investigate why these happy feelings produce the uneasiness of craving and desire.

A Wider Perspective

The Dalai Lama, Tibet

(Submitted by The Office of H.H. The Dalai Lama)

We can cultivate and achieve happiness, remove and eliminate suffering, provided we are able to engage in a practice which is in tune with the law of nature and in tune with how things actually exist. No matter how strong an individual is, we have to live as a human community.

Perception

Chandrakirti, India

(Submitted by Mária Bányai, Hungary)

All phenomena possess two natures:
That which is revealed by correct perception
And that which is induced by deceptive perception.
The object of correct perception is ultimate reality,
The object of deceptive perception is conventional reality.

The Mother of the World

Nicholas Roerich, Russia

Toward that seven-starred constellation known as the Seven Sisters, the Seven Elders or the Great Bear, the consciousness of humanity has at all times been directed. The Scriptures extol this celestial sign and Buddhism’s sacred Trepitaka dedicates an imposing hymn to it. Ancient Magi and Egyptians carved it upon the stones. And the black faith of Shaman of the wild taiga (forest) paid their obeisance to it.