“ Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely and fully "        -  the Buddha
 

“It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection.”  

  The Bhagavad Gita

 

As a warrior you take responsibility for holding the balance
between light and dark within you and, by extension,
the world around you, and ultimately when you go deep enough,
the universe.

                                                                  -- Barefoot Doctor

"Valor, glory, firmness, skill, generosity, steadiness in battle and ability to rule -- these constitute the duty of a soldier. They flow from his own nature."

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”    --   Steve Jobs 







 The samurai must maintain his faith in his beliefs, even as the social or political climate shifts and alters. He must be patient, must act in a manner that may at times seem irrational or illogical, must resist the temptations of instant gratification, and must work towards fulfilling what may seem to be an impossible idea.

As a result, the samurai is often something of an outsider, a rebellious figure because he refuses to conform to the habits of the day. - Takahiro Kitamura 

The sage works anonymously,
But does not wait around for praise.

                                                                      -- Lao Tzu







As the blazing fire reduces wood to ashes, similarly, the fire of Self-knowledge reduces all Karma to ashes. 

“The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul.”
―  The Bhagavad Gita

 






Kindness should become the natural way of life,
not the exception  - Buddha

Respect all    ,    fear none     -    Unknown

"When you get to the end of what you need to know, you are at the beginning of what you feel.".
Khalil Gibran

 

"If we instinctively seek a paradisiacal and special place on earth, it is because we know in our inmost hearts that the earth was given to us in order that we might find meaning, order, truth and salvation in it."
-- Thomas Merton

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”  -  Bill Keane

“Too lazy to be ambitious,I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.” ― Ryokan

 “What is first seen as a loss is now seen as a gain. For he finds solitude, not in far off, quite places; he creates it out of himself, spreads it around him, wherever he may be, because he loves it and slowly he ripens in this tranquility. For the inner process is beginning to unfold, stillness is extraordinarily important.” ― Janwillem Van de Wetering 


“I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.” ― Shunryu Suzuki

The novices were committed the lighter duties, while the most respected and advanced monks were given the more irksome and menial tasks. Such services formed a part of the zen discipline and every least action must be done absolutely perfectly -  Kakuzo Okakura

“Sever the ignorant doubt in your heart with the sword of self-knowledge. Observe your discipline. Arise.”

“A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return”

“The disunited mind is far from wise; how can it meditate? How be at peace? When you know no peace, how can you know joy?”

“The mind is restless and difficult to restrain, but it is subdued by practice.”

“A person is said to have achieved yoga, the union with the Self, when the perfectly disciplined mind gets freedom from all desires, and becomes absorbed in the Self alone.”

“To the illumined man or woman, a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same.”

“What happens to the drop of wine
That you pour into the sea?
Does it remain itself, unchanged?
It is as if it never existed.
So it is with the soul: Love drinks it in,
It is united with Truth,
Its old nature fades away,
It is no longer master of itself.

The soul wills and yet does not will:
Its will belongs to Another.
It has eyes only for this beauty;
It no longer seeks to possess, as was its wont--
It lacks the strength to possess such sweetness.
The base of this highest of peaks
Is founded on nichil,
Shaped nothingness, made one with the Lord.” ― Jacopone Da Todi, The God-Madness

“Thou hast power only to act not over the result thereof. Act thou therefore without prospect of the result and without succcumbing to inaction”

This Is Contentment -

"Wherever I am is wherever I am meant to be, whatever I am doing is whatever I am meant to be doing and whatever everyone else is doing is exactly what they are meant to be doing" - this is contentment. If you do want to change where you are, or what you are doing, the first thing is to be content with wherever you are and whatever you are doing right now! Paradoxically that's what attracts opportunities and invitations to be somewhere else! Why? Because you are a living magnet, and contentment is one of your most attractive qualities. And the law of attraction says that according to your dominant thoughts so you will attract the people and circumstances into your life. Being content right now attracts the best possible future