Love is the way we show peace,
Love sets us free.
Love is the bond that joins us
to our community.
Love is the answer
that we’ve been searching for.
It lives inside all of us,
just open up the door,
And Love to find Peace…
~ Robert Alan Silverstein
Buddhist nun and Jendhamuni at the Meditation Center.
Our actions are all led by the mind;
mind is their master, mind is their maker.
If one acts or speaks with a defiled state of mind,
then suffering follows like the cart-wheel
that follows the foot of the ox.
Our actions are all led by the mind;
mind is their master, mind is their maker.
If one acts or speaks with a pure state of mind,
then happiness follows like a shadow
that remains behind without departing.
— Dhammapada
Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time –
and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. ― Georgia O’Keeffe
May peace harmonious bless this land;
May it be ever free from maladies and war;
May there be harvest rich, and increased yield of grain;
May everyone delight in righteousness;
May no perverted thought find entry to your minds;
May all your thoughts e’er pious be and lead
to your success religiously.
~Tibetan Great Yogi, Milarepa
The roots of war are in the way we live our daily lives — the way we develop our
industries, build up our society, and consume goods. ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York.
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.
There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.
~Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
Sunset in Montpellier Province, France
Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York.
BUDDHIST PRESCRIPTIONS
Providing people with physical well-being and wealth does not necessarily lead to peace. Lewis Lapham recently wrote:
Apparently it is not poverty that causes crime, but rather the resentment of poverty. This latter condition is as likely to embitter the ‘subjectively deprived’ in a rich society as the ‘objectively deprived’ in a poor society.
Mental attitudes and the actions to which they lead are the key.
Buddhists believe that the minds of all living beings are totally interconnected and interrelated, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. To use a simple analogy for the interconnection, each being has his or her own transmitting and receiving station and is constantly broadcasting to all others his or her state of mind and is constantly receiving broadcasts from all others.
Even the most insignificant thoughts in our minds have some effect on all other beings. How much the more so do our strong negative emotions and our acting out of them in direct or indirect forms of physical violence! In other words, each thought in the mind of each and every one of us brings the world either a little closer to the brink of global disaster or helps to move the world a little farther away from the brink. If each time we feel irritated, annoyed, thwarted, outraged, or just plain frustrated, we reflect on the consequences of our thoughts, words and actions, perhaps that reflection in itself will help to lead us to behave in a way that will contribute to global peace. If every time we get angry at our wife or husband, girl friend or boy friend, parents or children, we are aware that we are driving the entire world toward the brink of war, maybe we will think twice and wonder whether our anger is worth the consequences. Even if we feel our cause is just, if we in thought, word, and deed make war against injustice, we are still part of the problem and not contributing to the solution. On the other hand, if we concentrate on putting our own minds at peace, then we can broadcast peace mentally and generate peace through our actions. We should use a peaceful mind to act for peace in the world. Continue reading
Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York.
Venerable Dhammadipa is an abbot of the Monastery.
Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York. Largest Buddha staue in USA
