Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy you may earn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk on water and live in fire; But control of the mind is better and more difficult.
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible
Everything is expression of our own intelligence. Through simple, innocent, natural unbounded awareness-fullness of Self, all is accomplished… Only we should not be influenced by the winds.
The gulf between I and you is the ego. When the ego is removed the distance disappears and the ‘I’ and ‘you’ also disappear. They merge to become one — and that is love.
There’s nothing more advanced than relating with others. There’s nothing more advanced than communication – compassionate communication.
Do not take this material world so seriously because it is always changing. Something terrible that you take so seriously today is going to change tomorrow.
The knowledge in your mind is immeasurably greater than all that you learnt, in all manner of ways, since birth, as a child, at school, in life, in the world, in your profession. This immeasurable knowledge sometimes percolates into the dream experience; sometimes it comes as intuitive ideas, as creative feelings.
This new life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone.
