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• Personal Growth

Teaching story
A wealthy man was once bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted many physicians and was being treated by several. However, despite taking many drugs and injections, the ache kept on persisting with more vigour than before.

At last, a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called by the suffering man. The monk understood his problem and said that for some time, he should concentrate only on green colours and not let his sight fall on any other colour. It was a strange prescription, but the man was desperate and decided to try it.

The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green paint and ordered that every object his sight was likely to fall upon, be painted green, just as the monk had directed. When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire’s servants ran with buckets of green paint and poured it on him since he was in red dress, lest their master see any other colour and his eye ache come back.

Seeing this, the monk laughed and said, “If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls, pots, and all other articles, as well as a large amount of your money. You cannot paint the world green.”

This, I know

Dalai Lama

• Give the ones you love, wings to fly, roots to come back to, and reasons to stay.

• Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

• An open heart is an open mind.

• We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

• The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.

• A spoon cannot taste of the food it carries. Likewise, a foolish man cannot understand the wise man’s wisdom even if he associates with a sage.

• There is a saying in Tibetan, “Tragedy should be utilised as a source of strength.”

• No matter what sort of difficulties we experience, if we lose our hope, that’s the real disaster.

• Remember that the best relationship is the one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

• Every day, think as you wake up: "Today I am fortunate to be alive. I have a precious human life; I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, and to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others; I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can."

Inspiration

Stages

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.

The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slave of permanence.
Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.

• Hermann Hesse

Just for laughs
A kindergarten teacher was observing the children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s work. As she got to where one little girl was working diligently, the teacher asked her what she was drawing. The girl replied, “I am drawing God.” The teacher paused and said, “But honey, no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat or looking up from her drawing, the little girl replied, “They will, in a minute.”
 

One-minute wisdom

“Suzuki Roshi, I’ve been listening to your lectures for years," a student said during the question and answer time following a lecture, “but I just don’t understand. Could you just put it in a nutshell, please? Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?”
Everyone laughed.
“Everything changes,” he said and laughed.

Quote

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

• Swami Vivekananda