Sharon Salzberg Quotes

When we don’t tell those we love about what’s really going on or listen carefully to what they have to say, we tend to fill in the blanks with stories.

As an ability, love is always there as a potential, ready to flourish and
help our lives flourish. As we go up and down in life, as we acquire or
lose, as we are showered with praise or unfairly blamed, always within
there is the ability of love, recognized or not, given life or not.

Once someone appears to us primarily as an object, kindness has no place to root.

Forgiveness that is insincere, forced or premature can be more psychologically damaging than authentic bitterness & rage.

Buddha first taught metta meditation as an antidote: as a way of surmounting terrible fear when it arises.

Seeking is endless. It never comes to a state of rest; it never ceases.

"You may have heard the old story, usually attributed to a Native American elder, meant to illuminate the power of attention. A grandfather (occasionally it’s a grandmother) imparting a life lesson to his grandson tells him, "I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, fearful, envious, resentful, deceitful. The other wolf is loving, compassionate, generous, truthful, and serene." The grandson asks which wolf will win the fight. The grandfather answers, "The one I feed.

Like water poured from one vessel to another, metta flows freely, taking the shape of each situation without changing its essence.

We find greater lightness & ease in our lives as we increasingly care for ourselves & other beings.

The art of concentration is a continual letting go. We let go of what is inessential or distracting. We let go of a thought or a feeling, not because we are afraid of it or because we can’t bear to acknowledge it as a part of our experience; but, because it is UNNECESSARY.

Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives.

"over time, offering loving kindness to all beings everywhere, including ourselves, unites us to one another so that we know that we can not go forward forgetting those left behind." Page 62

Sometimes kindness is stepping aside, letting go of our need to be right & just being happy for someone.

If we turn away from our own pain, we may find ourselves projecting this aversion onto others, seeing them as somehow inadequate for being in a troubled situation.

Can you revise your perceptions to see the world in terms of suffering and the end of suffering, instead of good and bad? To see the world in terms of suffering and the end of suffering is Buddha-mind, and will lead us away from righteousness and anger. Get in touch with your own Buddha-mind, and you will uncover a healing force of compassion.