By practicing meditation we establish love, compassion, sympathetic joy & equanimity as our home. Sharon Salzberg More Quotes by Sharon Salzberg More Quotes From Sharon Salzberg We apply our effort to be mindful, to be aware in this very moment, right here and now, and we bring a very wholehearted effort to it. This brings concentration. It is this power of concentration that we use to cut through the world of surface appearances to get to a much deeper reality. Sharon Salzberg effort cutting reality Compassion isn't morose; it's something replenishing and opening; that's why it makes us happy. Sharon Salzberg morose opening compassion It is in the act of offering our hearts in faith that something in us transforms... proclaiming that we no longer stand on the sidelines but are leaping directly into the center of our lives, our truth, our full potential. Sharon Salzberg offering faith heart As we practice meditation we are bringing forth ease, presence, compassion, wisdom & trust. Sharon Salzberg compassion meditation practice The most common response I hear when I tell people I teach meditation is, "I'm so stressed out. I could use some of that!" A response I also sometimes hear, which amuses me a lot is, "My partner should really meet you!" Sharon Salzberg stressed meditation people Resilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others Sharon Salzberg resilience wells compassion In order to do anything about the suffering of the world we must have the strength to face it without turning away. Sharon Salzberg suffering order world In a single moment we can understand we are not just facing a knee pain, or our discouragement and our wishing the sitting would end, but that right in the moment of seeing that knee pain, we're able to explore the teachings of the Buddha. What does it mean to have a painful experience? What does it mean to hate it, and to fear it? Sharon Salzberg pain hate teaching Voting is like alchemy - taking an abstract value and breathing life into it. Sharon Salzberg breathing voting abstract It's a rare and precious thing to be close to suffering because our society - in many ways - tells us that suffering is wrong. If it's our own suffering, we try to hide it or isolate ourselves. If others are suffering, we're taught to put them away somewhere so we don't have to see it. Sharon Salzberg our-society suffering trying In our own lives and in our communities, we need to find a way to include others rather than exclude them. We need to find a way to allow our pain and suffering, individually and collectively. Sharon Salzberg pain community suffering Detachment is not about refusing to feel or not caring or turning away from those you love. Detachment is profoundly honest, grounded firmly in the truth of what is. Sharon Salzberg honesty truth love We can't control what thoughts and emotions arise within us, nor can we control the universal truth that everything changes. But we can learn to step back and rest in the awareness of what's happening. That awareness can be our refuge. Sharon Salzberg learning truth steps To sense which gifts to accept which to leave behind is our path to discovering freedom. Sharon Salzberg discovering accepting path Everyone loses touch with their aspiration, and we need the heart to return to what we really care about. All of this is based on developing greater lovingkindness and compassion. Sharon Salzberg compassion heart needs Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have enough of, or the right kind of. It's an ongoing process. The opposite of faith is despair. Sharon Salzberg ongoing despair opposites It is taught, we too can be enlightened, every one of us. We can be completely freed from the bonds of limitation and conditioned confusion through our own endeavor, inspiration, effort and development. There is a path, and we can traverse it. Sharon Salzberg effort confusion inspiration I've always said that lovingkindness and compassion are inevitably woven throughout meditation practice even if the words are never used or implied, no matter what technique or method we are using. Sharon Salzberg meditation-practice technique compassion It is so powerful when we can leave behind our ordinary identities, no longer think of ourselves primarily as a conductor, or writer, or salesclerk, and go to a supportive environment to deeply immerse in meditation practice. Sharon Salzberg meditation-practice powerful thinking From the Buddhist point of view, it is true that emptiness is a characteristic of all of life - if we look carefully at any experience we will find transparency, insubstantiality, with no solid, unchanging core to our experience. But that does not mean that nothing matters. Sharon Salzberg buddhist views mean
