Sumedho Ajahn Quotes & Sayings

Of course we can always imagine more perfect conditions, how it should be ideally, how everyone should behave. But it is not our task to create an ideal. It's our task to see how it is, and to learn from the world as it is. For the awakening of the heart, conditions are always good enough. — Ajahn Sumedho

There is only one will and that is the Will of Fire. The will that doesn't let you give up — Masashi Kishimoto

I contemplated my greed for peace. And I did not seek tranquillity anymore. — Ajahn Sumedho

Suttas are not meant to be 'sacred scriptures' that tell us what to believe. One should read them, listen to them, think about them, contemplate them, and investigate the present reality, the present experience with them. Then, and only then, can one insightfully know the truth beyond words. — Ajahn Sumedho

I'd love to work with David Lynch. I'm such a big fan. He's a genius. — Olga Kurylenko

A new day is here. Yesterday is a memory. Tomorrow is unknown. Now is the knowing. — Ajahn Sumedho

The goal lies away from the sensual world. It is not a rejection of the sensual world, but understanding it so well that we no longer seek it as an end in itself. We no longer expect the sensory world to satisfy us. We no longer demand that sensory consciousness be anything other than an existing condition that we can use skillfully according to time and place. — Ajahn Sumedho

Whatever the source of the leader's ideas, he cannot inspire his people unless he expresses vivid goals which in some sense they want. Of course, the more closely he meets their needs, the less "persuasive" he has to be, but in no case does it make sense to speak as if his role is force submission. Rather it is to strengthen and uplift, to make people feel that they are the origins, not the pawns, of the socio-political system. — David McClelland

Perhaps it's not that I'm frigid
it's that once I decide I like a guy, I turn into a raging idiot, unfit for public appearances. — Rachel Cohn

Instead of becoming the world's expert on Buddhism, just let go, let go, let go. — Ajahn Sumedho

Meditation is a skilful letting go: gently but with resolution. — Ajahn Sumedho

The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales. — John Stott

The empty mind - the pure mind - is not a blank, zero-land, where you're not feeling or caring about anything. It's an effulgence of the mind. It's a brightness that is truly sensitive and accepting. It's an ability to accept life as it is. When we accept life as it is, we can respond appropriately to the way we're experiencing it, rather than just reacting out of fear and aversion. — Ajahn Sumedho

There was a period where our child's birth was getting really close, and we still had nothing. We were dangerously close to calling him Untitled Baby Project. — Paul Reiser

We look directly into our suffering rather than try to become happy. The happiness that arises from this approach is reliable. — Ajahn Sumedho

Be yourself and the people that don't mind are the people that matter. — Dr. Seuss

I think it is inflationary. I think it actually is counterproductive in many ways. You end up costing jobs from people who are at the bottom rung of the economic ladder. — Paul Ryan

The mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable. The mind of the ignorant person is conditioned and fixed. — Ajahn Sumedho

The problem is grasping the clock. So what do I do? Let it go, lay it aside - put it down gently without any kind of aversion. Then I can pick it up again, see what time it is and lay it aside when necessary. — Ajahn Sumedho

Guess I can't go back to working for Quetzalcoatl, eh?"
"When this is over, Billy," Black Hawk said. "I think maybe we should go and visit the feathered serpent. Hand in our resignations. I'll bring a box of matches."
"You going to toast some marshmallows with him?"
"I'll toast something," Black Hawk promised. — Michael Scott

Oftentimes, the First Noble Truth is misquoted as "All life is suffering," but that is an inaccurate and misleading reflection of the Buddha's insight. He did not teach that life is constant misery, nor that you should expect to feel pain and unhappiness at all times. Rather, he proclaimed that suffering is an unavoidable reality of ordinary human existence that is to be known and responded to wisely. — Ajahn Sumedho