Anthony de Mello: Master

Anthony de Mello was Indian writer. Explore interesting quotes on master.
Anthony de Mello: 270   quotes 147   likes

“The Master in these tales is not a single person. He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, a Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian Monk, a Sufi Mystic. He is Lao-tzu and Socrates; Buddha and Jesus; Zarathustra and Mohammed.”

Anthony de Mello

Introduction
One Minute Nonsense (1992)
Context: The Master in these tales is not a single person. He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, a Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian Monk, a Sufi Mystic. He is Lao-tzu and Socrates; Buddha and Jesus; Zarathustra and Mohammed. His teaching is found in the seventh century B. C. and the twentieth century A. D. His wisdom belongs to East and West alike. Do his historical antecedents really matter? History, after all, is the record of appearances, not Reality; of doctrines, not of Silence.

Personality

“You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone."
"What then is a Master for?"
"To make you see the uselessness of having one.”

Anthony de Mello

Blindness
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

Learning

“The master made it his task to systematically destroy every doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now taken as descriptions. He loved to quote the Eastern saying: "When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger."”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 132

Love , Quotes

“The Master persistently warned against the attempt to encompass Reality in a concept or a name.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 131
Context: The Master persistently warned against the attempt to encompass Reality in a concept or a name. A scholar in mysticism once asked, "When you speak of BEING, sir, is it eternal, transcendent being you speak of, or transient, contingent being?"
The Master closed his eyes in thought. Then he opened them, put on his most disarming expression, and said, "Yes!"

Reality

“To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 127
Context: A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate.
"Tell me, O Master," he said, "why you have come into this world."
"To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters."

Fools , Time

“The Master was allergic to ideologies.
"In a war of ideas," he said, "it is people who are the casualties." Later he elaborated: "People kill for money or for power. But the most ruthless murderers are those who kill for their ideas."”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 7

“The master enjoined not austerity, but moderation.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 111
Context: The master enjoined not austerity, but moderation. If we truly enjoyed things, he claimed, we would be spontaneously moderate. Asked why he was so opposed to ascetical practices, he replied, "Because they produce pleasure-haters who always become people-haters — rigid and cruel."

“You are so proud of your intelligence," said the master. "You are like a like a condemned man, proud of the vastness of his prison cell.”

Anthony de Mello
Intelligence

“The Master once referred to the Hindu notion that all creation is "leela" — God's play — and the universe is his playground. The aim of spirituality, he claimed, is to make all life play.
This seemed too frivolous for a puritanical visitor. "Is their no room then for work?"
"Of course there is. But work becomes spiritual only when it is transformed into play."”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 96
("Leela" is more commonly spelled "Lila")

Life , God , Universe

“To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, "If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth."”

Anthony de Mello

Transformation
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

People , Peace , Change

“There were rules in the monastery, but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law.
"Obedience keeps the rules," he would say. "Love knows when to break them."”

Anthony de Mello

Revolution
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

Love , Law

“The law is an expression of God's holy will and as such must be honored and loved," said the preacher piously.
"Rubbish," said the Master. "The law is a necessary evil and as such must be cut down to the barest minimum. Show me a lover of the law and I will show you a muttonheaded tyrant.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 67

Love , God , Law , Lovers

“I seek the meaning of existence." said the stranger.
"You are of course, assuming." said the Master, "that existence has a meaning."
"Doesn't it?"
"When you experience existence as it is — not as you think it is — you will discover that your question has no meaning.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 171

Question , Thinking

“The Master never ceased to attack the notions about God that people entertain.”

Anthony de Mello

Prayer
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

God , People

“Name one practical, down-to-earth effect of spirituality," said the skeptic who was ready for an argument.
"Here's one," said the Master. "When someone offends you, you can raise your spirits to heights where offenses cannot reach.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 80

“The master was never impressed by diplomas or degrees. He scrutinized the person, not the certificate.
He was once heard to say, 'When you have ears to hear a bird in song, you don't need to look at its credentials.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: Anthony De Mello : Writings (1999), p. 76

Bird , Personality

“Isn't there such a thing as social liberation?"
"Of course there is," said the Master.
"How would you describe it?"
"Liberation from the need to belong to the herd."”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 172

“A disciple said to him, "I am ready, in the quest for God, to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?"
The Master calmly replied, "One's beliefs about God."”

Anthony de Mello

Belief
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

Life , God , Family , Personality

“What is the secret of your serenity?
Said the Master "Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable.”

Anthony de Mello

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 22

Secret

“The Master would frequently assert that holiness was less a matter of what one did than of what one allowed to happen.”

Anthony de Mello

Trust
One Minute Wisdom (1989)