Ajahn Lee (1907–1961)
Inner Strength (1956), as translated from the Thai by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
“The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind
about nothing -- to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts.”
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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about nothing -- to let the mind be a thorough…" by John Keats?
John Keats211
English Romantic poet 1795–1821Related quotes
Ramesh Balsekar (1917–2009) Indian guru
Huangbo Xiyun Chinese Zen Buddhist
Source: The Zen Teachings of Huang Po (1958), p. 29
Context: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measure, names, traces and comparisons. It is that which you see before you - begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind. Even though they do their utmost for a full aeon, they will not be able to attain it. They do not know that, if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, the Buddha will appear before them, for this Mind is the Buddha and the Buddha is all living beings. It is not the less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor is it greater for being manifest in the Buddhas.
“By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.”
Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author
The Enemies of Reason, "The Irrational Health Service" [1.02], 20 August 2007, timecode 00:13:05"ff"
The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
Variant: We should be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brain falls out.
Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition
Source: Ashtanga Yoga Primer, 1981, p.9
James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) Missionary in China
(Hudson Taylor’s Choice Sayings: A Compilation from His Writings and Addresses. London: China Inland Mission, n.d., 52).
Variant: Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about.
Virginia Woolf book To the Lighthouse
no, she thought, one could say nothing to nobody.
Part III, Ch. 5
To the Lighthouse (1927)
Agnes Martin (1912–2004) American artist
1974
1970's, interview, K. Horsfield & L. Blumenthal