Pema Chodron Quotes

You are not what happens in your life. You are the space in which it happens, which is consciousness itself.

This is the central principle of meditation: we become what we meditate on.

Meditation means undoing what the society has done to you. It has reduced you to a machine; you have to de-automatise yourself, you have to become a man again. You have to come out of this state of unconsciousness, of mechanicalness. You have to come out of this sleep. It is possible only through meditation. There is no other way, there has never been, there will never be. The only way to reduce a man to a machine is take away his consciousness force him to function unconsciously. And just the opposite is the way of meditation: give him back his consciousness.

We must each achieve greater individual consciousness and self-knowledge, and project mindful kindness toward everything and everyone.

There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

Life's work is to wake up, to let the things that enter your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep.

The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life's challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, and a conscious person more intensely conscious. You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep. The dream of ordinary unconsciousness then turns into a nightmare.

Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.

Offend in neither word nor deed. Eat with moderation. Live in your heart. Seek the highest consciousness. Master yourself according to the law. This is the simple teaching of the awakened.

To me the greatest problem with humanity is that they don't know anything of meditation.

Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.

Well, I'm Buddhist, Ray, and so part of my Buddhism has allowed me to look a little more deeply at people and the events in my life that created me. And I think a lot of that Buddhism comes out in the world view in this novel.

Mindfulness has helped me succeed in almost every dimension of my life. By stopping regularly to look inward and become aware of my mental state, I stay connected to the source of my actions and thoughts and can guide them with considerably more intention.

We come to meditation to learn how not to act out the habitual tendencies we generally live by - those actions that create suffering for ourselves and others, and get us into so much trouble.

The real meditation practice is how we live our lives from moment to moment to moment.

I feel more grounded and more settled than I ever have. I don't know whether that is to do with my spirituality or whether I'm wiser about life, but as you age you become more selective about what you listen to, devote your time to and who you hang out with.

Meditation is to get insight, to get understanding and compassion, and when you have them, you are compelled to act.

I have a picture of an ideal consciousness.

We need to see, and agree that what we seek already lives within us, and we within it. Now we know our one great task: watch for whatever promises us freedom, and then quietly, consciously refuse to see ourselves through the eyes of what we know is incomplete. Then we live wholeness itself, instead of spending our lives looking for it.

I've worked all my life on the subject of awareness, whether it's awareness of the body, awareness of the mind, awareness of your emotions, awareness of your relationships, or awareness of your environment. I think the key to transforming your life is to be aware of who you are.

When we learn new behaviors and break through to higher levels of consciousness and love, we can fulfill the deeper spiritual hunger within.

I have been meditating for 40 years. It makes it a bit easier to know who you are.

I'm really into Deepak Chopra and self-help books.

There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life, twenty-four hours a day.

Focus your mind on what your Highest Self chooses to be.