Russell Simmons Quotes

Thoughts are fine when you don't confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.

Many people in this world are still so identified with every thought that arises in their head. There is not the slightest space of awareness there.

You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all.

The next time you have a thought... let it go.

You learn to not take things personally and to just let it roll off of you.

I have received a great deal of benefit from the simple yet difficult practice of learning to stop the internal voice in my head. I learned that the voice isn't me, and I don't need to keep rethinking events of the past nor overthink plans for the future. This skill has helped me both to focus and to pause before responding to unexpected events.

Reductionism and elimination make one feel clever, but what happens when the meditator drops her fixation on feeling clever?

If you don't do yoga, it doesn't mean that you can't have a sense of detachment, which means not attaching yourself to your thoughts or your emotions.

Set aside all involvements and let the myriad things rest. Zazen is not thinking of good, not thinking of bad. It is not conscious endeavour. It is not introspection. Do not desire to become a buddha; let sitting or lying down drop away. Be moderate in eating and drinking. Be mindful of the passing of time, and engage yourself in zazen as though you are saving your head from fire.

No one has ever been able to control his thinking, although people may tell the story of how they have. I don't let go of my thoughts-I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.

No matter how many times I tell you this, you're still thinking, thinking, judging, judging, coming to conclusions, trying to work out your life. You have to let go. Totally, absolutely, completely. You have to let go so completely that you will feel no body, no mind, no pain, nothing.

Mindfulness allows us to watch our thoughts, see how one thought leads to the next, decide if we're heading down an unhealthy path, and, if so, let go and change directions.

So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all.

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.

We 'rid ourselves of conceptual thought' when, by persistent observation, we recognize the unreality of our self-centered thoughts. Then we can remain dispassionate and fundamentally unaffected by them. That does not mean to be a cold person. Rather, it means not to be caught and dragged around by circumstances.

The goal is to be the observer of your thoughts and not let your thoughts control you.

Just a little detachment from the ego is needed.

To manage your mind, know that there is nothing, and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.

Only when the mind is still, tranquil, not expecting or grasping or resisting a single thing, is it possible to see what is true. It is the truth that liberates, not your effort to be free.

Our journey is about being more deeply involved in life, and yet less attached to it.

I didn't fight or shame my thoughts, I questioned them, and they stopped shaming me.

He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.

The Dalai Lama was once asked for his favorite chant, and he said it was better not to have a favorite anything, which I think is a great thought.

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.