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“We have traded our intimacy for social media, our romantic bonds for dating matches on apps, our societal truth for the propaganda of corporate interests, our spiritual questioning for dogmatism, our intellectual curiosity for standardized tests and grading, our inner voices for the opinions of celebrities and hustler gurus and politicians, our mindfulness for algorithmic distractions and outrage, our inborn need to belong to communities for ideological bubbles, our trust in scientific evidence for the attractive lies of false leaders, our solitude for public exhibitionism.

We have ignored the hunter-gatherer wisdom of our past, obedient now to the myth of progress.

But we must remember who we are and where we came from.

We are animals born into mystery, looking up at the stars. Uncertain in ourselves, not knowing where we are heading. We exist with the same bodies, the same brains, as Homo sapiens from thousands of years past, roaming on the plains, hunting in forests and by the sea, foraging together in small bands.

Except now, our technology is exponentially increasing at a scale that we cannot predict.

We are overwhelmed with information; lost in a matrix that we do not understand.

Our civilizational “progress� is built on the bones of the indigenous and the poor and the powerless.

Our “progress� comes at the expense of our land, and oceans, and air.

We are reaching beyond what we can globally sustain. Former empires have perished from their unrestrained greed for more resources. They were limited in past ages by geography and capacity, collapsing in regions, and not over the entire planet.

What will be the cost of our progress?

We have grown arrogant in our comfort, hardened away from our compassion, believing that our reality is the only reality.

Yet even at our most uncertain, there are still those saints who are unknown and nameless, who help even when they do not need to help.

They often are not rich, don’t have their profiles written up in magazines, and will never win any prestigious awards.

They may have shared their last bit of food while already surviving on so little. They may have cherished the disheartened, shown warmth to the neglected, tended to the diseased and dying, spoken kindly to the hopeless.

They do not tremble in silence while the wheels of prejudice crush over their land.
Withering what was once fertile into pale death and smoke.

They tend to what they love, to what they serve.

They help, even when they could fall back into ignorance, even when they could prosper through easy greed, even when they could compromise their values, conforming into groupthink for the illusion of security.

They help.”
― Bremer Acosta

“We are also taught to guard our body, speech, and mind against the influence of unwholesome companions. We do not judge people who are unruly or negative, but we are advised to protect the mind from swinging, which naturally happens when we continuously associate with such companions. On the flip side, the tradition offers us a beautiful metaphor about associating with virtuous people. It is said that if you place a normal piece of wood in a sandalwood forest, in time that normal piece of wood will begin to take on the sweet smell of sandalwood. In the same way, even if we are a normal person, if we associate with noble companions, we will naturally begin to give rise to the qualities of virtue and wisdom.”
― Phakchok Rinpoche, In the Footsteps of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on the Essence of Meditation

“It could be said that we become so much a stranger that we disappear and find ourselves reborn in the midst of humanity which is quite a paradox.”
― Donna Goddard, Love s Longing

“The cycle of life the master becomes the disciple and disciple master~ East South ~”
― Telman patricio chincocolo

“Even when you find yourself in the best of situations, you never feel it is enough. You always want more. You give little thought to others' wishes and desires, and only want favorable circumstances for yourself. If you do the slightest favor for someone, you feel you have done something quite extraordinary. That you are so preoccupied with your own happiness and welfare, and neglect the welfare and happiness of others, is the reason you are wandering in samsara.”
― Dilgo Khyentse, The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva

“In emptiness lies wholeness.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“The fact that you have the intention to work for others is important. Act on your wholesome intentions and altruistic impulses. If you have the thought of benefiting society, that is significant. Nurture and treasure that thought, and act on it as best you can. Doing so will certainly change you, and that in itself can be the start of the change you want to see in your world. â€� 17th Karmapa”
― Ogyen Trinley Dorje, The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out

“When receiving the teachings, it is important to have the correct attitude. It is not practicing the Dharma properly to listen with the intention of gaining material advantage or reputation. Neither should our goal be higher rebirth in the next life, nor should we be wishing only for our own liberation from samsara. These are all attitudes we should reject. Instead, let us listen to the teachings with the determined wish to attain the state of omniscience for the sake of all beings.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva

“What do we mean by BODHISATTVA? BODHI means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with all good qualities. SATTVA refers to someone who has courage and confidence and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate benefit of all beings are called Bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva

“When compassion is present, we do not overlook othersâ€� pain. Rather, there is a sense of urgency to end that pain, as if a fire has just been lit underneath you. When you have such compassion, as soon as you see suffering, you wish to jump up and act to end it at once. You have no fear and no hesitation in taking on the suffering of other people, animals, and even the planet itself. This is what I would call the right kind of fearlessness. This is the fearlessness of true heroes. - 17th Karmapa”
― Ogyen Trinley Dorje, The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out

“The Bodhisattva rests in glacial air, under
a dust of snow, leaves fallen into one arm.
This fairyland Buddha sits in an exquisite
etched chair, a powdery image of beauty.
Winter brings blinding thoughts of flaky
falling dreams, slushy icy hard footprints,
with crunchy mantras of wind. Forever
surrounded by obscuring of days, whiteout
of the mundane, penetrating freeze, and
blizzard of emptiness. Crystalline diamond
Vajra surrounded by endings. Slow drifting
meditations that meander to the ground.
White snow like bones, cold as death, frozen
in compassion. Drifting to enlightenment
with vows to return until all are in blessed
fields. Icy mantra Om Mani Padme Hum
to mountain emptiness, echoing forever
in alpine Buddhafields. Not this, nor that�
but always something else. These days, we
mostly see blessed falling flakes of snow.”
― Ruth Ann Oskolkoff, The Bones of the Poor

“... How can you describe water if you've never gotten wet? You don't need the human intellect to reach the mind of God.”
― Karen Yang LeBeau (Introduction, page xxiv) in <i>Quietly comes the Buddha</i>

“The bodhisattva's practice is aimed not at the suppression of desire but at its reorientation to a purpose larger than individual gain and personal pleasure.”
― Dale S. Wright, Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti Sutra

“We can rejoice that our world does have many bodhisattvas who can be found on every path of return, sowing seeds of faith, resolve, and confidence. Kwan Yin, for example, always finds ways to be with those who are suffering. She fears nothing, and uses whatever means are appropriate to the circumstance. She takes on whatever form is neededâ€� monk, politician, merchant, scholar, woman, child, god, or demon. Can we listen deeply like Kwan Yin? Using every form and means possible in the spirit of Kwan Yin, we will bring help to our world.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966

“The way to develop the altruistic intention
a. Seven points of cause and effect
1. Equanimity between fnend, enemy and stranger is the preliminary.
2. Seven points: recognizing sentient beings as your mother, remembening their kindness, wishing to repay it, heart-warming love, compassion, great determination, altruistic intention
b. Equalizing and exchanging self and others: equalizing self and others, disadvantages of selfishness, advantages of cherishing others, exchanging self and others, taking others� suffering and giving them your happiness and its causes
c. Combining the above two methods into one”
― Thubten Chodron