One learns the art of dying by learning the art of living: how to become master of the present moment.
S. N. GoenkaRead
Every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of personal experience in understanding the transient nature of sensations.
S. N. Goenka highlights the core Buddhist principle that sensations are impermanent; they emerge and fade away. Instead of merely accepting this notion intellectually or because it is stated by an authority, he encourages practitioners to engage directly with their sensations through mindful experience, promoting a non-reactive awareness and a deeper understanding of flux in our perceptions and experiences.
Themes
SensationImpermanenceMindfulnessExperienceBuddhism
In practice
Example use cases
During a mindfulness workshop to illustrate the concept of impermanence.
More from S. N. Goenka
All quotes →Rather than converting people from one organised religion to another organised religion, we should try to convert people from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation and from cruelty to compassion.
S. N. GoenkaRead
The mind spends most of the time lost in fantasies and illusions, reliving pleasant or unpleasant experiences and anticipating the future with eagerness or fear. While lost in such cravings or aversions, we are unaware of what is happening now, what we are doing now.
S. N. GoenkaRead
Similar quotes
It's difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you.
Russell BrandRead
But what about the End of the Universe? We'll miss the big moment." I've seen it. It's rubbish," said Zaphod,"nothing but a gnab gib." A what?" Opposite of a big bang. Come on, let's get zappy.
Douglas AdamsRead
You are born with a character; it is given, a gift, as the old stories say, from the guardians upon your birth...Each person enters the world called.
James HillmanRead
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Oh, God — the lives people try to lead. Oh, God — what a world they try to lead them in.
Kurt VonnegutRead
There would be no one there to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistance with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
Kate ChopinRead