Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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Shambhala
Chogyam Trungpa
Subtitled 'The Sacred Path of the Warrior', this book is a guide to enlightened living, written by the founder of the Naropa Institute. 'Warrior', in this context, doesn't mean a military fighter, but rather one who has found his own innate bravery to face life honestly and openly, with love and compassion for all that exists.

1 "You can learn to experience the sacredness, the nowness, of reality. That is the basis for creating an enlightened society."

2 "The world around us is very sacred, so we have to constantly serve our world."

3 "There may be thousands or billions of perceptions, but they are still One."

4 "When you are fully gentle, without arrogance and without aggression, you see the brilliance of the universe. You develop a true perception of the universe."

5 "Sacredness goes back and back through history to prehistory to before history, before thought, before mind had ever thought of anything at all. So experiencing the greatness of the sacred world is recognizing the existence of that vast and primordial wisdom, which is reflected throughout phenomena. This wisdom is old and young at the same time, and it is never tarnished or diminished by the relative problems in the world."

6 "In order to establish an enlightened society for others, we need to discover what inherently we have to offer the world. So, to begin with, we should make an effort to examine our own experience, in order to see what it contains that is of value in helping ourselves and others to uplift their existence."

7 "When we are afraid of ourselves and afraid of the seeming threat the world presents, then we become extremely selfish."

8 "Basic goodness is what we have, what we are provided with. It is the natural situation that we have inherited from birth onwards."

9 "Human beings have basic goodness, not next door, but IN them already."

10 "If you actually look, if you take your whole being apart and examine it, you find that you are genuine and good as you are."

11 "Every aspect of life has the potential of being upgraded…there is the potential for sacredness in every situation…Begin to view the universe as a sacred world. The sacred world is that which exists spontaneously, naturally in the phenomenal world."

12 "Because of the extraordinary vastness of perception, you have possibilities of communicating with the depth of the world."

13 "Something living, something real, is taking place in everything."

14 "This experience of nowness can join together the vastness of primordial wisdom with both the wisdom of past traditions and the realities of contemporary life. So in that way, you begin to see how the world of sacredness can be created altogether."

15 "The magical strength and wisdom of reality are always there. That wisdom abides in the cosmic mirror. By relaxing the mind, you can reconnect with that primoridal, original ground, which is completely pure and simple."

16 "There is basic human wisdom that can help to solve the world's problems."

17 "That mind of fearfulness should be put in the cradle of loving-kindness."

18 "The ground or root of wakefulness and sanity exists as a potential within every human being."

19 "We must try to think how we can help this world. If we don't help, nobody will. It is our turn to help the world."

20 "Understand that your life, as it is, contains the means to unconditionally cheer you up and cure you of depression and doubt."

21 "There is something basically good about our existence as human beings. Unless we can discover that ground of goodness in our own lives, we cannot hope to improve the lives of others."

22 "A bank of self-existing energy is always available to you – beyond any circumstance. It actually comes from nowhere, but is always there. It is the energy of basic goodness."

23 "As human beings, we are basically awake and we CAN understand reality. We are not enslaved by our lives; we are free."

24 "You do not possess basic goodness but you ARE the basic goodness itself."

25 "There is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in this world – which is the innate wakefulness of human beings."

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite