Henepola Gunaratana
Henepola Gunaratana
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk. He is often affectionately known as Bhante G...
NationalitySri Lankan
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth7 December 1927
Henepola Gunaratana quotes about
- meditation-practice
- meditation
- sides
- rejects
- path
- steps
- mindfulness
- compassion
- compassion-for-others
- compassion-for-yourself
- healthy-habits
- patterns
- morality
- kindness
- giving
- choices
- personal-transformation
- purpose
- self
- skills
- discipline
- yesterday
- way
- problem
- practice
- brain
- doe
- desire
- want
- what-you-want
kindness giving choices
Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom. You don't have to be swept away by your feeling. You can respond with wisdom and kindness rather than habit and reactivity.
compassion compassion-for-others compassion-for-yourself
When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.
life acceptance firsts
The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.
pain real mistake
We usually do not look into what is really there in front of us. We see life through a screen of thoughts and concepts, and we mistake those mental objects for reality. We get so caught up in this endless thought-stream that reality flows by unnoticed. We spend our time engrossed in activity, caught up in an eternal flight from pain and unpleasantness. We spend our energies trying to make ourselves feel better, trying to bury our fears. We are endlessly seeking security. Meanwhile, the world of real experience flows by untouched and untasted.
spiritual pain real
Real peace comes only when you stop chasing it. When you relax your driving desire for comfort, real fulfillment arises. When you drop your hectic pursuit of gratification, the real beauty of life comes out. When you seek to know the reality without illusion, complete with all its pain and danger, that is when real freedfom and security are yours.
meditation-practice meditation sides
The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side.
pain simple self
But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.
personal-transformation meditation purpose
The purpose of meditation is personal transformation.
practice brain doe
The brain does not manufacture thoughts unless we stimulate it with habitual verbalizing. When we train ourselves by constant practice to stop verbalizing, the brain can experience things as they are.
desire want what-you-want
You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.
mind gains watches
Watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior.
pain self matter
No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you.
mindfulness helping reactions
Mindfulness helps us freeze the frame so that we can become aware of our sensations and experiences as they are, without the distorting coloration of socially conditioned responses or habitual reactions.
self skills discipline
Discipline is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret.