The spiritual journey towards enlightenment is life’s most arduous and most rewarding journey. It's a path of self-discovery, growth, and transformation. Quotes can be helpful on this journey, serving as beacons of wisdom and inspiration.
Let’s begin with what spirituality is not. A spiritual life is about you as an individual - who do you want to be? What qualities do you wish to imbibe so that you become a better human being? Leading a spiritual life begins with you and you alone. We promise you, it’s life-changing. And you also know there’s levels to it. That’s why quotes can be helpful. Don’t just read through these quotes. Savor them.
Here are some profound quotes to guide you on your spiritual awakening:
Key Principles for Spiritual Growth
In this wisdom of a lifetime, nothing else perhaps could spell any clearer the three core virtues that define a person’s spiritual attitude: patience, selflessness, and determination. We can’t develop an unconditional spiritual attitude without cultivating patience and selflessness. The ability to watch our emotions without giving in to them is the mark of a spiritual warrior.
"Spiritual development is not an accomplishment but a way of life. It is an orientation that brings its own rewards, and what is important is the direction of one’s motives."- David R.
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If you are graceful in the face of conflict, your spiritual attitude is exceptional. Just because the other person is hurting me, or people disagree with me and don’t reciprocate etc. are not good enough reasons for me to abandon patience, selflessness, and compassion. A spiritual outlook towards life helps us drop our trauma.
Unless we foster a spiritual outlook towards our own life and others’, we can’t really hope to rise above our petty thoughts and emotions. We place too much emphasis on self-comfort, on why I’m being treated or not treated a certain way. How about why shouldn’t I be more selfless? Why shouldn’t I be more giving?
Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Forgiveness
Non-fulfillment of desires and expectations is often at the root of human suffering. Why don’t people value me? Why doesn’t my partner love me? Why isn’t the world waiting for me? Why isn’t my work appreciated? And so on.
Spiritual practices will help us overcome emotional decision-making, made in a fit of blinded rationale and diluted logic. Vulnerability masks our true feelings, it clouds our judgement, it deludes us into seeing what we want to see as opposed to the real truth. That is why any wise person will tell you to never jump into a relationship or take any major decision in the face of grief, heartbreak or bereavement. What is holding you back from forgiving yourself and spiritual healing? You can’t really move on in life unless you allow self- healing.
Here are the most important spiritual words you’ll ever need to know - forgive, forgive, forgive. Others and yourself. There is no better way to heal yourself than practicing forgiveness. From a state of acting to a state of being - this is the biggest spiritual gift in any lifetime. No forgiveness means no healing. Little forgiveness equals little healing. Complete forgiveness is nirvana, it’s liberation.
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"If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person."
The Journey Within
“Heed these words, You who wish to probe the depths of nature: If you do not find within yourself that which you seek, neither will you find it outside. In you is hidden the treasure of treasures. Spiritual riches are within you.
The only way to grow spiritually is to look past yourself. If it’s fulfillment you seek, look past yourself. Even past all methods of meditation, yoga, and so on. Methods don’t necessarily lead to fulfillment. While they may help us become more mindful of our words, actions, and speech, at the end of the day, it is our attitude that fuels our fulfillment.
"If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is negative in yourself.
Nobody has ever progressed on the spiritual journey by expecting completeness through someone else. We must have the courage and wisdom to walk the path of dharma with contentment and gratitude instead of constantly counting on others to fill our cup up. True spiritual wealth is the happiness inside us. It’s not possible to love someone without first being fulfilled ourselves. Everyone’s journey towards spiritual love is vastly different.
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The feeling of fulfillment is an inner experience. Others can give us a glimpse of it, but in the end, it’s your own depth of character and existence that dictates how content you are.
Living in the Present
Life is too fast and too precious to not live it fully. That is, at times, we get so busy searching for our truth in the reality of some other world, that we completely forget to make the most of this life we have right here. We get so busy looking that we stop seeing. Passion to appreciation - this is the journey of spiritual awakening. Only a genuine appreciation and love for life is beyond passion. Everything else is passion disguised in one form or another. Whether it’s seeking wealth, fame, enlightenment, or anything else - the basic nature of passion remains the same: it builds yearning in us. The spiritual journey of inner peace is not dependent on external paraphernalia.
Your life and spiritual directions aren’t on their way or just around the corner; they’re right here, right now. Opportunities are knocking on your door all the time, presenting you with your purpose of life, if you choose not to hear them and instead be fixated on, or keep waiting for, some grand, big-bang, unrealistic event, you’ll be disappointed. Your spiritual life is not waiting to happen; it’s right now. If you wish to live your ideal life, first devote every ounce of energy and enthusiasm to your present one. Before long, you’ll know your purpose in life which in turn will lead to a deep sense of fulfillment. If you don’t have a passion in life, build your spiritual wealth and make what you’re doing right now, your passion.
"Those who are awake, live in a state of constant amazement." ― Buddha
The Role of Challenges
The biggest spiritual gift we receive is life’s challenges, prodding us to grow. Without preparation and readiness though, any spiritual experience is hardly transformational. And if an experience doesn’t trigger some kind of lasting transformation in you, however subtle, it holds little meaning ultimately. When you continue to walk the path sincerely, diligently, many learnings, lessons, and experiences give you the wisdom to lead your life differently. Spiritual awakening enables us to feel others’ hurt and pain more strongly than ever. Enlightenment does not mean that you don’t feel the pain or remain eternally unaffected by everything that goes around you. All of that we must go through based on our karma, temperament, and attitude towards life. The only thing that changes is that you grow into a more spiritual being, you become increasingly resilient and kind. What life hurls at you doesn’t change, how you catch it or dodge it, does.
Look upon pain as a spiritual gift from life. We mistake our pain for our suffering. We have little control over the former but the latter is almost entirely in our hands. We can take things in our stride or be tossed in the tide. This choice, we must remember, is in our hands. At all times.
"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes."
## Key Actions for Spiritual LeadershipTreat yourself like you want others to treat you - this is spiritual leadership. Whatever you seek from others, learn to give it to yourself first. To be selfless in love is to love the other person the way he or she wants to be loved. Start with yourself. Take responsibility. You won’t find yourself waiting for someone to knock on your heart’s door. Instead, you’ll discover that your heart is as big as the sky, it has no doors, it’s vast and has ample room for everyone.
When we lead a spiritual life filled with devotion, we begin to emit love and kindness naturally. You always draw your energy and inspiration from whoever is the center of your life. In love, you become the one you love. If it’s a materialistic person, you’ll find yourself becoming increasingly materialistic too. If he or she is a spiritual person, you’ll evolve into a calmer person. If he or she is the restless or narcissist type, you’ll feel restless and anxious yourself. If the center of your life is beauty, God, divinity, compassion or any of these, you’ll become an embodiment of that. Choose Carefully.
What if we pivoted in a spiritual direction and gave out only kindness to the ones who have wronged us?
"A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another.
Kindness and Goodness
If it is spiritual progress you aspire for, the virtues of compassion and gratitude, of empathy and humility have to be inculcated and practiced. There is no other way. Abundance is not a necessity, it’s a privilege of the spiritual journey.
If nature has blessed you with so much that you can afford to read this blog on a phone, tablet or a computer etc., somewhere then, it becomes your duty to do your bit to make this world a more beautiful place. Goodness is not just an option but a necessity to evolve into a spiritual leader. There is no reason for us to forsake our goodness, to not count our blessings, to not help others, to not be gentle. What a blessed life we have, let’s allow others to dip into our joys and resources. The path of goodness is most rewarding for the one who seeks enlightenment.
Develop a spiritual attitude by practising one random act of kindness a day and keeping your everyday blues away! Add up your good deeds. One tiny act of kindness here, one gesture of affection there, a word uttered out of compassion, some help you extended someone. Assisting an old person or a disabled person cross the road, or just letting the lady with a child behind you to check-in before you at the airport, all these make up the purpose of our lives. These acts give us the strength to be good when everything around us may nudge us to be otherwise.
"Meditation doesn’t make you a spiritual warrior; practising kindness does."
To worry is an ingrained tendency, to rise above it is divine spiritual leadership. We are not on this planet to waste our life by constantly worrying about this and that. Worrying takes the life out of our life. Somewhere, one must gather the courage to set oneself free, to be where one wants to be, to do what you’ve always longed to. This is how fulfillment is going to come in your life. This is how life is going to feel complete. Work will never end. There’ll always be a list of outstanding action items. But, in all this, we must not forget to live. Our purpose in life doesn’t fall from the sky; it’s eked out, one step at a time, as we traverse the spiritual journey. No one is born with a purpose, everyone discovers theirs. A life without meaning is a boring life bereft of anything to look up to. Do you know who the creator of your spiritual awakening is? You.
As you move more and more in a spiritual direction, the things that are not meant for you automatically fall away. As you commit yourself to a life of purpose and happiness, your fears go away because nature catapults you into a much bigger play field. What you gain is a million times more than what you may ever lose. Anything that could possibly disappear from your life is not worth anymore than pocket change for a billionaire.
"WE ALREADY HAVE everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves-the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds-never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are."
Zen Wisdom
Here are the most famous Zen quotes which capture the depth of spiritual awakening. If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?- Dogen
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it’s just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as water.- Ch’uan Teng Lu
What is this mind? Who is hearing these sounds? Do not mistake any state for Self-realization, but continue To ask yourself even more intensely, What is it that hears?- Bassui
However deep your Knowledge of the scriptures, It is no more than a strand of hair In the vastness of space; However important appears Your worldly experience, It is but a drop of water in a deep ravine. -Tokusan
All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas. As with water and ice, there is no ice without water; apart from sentient beings, there are no Buddhas. Not knowing how close the truth is, we seek it far away -what a pity! Hakuin
Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision. Hsi-Tan
I would rather sink to the bottom of the sea for endless eons than seek liberation through all the saints of the universe. Shih-t’ou
It is as though you have an eye That sees all forms But does not see itself. This is how your mind is. Its light penetrates everywhere And engulfs everything, So why does it not know itself? Foyan
“It is present everywhere. There is nothing it does not contain. However only those who have previously planted wisdom - seeds will be able to continuously see it.”- Dogen
Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.- Dogen
Peace isn’t luck. For six years stand facing a silent wall, Until the ‘you’ of your face, Melts like a candle. Ikkyu
I’m in it, everywhere. What a miracle! Trees, lakes, clouds, Even dust. - Ikkyu
When mortals are alive, they worry about death. When they’re full, they worry about hunger. Theirs is the Great Uncertainty. But sages don’t consider the past. And they don’t worry about the future. Nor do they cling to the present. And from moment to moment they follow the Way. Bodhidharma
My legacy- What will it be? Flowers in spring, The cuckoo in summer, And the crimson maples Of autumn …Ryokan
In this way and that I have tried to save the old pail Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break Until at last the bottom fell out. No more water in the pail! No more moon in the water! Chiyono’s enlightenment poem
“Well versed in the Buddha Way, I go the non-Way. Without abandoning my ordinary person’s affairs. The conditioned and name-and-form, all are flowers in the sky. Nameless and formless, I leave birth-and death.” Pang Yun, Two Zen Classics
“Clambering up the Cold Mountain path, The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on: The long gorge choked with scree and boulders, The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass. The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain The pine sings, but there’s no wind. Who can leap the world’s ties And sit with me among the white clouds?” Cold Mountain Poems, by Han Shan
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?” Zhuangzi