23 Quotes by Gil Fronsdal

Buddhist teachings suggest that when we find the thing that keeps us from appreciating the present, the thing that keeps us from trusting, the very thing that causes us suffering, it is a gate to freedom, to awakening.

One of the things that kills Buddhist spiritual life is excessive seriousness.

And I have known meditators filled with doubt and self-condemnation when the practice has been stormy. Practicing with our best effort during periods of crisis and personal struggle may not bring about spiritual highs. It may, however, bring something more important: a strengthening of the inner qualities that sustain a spiritual life for the long term: mindfulness, persistence, courage, compassion, humility, renunciation, discipline, concentration, faith*, acceptance, and kindness.

Giving a brief sermon, the Abbess once said, 'A hot furnace does not need to be heated. A loving heart does not need to be loved. Being loving is more important than being loved.

If you want to attain peace, live peacefully.

Who are you in the silence between your thoughts?

Mindfulness, by helping us notice our impulses before we act, gives us the opportunity to decide whether to act and how to act.

When you meditate, don’t think about what is happening. Rather, let your awareness be seated in the tender warmth you feel in your body. If you do this, any meditation practice you do will be fruitful.

To be ‘free’ only when things are pleasant is not real freedom.