86 Quotes by Joseph Goldstein

The second unwholesome action to avoid is stealing – taking that which doesn’t belong to us.

The heart qualities of faith, confidence, and trust are actual powers we can cultivate. In Buddhist texts they are likened to a magical gem that settles impurities in water. Faith in the possibility of awakening, confidence in the moment’s experience and in the nature of awareness itself, trust in the direction of our lives – all of these settle doubt, confusion, and agitation. They create an inner environment of clarity, stillness, and beauty.

Do no harm, act for the good, purify the mind.” The flowering of all the great traditions of Buddhism derives from the teachings in this one simple verse.

If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it.

Mindfulness practice begins to open up everything. We open our mind to memories, to emotions, to different sensations in the body. In meditation this happens in a very organic way, because we are not searching, we are not pulling or probing, we are just sitting and watching.

Backbiting and gossip are the third type of unskillful speech. Words of this nature cause disharmony and the loss of friends.

We often mistakenly assume that because someone has genuine understanding in one particular area, this mastery necessarily extends to all other areas of life. That may or may not be true.

But after years of practice I’ve come to feel grateful when I observe these unskillful patterns arise, because now I would rather see them than not see them. It becomes another chance to unhook from these patterns, to see their essential transparency, and to let go of the burden they bring.

The mind does not belong to you, but you are responsible for it.