Issac of Nineveh

In this passage i think my favorite quote would have to be,

"When we trust God with our whole heart, we don't fill our prayers with 'Give me this' or 'Take this from me.' We don't even think of ourselves when we pray."

If i think about the things that i pray about daily i know i truly ask alot from God. This makes a good point that if you trust God with your whole heart it would not be necessary to ask him for all that we do, or having him fix things that are broken.

Also, i really like the part about the truly humble man. " A truly humble man has no desire to be known or admired by others, but wishes to plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been born."

Bakhya Ibn Pakuda

"The theory is simple; but the practice is difficult; then the practice itself becomes simple."

Stephen Mitchell has a great intro to this passage. I have always wanted to learn to play the piano. When watching my uncle play it just seems so effortless. It is the same with other talents whether it is sports, playing an insterment or just a hobby.

"The Master makes everything seem easy; but she has put an immense effort into achieving this effortlessness. "

Hugh Of St. Victor

The entire time i was reading this passage the one line that stuck in my head was,

"in spiritual matters, when something is called 'the highest,' this doesn't mean that it is located about the top of the heavens, but rather that it is the inmost or most intimate of all.  Thus, to ascent to god is to enter oneself..."  

So i read this part a few times and the whole time i kept thinking of the song we used to always sing in church growing up, "Glory to God In the Highest."  it all made sense to me now i was always thinking that we were singing that he was the most high like in heaven...haha not at all.  i was wrong just thought i would share that point.  i get it now. 

Symeon The New Theologian

In this passage from Symeon the New Theologian it had some similar points from when we where studying Buddhism.  On of the teachings was always to have a clear mind in order to reach enlightenment.  "Our mind is pure and simple.  When it is emptied of thought, it enters the pure and simple light of God,  and finds nothing but the light."  In the class presentations today someone was talking about the mandalas which we discussed was, in some form,  incorporated  in most every religion.  These are intended if i remember correctly to help clear your mind.  So this passage relates to many religions in that case.  Emptying or clearing your mind is something to strive to achieve.  A pure mind is able to reach God.  

Abu Sa'Id Ibn Alb'l- Khayr

I really liked the quote in this passage, "You are freed from your own desires when God frees you."  This reminds me of our lectures when we talked about desires when they are no longer needed then you can have them.  This passage also i was having a hard time with.  Today is just not a blogging kind of day.  My mind is wondering and i cant seem to put anything into words.

Huang-Po

Today i am having a really hard time with all of these passages.  I have read them all a few times and i just cant seem to find anything that i want to blog on The one part i really enjoyed in the passage by Huang-Po was, "When you prevent the rise of conceptual thinking, you will be a free man, and this just means you will realize that the Buddha has always existed in your own mind." I think that i enjoyed that part because he talks about how Buddha has always existed in your own mind.  You just need to drop all the extras and become a free man to recognized Buddha.  

Albert Einstein

Parts of this passage were not fully clear to me. But i think my favorite part would have to me the ending where he says, "Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature." I think that this is a lesson that every religion has in common. If you look up the definition of compassion is says, " sympathy for the suffering of others, often including a desire to help." This is incorperated somehow in almost every religion we have studied. The desire to help others that are less fortunate than ourselves. My point is that every religon, in some form or another, has this same message about compassion and helping.