Monk Quotes - Page 14

• I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever I go. So there it is, with all its beautiful purposelessness, and it has become very familiar to me though I do not know "what it is." Or even if it is an "it." Not to be foolish and multiply words, I'll say simply that it seems to me that Zen is the very atmosphere of the Gospels, and the Gospels are bursting with it. It is the proper climate for any monk, no matter what kind of monk he may be. If I could not breathe Zen I would probably die of spiritual asphyxiation.

  Thomas Merton

  Beautiful, Spiritual, Atmosphere

  Thomas Merton (1988). “Encounter: Thomas Merton & D.T. Suzuki”

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• From my own personal encounters and studies with both Tantric and Zen Buddhist monks, I have found them to be humorous, warm, charming, and compassionate.

  Frederick Lenz

  Buddhist, Humorous, Encounters

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• If I say, "I am a monk." or "I am a Buddhist," these are, in comparison to my nature as a human being, temporary. To be human is basic.

  Dalai Lama

  Buddhist, Humans, Temporary

  His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2006). “How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships”, p.1, Simon and Schuster

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• I have heard of a monk who in his cell had a glorious vision of Jesus revealed to him. Just then a bell rang, which called him away to distribute loaves of bread among the poor beggars at the gate. He was sorely tried as to whether he should lose a scene so inspiring. He went to his act of mercy; and when he came back the vision remained more glorious than ever.

  Theodore L. Cuyler

  Jesus, Cells, Vision

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 26, 1895.

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• One Mongolian leader became a very, very brutal dictator and eventually became a murderer. Previously, he was a monk, and then he became a revolutionary. Under the influence of his new ideology, he actually killed his own teacher. Pol Pot's family background was Buddhist. Whether he himself was a Buddhist at a young age, I don't know. Even Chairman Mao's family background was Buddhist. So one day, if the Dalai Lama becomes a mass murderer, he will become the most deadly of mass murderers.

  Dalai Lama

  Teacher, Buddhist, Leader

  Interview with Amitabh Pal, www.sharedhost.progressive.org. January 1, 2006.

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• If you have an ancestor who is a Benedictine monk, we would rather not know it.

  Gregory Maguire

  Ancestor, Knows, Ifs

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• He'd once heard a story about a monastery on the top of some mountain in Japan or somewhere. After a long trek in the cold to get there, the monks would offer to sell you a cup of coffee. You had a choice: There was a two-dollar cup - or a two-hundred- dollar cup. When pressed to explain the difference, the monks were reported to say, 'A hundred and ninety-eight dollars.'

  Steve Perry

  Coffee, Eight, Japan

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• Many exhibits from this aquarium use Hawaii's abundant natural daylight. This allows Waikiki to display only live coral, which creates beautiful exhibits. It's also a world leader in the propagation of live coral. The aquarium features some unusual and rarely seen species, including the chambered nautilus and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.

  John Grant

  Beautiful, Aquariums, Leader

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• That was my childhood. I grew up with the monks, studying Sanskrit and meditating for hours in the morning and hours in the evening, and going once a day to beg for food.

  Satish Kumar

  Morning, Childhood, Fatherhood

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• A monk is not forbidden to marry, but if he takes a wife she becomes a monk with the same powers and privileges and occupies the same social position as her husband.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Marriage, Husband, Wife

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.1386, Manonmani Publishers

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• Just as the habit does not make the monk, the sceptre does not make the king.

  Jose Saramago

  Kings, Doe, Habit

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• Artists are the monks of the bourgeois state.

  Cesare Pavese

  Artist, States, Bourgeois

  Cesare Pavese, Alma Elizabeth Murch (1961). “This Business of Living”, p.171, Transaction Publishers

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• We really have to get going," Sam said. "Can we leave the car here and pick it up later?" The monk said, "Does a dog have a Buddha nature?" Does a fish have a watertight asshole?" said Coyote.

  Christopher Moore

  Dog, Car, Coyotes

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• For me, Charles Xavier is a monk. He's like a selfless, egoless almost sexless force for the betterment of humanity and mortality.

  James McAvoy

  Humanity, Selfless, Mortality

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• She would only point out the salvation that was latent in his own soul, and in the soul of every man. Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.

  E. M. Forster

  Love, Passion, Men

  Howards End (1910) ch. 22 (the title-page also has "Only connect...")

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• Father monks, why do you fast! Why do you expect reward in heaven for that?...No, saintly monk, you try being virtuous in the world, do good to society, without shutting yourself up in a monastery at other people's expense, and without expecting a reward up aloft for it--you'll find that a bit harder.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Father, People, Heaven

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (2017). “The Brothers Karamazov (English Russian Edition illustrated): Братья Карамазовы (англо-русская редакция иллюстрированная)”, p.208, Clap Publishing, LLC.

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• 

  Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

  Steve Martin

  Funny, Music, Dance

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• Celibacy is one of the most unnatural things. It has destroyed so many human beings - millions - Catholic monks, Hindu monks, Buddhist monks, Jaina monks, nuns. For centuries they have been teaching celibacy; and the most amazing thing is, even in the twentieth century, not a single medical expert, physiologist, has stood up and said that celibacy is impossible, that in the very nature of things, it cannot happen.

  Rajneesh

  Buddhist, Teaching, Catholic

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• Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Inspirational, Excess, Flavor

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.226, Penguin

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• My capacity as a monk was to passionately believe utter nonsense, and when you're an actor you have to do the same thing. Also, Christianity used to have a lot to do with self-loathing and an acceptance of criticism and things like that which is terribly important for actors.

  Tom Baker

  Believe, Acceptance, Self

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• For several centuries, the Celtic church of Ireland was spared the Greek dualism of matter and spirit. They regarded the world with the clear vision of faith. When a young Celtic monk saw his cat catch a salmon swimming in shallow water, he cried, "The power of the Lord is in the paw of the cat!

  Brennan Manning

  Cat, Swimming, Water

  Brennan Manning (2008). “The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out”, p.58, Multnomah

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• God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all ~faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old just as the effusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the seasons are for all alike; 'for there is no respect of persons with God.'

  John Climacus

  Wise, Christian, Simple

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• That a thing made by hand, the work and thought of a single craftsman, can endure much longer than its maker, through centuries in fact, can survive natural catastrophe, neglect, and even mistreatment, has always filled me with wonder. Sometimes in museums, looking at a humble piece of pottery from ancient Persia or Pompeii, or a finely wrought page from a medieval illuminated manuscript toiled over by a nameless monk, or a primitive tool with a carved handle, I am moved to tears. The unknown life of the maker is evanescent in its brevity, but the work of his or her hands and heart remains.

  Susan Vreeland

  Heart, Humble, Hands

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• I think any spiritual experience that's worthwhile is not about ego and it will humble you in some way. And also, a Zen monk once said to me, 'If you're not laughing, then you're not getting it.'

  David O. Russell

  Spiritual, Humble, Thinking

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• That I am a monk and you are a layman is of no importance ... rather that we are both in the light of the Holy Spirit ... Acquire peace, and thousands around you will be saved.

  Seraphim of Sarov

  Christian, Light, Spirit

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