The heart is like a mirror. When we dust it off, we are able to see ourselves. The dust is all our stuff - guilt, anger - this stuff is reflected back to us. Practice removes the dust from the mirror of our hearts.
Krishna DasRead
If we know anything about a path at all, it's only because of the Great ones that have gone before us. Out of their love and kindness, they have left some footprints for us to follow. So, in the same way that they wish for us, we wish that all beings everywhere, including ourselves, be safe, be happy, have good health, and enough to eat. And may we all live at ease of heart with whatever comes to us in life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We benefit from the guidance of those who came before us, and we wish well for all beings.
This quote emphasizes the importance of learning from the experiences of those who have paved the way for us in life. It highlights a cycle of kindness and love where we not only acknowledge the wisdom of our predecessors but also extend our good wishes for happiness, health, and peace to all, including ourselves, as we navigate through life.
Themes
WisdomGuidanceKindnessHappinessLove
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a graduation speech to inspire graduates about the importance of learning from those who came before them.
More from Krishna Das
All quotes →Grace surrounds us and holds us like the sky holds everything in it … and as soon as I find a way to let go of my story, I keep seeing over and over again that grace is always here and it includes the forgetting and the remembering. The practice is the opening of the hand to catch the raindrops, which are always falling. If you don't open your hand, you get wet, but you don't get much to drink.
Krishna DasRead
Chanting just hits you and you want to be a part of it. That’s the point of this whole thing. That’s what cuts through all the ‘stuff’. You get lit up. You don’t have to know what it means.
Krishna DasRead
Love is what we are; we don't get it from somebody, we can't give it to anybody, we can't fall in it or fall out of it. Love is our true Being.
Krishna DasRead
Similar quotes
Backlock, a poet blind from his birth, could describe visual objects with accuracy; Professor Sanderson, who was also blind, gave excellent lectures on color, and taught others the theory of ideas which they had and he had not. In the social sphere these gifted ones are mostly women; they can watch a world which they never saw, and estimate forces of which they have only heard. We call it intuition.
Thomas HardyRead
So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.
Sun TzuRead
The most promising words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita, unknown territory.
Daniel J. BoorstinRead
On this path let the heart be your guide.
RumiRead
The Bible is a great source of wisdom and consolation and should be read frequently.
Albert EinsteinRead
Don’t get caught up in hopes of what you’ll achieve and how good your situation will be some day in the future. What you do right now is what matters.
Pema ChodronRead