We may pretend to be Buddhists, but if we do not have a wisdom point of view and the compassion that the Buddha Shakyamuni revealed again and again, then whatever Dharma acts we perform are just Dharma drama for the nihilist audience to senselessly gossip about during intermission.
– Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes
The essence of the Buddha’s Dharma has always been the same through infinite time and space. No matter what plot of existence it is, no matter what language it is taught, and no matter the culture that stops it, the essence has always been and always will be wisdom (the awakening state) and compassion.
~Chamtrul Rinpoche
If there is beauty, there must be ugliness;
If there is right, there must be wrong.
Wisdom and ignorance are complementary,
And illusion and enlightenment cannot be separated.
This is an old truth, don’t think it was discovered recently.
“I want this, I want that”
Is nothing but foolishness.
I’ll tell you a secret –
All things are impermanent!
– Ryokan
from the book “One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan”
“People who suffer will accordingly gain wisdom. If we don’t suffer, we don’t contemplate. If we don’t contemplate, no wisdom is born. Without wisdom, we don’t know. Not knowing, we can’t get free of suffering – that’s just the way it is.
Therefore we must train and endure in our practice. When we then reflect on the world, we won’t be afraid like before. It isn’t that the Buddha was enlightened outside of the world but within the world itself.” 
~ Ajahn Chah
from the book “One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan”
It is said that there is no greater evil than hatred and no greater virtue than patience. While a single moment of anger destroys countless aeons of merits and leads to unmitigated suffering in the hell realms, patience towards those who harm you and the sincere wish to bring them happiness will bring you swiftly onto the path taken by all the Buddhas.
There is no better way to deal with enemies than to feel great love for them, realizing that in former lives they have been your loving parents. There is no better way to nurture your family and look after others than to practice the Dharma and dedicate to all beings the merit you thereby obtain. There is no better or more bountiful harvest than the one you sow in the soil of your faith and endeavor so that it ripens into the richness of merit and wisdom.
– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book “The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones”
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes
The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.
Do not remain in the dualistic state; avoid such pursuits carefully. If there is even a trace of this and that, of right and wrong, the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One, do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend, it ceases to exist in the old way.”
~Seng Tsan
Hsin Hsin Ming 信心銘 – Faith in Mind
When you listen to holy beings frequently, collecting a little wisdom from them on each occasion, it is certain that, before long, you will have much to show for it.
Is there any vessel that would not be filled when a continuous stream of water falls into it uninterruptedly?
—Matricheta
From generosity comes wealth;
happiness from ethical conduct.
From patience comes beauty;
splendor from joyous effort.
Through concentration comes peace;
from wisdom comes liberation.
Compassion accomplishes all aims.
—Nagarjuna, Precious Garland
These two mental states are conducive to correct knowledge. Which two? Peace and clarity.
By developing peace, what purpose is served? The mind is purified. By purifying the mind, what purpose is served? Craving is abandoned.
By developing clarity, what purpose is served? Wisdom is developed. By developing wisdom, what purpose is served? Ignorance is abandoned.
Defiled by craving, the mind is not released [from emotional agitation], and defiled by ignorance, wisdom is not developed. Thus, abandoning craving through peace, there is liberation of the mental fluctuations, and abandoning ignorance through clarity, there is liberation by wisdom.
—Buddha Shakyamuni
Subhuti asked : ” Is it possible to find perfect wisdom through reflection or listening to statements or through signs or attributes , so that one can say ‘This is it’ or ‘ here it is ‘?” The Buddha answered : “No, Subhuti . Perfect wisdom can’t be learned or distinguished or thought about or found through the senses . This is because nothing in this world can be finally explained, it can only be experienced, and thus all things are just as they are. Perfect wisdom can never be experienced apart from all things. To see the suchness of things , which is their empty calm being , is to see them just as they are. It is in this way that perfect wisdom and the material world are not two, they are not divided. As a result of Suchness, of calm and empty being , perfect wisdom cannot be known about intellectually. Nor can the things of the world, for they are understood only through names and ideas. Where there is no learning or finding out , no concepts or conventional words , it is in that place one can say there is perfect Wisdom .”
-Ashtasahasrika-
“If your everyday practice is to open to all your emotions, to all the people you meet, to all the situations you encounter, without closing down, trusting that you can do that — then that will take you as far as you can go. And then you’ll understand all the teachings that anyone has ever taught.”
~PEMA CHODRON
Source: Compassion & Generosity | Great Middle Way
greatmiddleway.wordpress.com
In the practice of compassion and generosity
disciples should be detached.
We should practice compassion and generosity
without regard to appearances, without regard to form,
without regard to sound, smell, taste, touch, or any quality of any kind.
This is how we should practice compassion and generosity.
Practicing compassion and generosity without attachment
is the way to reaching the Highest Perfect Wisdom,
it is the way to becoming a living Buddha.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Diamond Sutra
If, to his detriment,
the fool grows in cleverness,
he only destroys his own mind,
and his fate is worse than before.
—Buddha Shakyamuni
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