Bodhisattva Path

The bodhicitta is much more like a sort of higher power – the power of Enlightenment, if you like – which works through you when you are open and receptive. It’s not ‘yours’ in the ordinary sense – not your thought, your idea, your will. In a sense – though even this can be misunderstood – it’s something that takes you over when you are sufficiently ready for that or sufficiently open to that and which as it were works through you: this is the bodhicitta.” - Sangharakshita, Endlessly Fascinating Cry

Gazing at the Bodhi Tree (online weekend)

‘​​What one can be sure of is that there was a tremendous sort of inner absorption for a very long period of time. Because, after all, the Buddha had gained Enlightenment which he had been looking for, for so many years, and at last he was there, so all his energy sort of poured into that, just like a waterfall falling from a tremendous height.’ - Sangharakshita, Seminar on the Udana

System of Dharma Life

“Everyday you have five things to practise: Keep up the effort to be mindful and aware; remain in as positive a state as possible; do not lose sight of your ultimate goal at any time; apply at every level whatever you have realised or discovered at the highest level of your being; do your best for other people, do what you can to help them. This is your spiritual life and this is your spiritual practice.

Going for Refuge

“I go for Refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. This is what they say at that moment, and clearly it's not just a question of the recitation of a formula. It's the heartfelt response of one's total being to the impact of the truth, even the impact of Reality. One commits oneself to the truth, one surrenders to the truth, one wants to devote one's whole life to the truth.” - Sangharakshita, Levels of Going for Refuge

Ethics

“A common misapprehension is to think of Insight and egolessness in abstract, even metaphysical terms rather than as comprising concretely-lived attitudes and behaviour.  But realising the truth of egolessness simply means being truly and deeply unselfish.  To contemplate the principle of egolessness as some special principle that is somehow separate from our actual behaviour will leave it as far away as ever.  If we find it difficult to realise the ultimate emptiness of the self, the solution is to try to be a little less selfish.  The understanding comes afte