Tales of the Hasidim: Peggy Kugel

In several of his books, Martin Buber tells the story of a famous Hassidic rabbi, Abraham Yaakov of Sadagora. The rabbi insisted that something can be learned from everything, even from the inventions of his time.

"Everything can teach us something, and not only everything God has created. What man has made has also something to teach us."
    "What can we learn from a train?" one [student] asked dubiously.
    "That because of one second one can miss everything."
    "And from the telegraph?"
    "That every word is counted and charged."
    "And the telephone?"
    "That what we say here is heard there."

The Open Road: Susan Derrera

In The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer writes:

[The Buddha] 'had no wish to spread his discoveries, since he didn't feel confident that they would be of use or interest to anyone else; the essence of his teaching, famously was "Be lamps unto yourselves" and "Seek no refuge but yourself." But when he became convinced that there might be some virtue in talking of his own experience, he spent the last forty-five years of his life ceaselessly traveling. . . . Although he engaged in public debates, he repeatedly shied away from cosmic questions as distractions, perhaps, from the main concern.

"Forget about next life," I once heard the Dalai Lama say.... "This very life should be useful to others.  If not, at least no harm."'

The Ice Is Melting: Martha Gould-Lehe

Chief Oren Lyons of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, in one of the Annual E. F. Schumacher Society Lectures, describes leadership amongst his people:

"When you sit in your council for the welfare of the people, think not of yourself or of your family or of your generation. [The Great Peacemaker] said, Make your decision on behalf of the seventh generation coming. That was the instruction of a thousand years ago. It's good instruction for leadership. And when the Council of Chiefs at Onondaga meets, we actually do try to see seven generations ahead. We try, and let me tell you, it's pretty murky. I can remember a time when I thought I could see seven generations, but not now. And it keeps getting harder to see."

The Open Road: Susan Derrera

In The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer writes:

"[The Dalai Lama] told me that sometimes he felt that he could never do enough, and that nothing he did could ever really affect things. . . . He told me that it was "up to us poor humans to make the effort," one step at a time, and again, as if invoking the final words of the Buddha, he spoke of "constant effort, tireless effort, pursuing clear goals with sincere effort."

Then as we were walking out of the room, he went back and turned off the light. It's such a small thing, he said, it hardly makes a difference at all. And yet nothing is lost in the doing of it, and maybe a little good can come of it, if more and more people remember this small gesture in more and more rooms."

Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings: Scott Banks

In the book Thich Nhat Hanh: The Essential Writings, this Buddhist monk talks about the importance of living in the present.

"Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. Peace is all around us - in the world and in nature - and within us - in our bodies and in our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice. We need only to find ways to bring our body and mind back to the present moment so we can touch what is refreshing, healing and wondrous."