Monday, August 13, 2007

Some quotes on emptiness

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself...
- early Christian hymn quoted by St. Paul in Philippians

Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9%
Of everything you think
And everything you do
Is for yourself
And there isn't one.
- Wei Wu Wei
(Open Secret)

The good seems to us as a nothingness, since there is no thing that is good. But this nothingness is not unreal. Compared with it, everything in existence is unreal.
- Simone Weil

A spiritual seeker went to visit a monk to ask for advice. The monk received him and, after the two chatted for a bit, served tea. He poured the seeker's cup full and then kept on pouring, causing it to overflow. The visitor watched this and finally exclaimed, "It is too full. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," said the monk, "you also are too full. How can I teach you until you first empty your cup?"
- traditional monastic story

It's the nothing that makes us something; it's what we miss that hits the mark.
- 7-Up jingle

It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.
- St. Paul

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