The absolute simplicity. That's what I love.....suddenly the light becomes sharper, the sounds are richer... you're filled with presence of life

Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

Dalai Lama: We have a saying in Tibet: If a problem can be solved there is no use worrying about it. If it can't be solved, worrying will do no good.

Dalai Lama: Do you think someday people will get Tibet on their movie screens and wonder what happened to us?

Ngawang Jigme: Hello, my friend. We did what was best for our country, for Tibet.
Heinrich Harrer: On the way to Lhasa I would see Tibetans wearing those jackets. 'Chinese soldiers very nice. Give food, clothes and money. Very nice.' It's strange to me that something so harmless as a jacket can symbolize such a great lie.
Ngawang Jigme: After all these years you still don't understand our Tibetan ways. To return a gift is unforgivable.
Heinrich Harrer: A man who betrays his culture shouldn't preach about its customs. There was a time I would have wished you dead but your shame will be your torture and your torture will be your life. I wish it to be long.

Heinrich Harrer: In my humble opinion, this is ridiculous.
Peter Aufschnaiter: Well, then, since you're so humble, we won't ask your opinion.

Construction worker: In a past life this worm could have been your mother.

Dalai Lama: ...You can not ask a devout people to disregard a precious teaching.
Heinrich Harrer: Yes but Your Holiness, with due respect, erm, we can't possibly
[laughs]
Heinrich Harrer: I'm sorry, but we can't possibly save all the worms! Not if you want a theater in this lifetime.
Dalai Lama: You have a clever mind. Think of a solution. And in the meantime you can explain to me, what is an elevator.

Heinrich Harrer: In this place where time stands still it seems like everything is moving. Including me. I can't say I know where I'm going nor if my bad deeds can be purified. There are so many things I have done that I regret. But when I come to a full stop I hope you understand that the distance between us is not as great as it seems.

Heinrich Harrer: That's the Olympic gold medal. Not important.
Pema Lhaki: This is another great difference between our civilization and yours. You admire the man who pushes his way to the top in any walk of life, while we admire the man who abandons his ego.

Dalai Lama: I can't sleep. I'm afraid the dream might come back.
Heinrich Harrer: A couple of insomniacs.
Dalai Lama: Tell me a story, Heinrich. Tell me a story about climbing mountains.
Heinrich Harrer: That's one way to fall asleep. Those stories bore even me.
Dalai Lama: Then tell me what you love about it.
Heinrich Harrer: The absolute simplicity. That's what I love. When you're climbing your mind is clear and free from all confusions. You have focus. And suddenly the light becomes sharper, the sounds are richer and you're filled with the deep, powerful presence of life. I've only felt that one other time.
Dalai Lama: When?
Heinrich Harrer: In your presence, Kundun.

Heinrich Harrer: You have to leave. You have to leave Tibet, Kundun. Your life's at great risk. Forgive my presumption but I have made arrangements to get you out safely. We should leave directly after the enthronement, the Chinese won't expect it.
Dalai Lama: How can I help people if I run away from them? What kind of leader would I be? I have to stay here, Heinrich. Serving others is my path to deliberation.
Heinrich Harrer: Then I don't go either.
Dalai Lama: Why not?
Heinrich Harrer: Because you are my path to deliberation.
Dalai Lama: The Buddha said 'Salvation doesn't come from the sight of me. It demands strenuous effort and practise. So work hard and seek your own salvation constantly.' I am not your son. And I've never thought of you as my father. You've been much too informal to me for that. Do you ever think about him?
[Heinrich cries, nodding]
Dalai Lama: And what do you think about?
Heinrich Harrer: It's not a conscious thought really, Kundun. He is always there. When I crossed Tibet he was with me. When I came to Lhasa he was with me. When I sit beside you he is there with me. I can't even imagine how to picture the world without him in it.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Elan Sleazebaggano: You wanna buy some death sticks?
Obi-Wan: [using the Jedi mind trick] You don't want to sell me death sticks.
Elan Sleazebaggano: I don't want to sell you death sticks.
Obi-Wan: You want to go home and rethink your life.
Elan Sleazebaggano: I want to go home and rethink my life.

Yoda: Senator Amidala, your tragedy on the landing platform, terrible. Seeing you alive brings warm feelings to my heart.

Yoda: The council is confident in its decision, Obi-Wan.
Mace Windu: The boy has exceptional skills.
Obi-Wan: But he still has much to learn, Master. His abilities have made him... well arrogant.
Yoda: Yes. Yes. A flaw more and more common among Jedi. Too sure of themselves they are. Even the older, more experienced ones.

Yoda: Dangerous and disturbing this puzzle is. Only a Jedi could have erased those files. But who, and why, harder to answer. Meditate on this I will.

Yoda: Do not assume anything Obi-Wan. Clear your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot.

Yoda: Mmm. Lost a planet, Master Obi-Wan has. How embarrassing. How embarrassing.

Yoda: Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.

Obi-Wan: Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me?
Anakin: Don't say that, master. You're the closest thing I have to a father.

Palpatine: You don't need guidance, Anakin. In time, you will learn to trust your feelings. Then, you will be invincible. I have said it many times, you are the most gifted Jedi I have ever met.
Anakin: Thank you, Your Excellency.
Palpatine: I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi, Anakin. Even more powerful than Master Yoda.

Obi-Wan: I have to admit that without the clones, it would have not been a victory.
Yoda: Victory? Victory you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the Clone War has.

Anakin: Don't be afraid.
Padme: I'm not afraid to die. I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life.
Anakin: What are you talking about?
Padme: I love you.
Anakin: You love me? I thought we had decided not to fall in love. That we'd be forced to live a lie and that it would destroy our lives.
Padme: I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway. I truly... deeply... love you and before we die I want you to know.

Anakin: From the moment I met you, all those years ago, not a day has gone by when I haven't thought of you. And now that I'm with you again... I'm in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you- I can't breath. I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating... hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me... what can I do?- I will do anything you ask.
[uncomfortable pause]
Anakin: ... if you are suffering as much as I am, PLEASE, tell me.

Yoda: Blind we are, of creation of this clone army we could not see.
Mace Windu: I think it is time we inform the senate that our ability to use the force has diminished.
Yoda: Only a Dark Lord of the Sith knows of our weakness. If informed the senate is, multiply our adversaries will.

Palpatine: Master Yoda. Do you really think it will come to war?
Yoda: The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see the future is.

Yoda: Powerful you have become Dooku, the dark side I sense in you.
Count Dooku: I have become more powerful than any Jedi. Even you.
[Dooku shoots Sith lighting at Yoda who effortlessly deflects it away]
Yoda: Much to learn, you still have

Mace Windu: What is it?
Yoda: Pain, suffering, death I feel. Something terrible has happened. Young Skywalker is in pain. Terrible pain.


This is an indirect response to Nomadic Trojan's blog http://nomadictrojan.blogspot.com/2008/09/joys-of-life.html. In this blog there's reference to the Buddha and Zen Buddhism and I question how parallel our paths are cause I've been reading a lot of Zen Buddhism in the past 2 months. I've given up alcohol cause all it does is feed my ego and empower my less saviory emotions. In the passages I've embraced recently it has come to my attention that there is nothing that is unforgiveable, nothing in this whole wide world is unforgiveable. Furthermore there is only one thing you have control over... which is you and the way you react to things. What The Dali Lama teaches is living in the present and the only time that you should live in the past and future is in meditation and once your done meditating so should your thoughts or desires about the future or past. Many would say just think positively but the only way I've been able to harness that is by thinking life- people, places, things, words, places, situations are 10% of this life, 90% is how you react to it.

Yoda is a zen master. In the clone wars if you watch very intently you'll notice that yoda never is inside a situation, he's always on the outside as a third unbi-est party. He's always on the outside looking in, and he never says I, he says we cause he wants to be part of the greater good. My life has always been governed by my inability to control my own emotions. I haven't been able to separate my feelings from the real life that forever I've thought are directly related. Another book that I read called non-violent communication puts it into perspective as well. If when in a situation where your feeling attacked you say what the person is trying to convey back to them in a softer voice you'll see how the situation quickly becomes less tense. The point is to not be reactive. Stay centered in the present. These concepts ring true to me. Managing them and making them work without being in a constant state of meditation seems really tricky. But in general the duality of managing your own emotions when it comes to want, desire, and hope is not of a rational or reasonable realm. Emotions and feelings stir action all to often, the point is to not let them. Therefore you can choose to be happy instead of sad. Reason isn't a feeling, nor is logic, it's just something us humans like the ancient greeks are capable of. The duality is in the opposites of hemispheres in our brains. One example I can somewhat relate is control. You can't control others, I stand by this firmly, however you can control yourself. You can also find happiness and confidence in the fact that you are in control. That fact gives me strength regularly.

Happiness can be drawn from situations that make you feel happy but it can also be brought forth in basic gratitude for your life in times where sadness or doubt seems prevailent. Like a previous blog by the same author a couple months back intitled "Expect nothing and nothing can go wrong". This rings true in Zen Buddhism. Just cherish things and people for how they are in that moment, not how they could be, not in any thought to pre-dispose or countinuate whatever's being felt. "The absolute simplicity. That's what I love. When you're climbing your mind is clear and free from all confusions. You have focus. And suddenly the light becomes sharper, the sounds are richer and you're filled with the deep, powerful presence of life. I've only felt that one other time." For me that one other time is a series of other times when I knew not because I wanted to be in, but that the simplicity of being in anothers company made everything slow down to the point of freezing, and the beauty would grab my spirit inside my body with firm grasps on each side and shake it vigarously as to say this is what being truely alive is like. I wish for nothing more than to love and be loved. That simple truth is a constitution to live happy by without disappointment, ever. I give my love freely without expectation and if and when it returns I welcome it without too without expectation.