Quotes about Worldliness

The way of the Buddha involves a metaphysical stoicism, a way of overcoming the power that worldliness has over oneself: the world rules us through our suffering no less than through our desires and appetites and hopes; all of this is Maya, the universe of delusorily desirable and despicable goods. The primal insight of Buddha is not that the suffering of the world must first be mitigated but rather that we must learn to recognize that our DESIRES are no less a form of SUFFERING than are our AILMENTS. This is what qualifies Buddhism as an authentic form of spirituality, its transcendence over the finite and merely psychological domain.

Some people say, “Oh no, if I take up a spiritual life I can’t live in the world.” What foolishness is this? Look right here. You can talk, you can move, you can function, yet this level of peace is there within you, deeply. It’s like an undercurrent of your being that will always be there. I am free to laugh and joke and dance and yell and argue and do anything I want. That undercurrent is always there. Nothing takes it away. Nothing in the world can take it away. This is the state. So the same way you can laugh and talk and listen to me but still hold on to this feeling, the same way you can be in the world.