Skip to content

Mind is the very element in and through which we live, yet it is what is most elusive and mysterious. Bare Attention, however, by first attending patiently to the basic facts of the mental processes, is capable of shedding light on mind’s mysterious darkness, and of obtaining a firm hold on its elusive flow.

— Nyanaponika Thera The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (1965)

Another quote →

More quotes by Nyanaponika Thera

Painful feeling is suffering in itself; pleasant feeling brings suffering through its transiency and its unsatisfying and unsatisfactory nature.

The Vision of Dhamma (1994)

Mindfulness, though so highly praised and capable of such great achievements, is not at all a “mystical” state, beyond the ken and reach of the average person. It is, on the contrary, something quite simple and common, and very familiar to us.

The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (1965)

A look into long-neglected quarters of the mind will come as a wholesome shock to the observer. It will convince him of the urgent need for methodical mental culture.

The Vision of Dhamma (1994)

Attempts at eliminating the mind’s main defilements—greed, hate and delusion—must fail as long as these defilements find refuge and support in the uncontrolled dim regions of the mind.

The Vision of Dhamma (1994)

The relatively small sector of the mind that stands in the intense light of purposeful will and thought is not a reliable standard of the inner strength and lucidity of consciousness in its totality.

The Vision of Dhamma (1994)

All Nyanaponika Thera quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nyanaponika Thera (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.