Sharing delicious food with others is a warm gesture. Some view being free of attachments as a fashionable form of detachment, but behind such coolness often lies a touch of rootlessness and desolation. Humans are fundamentally creatures of emotion, requiring spiritual connection and the care of friendship.
Buddhism teaches us to first sit down and quiet our minds to examine, know, and temper ourselves. Only by examining ourselves can we recognize our arrogance, hubris, naivety, and ignorance. By knowing ourselves, we avoid blind self-righteousness or self-deprecation. By tempering ourselves, we gain the strong will, wisdom, and courage needed to face all difficulties, break through obstacles, and complete great endeavors and the shaping of our character.
Animals need to breathe, and so do you; animals need food and drink, and so do you; animals feel joy and sorrow, and so do you. Some claim that animals are different from humans, justifying their slaughter; I have never heard a more absurd lie.
Devout people are willing to travel vast distances to seek the favor of their deities. They do not realize that helping the poor and hungry at their own doorstep may please the divine even more. If their gods are omnipresent, they must surely be right there, just outside their doors.
No one can take away the people you care about unless they choose to leave. The past is like the wind; we wave goodbye. The future is like a dream; we must not give up the pursuit. I love myself because I know no one else will love me more than I do.
