April 11

Everything is connected more closely in the spiritual world than in the material world. Every lie brings multiple lies, every cruelty brings more cruelty.

Very often people are proud of the purity of their conscience only because their memory is too short.

— Zanizad Rafaezsky

Drop after drop, water fills the vessel; in the same way those who want to be good, become filled with goodness.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

Many of our vices exist only because they are supported by other vices; therefore, if we destroy our major vices, many others will disappear at once, in the same way as branches fall when you cut the trunk of a tree.

— Blaise Pascal

Be attentive to the appearance of evil. There is an inner voice in your soul which always tells you about approaching evil. You feel unpleasant, you feel ashamed. Believe in this voice; stop and seek to improve yourself, and then you will defeat evil. 

April 7

To repay evil with goodness is easier, wiser and more natural than to repay evil with evil.

Repay evil with goodness.

— The Talmud

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

— Luke 23:33-34

Conquer rage with humility, conquer evil with goodness, conquer greed with generosity, and conquer lies with truth.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

When we treat our neighbors as they deserve to be treated, we make them even worse; when we treat them as if they were who we wish they were, we improve them.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Those who take joy in repaying an evil with goodness will always try to experience this joy again. 

March 31

To repent means to show your vices and weaknesses to all. Repentance means taking responsibility for all of the bad things you have done, purifying your soul, and preparing to accept goodness.

When a kind man does not accept his mistakes and tries always to justify himself, he becomes an unkind man.

Do you have qualities which can be criticized and improved? Try to admit that this is so, and to find these qualities out by yourself.

Nothing can make a person's soul softer than the understanding of his own blame, and nothing can make one harder than the desire always to be right.

— After the Talmud

Those who cover their old sins with present-day good deeds remind me of moonlight which illuminates this dark world on a cloudy night.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

A man will always understand his sins as well as his limits in this limitless world.

March 29

If sometimes you feel that in spite of all your wishes to gain triumph over your passions, they gain victory over you, do not think that you cannot conquer them at all. You have only proven that you weren't able to this one time. A good groom does not drop his reins when he cannot stop his horses at once but tries again to pull the reins, and eventually the horses stop. So if you could not resist the temptations once, continue your fight, and in the end not your passion but you will gain the victory.

Try to be the master over greed, sloth, lechery, and rage.

A victory over oneself is a bigger and a better victory than a victory over thousands of people in a score of battles. Those who have achieved victory over other people can be defeated in future battles, but those who have achieved victory over themselves become victors forever.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

A passion in a person's heart is like a spider's web. At the beginning it is an alien visitor; then it becomes a regular guest; then it becomes master of the house.

— After the TALMUD

He who has achieved victory over himself has real power.

— Eastern Wisdom

Abstention cannot be achieved at once, but it should be a process, and a constant effort. The life of a person who makes this effort is directed not to the calming of his passions but to the mastery of them. Time and persistence help you in these efforts. 

March 10

That which gives life is the same in all things.

All living creatures fear pain and death. Try to understand yourself in every living creature: do not torture and do not kill. Stop suffering and death. All living creatures want what you want; all living creatures praise their lives.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

All living creatures have the same divine beginning, all are in unity. We are all members of one great body.

Nature created us related to each other, from the same material, for the same purpose. Because of this, somewhere within all of us is mutual love for each other.

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is only one right pathway of life. Sooner or later, we all will meet each other on this pathway. The understanding of it is very clearly inscribed in our hearts, and it is wide and easy to find. At the end of this way is God, and He calls us to Himself. It is so painful to watch people who miss this way of life and go along the other pathway, the way of death.

— After Nikolai Gogol

Expunge from yourself anything which interfrres with your feeling of a special connection between yourself and all living creatures.

February 18

Personality is a mask which disguises the divine being which lives in every person. The more one rejects personality, the more this divine beginning is manifested.

You must love only God, and you must hate only yourself.

— Blaise Pascal

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.

— John 10:17-18

Only those people who deny their own personality can understand the religious teaching.

— The Talmud

He who wants to save his soul, will lose it; and he who wants to lose his life for me and the gospel, will save it.

— Mark 8:35

Those who do not see the meaning of their life in temporary things, in their names and bodies, those people know the truth of life.

— DHAMMAPADA, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

Only when we forget about ourselves, when we get out of the thoughts of ourselves, can we fruitfully communicate with others, listen to them and influence them.

January 25

There is a basic knowledge which is necessary for every human  being; until a person has acquired this basic knowledge, all other kinds of knowledge will be harmful for him.

Socrates told his students that in good systems of education, there is a certain limit you should not go beyond. In geometry, he said, it is enough to know how to measure the land when you want to sell it or buy it, or how to share an inheritance, or to divide work among workers. He did not like too many sophisticated sciences; though he knew all of them. He said that sophisticated knowledge requires an extra effort that takes the student's time from the most basic and the most important human pursuit: moral perfection.

— Xenophon

Divert your gaze  from the world of lies. Do not trust your feelings. Only in yourself, only in your impersonal self, can you find the eternal.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

It is better to know several basic rules of life than to study many unnecessary sciences. The major rules of life will stop you from evil and show you the good path in life, but the knowledge of many unnecessary sciences may lead you into the temptation of pride, and stop you from understanding the basic rules of life.

January 23

Among all sins, there is one which completely opposes the major blessing of human life, which is your love for your brother: there is no worse sin than to destroy this major joy of life, by feeling rage and hatred for your brother.

Seneca, a wise man from Rome, said that when you want to escape from your rage, when you feel that it grows, the best thing to do is to stop. Do not do anything: do not walk, do not move, do not speak. If your body or your tongue moves at this moment, then your rage will grow.

Rage is very harmful for all people, but it is most harmful for the man who experiences it.

An evil person damages not only others but himself.
— After Socrates

Your enemy will pay you back with rage, will make you suffer, but the biggest damage to you will be caused by the rage and hatred existing in your heart. Neither your father, nor your mother, nor all your family can make you more good than your heart can when it forgives and forgets its abuse.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

Your rage cannot be justified by anything. The reason for your rage is always inside you.

November 24

Helping others takes the form not only of physical aid, but of spiritual support for your neighbor. Stop blaming your neighbor and respect his human dignity.

 

Do not think that you are generous because you give your excess wealth to a poor person. Real generosity requires that you give this person a place in your heart.

— From the Book of Divine Thoughts

 

He is virtuous who does not pay any attention to libel and evil speech.

 

You should be truthful; you should avoid wrath; you should give to those who ask, because they ask for small things. You will become holier by following these three paths.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

 

With humbleness, kindness, and self-sacrifice, you will take the weapon from any enemy. Any fire dies if there is insufficient wood.

— Buddhist Wisdom

 

Try not to hide the shameful memories of your sins in dark corners. On the contrary, keep them close to you and remember them, before you judge your neighbor.

November 13

Self-perfection should be one's primary motivation. If you are truthful to yourself, you will never be satisfied with yourself.

A person should always develop his ability to do goodness. Make yourself better; this should be every person's goal.

— Immanuel Kant

The first rule of achieving goodness is this: think only about self-perfection, and do so without thought to being praised by others.

— Chinese Wisdom

He who moves from doing bad deeds to doing good deeds enlightens this world like the moon coming out from behind the clouds. This is the best thing in the world; this is the first step toward divinity.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

Those who live life in perfection look only forward; those who have stopped moving forward look back on their achievements.

Dissatisfaction is a necessary condition of intellectual life. It is only this dissatisfaction that pushes you to work.

October 29

There is nothing more important than an example. It leads us to do good deeds which would be impossible without this example. Therefore, if we use dissipated or passionate or cruel people as examples, it destroys our soul. The contrary is also true.

Those who do not think independently are under the influence of somebody else who thinks for them. If you give your thoughts to somebody else, it is a more shameful slavery than if you give your body to someone to possess.

If you desire to follow someone as an example, as many other people do, first stop and think whether it is worthwhile to follow the path to destruction.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

Evil influence can be destroyed only by good influence. And the way to receive a good influence is to have a good life.

April 11

Everything is connected more closely in the spiritual world than in the material world. Every lie brings multiple lies, every cruelty brings more cruelty.

Very often people are proud of the purity of their conscience only because their memory is too short.

— ZANIZAD RAFAEZSKY

Drop after drop, Water fills the vessel, in the same way those who want to be good, become filled with goodness.

— DHAMMAPADA, a book of BUDDHIST WISDOM

Many of our vices exist only because they are supported by other vices; therefore, if we destroy our major vices, many others will disappear an once, in the same way as branches fall when you

cut the trunk of a tree.

— BLAISE PASCAL

Be attentive to the appearance of evil. There is an inner voice in your soul which always tells you about approaching evil. You feel unpleasant, you feel ashamed. Believe in this voice; stop and seek to improve yourself, and then you will defeat evil.