There are many forces surrounding us that encourage us to follow along unthinkingly wherever our greed leads us. We are bombarded by advertising designed to convince us that our happiness depends on material goods. Today’s global culture tells us that having more of these goods is a measure of our success in life, and even of our value as a person. This message comes at us in many forms and from many directions, so we need a clear awareness of how greed works in order to protect ourselves from being deceived by these forces. We can then counteract them with inner wisdom about where real success and personal value come from.
17th Karmapa
from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out
translated by Ngodup Tsering Burkhar & Damchö Diana Finnegan
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book The Heart Is Noble:
- Look what he did
- The intention to work for others
- Loving Responsibility
- Authentic love
- Making healthy relationships possible
- Facing Impermanence Wisely
- The kindness we receive from others
- We truly have everything we need already
- Our relationship to the material world
- Who are you
- Let the moon be the keeper of my love
- Capacity for Change
- True Wealth
- Taking delight in your inner nature
- Reality is your teacher
- We need space to grow and learn from our own mistakes
- Interdependent reality
- The Wealth of Contentment
- Social action