A story is told about Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, who had the desire to engage in a long period of fasting. He began to grow feeble and weak; he couldn’t sit and meditate, so finally the Buddha told him, “Ananda, if there is no food, there is no body. If there is no body, there is no dharma. If there is no dharma, there is no enlightenment. Therefore go back and eat.” That is the basic logic of the Buddhist teachings and of Buddhist psychology. We can actually be decent and sane on the spot, not through extreme measures but by managing our life properly, and thereby cultivating maitri, gentleness and friendliness to yourself.

Chögyam Trungpa

from the book The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology

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Further quotes from the book The Sanity We Are Born With:

• The importance of patience
• Glimpse of Enlightenment
• Tuning in to life
• The approach of mindfulness of life
• Giving up goal, aim, and object
• Just open space
• The freshness of not rebuilding
• Path
• These situations are the scriptures
• Working with the present situation
• Ego is a filter
• Emotions are part of you