Bernie Glassman Quotes

#1. Our work may be important, but we don't take it too seriously. Otherwise, we get attached to one relatively small thing and ignore the rest of life.

Bernie Glassman

#2. I always have this red nose in my pocket, and if it looks like I'm taking things too seriously, or the person I'm talking to is taking them too seriously, I put the nose on. It doesn't matter what we're doing or talking about, it doesn't matter if we agree or disagree, the nose changes everything.

Bernie Glassman

#3. Take the selfishness out of anger and you're left with determination.

Bernie Glassman

#4. Our tendency in life is to avoid things that frighten us. But in order to become whole, we need to go deeper and deeper into ourselves by reaching further and further into the things we fear.

Bernie Glassman

#5. We freeze up because we expect a certain result or because we want things to be perfect.

Bernie Glassman

#6. When we go ... to bear witness to life on the streets, we're offering ourselves. Not blankets, not food, not clothes, just ourselves.

Bernie Glassman

#7. We're creating a little niche for ourselves instead of working the whole canvas.

Bernie Glassman

#8. The more you learn, the more you know that you're not so hot.

Bernie Glassman

#9. Don't make a whole to-do about it. Don't get down on yourself be- cause you're not an expert rower; don't start reading too many books in order to do it right.

Bernie Glassman

#10. It's very rare to be in a state where there's nothing in, where you have no attachment to any idea or concept about yourself. In that state you've immediately raised the mind of compassion, because if nothing is in, everything is in, and you are now free to experience yourself as the world.

Bernie Glassman

#11. People get stuck a lot because they're afraid to act; in the worst case, ... we get so attached to some end result that we can't function. We need help just to move on, only life doesn't wait.

Bernie Glassman

#12. The pursuit of enlightenment is for the purpose of the world, not merely for the purpose of the individual. Practices for enlightenment must lead to action in the world.

Bernie Glassman

#13. When we don't ask, we don't let others give. When we fear rejection, we don't let generosity arise.

Bernie Glassman

#14. I always tell people that if you get upset over what someone says, imagine him or her with a clown's nose on and you won't get so angry.

Bernie Glassman

#15. Whatever judgment we make is a subjective one we're making now, and that it could change.

Bernie Glassman

#16. An English philosopher said that whatever is cosmic is also comic. Do the best you can and don't take it so seriously.

Bernie Glassman

#17. Let me give you a wonderful Zen practice. Wake up in the morning ... look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself.

Bernie Glassman

#18. The basic problem, actually, is how to get rid of the idea that we're going to get rid of our problems. Only then can we relate directly with the real issues of our life.

Bernie Glassman

#19. In every area, working with what you habitually reject is one of the best ways to facilitate growth and transformation.

Bernie Glassman