Henepola Gunaratana

Henepola Gunaratana (born 7 December 1927) is a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk.

Quotes

Mindfulness in Plain English (2011)

• Mindfulness is nonconceptual awareness. Another English term for sati is “bare attention.” It is not thinking. It does not get involved with thought or concepts. It does not get hung up on ideas or opinions or memories. It just looks. Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not compare them. It does not label them or categorize them. It just observes everything as if it was occurring for the first time. It is not analysis that is based on reflection and memory. It is, rather, the direct and immediate experiencing of whatever is happening, without the medium of thought. It comes before thought in the perceptual process.
  • p. 134

• Mindfulness is present-moment awareness. It takes place in the here and now. It is the observance of what is happening right now, in the present. It stays forever in the present, perpetually on the crest of the ongoing wave of passing time.
  • p. 134

Loving-Kindness in Plain English: The Practice of Metta (2017)

• Metta is not ordinary love. It is the quality of love we experience in our whole being, a love that has no ulterior motive — and no opposite. It can never become hatred; the love-hate dichotomy simply does not apply. When we say that we love such-and-such a person or thing, we usually mean that his or her appearance, behavior, ideas, or attitudes fill a perceived deficiency in us. We don’t actually see the other person. If their traits change, we might no longer feel love. When our tastes, whims, or fancies change, we might also fall out of love. We love now, but perhaps later we’ll hate. We love when everything is smooth and easy, but we may feel the opposite when things get difficult. When our love is that situational, what we call “love” is not metta, but lust, greed, or even exploitation.
  • p. 3, Ch. 1