Ayya Khema Quotes

Germany, Teacher
August 25, 1923 – November, 2, 1997.

Ayya Khema was a Buddhist teacher and was very active in providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism, founding several centers around the world. In 1987, she helped coordinate the first-ever Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women. Over two dozen books of her transcribed Dhamma talks in English and German have been published. In the last year of her life, she also published her autobiography: I Give You My Life.

Eventually we will find (mostly in retrospect, of course) that we can be very grateful to those people who have made life most difficult for us.

Ayya Khema
- People
- Difficult
- Made
"Wholeheartedly" means that we give our time, love, and energy unstintingly.

Ayya Khema

The more we abandon ill-will and hatred, the easier it will be to meditate.

Ayya Khema
As long as we have practiced neither concentration nor mindfulness, the ego takes itself for granted and remains its usual normal size, as big as the people around one will allow.

Ayya Khema
- Ego
- Size
- Concentration
The heart is always the place to go. Go home into your heart, where there is warmth, appreciation, gratitude and contentment.

Ayya Khema
- Heart
- Place
- Contentment
From contact comes feeling. From feeling comes reaction. This is what keeps us in the cycle of birth and death. Our reactions to our feelings are our passport to rebirth.

Ayya Khema
- Feeling
- Contact
- Reaction
A truly happy person is someone who is joyfully independent of outer conditions.

Ayya Khema
If we want to be loved, we are looking for a support system. If we want to love, we are looking for spiritual growth.

Ayya Khema
- Support
- Growth
- Looking

Half the spiritual life consists of remembering what we are up against and where we are going.

Ayya Khema
If we do not try, we will not know.

Ayya Khema
- Know
- Try
Mindfulness is a mental activity that in due course eliminates all suffering.

Ayya Khema