Sandra Belen:  

Sandra is from Chicago, Illinois. Sandra's schools include Loyola Academy. Sandra works(ed) at Self Employed, Writer, Practitioner, Optimo Farm Market Restaurant & Cafe. Music Sandra likes includes Cherry Poppin' Daddies, The Smashing Pumpkins, Adriano Clemente. Books Sandra likes include Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, The Power of an Open Question. Movies Sandra likes include Lawrence of Arabia, 180 South, Being John Malkovich. TV shows Sandra likes include The X-Files, The Twilight Zone, River Monsters. One of Sandra's favorite quotes is:"“Those who are awake live in a constant state of amazement." - Siddhartha the Buddha “I wonder if there may be some value in simply honoring this in-between place, acknowledging the space of open possibility where we stand. This is the moment of dissolution before the new form emerges, the imaginal space of potential from which all else will flow. As the marine scientist Sylvia Earle says: the next ten years are the most important in the next ten thousand.“ – Chris Jordan "In my way of thinking, nothing can be said, explained, shown or discerned about anything at all. Being detached from all questions and answers is to enter the gate of nonduality." - Manjushri "To live in constant wonder, abandon all views. This is enlightenment. Enlightenment is your true nature." - sjb "I am not here to give answers, I am here to provoke in you the question mark, the ultimate question mark." - Osho "All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns." - Bruce Lee "Never close your doors before you have experimented with anything – never, never. Otherwise many things remain unlived, unknown. They were available, and you would have gone through something beautiful; you would have been enriched by them. Always say yes to the new." - Osho "Other beings are in fact the best occasion for the accumulation of merit. This is why the Bodhisattvas in Dewachen (a pure Buddhafield where there are no afflicted beings and no objects of hatred, pride and envy) pray to be reborn in this sorrowful world of ours. For, as the sutras say, they want to be in a place where beings think only of accumulating possessions and satisfying those close to them, where they are therefore overwhelmed by defilements and so are supports for the mind training and practice of Bodhichitta. The immediate causes for the attainment of Buddhahood are other beings; we should be truly grateful to them." - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche from, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven Point Mind Training" (Thank you, Eddie Schulfer!) "All religions and wisdom traditions are based on three levels of teachings: renunciation, transformation of energy and the ultimate truth of nonduality. In Buddhism, sutras teach the path of renunciation—the realm of Body, the material dimension. Tantras teach the path of transformation—the realm of Speech, the energetic dimension. Dzogchen reveals the path of self-liberation—the realm of Mind, the most subtle dimension, highest teaching and heart-essence of all wisdom traditions." - sjb "...enlightenment is the result of the exhaustion of defilements and the exhaustion of the antidote of the defilements. Ultimately one must abandon the path to enlightenment. If you still define yourself as a Buddhist, you are not a buddha yet." - Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Apple, Inc. in their 1987 "Think Different" ad campaign "Spiritual means the mind. Spiritual people are those who seek its nature." - Lama Zopa Rinpoche "Veiled by ignorance, the minds of man and Buddha appear to be different; yet in the realm of Mind Essence they are both of one taste. Sometimes they will meet each other in the great Dharmadhatu." - Milarepa "All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meet...Expand for more