Sometimes, we have strange ideas about the Buddha. We go to him for refuge and then think that he will extend his large hand down from the sky and lift us out of samsara. Actually, the Buddha came into the world, taught the path to liberation, and then passed away.

Since we cannot go looking for him now, what should we do? We can rely on the Dharma he bequeathed to us and practice as much as possible this path to full awakening.

The Dharma is the Buddha’s representative. If we put into practice the meaning of his words, it is the same as if the Buddha were present and we could see him and hear him teaching us. This is why the Dharma is so important.

17th Karmapa

from the book Traveling the Path of Compassion: A Commentary on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva

Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.

Further quotes from the book Traveling the Path of Compassion:

• Discipline
• The true test of meditation
• Teaching what is really useful
• Seeing what Dharma practice actually is
• Finding real solitude
• Why we need to give up our worldly concerns
• The Greatest Satisfaction
• Giving and Receiving
• Taking advantage of opportunities
• Our Actual Enemy
• Joyful discipline
• Taming Our Mind
• Avoiding criticism
• Putting ourselves in someone else’s place
• Seeing clearly what is genuine and what is false
• Remembering the Lama