All we really need to do for practice is to study, reflect, and meditate. However, these days it is common in the East and West that desire for honor and gain creates problems. Imitation monks, phony lamas, fake tulkus, and false gods turn up, and because of this, it is difficult to find the right kind of study, reflection, and meditation. It is very important for everyone to be careful about this and try to see clearly what is genuine and what is false. If someone says, “I am a lama,” or “I am a tulku,” or “I am a god,” we do not have to immediately follow them. First, investigate to see whether they are genuine or not and whether we should make a connection with them. It is important to use our critical faculties along with giving up attachments.

17th Karmapa

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

translated by Ringu Tulku & Michele Martin


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

Further quotes from the book Traveling the Path of Compassion:

• Why the Dharma is so important
• 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
• Remembering the Lama