Boredom is bound to creep in, often just as you approach the final stretch, and if you then switch to a different path, although the new practice may be inspiring for a few days or even weeks, in terms of spiritual progress you will have slipped right back to square one. Ironically, before long you will become just as bored with the new practice as you were with the old one.
Meet as many lamas as you can, hear as many dharma teachings as possible, particularly if you are eager to pursue the higher paths, and try to socialise with people from the same lineage you are practising. But try to avoid being distracted by other practices that at first glance appear more attractive than those you are already engaged in.
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices
Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
Further quotes from the book Not for Happiness:
- Dharma is not a therapy
- Spiritual practice is like riding a bicycle
- Maintaining a strong grip on the habits
- Everything we experience is a product of mind
- It’s all a matter of motivation
- The signs of progress
- Adapting the Dharma
- No substitute for being guided by a guru
- Wealth is contentment
- Mind-made illusions
- No end to samsara’s sufferings
- For the sake of all other beings
- What Is Bodhichitta
- What is merit
- Where does low self-esteem come from
- Our fundamental problem
- We must also practice it
- Altruism bolsters self-confidence
- Nothing genuinely works in samsara
- Our most important companion