However industrious you may be,
There is no end to worldly activities;
But if you practice the Dharma
You will swiftly conclude everything.

However nice they may seem,
Samsaric affairs always end in disaster;
But the fruits of practicing the Dharma
Will never deteriorate.

Since beginningless time you have collected and encouraged
Karma, negative emotions, and habitual tendencies,
Which force you to wander in samsara.
If you continue like that, when will liberation arrive?

If you only see all this at the moment of death,
It’s rather too late –
When the head’s already been severed,
What use is any medicine?
Recognizing the suffering of samsara,
Turn toward the peace of nirvana.

Padmasambhava

quoted in the book The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva

Read a random quote or see all quotes by Padmasambhava.

Further quotes from the book The Heart of Compassion:

• Cutting through subtler misconceptions
• Just projections of the mind
• Protecting ourselves from future suffering
• Impermanence dawning in your mind
• A practice based on your mind
• The three aspects of diligence
• The children of the buddhas
• Opportunity
• The magnifying glass of your faith and devotion
• I like suffering
• The best opportunity to put the teachings into practice
• Meaningless activities without end
• Nothing to be grasped
• No greater obstacle to Dharma practice
• Start observing your mind
• Never stop thinking about how to gain liberation
• Sealing your merit with authentic dedication
• No more than an empty echo
• Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it