The basis of the mahayana practice differs from the hinayana in that one does not practice abandonment, rejection, etc. Instead, in mahayana, one deals with one’s behavior in a manner of transformation. For example, if the desire to harm another sentient being arises on the crest of a wave of great anger, then one immediately […]
The essence of the Lama or Buddha is emptiness; their nature, clarity; their appearance, the play of unimpeded awareness. Apart from that they have no real material form, shape or colour, whatsoever – like the empty luminosity of space. When we know them to be like that we can develop faith, merge our minds with […]
Whether we follow the scholastic or meditative approach really depends on our inclination, but regardless of how extensive or specialized our interest may be, some intellectual basis is certainly necessary. It is said that someone who tries to meditate without a conceptual understanding of what he or she is doing is like a blind person […]
Be ever mindful of the shortcomings of desire’s rewards, and know that all the phenomena of the cycle of existence are never still, like the ripples on a pond, and that these manifestations of delusion, which are no things in themselves, are like magic and dreams. When you have the determination to be free of […]
If we can practice bodhicitta, develop patience, and pacify all disharmony in our own home, then we have prepared the way leading to the development of limitless bodhicitta. If, on the other hand, we cannot maintain patience and harmony in our own home with our own family, then it is very unlikely that we will […]
The basic problem is that one believes that everything is real, and thus everything is treated as such. Kalu Rinpoche
In the current general cultural milieu of the Western world, expression of desire allows emotions to be actively encouraged, actively stimulated, and over-blown, all within the contextual appreciation of this as something healthy. If one has a desire, one is encouraged to fulfill it. If one has an emotion, one is encouraged to stimulate it, […]
In real meditation, a bare state of awareness is necessary, so that the meditation has a spacious quality, a clarity and transparency of experience. Kalu Rinpoche
Regardless of the emotion being experienced — be it desire, anger, pride, jealousy, envy, greed, or whatever — what is really going on is a shift in attention. The mind is expressing itself in a different way. Nothing implicitly requires one to presume that this emotion has any reality in and of itself… It is just […]
Buddhist texts do not exaggerate when they say that our greatest enemy is clinging to a self. Why? We are caught in a situation where mind is incapable of directly experiencing its own essential emptiness, and instead posits a self that must be sustained. We thus develop all the needs and wants that must be […]
When you meditate, do not try to have good thoughts, do not try to keep away bad thoughts, do not try to stop thoughts, and do not try to go after them. Rather, rest in a state of being aware of the thoughts as they arise. This way, when bad thoughts arise, they arise out […]
The failure of the mind to recognize its own nature is what is meant by the term “ma-rik-pa,” or ignorance, the first level of obscuration or defilement in the mind. As a result of this ignorance, there arises in the mind the imputation of an “I” and an “other,” something that is other than the […]
Having faith and compassion, even if one has no great knowledge of the Dharma and no opportunity to practice much, the day will come when one ceases to wander in the cycle of existence. Kalu Rinpoche
One does not have to feel totally at the mercy of one’s emotion. It is only when acquiescing to the emotion, or investing the emotion with the falsehood of reality, that one is forced to play out the consequences. Kalu Rinpoche
By understanding death and impermanence, the suffering of samsara and the karmic process, you spontaneously discover a commitment to pure Dharma practice. Kalu Rinpoche
We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything. That is all. Kalu Rinpoche
Mind is eclipsed by many different obscurations; if they are removed, mind’s fundamental nature, like the sun shining brightly in a clear, open sky, can manifest all the qualities of wisdom, compassion, and a Buddha’s abilities. Kalu Rinpoche
We must not forget that the mind of all beings and that of the Buddha are not fundamentally different. Kalu Rinpoche
Liberation arises at that moment, in the after-death state when consciousness can realize, its experiences to be nothing other than mind itself. Kalu Rinpoche