Form meditation is actually very simple. In fact, we practice it unconsciously every day whenever we stare at a computer screen or watch a traffic light. When we lift this unconscious process to the level of active awareness, deliberately resting our attention upon a specific object, the mind becomes very peacefull, very open, and very […]
All the qualities of your natural mind – peace, openness, relaxation, and clarity – are present in your mind just as it is. Mingyur Rinpoche
Buddhism is not so much concerned with getting well as with recognizing that you are right here, right now as whole as good as essentially good as you ever could hope to be. Mingyur Rinpoche
If you chase after thoughts and emotions, if you let them lead you, they begin to define you, and you lose your ability to respond openly and spontaneously in the present moment. On the other hand, if you attempt to block your thoughts, your mind can become quite tight and small. Mingyur Rinpoche
Once you begin following after a thought, you lose touch with what’s happening in the here and now, and you begin imagining all sorts of fantasizes, judgments, memories, and hoer scenarios that may have nothing to do with he reality of present moment. And the more you allow yourself to get caught up in this […]
Buddhanature can be summed up in a single word: courage – specifically the courage to be just as we are, right here, right now, with all our doubts and uncertainties. Mingyur Rinpoche
Through the patient observation of the thoughts, emotions, and sensations we experience in any given moment, from which comes a gradual recognition that they are not inherently real things. Mingyur Rinpoche
Find and work with a practice that produces a sense of calmness, clarity, confidence, and peace. If you can do that, you will benefit not only yourself, but also everyone around you. Mingyur Rinpoche
Thinking is the natural activity of the mind. Meditation is not about stopping your thoughts. Meditation is simply a process of resting the mind in its natural state, which is open to and naturally aware of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they occur. Mingyur Rinpoche
If you practice allowing your mind just to be as it is, however, your mind will eventually settle down on its own. You’ll develop a sense of spaciousness, while your ability to experience things clearly, without bias, will gradually increase. Mingyur Rinpoche
If you don’t try to stop whatever is going on in your mind, but merely observe it, eventually you’ll begin to feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, a vast sense of openness within your mind – which is in fact your natural mind, the naturally unperturbed background against which various thoughts come and go. Mingyur […]
Most conflicts between people stem from a misunderstanding of one another’s motives. We all have our reasons for doing what we do and saying what we say. The more we allow ourselves to be guided by compassion – to pause for a moment and try to see where another person is coming from – the […]
The degree to which any experience repels, frightens, or seems to weaken us is equal to the degree to which such experiences can make us stronger, more confident, more open, and more able to accept the infinite possibilities of our Buddha nature. Mingyur Rinpoche
Not recognizing natural mind is simply an example of the mind’s unlimited capacity to create whatever it wants. Mingyur Rinpoche
Like emptiness, the true nature of clarity is impossible to define completely without turning it into some sort of concept that you can tuck away in a mental pocket, thinking. Okay, I get it, my mind is clear, now what? Clarity in its pure form has to be experienced. And when you experience it, there’s […]
Ignorance is a fundamental inability to recognize the infinite potential, clarity, and power of our own minds, as if we were looking at the world through colored glasses: Whatever we see is disguised or distorted by the colors of the glass. On the most essential level, ignorance distorts the basically open experience of awareness into […]
As long as you maintain awareness or mindfulness, no matter what happens when you practice, your practice is meditation. If you watch thoughts, that is meditation. If you can’t watch your thoughts, that is meditation, too. Any of these experience can be supports for meditation. The essential thing is to maintain awareness, no matter what […]
All thoughts, perceptions, and physical sensations are, according to buddhism, momentary expressions of the infinite possibility of emptiness. Mingyur Rinpoche
The mind is always active, always generating thoughts, just as the ocean constantly generates waves. We can’t stop our thoughts any more than we can stop waves in the ocean. Resting the mind in its natural state is very different from trying to stop thoughts altogether. Mingyur Rinpoche
Meditation is actually a very simple exercise in resting in the natural state of your present mind, and allowing yourself to be simply and clearly present to whatever thoughts, sensations, or emotions occur. Mingyur Rinpoche
