The most important aspect of karma relates to the state of our mind. At some point, whether we meditate or not, we learn that certain activities disturb the mind. When we apply awareness to cause and effect, we cultivate recognition of subtle shifts in mental behavior, and we become more sensitive to how an agitated […]
What are the main teachings of the Buddha? The teaching is that one should pacify one’s mind. So one should generate inner peace in one’s mind. Buddha taught three different gradual paths to help us realise inner peace within our minds. They are Hinayana, Mahayana and the Secret Vajrayana. This is all the different of […]
Nothing endures but change, and accepting this has the potential to transform the dread of dying into joyful living. Mingyur Rinpoche
If you can accept whatever happens – good, bad, or indifferent – that is the best practice. Mingyur Rinpoche
Awareness contains impermanence, not the other way around. But they have this in common: Our liberation comes from recognition. Mingyur Rinpoche
Just as a waterproof covering protects against rain, diligence protects against all the circumstances and conditions that tempt us to give up on ourselves. Especially in meditation practice, diligence is required, not only to go beyond physical discomforts, but to work with the fear and resistance that arise in the face of letting go of […]
To encourage curiosity and flexibility, it’s important to discover our limits, and then stretch a bit further. Mingyur Rinpoche
In the conventional view, life comes before death. In the wisdom view, ego-grasping death comes before life. Mingyur Rinpoche
Awareness is the natural, innate, knowing quality of mind that is with us all the time. We cannot function without awareness; we would have no experience of anything without awareness. However, we do not always recognize it. In fact, most of the time we don’t. Meditation teaches us to recognize the awareness that we already […]
We think we’re being diligent by sitting down to meditate for hours at a stretch. But real diligence doesn’t mean focusing yourself beyond your natural limits; it means simply trying to do your best, rather than focusing on the result of what you’re trying to accomplish. It means finding a comfortable middle ground between being […]
What makes our birth so precious is our potential for awakening. We are born buddhas, and all dharma practices help us recognize and nurture this truth. Because we do not actually believe in our own capacity for awakening, these teachings work to reverse the tendency to see ourselves as insufficient Mingyur Rinpoche
The best period to begin formal practice is first thing in the morning after a good night’s sleep, at which point the mind is most refreshed and relaxed, before getting involved with all the daily stuff. Taking the time to practice before you leave the house for work or to run whatever errands you have […]
Gradually I began to recognize how feeble and transitory the thoughts and emotions that had troubled me for years actually were, and how fixating on small problems had turned them into big ones. Just by sitting quietly and observing how rapidly, and in many ways illogically, my thoughts and emotions came and went, I began […]
When I began to practice meditation on compassion, I found that my sense of isolation began to diminish, while at the same time my personal sense of empowerment began to grow. Where once I saw only problems, I started to see solutions. Where once I viewed my own happiness as more important than the happiness […]
Meditation is a mind-activity. Everywhere the mind goes, the opportunity for meditation exists. The idea that meditation is something that we only do sitting on a cushion in a particular way or at a particular time has created a lot of confusion. Yet if we can recognize awareness anywhere, anytime, we may ask why we […]
Rejoicing in the success of others means letting go of competitiveness, jealousy, and envy, and nurturing the capacity to celebrate the virtuous activities and merit of others, which at the same time generates merit for ourselves. Mingyur Rinpoche
Grasping and fixation arise from the mind, and therefore cannot be eliminated through body and speech alone. The mind of letting go has the capacity to cut the root of ego-clinging; the activity of letting go accumulates merit. And by letting go, we gain access to our own immense inner wealth, which has never been […]
Clarity, like emptiness, is infinite: it has no limits, no starting point and no end. The more deeply we examine our minds, the less possible it becomes to find a clear distinction between where our own mind ends and other’s begin. As this begins to happen, the sense of difference between “self” and “other” gives […]
When we become fixed in our perceptions we lose our ability to fly. Mingyur Rinpoche
That’s how to rest the mind in objectless shinay meditation: as though you’ve just finished a long day of work. Just let go and relax. You don’t have to block whatever thoughts, emotions, or sensations arise, but neither do you have to follow them. Just rest in the open present, simply allowing whatever happens to […]
