Learning to appreciate the clarity of the mind is a gradual process, just like developing an awareness of emptiness. First you get the main point, slowly grow more familiar with it, and then just continue training in recognition. Mingyur Rinpoche
One of the most fundamental teachings of the Buddha is the Four Noble Truths. In fact the Four Noble Truths constitute the main theme within which all the Buddhist teachings can be understood to fit. Mingyur Rinpoche
Clarity is part of the mind from the beginning, a natural awareness. Just acknowledge it, simply notice that you’re aware. Mingyur Rinpoche
Meditation is a uniquely personal process, and no two people’s experience is alike. Mingyur Rinpoche
Thoughts are just thoughts. Feelings are just feelings. Sensations are just sensations. They come and go in waking life as quickly and easily as they do in dreams. Mingyur Rinpoche
When we meditate in this objectless state, we’re actually resting the mind in its natural clarity, entirely indifferent to the passage of thoughts and emotions. This natural clarity – which is beyond any dualistic grasping of subject and object – is always present for us in the same way that space is always present. Mingyur […]
It’s very important to understand what creates samsara, also called the realm of confusion. Samsara does not arise from external circumstances. It’s not tied to any particular object in the world around us. What creates samsara is how the mind habitually clings to its misperceptions of reality. Mingyur Rinpoche
Nothing in your experience – your thoughts, feelings, or sensations – is as fixed and unchangeable as it appears. Your perception are only crude approximations of the true nature of things. Actually, the universe in which you live and the universe in your mind form an integrated whole. Mingyur Rinpoche
Thoughts aren’t really fixed realities, but simply movements of the mind that is thinking. Mingyur Rinpoche
Whether we’re analyzing material objects, time, our “self,” or our mind, eventually we reach a point where we realize that our analysis breaks down. At that point our search for something irreducible finally collapses. In that moment, when we give up looking for something absolute, we gain our first taste of emptiness, the infinite, indefinable […]
At first, we may react to the truth of our precious impermanent body by grasping even more tightly to it. When we understand the big gap between what we want and how things actually work, we may feel resigned to begrudgingly accept that everything – including our own body and those of our loved ones […]
Any attempt to capture the direct experience of the nature of mind in words is impossible. The best that can be said is that it is immeasurably peaceful and, once stabilized through repeated experience, virtually unshakable. It’s an experience of absolute well-being that radiates through all physical, emotional and mental states – even those that […]
Our life is not preordained. We can change and control the direction of our life regardless of our past or present circumstances. But recognizing that we will die energizes our aspiration to create good karma. Everything is impermanent , and death comes without warning. Understanding karma makes our life meaningful right now. Each moment provides […]
Utilizing those few seconds when you find yourself willing or even desiring just to take a break from the daily grind to observe your mind rather than drifting off into daydreams. Practicing like this, “one drip at a time,” you’ll find yourself gradually becoming free of the mental and emotional limitations that are the source […]
Not to try to hold on to each thoughts as it arises. Whatever passes through the mind, we should just watch it come and go, lightly and without attachment, the way we’d practiced gently resting our attention on different kind of experiences. Mingyur Rinpoche
When we generate the motivation to lift not only ourselves but all sentient beings to the level of complete recognition of Buddha nature, an odd thing happens: The dualistic perspective of “self” and “other” begins very gradually to dissolve, and we grow in wisdom and power to help others as well as ourselves. Mingyur Rinpoche
If you find yourself struggling with a lot of distractions, you can use every distraction as an object of meditation. Then they cease to be distractions and become supports for your meditation practice. Mingyur Rinpoche
If you’re determined to think of yourself as limited, fearful, vulnerable, or scarred by past experience, know only that you have chosen to do so. Mingyur Rinpoche
Observation, giving bare attention to whatever you happen to be experiencing at a particular moment, is meditation. Mingyur Rinpoche
We think we’re being diligent by sitting down to meditate for hours at a stretch. But real diligence doesn’t mean forcing yourself beyond your natural limits; it means simply trying to do your best, rather then focusing on the result of what you’re trying to accomplish. It means finding a comfortable middle ground between being […]
