Our society is very result-oriented, that’s why we are so competitive. That’s why we are always stressed, because we are always looking at something in the distance. If you are always looking at the top of the mountain you are climbing, you cannot be aware of the grass and flowers growing at your feet. We […]
Everything which we see and everyone we relate to, we relate to from this tight box of our very limited judgements, prejudices, ideas, conceptions. It’s like we’re in a very small prison cell, dungeon really. And so we begin to start a new kind of direction in our lives … but the important thing is […]
Sometimes, even if the lama is sitting in front of you, you can feel there’s a thousand miles between you; likewise, you can be a thousand miles away and feel that the guru is right there sitting in your heart. Tenzin Palmo
We never actually perceive what is there, only what is related back to us through our senses. The reality perceived by a fly, with its very differently structured eye and antennae, is very different from the reality we perceive, but it is equally valid from the fly’s point of view. We don’t see things better […]
This endless film show is being played in our mind – moment to moment mind states – and that is projected out in front of us as our external reality. Now as long as we are fascinated by the movie in front of us, then we believe it and we become deeply involved in what […]
The other paramitas (generosity;ethics;patience;joyous effort and concentration) are the legs and wisdom is the eyes. And if we are trying to get to the goal, we’ve got the legs, but we can’t see where we are going but if we only have eyes and no legs, we also are not going to get very far. […]
As we begin to develop awareness of the mind, the mind itself appears to divide into two. A new aspect of the mind arises. This is referred to variously as the witness, the seer, the knower, or the observer. It witnesses without judgment and without comment. Along with the arrival of the witness, a space […]
These basic rules of conduct: not killing, not stealing, being very careful and responsible in our sexual conduct, having ethical speech and not destroying our minds through drugs and alcohol – these are eternal rules of conduct… it’s like a cup: if we want to pour in the elixir of the dharma, we have to […]
Most people feel cozy enough in samsara. They do not really have the genuine aspiration to go beyond samsara; they just want samsara to be a little bit better. It is quite interesting that “samsara” became the name of a perfume. And it is like that. It seduces us into thinking that it is okay: […]
Samsara is not the planet, the planet is perfectly in sync, it’s the minds of the beings that inhabit the planet that makes it samsara or nirvana. When you enter nirvana you don’t suddenly disappear you’re still living on the same planet but the planet itself has transformed because the mind has transformed. It all […]
If we are serious about becoming the masters of our minds and emotions, instead of the slaves of our minds and emotions, if we are really serious about leading a life which will be of benefit for ourselves and others, we have to become selective. We cannot do everything in this lifetime. We cannot spend […]
