Thoughts are merely an impression of something being there. It is only when we fail to recognize the essence of this vividness that thoughts feel very concrete, if not overwhelming. However, when you look into the nature of thoughts and emotions, you will find that they only seem to exist; they have no concrete reality. […]
The practice of meditation consists of working with thought. As thoughts arise, they are the natural display of the mind, and we simply do not follow them. By not following them, we also don’t try to stop them or get rid of them. By not following our thoughts, we find that the thoughts will lessen […]
Thoughts are just displays of the mind. They may be waves stirring up the all-ground consciousness, but this is not a fault. If you just rest loosely in them, they will disappear right there. This is why when we meditate we should let the thoughts that occur in the sixth mental consciousness relax into the […]
Some people cannot enter the gate of Dharma at all. Their lives come to an end without their even hearing about the Dharma. Unlike such people, we have had the extremely good fortune to hear about the Dharma and even start to practice the Dharma, so there is no reason whatsoever to be discouraged. We […]
Whether or not we have great responsibilities to fulfill, whether or not we are very busy, whether or not we are rich, whether or not we are scholars, or whether or not we do menial labor, none of these things has any bearing on the practice of Mahamudra. Under any circumstances, we can always practice […]
When we watch a television program, we have no trouble identifying places, persons, animals, mountains, and so on. Through becoming involved with the program, we identify with what we are seeing and begin to feel an emotional response. Actually what we are looking at are not places, persons, animals, or mountains, but points of light […]
Suppose a teacher gives us the mind transmission, pointing out the nature of our mind when we are at the beginning of our path. We have this wonderful experience and think that something fantastic has happened to our meditation, but the next day the experience might not be so clear, and the following day, even […]
If we meditate on the mind, we can understand the mind as it is. With this understanding, whatever good qualities need to be developed will be developed, and whatever negative qualities need to be abandoned will be abandoned. Along the way good qualities, such as faith and confidence in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the […]
The main practice in vajrayana consists of the generation stage, the cultivation of the practice of regarding oneself as the deity. From an ordinary point of view, we might regard this as useless. We would think, “Well, I am not a deity. What use is there in pretending to be a deity?” But in fact, […]
Mindfulness has three characteristics. First, one has a sharpness and clearness of mind in which the instructions are not forgotten. Second, although the mind is very sharp and focused, there are not many thoughts arising because meditation is nonconceptual, so the mind is naturally focused one-pointedly on an object. Third, because one has trust and […]
Thrangu Rinpoche We shouldn’t feel that Dharma occurs only when we sit down and meditate. Dharma should be present with us all the time. Dharma should be practiced in everything we do, at all times and in all our actions. Of course, at the moment we can’t act like Milarepa or the Buddha, but at […]
What makes the bodhisattvas, the children of the buddhas, appear? First they generate strong compassion for all sentient beings. They appear because they have the mind of compassion and bodhicitta. Therefore, what we should really have the most interest in and the most faith in is compassion. The root from which all the happiness and […]
By acting with a completely pure attitude, we gather the accumulation of merit. Because of our gathering merit, difficulties and bad circumstances are naturally pacified, and if they should occur, we are able to transform them so that they do not manifest as obstacles. Thrangu Rinpoche
Making efforts in your practice, be diligent until there is certainty that the sign of having studied – your mind being peaceful and tamed – and the sign of meditation – being without afflictions – have arrived. Thrangu Rinpoche
I would like to stress that increasing one’s presence of mind and cultivating the stability of shamatha should not be confined to the meditation session. We should try to be more mindful in all situations and at all times in our lives. Thrangu Rinpoche
We shouldn’t feel that Dharma occurs only when we sit down and meditate. Dharma should be present with us all the time. Dharma should be practiced in everything we do and at all times and used in all our actions. Of course, at the moment we can’t act like Milarepa; and the Buddha, but at […]
Due to the absence of wisdom and awareness and due to having failed to learn how phenomena manifest and how they are, the mind has built up and developed the habitual pattern of ignorance since beginningless time and remains entangled in its darkness. Thrangu Rinpoche
It is important, in whatever practice you are doing, to cultivate mindfulness, alertness and carefulness in when you rise from meditation. Through inculcating these habits in your mind, then they will arise for you in the bardo. When the habits of mindfulness, alertness, carefulness, and so forth arise in the bardo, they will cause the […]
Supplication creates blessing, and although the blessing is understood as something given to you, something that somehow engulfs you from the outside, in fact blessing really isn’t given to you at all. When you supplicate, you generate faith and devotion. That faith and devotion cause the appearance of what we call blessing. Thrangu Rinpoche
Everything stands or falls with this point. Do we know the very identity of momentary thoughts to be the empty and luminously cognizant mind, or not? That is what makes the entire difference. If we know that the nature of any momentary thought or emotion is empty cognizance, we are no longer fooled by it. […]
