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. […]
A mindfulness that is gentle and watchful means an alert mindfulness that is just enough. In other words, there is just enough intentional effort that you do not become distracted. If you maintain that, then over time the recognition of the lucid nature of mind will occur. Thrangu Rinpoche
All phenomena originate through dependence upon something else and have no true existence of their own. The realization of this fact is the realization of emptiness, and with this realization, the kleshas cease. Thrangu Rinpoche
When there are thoughts, mental images or perceptions, the usual habit is simply to lose control and be caught up in the show. We continually get absorbed in what is going on, instead of taking a good clear look at the perceiving mind. Thrangu Rinpoche
When we describe the mind as luminous and empty, the word “luminous” might suggest light, but that is not what it means. Instead, it means that the mind knows, that the mind understands. At the same time it is empty because it isn’t anything and it cannot be located. For instance, we speak of an […]
The result of practicing meditation is realization and experience. Meditation experiences are temporary and come rather quickly. Realization, however, is attained through the gradual process of meditation and is lasting. One has to work on attaining realization, and one should have no attachment to the experience of meditation whether good or bad. Thrangu Rinpoche
The problems we face with appearances and all of the suffering we experience as a result of appearances is not because of the appearances themselves but because of our fixation on them. It is our fixation upon appearances which turns appearances into enemies. Because these appearances are just appearances, they are just what appears to […]
Who feels angry? Where does this anger rise from? Is there a place where this anger is now? Is there someone who is angry, since we feel so strongly, “I am angry”? Is there a real substance, a force? Questioning in this way, it’s absolutely impossible to find such a thing. There is neither a […]
Resting in the natural state does not mean that you cannot think about things or work. The idea is to rest in the natural state and think at the same time. If you can do that, you can think things through and work but there are no painful or sharp feelings. Thrangu Rinpoche
Except for not putting forth the necessary exertion, there is no reason whatsoever why we cannot achieve complete enlightenment. Because we have this nature that allows for enlightenment to be achieved, we should never think, “I could practice forever and it won’t do any good.” Thrangu Rinpoche
Before, you didn’t know how to practice, and then you did. Many things changed as a result. Maybe you had no confidence in Dharma, and then you came to have confidence. You had no devotion, and then you came to have devotion. You came to have more compassion than you did before. Your meditation improved. […]
No matter what kind of thought arises, simply recognize that in essence it is always intangible, ungraspable; then no matter what kind of thought arises, it will subside and you will no longer be overcome by it. Thrangu Rinpoche
When, in the midst of the emergence of anger, you see and experience its emptiness directly, then it is naturally pacified. This works with any other kind of suffering or with any of the other kleshas as well. It is simply the recognition that there is really no thing there. This is the path of […]
When one is practicing the Dharma and there are no great obstacles, it is easy to develop internal obstacles to one’s practice. They occur because one begins to think that one has a great practice and feels very proud. This pride itself is a great obstacle to one’s Dharma practice and meditation. Thrangu Rinpoche
