The essential nature of a bodhisattva or a Buddha is that he or she embodies the enlightened qualities of the five Buddha families, which pervade every living being without exception, including ourselves. To achieve the realization of these five Buddha families it is necessary to abandon the five afflictions of attachment, anger, ignorance, pride, and […]
It is said that we must recognize the mind as it is, in other words as completely naked. “Naked” here means that the mind is not covered or obscured by anything. If we can really immerse our self within this original, bare state of mind, we will automatically understand the right view, and everything that […]
The novice meditator feels that there is someone meditating and something that is meditated upon — a mind and an object of meditation. It is by looking again and again into exactly what it is that meditates and what the object of meditation actually consists of that we find — not intellectually, but in actuality […]
Becoming attached to any type of meditation — experiences, visions, dreams, whatever — will bind you. Do not regard these things as having any particular positive or negative value or judge them as good or bad. They are just appearances within the mind, which do not justify desire or fear. Thrangu Rinpoche
When we are deluded about the natural state and roaming about in samsaric existence, is our nature in any way worsened? No, it is not. The basic state of Mahamudra, the natural state itself, is not spoiled by confusion. It does not change in any way whatsoever. Is the natural state of Mahamudra improved through […]
The Sanskrit word samadhi is translated in Tibetan as tingdzin, which literally means “deep holding.” The mind is held firmly and deeply so the meditation becomes very stable. Samadhi can refer to either tranquility meditation or insight meditation. By doing this deep meditation, we experience the flavor of samadhi—the exquisite taste of meditation. Thrangu Rinpoche
You must…be very careful not to mistake the idea of emptiness for the actual experience. The idea of emptiness has to do with intellectual understanding, proving assumptions and drawing conclusions, whereas experience is to see it for what it is, within you, not as a theory but in actuality. You should make sure that you […]
When you experience the nature of your own mind, it is in itself, in its own nature, something that is extraordinarily peaceful, extraordinarily pleasant and blissful. Thrangu Rinpoche
The nature of our mind is awareness, and awareness is naturally liberated. We do not need to do anything to it. We do not need to think of it as something to take up that we need more of, nor do we need to think of it as something bad to be blocked or suppressed. […]
The root of all happiness is the mind; the root of all suffering is the mind. The root of all afflictions and the root of all faith, devotion, love and compassion come down to the mind. If we know the nature of our mind, we can make use of the great treasure and eventually gain […]
Not recognizing the emptiness of phenomena is the cause of suffering. If we have a strong belief in external phenomena, this leads us to regard external phenomena as either good or bad. If we feel that the external phenomena are good, then we develop strong attachment to these external phenomena. If we regard external phenomena […]
The realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by searching for it from afar. It is present within the essence of the mind itself. If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough. It is not as if we were lacking something before, so […]
First of all, what do we mean by meditation and post-meditation? When faults such as heaviness and wildness of mind have been cleared away and the mind rests within meditation, this resting within recognition of mind as it is—that is what is meant by meditation. When one has “risen from that,” which does not mean […]
It is not that the discovery of the nature makes the mind empty, because the mind has always been so. The problem is that we have never looked into our mind. We have always turned and looked outward, or away from it. Thrangu Rinpoche
It is said that we must recognize the mind as it is, in other words as completely naked. “Naked” here means that the mind is not covered or obscured by anything. If we can really immerse our self within this original, bare state of mind, we will automatically understand the right view, and everything that […]
If one practices śamatha meditation without vipaśyanā, one will not be able to understand the true nature of phenomena; one will just be able to rest the mind on something. It is like being on a vacation; one experiences peace on a vacation, but one does not get any lasting results from it. If you […]
The method for taking all situations as the path is to rest within the essence of the mind. Within our minds, there are three aspects: the way things appear, how they are confused, and the way they actually are. We do not take our difficulties as the path in relation to how things appear or […]
The Buddha taught that the mind is responsible for us attaining Buddhahood and mind is also responsible for us wandering in samsara. The Buddha has said that the mind is like an artist who paints whatever they want. The mind uses the five mental aggregates of form, feeling, identification, formation, and consciousness to create whatever […]
Just because mind, in its nature, is non-arising and empty, we cannot pretend that nothing exists, that there is no good and evil, no pleasure or pain, etc… In fact, the more the experience of our true nature deepens, the more we realize that we should be ever more careful in our behavior, attitudes, and […]
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 […]
