Even though we don’t consider ourselves to be so desperate, and believe that we are well educated, sane, and sober, when we see and feel that everything truly exists, we are behaving like the man in the desert. We rush to find authentic companionship, security, recognition, and success, or simply peace and quiet. We may even succeed in grasping some semblance of our desires. But just like the wanderer, when we depend on external substantiation, eventually we are disappointed. Things are not as they seem: they are impermanent and they are not entirely within our control.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist
Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:
- Corrosion begins as soon as creation begins
- What is life?
- Fearlessness
- Like a child at the cinema
- Change is inevitable
- Where will they scatter my ashes
- Being a Buddhist
- Pride and pity
- Our true nature is like a wineglass
- The cup that holds the teachings
- Enlightened beings may seem insane
- The habit of self
- Happily ever after
- Clinging to our hopes and fears
- Today is the death of yesterday
- Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence
- Nonviolence
- The real enemy
- Like moths to the flame