Kongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and ask them to grant their blessings, “So I may give birth to the heart of sadness.”

But what is a “heart of sadness”? Imagine one night you have a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later, whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change.

And the little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this inevitability is what is called the “heart of sadness.” Life, you realise, is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices

Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

Further quotes from the book Not for Happiness:

• Not designed to cheer you up
• Sign of a mature practitioner
• No end to samsara’s sufferings
• Intention to benefit all sentient beings
• Wishing happiness for those who have hurt you
• Filtered perception
• Being able to start practicing right away
• Sources of our inspiration
• Rip that ego apart
• Relative and absolute truth
• It’s all a matter of motivation
• The decision to follow a spiritual path
• Three higher trainings
• Opposite direction to dharma
• No substitute for being guided by a guru
• Maintaining a strong grip on the habits
• Merely the product of your own perception
• Dharma is not a therapy
• Our fundamental problem
• Sadness