Just as it is impossible to buy anything without money or make anything without materials and tools, there is no way to attain enlightenment without practicing. Unless you practice properly, purifying your past negative actions and avoiding further downfalls, it is no good imagining that the Buddha will catch you with his hands and prevent your falling into the lower realms. It is true that no one in this world has greater compassion, wisdom, and ability than the Three Jewels, whose blessings are omnipresent. But if you do not have devotion and do not practice, you will not be open to the Buddha’s blessings, and even if he holds you in his hands, he will not be able to help you.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book Zurchungpa's Testament
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Further quotes from the book Zurchungpa's Testament:
- First mature your own mind
- What a waste of time
- Not outside yourself
- The three higher trainings
- Perceiving everything in its natural purity
- Like two expressions on the same face
- Just leave it like it is
- Free from the extreme of existence and that of nonexistence
- All perceptions are similar to a dream
- Complete absence of doubt
- Examine your actions very closely
- Not fabricated, never stained
- Projections of the mind
- Spontaneous devotion to your teacher
- Superficial dharma practice
- Just as space
- Recognizing awareness
- Nothing else than the projection of one’s own mind
- Suitable vessels