Desire and attachment won’t change overnight, but desire becomes less ordinary as we redirect our worldly yearning toward the aspiration to become enlightened for the benefit of others. At the same time, we don’t abandon the ordinary objects of our desires – relationships, wealth, fame – but our attachment to them lessens as we contemplate their impermanence. Not rejecting them, rejoicing in our fortune when they arise, yet recognizing that they won’t last, we begin to build qualities of spiritual maturity. As our attachment slowly decreases, harmful actions that would normally result from attachment are reduced. We create less negative karma, more fortunate karma, and the mind’s positive qualities gradually increase.

Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

from the book Gates to Buddhist Practice: Essential Teachings of a Tibetan Master

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Further quotes from the book Gates to Buddhist Practice:

• Stopping the extreme swings of the emotional pendulum
• Changing the way the mind experiences reality
• Understanding how delusion arises
• Reducing self-importance
• Acceptance of what we have