We actively nurture our love by working wholeheartedly on ourselves. This is the way our own spiritual practice can become a condition that helps love to last. Spiritual practice means transforming ourselves. It means changing. We cannot hope to just find love and keep it on a shelf – as if I have given you my love, you have given me your love, and now we just have to brush the dust off it from time to time, and we are basically done. Contrary to this, love is a living thing. Like a tree, it needs to grow continually, yielding fresh cycles of leaves and flowers and fruit. If this stops, the tree stagnates and eventually dies. Once we embrace love as a fully active practice, only then can we begin to speak of undying love.
17th Karmapa
from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out
translated by Ngodup Tsering Burkhar & Damchö Diana Finnegan
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book The Heart Is Noble:
- Greed is a recipe for dissatisfaction
- The Wealth of Contentment
- True Wealth
- Social action
- Life in Balance
- The intention to work for others
- The kindness we receive from others
- Boxed limitless potential
- Nothing is intrinsically bad
- Protective Inner Wisdom
- Taking delight in your inner nature
- Reality is your teacher
- Healthy relationships
- There are no fixed starting points
- A noble vision
- Disconnected from our own noble heart
- Authentic love toward others
- Capacity for Change
- Finding our nobility of heart
- Loving Responsibility