Practitioners sometimes endure long periods when their practice appears to have no effect on what seem to be particularly stubborn obstacles, and as a result assume their practice is not working. But they are wrong. With hindsight, they come to realise that the “obstacle” they so desperately wanted to eradicate was actually the best thing that ever happened them. This kind of turnaround is quite common, and with experience practitioners begin to appreciate that “bad” circumstances create a far more fertile ground for practice than “good” ones.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

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

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Further quotes from the book Not for Happiness:

• For the sake of all other beings
• What Is Bodhichitta
• What is merit
• Where does low self-esteem come from
• Our fundamental problem
• We must also practice it
• Altruism bolsters self-confidence
• Nothing genuinely works in samsara
• Our most important companion
• Self Trapped
• Relative and absolute truth
• Being able to start practicing right away
• It cannot be fixed
• Life is a stream of sensory illusions
• Rip that ego apart
• Sign of a mature practitioner
• Not designed to cheer you up
• Three higher trainings
• Dawn of wisdom