14th Dalai LamaWhat we want to eliminate is grasping that is grounded upon falsification of the object, distortions that arise as afflictions grasp at the apparent substantial existence of an object. Some texts say that mental states such as compassion and faith are, by their very nature, virtuous and thus cannot at the same time be afflicted mental states. Yet there are other texts that refer to “afflicted compassion” or “afflicted faith.” For those of us who have not realized emptiness, when we generate strong devotion toward the Buddha perhaps there is within that faith, within that devotion, an element of grasping at the Buddha as substantially real. This makes it an instance of so-called “afflicted devotion.”
Still, it is important to distinguish grasping rooted in falsification and distortion from the attachment, focus, or holding that we associate with compassion. In our immediate experience, these two forms of grasping may seem the same, but in terms of the overall mental environment they are quite different. Compassion is fact-based, while distorted grasping is not.
Our true nature and condition ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronThe Buddha said that we are never separated from enlightenment. Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state. This is a revolutionary assertion. Even ordinary people like us with hangups and confusion have this mind of enlightenment called bodhicitta. The openness and warmth of bodhicitta is in fact our true nature and condition.
Acknowledging illusion ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi RinpocheIllusion immediately becomes more workable when we acknowledge it as simply an illusion. The Western habit is to work against the grain and to try and organize the illusory into something solid and structured … In the stressful attempt to nail down the illusory nature of things, our chance to be at ease, spacious, awake, and free, which already exists within ourselves, gets lost.
Resting within the essence of the mind ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheThe method for taking all situations as the path is to rest within the essence of the mind. Within our minds, there are three aspects: the way things appear, how they are confused, and the way they actually are. We do not take our difficulties as the path in relation to how things appear or are confused, but in relation to how they actually are. We rest naturally within their nature — the clear and empty nature of the mind that is sometimes called the union of clarity and emptiness or the union of wisdom and the expanse. We rest within this, recognizing it. When we take sickness as the path, we look at the essence of the sickness without altering it in any way and just rest naturally within that. When we take the afflictions as the path, we just look at the essence of the greed, aversion, or delusion that has occurred. We do not follow the affliction or block it. We do not try to stop our thoughts. Instead, we look at those thoughts and at the afflictions that occur, and we rest naturally within their inherently empty essence.
Contacting the “real” Dhamma ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahThe Buddha wanted us to contact the Dhamma, but people only contact the words, the books and the scriptures. That is contacting that which is “about” Dhamma, and not contacting the “real” Dhamma as taught by our Great Teacher. How can people say that they are practicing well and properly if they only do that? They are a long way off.
An enlightened essence is present in everyone ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheForemost I would like to tell you that an enlightened essence is present in everyone. It is present in every state, both samsara and nirvana, and in all sentient beings; there is no exception. Experience your buddha nature, make it your constant practice, and you will reach enlightenment. In my lifetime I have known many, many people who attained such and enlightened state, both male and female. Awakening to enlightenment is not an ancient fable. It is not mythology. It actually does happen. Bring the oral instructions into your own practical experience and enlightenment is indeed possible; it is not just a fairy tale.
Because of bodhicitta ~ Khunu Rinpoche
Khunu RinpocheIt is because of bodhicitta that one gives up
the pleasure of meditative concentration,
and in order to relieve others of their suffering
goes down to the deepest hell as if into a pleasure park.
Leaving behind one’s homeland, ~ Gyelse Tokme Zangpo
Gyelse Tokme ZangpoThe practice of all the bodhisattvas is to leave behind one’s homeland,
Where our attachment to family and friends overwhelms us like a torrent,
While our aversion towards enemies rages inside us like a blazing fire,
And delusion’s darkness obscures what must be adopted and abandoned.
A firm determination to get out of samsara ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheA bedridden patient only thinks about getting well again. He or she has no wish to remain sick forever. Likewise, a practitioner who yearns to leave the miseries of samsara behind will make use of all the ways in which that can be done, such as taking refuge, generating the mind set on attaining enlightenment for the sake of others, undertaking positive actions and so on, with a firm determination to get out of samsara constantly in mind.
The Self ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheFrom time immemorial we have been addicted to the self. It is how we identify ourselves. It is what we love most dearly. It is also what we hate most fiercely at times. Its existence is also the thing that we work hardest to try to validate. Almost everything that we do or think or have, including our spiritual path, is a means to confirm its existence. It is the self that fears failure and longs for success, fears hell and longs for heaven. The self loathes suffering and loves the causes of suffering. It stupidly wages war in the name of peace. It wishes for enlightenment but detests the path to enlightenment. It wishes to work as a socialist but lives as a capitalist. When the self feels lonely, it desires friendship. Its possessiveness of those it loves manifests in passion that can lead to aggression. Its supposed enemies – such as spiritual paths designed to conquer the ego – are often corrupted and recruited as the self’s ally. Its skills in playing the game of deception is nearly perfect. It weaves a cocoon around itself like a silkworm; but unlike a silkworm, it doesn’t know how to find the way out.
It is not you ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche
Tai Situ RinpocheThe nature of mind has to be recognized by the nature of mind. It is not ‘you’ recognizing your nature of mind; it is your nature of mind recognizes your nature of mind. It is so easy therefore it is so difficult. It is there all the time. Our mind recognizes our nature of mind all the time. We are never separate. But somehow, as it is said in the mahamudra prayer, “self awareness, under the power of ignorance, is confused into a ‘self'”. So because of ignorance, the nature of mind that we recognize every moment, every moment we mistake it as ‘I’.
Happiness is here ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhLittle by little you must train yourself for life, for happiness. You probably received a college degree that you spent years working for, and you thought that happiness would be possible after you got it. But that was not true, because after getting the degree and finding a job, you continued to suffer. You have to realize that happiness is not something you find at the end of the road. You have to understand that it is here, now.
The truth which is natural to awareness ~ Tilopa
TilopaObsessive use of meditative disciplines or perennial study of scripture and philosophy will never bring forth this wonderful realization, this truth which is natural to awareness, because the mind that desperately desires to reach another realm or level of experience inadvertently ignores the basic light that constitutes all experience.
In the universal womb ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaIn the universal womb that is boundless space
All forms of matter and energy occur
As flux of the four elements,
But all are empty forms, absent in reality:
All phenomena, arising in pure mind, are like that.Just as dream is a part of sleep,
Unreal in its arising,
So all and everything is pure mind,
Never separated from it,
And without substance or attribute.Experience is neither mind nor anything but mind;
It is a vivid display of emptiness, like magical illusion,
In the very moment inconceivable and unutterable.
All experience arising in the mind,
At its inception, know it as emptiness!
The Wealth of Contentment ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaContentment is a wealth that gives the highest satisfaction, and we can gain it simply by mining our own mental resources, and knowing our own mind. We can cultivate the perspective that what we have is enough. We can see that we do not actually need more than we already have, and can be completely satisfied with that.
Wherever you are, enlightenment is there ~ Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu SuzukiYou think that you can only establish true practice after you attain enlightenment, but it is not so. True practice is established in delusion, in frustration. If you make some mistake, that is where to establish your practice. There is no other place for you to establish your practice.
We talk about enlightenment, but in its true sense perfect enlightenment is beyond our understanding, beyond our experience. Even in our imperfect practice enlightenment is there. We just don’t know it. So the point is to find the true meaning of practice before we attain enlightenment. Wherever you are, enlightenment is there. If you stand up right where you are, that is enlightenment.
The experience of natural mind ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheWhatever you experience when you simply rest your attention on whatever’s going on in your mind at any given moment is meditation. Simply resting in this way is the experience of natural mind.
Our constant pre-occupation ~ Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche
Khenpo Tsultrim RinpocheWe all act as if we had lasting, separate, independent selves that it is our constant pre-occupation to protect and foster. It is an unthinking habit that most of us would normally be most unlikely to question or explain. However, all our suffering is associated with this pre-occupation. All loss and gain, pleasure and pain arise because we identify so closely with this vague feeling of selfness that we have. We are so emotionally involved with and attached to this self that we take it for granted.
The root of suffering ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniThe root of suffering is attachment.
You dweller in distraction ~ Patrul Rinpoche
Patrul RinpocheListen up, old bad-karma Patrul,
You dweller-in-distraction.For ages now you’ve been
Beguiled, entranced, and fooled by appearances.
Are you aware of that? Are you?
Right this very instant, when you’re
Under the spell of mistaken perception
You’ve got to watch out.
Don’t let yourself get carried away by this fake and empty life.Your mind is spinning around
About carrying out a lot of useless projects:
It’s a waste! Give it up!
Thinking about the hundred plans you want to accomplish,
With never enough time to finish them,
Just weighs down your mind.
You’re completely distracted
By all these projects, which never come to an end,
But keep spreading out more, like ripples in water.
Don’t be a fool: for once, just sit tight.