Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi LodröAlthough you’ve met many authentic masters,
And received a few teachings on sūtra and tantra,
Your character remains as tough and rigid as stone,
Yet still you think you’re improving — how gullible you must be!
Examine your actions very closely ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheIt is important to examine your actions very closely. Particularly with minor negative actions, we do not see what the results will be immediately, but it is certain that those actions will mature and that we will have to experience the result. Enlightened beings can see this very clearly. For them even the most minute negative action is like a speck of dust in one’s eye – one has to get rid of it immediately. We ordinary beings, on the other hand, are unable to see the consequences of our actions. We are unaware of our minor deeds and lose track of them like an arrow shot into a thick forest. We act without understanding where our actions will lead. But if we had the vision of an enlightened being, we would see that even the minutest action has a result.
In touch with the wonders of life ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhOur true home is the present moment. If we really live in the moment, our worries and hardships will disappear and we will discover life with all its miracles. Real life can only be found and touched in the here and now. This is because the present moment is the only moment we can actually experience and influence. The past is over and the future has not yet arrived. Since the present moment is the only real moment for us, we can always return here to get in touch with the wonders of life.
Being different from before ~ Ling Rinpoche
Ling RinpocheUse the Dharma that you have studied to change your mind, to be different from before. That is the purpose of Dharma, and if you can use it to change your mind in this way you won’t be poor in Dharma. As Tewugen Rinpoche said: Those who know the secret of turning iron into gold through alchemy never experience material poverty.
A sectarian person ~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro ThayeJust as a king overpowered by self-interest
Is not worthy of being the protector of the kingdom,
A sectarian person is not worthy of being a holder of the dharma.
Not only that, he is unworthy of upholding even his own tradition.
Remaining in the nakedness of ultimate reality ~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom RinpocheTake your stand on the ultimate practice of the heart essence — samsara and nirvana are the display of awareness. Without distraction, without meditation, in a state of natural relaxation, constantly remain in the pure, all-penetrating nakedness of ultimate reality.
Uprooting grasping at self ~ Tulku Thondup Rinpoche
Tulku Thondup RinpocheTo uproot grasping at self, we need to realize wisdom. To realize wisdom, we need merit. Merit releases us from negative emotions, the cause of samsaric suffering, and loosens our grasping at self. As that happens, we glimpse the true nature of our mind. Once we do, we can meditate on the true nature to perfect the realization of wisdom. Until then, we need to make merit.
The pain of exposing ourselves ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaWe tend to seek an easy and painless answer. But this kind of solution does not apply to the spiritual path, which many of us should not have begun at all. Once we commit ourselves to the spiritual path, it is very painful and we are in for it. We have committed ourselves to the pain of exposing ourselves, of taking off our clothes, our skin, nerves, heart, brains, until we are exposed to the universe. Nothing will be left. It will be terrible, excruciating, but that is the way it is.
Compassion is the root of all practice ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThe roots of Buddhist practice are the attitude of altruism and non-harm. In other words, the roots of Buddhist practice are loving kindness and compassion. From among these two qualities, I think that compassion is foremost: in general, we develop loving kindness by relying on compassion… Our compassion must have a broad focus, not only including ourselves, but including all sentient beings… According to the Mahayana teachings, all sentient beings have been our parents in the past, some are our current parents and some will be our parents in the future. For this reason, all sentient beings have a connection of affection towards us… all of these sentient beings are individuals with whom we are connected… When our compassion becomes genuine and deep, our actions for the benefit of others will be effortless and free from doubt.
The quickest way to full enlightenment ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa RinpocheStrong compassion is the foundation that causes you to achieve full enlightenment most quickly. If you want to achieve full enlightenment in order to liberate all sentient beings from suffering and bring them to full enlightenment, the quickest way is to generate strong compassion.
Happiness is suffering in disguise ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahIn truth, happiness is suffering in disguise but in such a subtle form that you don’t see it. If you cling to happiness, it’s the same as clinging to suffering, but you don’t realize it. When you hold on to happiness, it is impossible to throw away the inherent suffering. They’re inseparable like that. Thus the Buddha taught us to know suffering, see it as the inherent harm in happiness, to see them as equal. So be careful! When happiness arises, don’t be overjoyed, and don’t get carried away. When suffering comes, don’t despair, don’t lose yourself in it. See that they have the same equal value.
Time to think more wisely ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaThe seed of nirvana exists in all of us. The time has come to think more wisely, hasn’t it?
Life is precious ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi RinpocheAs a father myself, I am a bit sensitive to the needs of children, to their fears and nightmares, their longings, the pressures that their friends and the cultures within which they are raised exert upon them. After my daughters were born, each time I held their small bodies in my arms – listening to their breath, watching their eyes move back and forth, seeing them smile – I was reminded of one of the most basic of the Buddha’s teachings: that all life is precious and that protecting and preserving life is our most important responsibility.
Spacious control ~ Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu SuzukiTo give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control him.
Be without hope and fear ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaThrough taking on responsibility, bearing witness, enforcing the law and so on,
We reconcile people in their disputes, thinking this benefits them,
But still, aversion and attachment arise.
‘To be without hope and fear’ is my heart advice.
Insignificant details are significant ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaAttempts are made to develop awareness through awareness of body, awareness of surroundings, and also through group work of various kinds. But there’s a problem if we are unable to relate with and appreciate the insignificant details of our everyday life. Doing special body awareness practices might seem extraordinarily fruitful and liberating. Nevertheless, there’s still a dichotomy in your life. You feel the importance and the seriousness of the awareness practice in which you’re involved, but in fact, the more you feel that the whole thing is important and serious, the more your development of awareness is going to be destroyed. Real awareness cannot develop if you are trying to chop your experience into categories and put it into pigeonholes.
Abiding in openness ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronWe love to talk about vast, open mind, completely clear and spacious. But can we abide in the openness that presents itself when the bottom falls out of our dream?
Happily ever after ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheSubconsciously we are lured by the expectation that we will reach a stage where we don’t have to fix anything ever again. One day we will reach “happily ever after.” We are convinced of the notion of “resolution.” It’s as if everything that we’ve experienced up until now, our whole lives to this moment, was a dress rehearsal. We believe our grand performance is yet to come, so we do not live for today.
Same essence but separate from of manifestation ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheIf our buddha nature is beyond delusion and liberation, can’t we also say that we are in essence primordially enlightened? We could possibly succeed in convincing ourselves with such a philosophical trick, but it’s not really true, because we have already strayed onto the path. If we had never fallen into confusion, we could rightfully claim to be primordially enlightened. But unfortunately it is too late to make that claim. Our precious wish-fulfilling jewel has already fallen into the stinking mud.
Primordial enlightenment means that ground and fruition are identical and there is no path of delusion to be cleared away. This is definitely different than the situation of us who have already strayed onto the path and therefore need to clear away delusion in order to reach fruition. Take the example of a myriad of jewels: some are covered with mud, some are clean. All of them are jewels, but each one is distinctly individual. Sentient beings’ minds cognize individually, so we have to say that they are separate.
This is quite a good example, to view all beings and buddhas as countless jewels, some covered with dirt, some clean. They are not identical even though they have the same qualities. If the minds of all sentient beings were one, then when one individual attains enlightenment, everybody else would be liberated at the same moment. But if you attain enlightenment it doesn’t mean that I will be enlightened. Understand it this way: although beings have similar qualities, we are not one. We have the same essence, which is empty and cognizant, but our form of manifestation is separate, distinct from that of another sentient being.
If I recognize buddha nature and attain enlightenment it doesn’t mean that another person also recognizes and attains enlightenment. Sorry about that! If beings shared both the same essence and manifestation, when one reached enlightenment everyone else would too. We are like pure gold scattered in different places: equal quality, but separate pieces. Likewise with water: the properties of water are identical, but there is water in many diverse locations in this world. Or think of space inside our different houses – the same space but with various shapes. The empty cognizance is identical, but the ‘form’ around it is distinctly individual. Some jewels were lucky, others fell in the mud.
Not alone ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheThere’s an old story, told in several sutras, about a woman who had suffered the death of her young son. She refused to believe that her son was dead, however, and ran from house to house in the village asking for medicine to revive her child. Of course, no one could help her. The boy was dead, they pointed out, trying to help her accept the situation. One person, however, recognizing that her mind was deranged by grief, advised her to seek the Buddha — the most capable of physicians — who was staying in a monastery nearby. Grasping her child closely to her chest, she ran to where the Buddha was staying and asked him for medicine to help her child. The Buddha was in the middle of giving a talk in front of a large number of people; but the woman pushed through, and seeing her distress, the Buddha answered her request. “Go back to your village,” he advised, “and bring me back a few mustard seeds from a house where no one has ever died.” She ran back to her village and began asking each of her neighbors for mustard seeds. Her neighbors were happy to give them through an experience that cut deeper than words that she was not the only person in the world who had suffered a terrible personal loss. Change, loss, and grief were common to all. Though still grief stricken by the death of her son, she recognized that she was not alone and her heart cracked open. After the funeral ceremonies for her son were completed, she joined the Buddha and the disciples around him. She devoted her life to assisting others in achieving the same degree of recognition.