Achieving union ~ Longchenpa

Below rocky cliffs,
a vivid sense of impermanence and disenchantment dawns,
clear and inspired, helping us to achieve
the union of calm abiding and penetrating insight.

Longchenpa

Gathering up all the people ~ Ryokan

Oh that my monk’s robes were wide enough
to gather up all the people
in this floating world.

Ryokan

Superficial Dharma practices ~ Milarepa

In brief, without being mindful of death, whatever Dharma practices you take up will be merely superficial.

Milarepa

Impermanent as a water bubble ~ Lama Tsongkhapa

This life is as impermanent as a water bubble;
Remember how quickly it decays and death comes.
After death, just like a shadow follows the body,
The results of negative and positive karma ensue.

Lama Tsongkhapa

Right Speech ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Sometimes we speak clumsily and create internal knots in others. Then we say, “I was just telling the truth.” It may be the truth, but if our way of speaking causes unnecessary suffering, it is not Right Speech. The truth must be presented in ways that others can accept. Words that damage or destroy are not Right Speech. Before you speak, understand the person you are speaking to. Consider each word carefully before you say anything, so that your speech is “Right” in both form and content.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Overpowering images of the mind’s lucidity ~ Thrangu Rinpoche

When we watch a television program, we have no trouble identifying places, persons, animals, mountains, and so on. Through becoming involved with the program, we identify with what we are seeing and begin to feel an emotional response. Actually what we are looking at are not places, persons, animals, or mountains, but points of light on a tube in a little box. The confusion that is necessary to enjoy a television program is similar to bewilderment or ignorance, where the very vividness or intensity of the images of the mind’s lucidity overpowers the mind.

Thrangu Rinpoche

Dwelling in the simplicity of the present moment ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Do not encumber your mind with useless thoughts. What good is it to brood over the past and fret about the future? Dwell in the simplicity of the present moment. Live in harmony with the dharma. Make it the heart of your life and experience. Be the master of your own destiny.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Scientific analysis ~ 14th Dalai Lama

If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.

14th Dalai Lama

Plenty of space for thoughts and emotions ~ Lama Yeshe

We should train ourselves not to become engrossed in any of the thoughts continuously arising in our mind. Our consciousness is like a vast ocean with plenty of space for thoughts and emotions to swim about and we should not allow our attention to be distracted by any of them.

Lama Yeshe

The most important step in spiritual growth ~ Ling Rinpoche

The most important step in spiritual growth ist he decision to avoid evil and cultivate goodness within your stream of being. On the basis of this fundamental discipline, every spiritual quality becomes possible, even the eventual perfection of buddhahood.

Ling Rinpoche

Love is utterly kind ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Love includes accepting others and being noble, reasonable, openhearted, resourceful, and free of possessiveness. With love, you are totally gentle, utterly kind, thorough, wise, fearless, and willing to commit yourself to any situation. You are warriorlike, industrious, tireless, and never take time off for yourself. I think that covers the Buddhist version of the word love.

Chögyam Trungpa

Our shell ~ Taisen Deshimaru

We feel our shell keeps us safe, but it crushes us and others, and keeps out light and sun.

Taisen Deshimaru

Real measure of our development ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

The essence of the Buddha’s teachings was that while formal practice can help us to develop direct experience of emptiness, wisdom, and compassion, such experiences are meaningless unless we can bring them to bear on every aspect of our daily lives. For it’s in facing the challenges of daily life that we can really measure our development of calmness, insight, and compassion.

Mingyur Rinpoche

Finding real solitude ~ 17th Karmapa

Solitude is extremely important, especially for calm abiding or shamatha meditation. […] But actually, outer solitude is not as important as inner solitude, since all disturbances come from within. Therefore, it is more difficult to find inner solitude. We create our own crowd of thoughts that jostle our mind. Since they are within us, these distractions are not easily banished. Though difficult to find, inner solitude is the most important thing; outer solitude alone is not enough. Please try to find real solitude.

17th Karmapa

Like molding dough ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Like molding dough in your hand, you can definitely turn your mind whichever way you want.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Noble Eightfold Path ~ Buddha Shakyamuni

There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

Buddha Shakyamuni

Just know ~ Ajahn Chah

Just know what is happening in your mind – not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer see it, know it, and be empty. It’s like a letter – you have to open it before you can know what’s in it.

Ajahn Chah

Our greatest enemy ~ Kalu Rinpoche

Buddhist texts do not exaggerate when they say that our greatest enemy is clinging to a self. Why? We are caught in a situation where mind is incapable of directly experiencing its own essential emptiness, and instead posits a self that must be sustained. We thus develop all the needs and wants that must be gratified in order to maintain such a self. Suffering comes from the endless search to satisfy what cannot be satisfied. “I” leads to “I am” which leads to “I want” and so on.

Kalu Rinpoche

What? ~ Ponlop Rinpoche

To discover your real questions, simply take a time-out. Stop looking ahead of yourself at where you’re going or backward at where you’ve been. When you do stop, there’s a sense of going nowhere. There’s a sense of gap, which is a tremendous relief. You can simply breathe and be who you are. At the same time, there is a basic sense of “what?” Maybe that’s your first real question. Just be there with that “what?” with an open mind. That “what?” is like an open door. Something will come through it. It may be an answer or another question. You don’t have to do anything but be there to meet it.

Ponlop Rinpoche