Thich Nhat HanhThe object of your practice should first of all be yourself. Your love for the other, your ability to love another person, depends on your ability to love yourself.
Mindfulness: The Mirror of the Mind ~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Nyoshul Khen RinpocheHomage to naturally arising, king-like mindfulness!
I am the mirror of mindfulness,
Clearly revealing carefulness and mindfulness.
Look, my vajra friends!
Seeing me, mindfulness is supported.Pray now to the Three Jewels,
Inseparable from the Lama-Guru!Undistractedly, look into the essence of mind!
Mindfulness is the root of the Dharma,
Mindfulness is the path’s main practice,
Mindfulness is a fortress for the mind,
Mindfulness is an aid to the wisdom of self-knowing rigpa,
Mindfulness is a support for Mahāmudrā, Dzogchen and Madhyamaka.Lacking mindfulness, we’re overcome by negative forces.
Lacking mindfulness, we’re beset by laziness.
Lacking mindfulness, we commit every wrong.
Lacking mindfulness, we fail to accomplish our aims.Mindlessness—it’s like a pile of shit!
Mindlessness—it’s like fishing on dry land!
Mindlessness—it’s like a heartless corpse!Make your mindfulness secure, my friends!
Through the heartfelt intentions of the precious teachers,
May we come now to recognize our own true mindfulness!This request, a spur to remember mindfulness,
Was offered to friends who possess the eyes of Dharma
By the terrible monk called Jamyang Dorje,
Who is really just a buck-toothed ox.Sarva mangalam!
The degree of self-clinging ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThe degree of self-clinging that we have is the measure of the harms we suffer.
Embracing the conditions that trouble us ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheMany people are attracted to Buddhism because they’ve read or heard somewhere that it offers a novel method of overcoming pain and attaining a measure of peace and well-being. It often comes as a shock that the teachings and practices laid out by the Buddha twenty-five hundred years ago do not in any way involve conquering problems or getting rid of the sense of loneliness, discomfort, or fear that haunts our daily lives. On the contrary, the Buddha taught that we can find our freedom only through embracing the conditions that trouble us.
Like space ~ Tilopa
TilopaIs space anywhere supported? Upon what does it rest?
Like space, mahamudra is dependent upon nothing;
Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity,
And, your bonds loosening, release is certain.
Aspiring to galvanize myriad manifestations of the Buddha ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIn the spirit of where there is a demand, there is supply, we should have aspirations and longing for the appearance of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to never to cease, and — to put it in a trendy term — their swift rebirth. But this rebirth should not be limited to a Tibetan child who has been raised in a particular culture or tradition. We can wish for Buddha’s rebirth in all forms, even as something seemingly insignificant as the breeze, to remind us of the values of love and compassion and tolerance. We must aspire to galvanize myriad manifestations of the Buddha, not just throne-hopping, Rolls Royce-driving tulkus who are a product of nepotism.
Fulfilling our goals ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaWe live in a world in which we are dependent on others; we cannot expect to fulfill our goals while disregarding others’ needs.
The actual nature of the mind ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheDon’t think of Buddhism as some kind of narrow, closed-minded belief system. It isn’t. Buddhist doctrine is not a historical fabrication derived through imagination and mental speculation, but an accurate psychological explanation of the actual nature of the mind.
Working with the present situation ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThe Buddhist tradition teaches the truth of impermanence, or the transitory nature of things. The past is gone and the future has not yet happened, so we work with what is here – the present situation. This actually helps us not to categorize or theorize. A fresh, living situation is taking place all the time, on the spot. This noncategorical approach comes from being fully here, rather than trying to reconnect with past events. We don’t have to look back to the past in order to see what people are made out of. Human beings speak for themselves, on the spot.
How can he help others across ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniIf a man going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current — how can he help others across.
The womb of the buddhas ~ Milarepa
MilarepaBehold and search your unborn mind;
Seek not for satisfaction in samsara.
I attain all my knowledge through observing the mind within.Thus all my thoughts become the teachings of dharma,
And apparent phenomena are all the books one needs.
Seeing the innate face of the self-mind is supreme,
How can common meditation match it?He who realizes the nature of his own mind knows
That the mind itself is wisdom-awareness,
And no longer makes the mistake of searching for Buddha from other sources.
In fact, Buddha cannot be found by searching,
So contemplate your own mind.
This is the highest teaching one can practice;
This very mind is the tathagatagarbha, buddha nature, the womb of the buddhas.
From then on ~ Shantideva
ShantidevaFrom the moment we genuinely take up
This irreversible attitude —
The mind that aspires to liberate entirely
The infinite realms of beings,From then on, even while asleep,
Or during moments of inattention,
A plentiful, unceasing force of merit
Will arise, equal to the vastness of the sky.
Focus and devotion ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaEven if you are sitting in the same place as the lama, without focus and devotion, you won’t receive many blessings.
Compassion and emptiness inseparable ~ Marpa
MarpaNonconceptual compassion
And the primordial nature of emptiness
Are inseparable in the nature of simplicity.
You should understand all dharmas like this.
Your life is running out ~ Padmasambhava
PadmasambhavaYour mind, the primordial buddha,
Searches elsewhere due to the power of desire.
Doesn’t it notice that it is wandering in samsara?
Now that you have obtained the precious human body,
You continuously get carried away by mundane actions.
Don’t you notice that your life is running out?
Compassion and diligence ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheA compassionate mind is a diligent mind.
Remain within your inner nature ~ Padmasambhava
PadmasambhavaA hundred things may be explained, a thousand told,
But one thing only should you grasp.
Know one thing and everything is freed –
Remain within your inner nature, your awareness!
May I offer benefit and joy ~ Geshe Langri Thangpa
Geshe Langri ThangpaIn brief, may I offer benefit and joy
To all my mothers, both directly and indirectly,
May I quietly take upon myself
All hurts and pains of my mothers.
The shadow of reality ~ Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu SuzukiAs long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
Like a rainbow ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheLike waves, all the activities of this life have rolled endless on, yet they have left us empty-handed. Myriads of thoughts have run through our minds, but all they have done is increase our confusion and dissatisfaction.
Normally we operate under the deluded assumption that everything has some sort of true, substantial reality. But when we look more carefully, we find that the phenomenal world is like a rainbow — vivid and colorful, but without any tangible existence.
When a rainbow appears we see many beautiful colors — yet a rainbow is not something we can clothe ourselves with, or wear as an ornament; it simply appears through the conjunction of various conditions. Thoughts arise in the mind in just the same way. They have no tangible reality or intrinsic existence at all. There is therefore no logical reason why thoughts should have so much power over us, nor any reason why we should be enslaved by them.