Thrangu RinpocheWe need to make our preparations now and be diligent about it. We may think, “I really want to practice the Dharma, but right now I’m really busy. I have a lot of things to do. I’ll get to the Dharma when my work is done.” This way of thinking is an obstacle that will prevent us from practicing the Dharma. If we are busy doing something right now, then when we are done, something else will come up to keep us busy, and when that’s done, there will be something else, and something else after that. There’s just one thing after another that we have to do, and we end up with no opportunity to practice the Dharma at all.
True compassion ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheIn each of our countless lives in beginningless samsara, we must have had parents. In fact, we have taken birth so often that, at one time or another, every single sentient being must have been our mother or father. When we think of all these beings who have been our parents wandering helplessly for so long in samsara, like blind people who have lost their way, we cannot but feel tremendous compassion for them.
Compassion by itself, however, is not enough; they need actual help. But as long as our minds are still limited by attachment, just giving them food, clothing, money, or simply affection will only bring them a limited and temporary happiness at best. What we must do is to find a way to liberate them completely from suffering. This can only be done by putting the teachings of Dharma into practice.
True compassion is directed impartially toward all sentient beings, without discriminating between those who are friends and those who are enemies. With this compassion constantly in mind, we should perform every positive act, even offering a single flower or reciting a single mantra, with the wish that it may benefit all living creatures without exception.
Negativity begets negativity ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronWe can rightly say that the thinning of the ozone layer is a scientific fact; it’s not simply an opinion. But if the way we work with trying not to further harm the ozone layer is to solidify our opinion against those we feel are at fault, then nothing ever changes; negativity begets negativity. In other words, no matter how well documented or noble our cause is, it won’t be helped by our feeling aggression toward the oppressors or those who are promoting the danger. Nothing will ever change through aggression.
Bodhichitta is very specific ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche
Tai Situ RinpocheBodhichitta is peace. Sometimes I feel people misunderstand, or do not understand clearly, the difference between basic compassion and Bodhichitta. If you are able to spend a few hours doing something for somebody you don’t even know people might call you a bodhisattva. They may say, “Oh, he or she is so kind, they are a Bodhisattva.” This is not necessarily so. A kind person is not necessarily a Bodhisattva. Being kind is very good, being a compassionate person is very good, but it does not necessarily make us a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva has to be kind and compassionate for a reason. A bodhisattva is kind and compassionate in that they are working to establish all beings as Buddhas. In this way Bodhichitta is very specific.
The state of evenness ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaWhen unwanted things befall you,
Rid yourself of your displeasure.
For if there is a remedy,
What need is there for it?And if no change is possible,
What point is there in useless irritation?
Therefore simply bear with all that may befall you.
When examined, there is only space-like emptiness.There’s no happiness or sadness and no loss or gain.
There is neither good nor bad —
What use is there in such dualistic grasping?
Strive to bring all things into the state of evenness.
Beyond habitual patterns ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheWhen we are not constricted by habitual patterns that define how we see ourselves and how we behave in the world, we create access to those qualities of mind that are vast, that are not contingent on circumstances or concepts, and that are always present.
Beyond concepts ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIn the practice of meditation, opinions may provide a way to escape; they create a kind of slothfulness and obscure one’s clarity of vision. The clarity of our consciousness is veiled by prefabricated concepts. Whatever we see we try to fit into some pigeonhole. So concepts and theories can become obstacles. In the practice of meditation, one tries to transcend concepts, and one tries to find out what is.
Essentially luminous and knowing ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaAccording to a basic Buddhist insight, the mind is essentially luminous and knowing. Therefore, emotional problems do not reside in the mind’s essence; counter-productive attitudes are temporary, superficial, and can be removed. If distressing emotions such as anger were in the very nature of the mind, then from its inception, the mind would always have to be angry. Obviously, this is not so. Only under certain circumstances do we become angry, and when those circumstances are not present, anger is not present either.
Mahamudra meditation and Mind Training ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheWe may ask how Mahamudra meditation and Mind Training are related. There are two kinds of truths or realities, the conventional and ultimate. Mahamudra is a very high-level teaching that concerns the ultimate truth of reality. But sometimes we are unable to realize that ultimate meaning, and because of this, various things happen to us. Sometimes our meditation goes very well, but at other times our diligence decreases, our pride increases, and our meditation doesn’t go the way it should. During these down times, the instructions of Mind Training are very beneficial to practice.
To be there 100 percent ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhBe there with 100 percent of yourself. In every moment of your daily life. That is the essence of true Buddhist meditation. Each of us knows that we can do that, so let us train to live each moment of our daily life deeply. That is why I like to define mindfulness as the energy that helps us to be there 100 percent. It is the energy of your true presence.
Not being afflicted by the hindrances ~ Gyatrul Rinpoche
Gyatrul RinpocheIf you are a dharma practitioner, the meaning of not being afflicted by the hindrances that arise from enemies, illness, malevolent spirits or anything thing else is not that you are actually going to be able to prevent the arising of such things in the future. In fact, killing one enemy will not guarantee you that a second one is not going to manifest. Or by freeing yourself from one illness, you cannot be guaranteed in cyclic existence that you are not going to acquire a new one. What this does mean, rather, is that hindrances are not able to arise as obstacles to the spiritual path. You do not and cannot avert them completely, but they do cease to hinder progress on the path because they become part of the path.
The possibility of being able to expand ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronThere’s no problem with being where you are right now. Even if you feel loving-kindness and compassion for only one sentient being, that is a good place to start. Simply acknowledging, respecting, and appreciating the warmth is a way to encourage its growth. We can be where we are and at the same time leave wide open the possibility of being able to expand far beyond where we are now in the course of our lifetime.
Formal meditation practice ~ Gyaltsab Rinpoche
Gyaltsab RinpocheFormal meditation practice is important because our minds are constantly involved with any number of preoccupations, misconceptions and fixations. There is a sense of having spread ourselves too thin. But through the practice of meditation we can begin to experience a sense of groundedness and simplicity. We can begin to have some idea of who we are and what it is we are doing. Fundamental issues, which were previously sources of confusion for us, can begin to take on clarity and certainty. When we practice meditation, we think and analyze more clearly and effectively.
The dharmakāya’s very own face – Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi LodröPure awareness of the unborn dharmakāya
Is not created by cause or condition, but is naturally occurring.
Vividly alert, fresh and nakedly clear,
Unstained by thoughts of perceiver or perceived,
Unspoiled by presumptive understanding—
In this natural experience of concentration, remain.
‘Remain’, however, is but an expression —
In reality, there is no one that remains, nor any remaining as such.In this rigpa-emptiness — the dharmakāya’s very own face —
Abide at all times, in undistracted recognition.
Compassion that has power ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheOrdinary love and compassion are compared to a mother with no arms who sees her only child being carried away by a river and cannot do anything to save her child. But the compassion developed from directly seeing buddha nature is not this helpless kind of compassion; it is a compassion that has power. Therefore, when there is direct realization of buddha nature, there arises wisdom, compassion, and the power to end samsara.
Morning contemplation ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaAs soon as I wake up in the morning, I remind myself that nothing exists as it appears. Then I think about sentient beings who want happiness, but experience suffering. I generate compassion for them, determined to help them as much as I can to eliminate their negative emotions.
Unless mind is tamed within ~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro ThayeUnless mind is tamed within,
Outer enemies will be inexhaustible.
If you tame the anger within,
All enemies on earth will be pacified.
Developing clarity and the ability to help others ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniYou should inquire deeply and directly into the distress of the mind and find out what has been created and who is the self that is suffering. Without this understanding, you can’t develop clarity and the ability to help others. A person may be expert at undoing knots, but if he never sees that there is a knot in front of him, how will he undo it? Without clear and direct looking, you will be locked into time and space and unable to free yourself from the material world.
Like the events in a dream ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThe various activities of ordinary life follow one after another like the waves of the ocean. The rich never feel they have enough money; the powerful never feel they have enough power. Think about it: the best way to satisfy all your desires and complete all your projects is to abandon them.
A realized being sees the preoccupations of ordinary people as being like the events in a dream, and watches them like an old man watching children play. Last night you dreamed, perhaps, of being a great king, but when you woke up, what was left? What you experience in the waking state has scarcely more reality than that.
Rather than pursuing these elusive dreams, let your mind rest in serene contemplation, free of mental agitation and distraction, until the realization of emptiness becomes an integral part of your experience.
The six perfections ~ Dezhung Rinpoche
Dezhung RinpocheNagarjuna summarizes the six perfections in a few short verses, to the effect that giving means to give freely your own possessions; morality consists of accomplishing the benefit of others; patience is giving up anger; vigor is the apprehension of virtue; meditation is the undefiled, single pointed state of mind; and wisdom is ascertainment of the ultimate nature of reality.
Also, each paramita has its particular benefit: giving begets prosperity; morality, well-being; patience, radiance; vigor, splendor; meditation, a tranquil mind; and with wisdom, liberation is gained.