Dwelling among the causes of death ~ Nagarjuna

You dwell among the causes of death like a butter lamp standing in a strong breeze.

Nagarjuna

Dealing with thoughts in meditation ~ Dudjom Rinpoche

When thoughts come while you are meditating, let them come; there’s no need to regard them as your enemies. When they arise, relax in their arising. On the other hand, if they don’t arise, don’t be nervously wondering whether or not they will. Just rest in their absence. If big, well-defined thoughts suddenly appear during your meditation, it is easy to recognize them. But when slight, subtle movements occur, it is hard to realize that they are there until much later. This is what we call namtok wogyu, the undercurrent of mental wandering. This is the thief of your meditation, so it is important for you to keep a close watch. If you can be constantly mindful, both in meditation and afterward, when you are eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting, that’s it – you’ve got it right!

Dudjom Rinpoche

Developing the determination not to behave self-indulgently ~ 14th Dalai Lama

Making a habit of concern for others’ well-being, and spending a few minutes on waking in the morning reflecting on the value of conducting our lives in an ethically disciplined manner, is a good way to start the day. The same is true of taking some time at the end of each day to review how successful in this we have been. Such a discipline is very helpful in developing our determination not to behave self-indulgently.

14th Dalai Lama

Expectations ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

The expectations that you bring to your meditation are often the greatest obstacles you will encounter.

Mingyur Rinpoche

The union of appearance and emptiness ~ Thrangu Rinpoche

When you dream of an elephant, does an elephant appear to your mind? Indeed it appears very clearly. Is there an elephant there? No. This appearance of an elephant in your dream is a union of appearance and emptiness. It appears, yet it does not exist – yet it appears. It is the same with all external phenomena. If we understand the example of the appearance of something in a dream, it is easier to understand how the mind appears yet does not exist, and does not exist yet appears.

Thrangu Rinpoche

Using mind’s vitality to deepen our practice ~ Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Sometimes practitioners resent disturbing thoughts and emotions or feel they should be exempt from them. This reflects a mistaken view of the purpose of practice. Instead of resenting mind’s vitality, we can use it to deepen and enrich our practice.
The point of practice is to work with both peaceful and unpeaceful states of mind. Generally, we find unpeaceful thoughts and emotions disturbing. If they relate to our well-being, anxiety arises. But it’s important to know that this is all very natural. Thoughts are the fruit of our karma; emotions and anxiety are like the juice of the fruit. Experiencing them doesn’t we necessarily mean we have lost our seat as a practitioner.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Fear of the unknown ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Secret yogis ~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

Even in this world, and even now, there are said to be many hidden yogis or discreet yogis, called bepay naljor in Tibetan. It means those realized ones who are not generally recognized as great spiritual sages or saints, but have deeply tasted the fruit of enlightenment, and are living it. Perhaps they are anonymously doing their good works here among us right now!
The infinite vast expanse is one’s own inconceivable nature. Who can say who has realized it and who hasn’t? When we travel around the world or experience other dimensions, there are so many beings who have tasted it. We can see it in their behavior, in their countenance, and in stories that are told—not just in the Dzogchen tradition or the Buddhist tradition, but in any tradition, and in our Western world too.
This true nature is so vast and inconceivable that even some birds and animals and beings in other unseen dimensions can be said to have realized it, as in some of the ancient Indian Jataka stories and other teaching tales. It is always said that everything is the self-radiant display of the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra. There are infinite numbers of Buddhas and infinite numbers of beings. Who can say who is excluded from it?

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

Awakening our unlimited potential ~ Pema Chödron

By becoming intimate with how we close down and how we open up, we awaken our unlimited potential.

Pema Chödron

Be without bias ~ Longchenpa

There might be excellent qualities in striving
For learnedness and purity,
But whatever we are attached to will only bind the mind stream.
‘To be without bias’ is my advice from the heart.

Longchenpa

Fearless simplicity ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche

The true bodhisattva spirit grows out of this personal sense of freedom. You discover that you don’t feel so needy anymore. You don’t crave another refueling – with shamatha or with other people’s love and attention – because you know within yourself how to be free, how to be confident. With this sense of security and freedom, you begin to direct your attention to the needs of others. The compassion expands. This is my point about inner simplicity as the basis for living fearlessly in a complex world.
This principle of fearless simplicity involves training in the two accumulations as a unity and experiencing the fruition of such training. We have found a true, effective remedy for ego-clinging, negative emotions, the twofold ignorance, and adversity. We have persevered in the two accumulations, and we have grown confident in liberation. We are now open and spacious, and from within that sense of fearless simplicity, we can accomadate all phenomena. We can naturally care for others unpretentiously; no one is a threat any longer.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Eating poisonous food ~ Chögyam Trungpa

If the practice of egolessness begins to become just another way of building up your ego – building your ego by giving up your ego – it is like eating poisonous food; it will not take effect. In fact, rather than providing an eternally awakened state of mind, it will provide you with death, because you are holding on to the ego. So if your reason for sitting or doing post-meditation practice is self-improvement, it is like eating poisonous food. “If I sit properly, with the greatest discipline and exertion, then I will become the best meditator of all” – this is a poisonous attitude.

Chögyam Trungpa

Malicious criticism of other traditions of dharma ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Malicious criticism of other traditions of dharma, in particular, is a major cause of the dharma as a whole declining and being corrupted. View all traditions and views as non-contradictory, and as true expressions of the Buddha’s teachings.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Look at the truth, not at other people ~ Ajhan Chah

Looking outside the self is to compare and to discriminate. You will not find happiness that way. Nor will you find peace, if you spend more time looking for a perfect person or the perfect teacher. The Buddha taught us to look at the Dhamma, the truth, and not to look at other people.

Ajahn Chah

The foundation of all good qualities ~ Lama Tsongkhapa

The foundation of all good qualities is the kind and venerable guru;
Correct devotion to him is the root of the path.
By clearly seeing this and applying great effort,
Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect.

Lama Tsongkhapa

Our relationships with others ~ 17th Karmapa

In our relationships with others, there is both benefit and harm. We could concentrate on the harm that has been done to us by other sentient beings, but there really is not much profit we can gain from that if we focus exclusively on the harmful relationships that we have…
But conversely, if we focus on the beneficial connections that exist between us and other sentient beings, then that is something that can bring a profit or benefit to us. It can help us increase our appreciation in our heart, increase our loving kindness and compassion.

17th Karmapa

Being aware of the activities of the mind ~ Krishnamurti

Meditation is to be aware of the activities of the mind – the mind as the mediator, how the mind divides itself as the mediator and the meditation, how the mind divides itself as the thinker and the thought, the thinker dominating thought, controlling thought, shaping thought.

Krishnamurti

Becoming friends with thoughts ~ Bokar Rinpoche

People with a misconception about meditation believe that all thoughts should cease. We cannot, in fact, establish ourselves in a state devoid of thoughts. The fruit of meditation is not the absence of thoughts, but the fact that thoughts cease to harm us. Once enemies, they become friends.

Bokar Rinpoche

Wholesome attitude ~ 14th Dalai Lama

Compassion, a sense of caring, thinking about others’ welfare. That sort of attitude brings me inner peace. It has defined the purpose of my life.