Chögyam TrungpaIgnorance is the sense of having one particular aim and object and goal in mind. And that aim and object, that goal-mindedness, becomes extremely overwhelming, so you fail to see the situation around you. That seems to be the ignorance. Your mind is highly precoccupied with what you want, so you fail to see what is.
Accommodating anything that arises ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronMeditation gives us the opportunity to have an open, compassionate attentiveness to whatever is going on. The meditative space is like the big sky — spacious, vast enough to accommodate anything that arises.
Benefits of mastering your mind ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheIf you master your mind, it will remain naturally concentrated, peaceful and aware. You will even be able to wander around in a crowd without being distracted and carried away by desire or aversion.
Admiting all experiences ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronRight here, exactly where we are, we can live from a broader perspective, one that admits all experiences – pleasurable, painful and neutral. We are free to appreciate the infinite possibilities that are always available, free to recognize the natural openness, intelligence and warmth of the human mind.
Letting go ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahIf you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.
A little twist ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronAll of life is interconnected. If something lives, it has life force, the quality of which is energy, a sense of spiritedness. Without that, we can’t lift our arms or open our mouths or open and shut our eyes. If you have ever been with someone who is dying, you know that at one moment, even though it might be quite weak, there’s life force there, and then the next moment there is none. It’s said that when we die, the four elements—earth, air, fire, water—dissolve one by one, each into the other, and finally just dissolve into space. But while we’re living, we share the energy that makes everything, from a blade of grass to an elephant, grow and live and then inevitably wear out and die. This energy, this life force, creates the whole world. It’s very curious that because we as human beings have consciousness, we are also subject to a little twist where we resist life’s energies.
Your practice of morality ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaWhatever realization you gain from your practice of the Dharma should be valued and judged on the basis of whether your commitment to the law of karma has increased and, as a result, whether your practice of morality has become pure and whether the force of delusions, like ignorance, hatred, and desire, has decreased within you.
Beneficial practice ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheFind and work with a practice that produces a sense of calmness, clarity, confidence, and peace. If you can do that, you will benefit not only yourself, but also everyone around you.
Just keep opening and unfolding ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaYou should look into your confusion further. You should push into it instead of closing yourself off. In that way, you just keep opening and unfolding, like flowers in the summertime. Even though they are exposed to the weather, to the wind and rain, flowers still keep unfolding themselves, until finally they bloom at their best. You could be like the flowers: you could let the bees sit on you and take your honey away, and that would be fine. You should not take time off from your confusion, or from the inconvenience or embarrassment of seeing that confusion.
Experiences ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaTo live as equals with others requires a wide range of experience. The wise have much experience and fools have little. To gain experience, you need to go through good and bad times. How can you grow if your experiences are always the same? Anything that happens, good or bad, can be constructive in the end — as long as you learn something useful from it. So when you face difficulties, don’t feel too bad!
We All Have Something to Offer to Each Other ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWe human beings are all parts of the same body. Just because we do not wish to acknowledge another person’s importance does not mean that this person is unimportant to our well-being. Just because we do not wish to acknowledge what we share with others does not mean that we can separate ourselves from them. Interdependence is an inescapable truth of our existence.
Of course, we are not all identical. Because certain differences do exist between us, we all have something to offer each other. We can work together making our diverse and complementary contributions. Because we are all part of the same social body, it is in our own best interest to assure that we can all function well together.
When anxiety subsides ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaWhen we begin to perceive the phenomenal world with a sense of basic goodness, peace, and beauty, conflict begins to subside and we start to perceive our world clearly and thoroughly. There are no questions, no obstacles. As anxiety subsides, sense perceptions become workable because they are no longer distorted by any neurosis. Through the practice of meditation, we can relate with our thoughts, our mind, and our breath and begin to discover the clarity of our sense perceptions and our thinking process.
We are all the same ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaHuman beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering, and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner, believer or nonbeliever, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value we are all the same.
The living quality of peace ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaRenunciation in this instance is not just throwing things away but, having thrown everything away (or given everything up), we begin to feel the living quality of peace. This peace is not feeble peace, feeble openness, but it has a strong character, an invincible quality, an unshakable quality, because it admits no gaps of hypocrisy. It is complete peace in all directions, so that not even a speck of a dark corner exists for doubt and hypocrisy. Complete openness is complete victory because we do not fear; we do not try to defend ourselves at all.
Resting the mind in its natural state ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheThinking is the natural activity of the mind. Meditation is not about stopping your thoughts. Meditation is simply a process of resting the mind in its natural state, which is open to and naturally aware of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they occur.
A Visionary Aspiration ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaOm Swasti.
From the state of peace, in nature an expanse of profundity and clarity,
The vast space of dharmakaya, all-pervading absolute truth,
Resounds graceful music, connate magic,
The pleasant melody of myriads of excellent virtues.At the sunset of Shakyamuni’s doctrine,
The approach of the waning of the youthful rays,
Appears a torch smiling like the moon’s face,
Three secrets that gracefully ornament the sky of the victor’s doctrine.In the vast park of endless existence,
Bloom poisonous leaves, the appearances of bewilderment.
The suffering of these appearances, their taste and potency,
Is this really worthy of praise as a true medicine?On the vast face of the luminous sky
Clouds of merit play, delighting all.
Through the cooling, honeyed rain of camphor, bodhicitta,
May all enjoy the nutriment of the definitively secret result.On the calyx, a thousand varieties of discernment,
Rests sweet dew, the full potency of virtues long established.
Upon its being drunk by the bee, the clear intellect,
Songs are sung, accompanied by the dance of great bliss.In evil times of the full five-fold degeneration, the obscuration of youth,
The behavior of beings is the dance of madness,
Uncertain and without trust.
May it be bound by the light of altruistic morality.Dedicate the sun of virtues, that goddess resplendent
With the ornaments of complete joy,
Arising from the slopes of the eastern mountain, genuine altruism,
To all beings including myself.The youth of mundane joy and well-being is impermanent.
One cannot know when it will be destroyed.
I aspire, through unending, peaceful conduct without aggression,
To the achievement of splendid happiness for all beings.Finally, in the garden of dharmadhatu, akanishta,
In unity beyond elaboration, the nature of liberation,
May you and I enjoy the taste of dharma, profound and lucid,
In the state of vast purity and equality.While I was escaping to India, this was said to me in Mustang by the great Tsongkhapa, the victor of the east.
A Flower is Always Happy ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaA flower is always happy because it is beautiful.
Bees sing their song of loneliness and weep.
A waterfall is busy hurrying to the ocean.
A poet is blown by the wind.A friend without inside or outside
And a rock that is not happy or sad
Are watching the winter crescent moon
Suffering from the bitter wind.
Allowing your mind just to be as it is ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheIf you practice allowing your mind just to be as it is, however, your mind will eventually settle down on its own. You’ll develop a sense of spaciousness, while your ability to experience things clearly, without bias, will gradually increase.
Breathe in pain, breath out relief ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronPerhaps you’re out on the street and see someone abusing a dog, beating it or yelling at it or yanking on its leash. You can breathe in the pain you assume the dog is feeling, then send out relief. It might be a wish for the dog to experience kindness and safety, even a nice, juicy bone. You can also breathe in what the abuser is likely to be feeling—the rage and confusion that are causing her to strike out so cruelly. Breathe in her anger and, on the out breath, send her anything you think would allow her heart to soften. It could be feeling loved, feeling okay about herself, feeling more space in her mind and more tenderness in her heart.
Click into the sense of delight ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThe phenomenal world is self-existing. You can see it, you can look at it, you can appreciate your survey, and you can present your view to others. It is possible to discover the inherent state of things. It is possible to perceive how the world hangs together. It is possible to communicate your appreciation to others. The possibility of freshness is always there. Your mind is never totally contaminated by your neuroses. Goodness is always there. Catch it on the spot. Click into the sense of delight that comes from basic wakefulness.