Buddha ShakyamuniYou should see form like a man blind from birth, hear sounds as if they were echoes, smell scents as if they were like wind, experience tastes without any discrimination, touch tangible objects without there being in gnosis any contact, and know things with the consciousness of an illusory creature. That which is without a state of being self and a state of being other does not burn. And what does not burn will not be extinguished.
The miraculous tree of virtue combined with bodhichitta ~ Kangyur Rinpoche
Kangyur RinpocheThe nature of the mind is primordially immaculate, and yet it is veiled by ignorance and defilement whereby samsaric action is engendered. Thus the virtue of ordinary beings is feeble and inconstant; it is like lightning that flashes briefly between the clouds in a dark black sky lit by neither sun nor moon.
Such virtue, practiced fitfully, produces mere merit and nothing more. After yielding its result, happiness in the divine or human realms, it is exhausted like the plantain, the castor-oil plant, or the bamboo cane, which bear their fruit and wither.
By contrast, the miraculous tree of virtue combined with bodhichitta is like a seed planted in fertile, well-farmed land. It brings forth a copious and proliferating harvest: the abundant happiness of the upper realms of samsara, which constantly increases until the peace of great enlightenment is attained.
Eating tasty but poisonous plants ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheWe may enjoy some kind of temporary happiness in samsara, close inspection reveals that we have often achieved this happiness at the expense of others, or even through harming others, by cheating, stealing, and the like. In behaving like this, although we experience a fleeting happiness, at the same time we are creating causes for our future misery. It is like eating plants that are tasty but poisonous. We may savor them for a few moments, but soon afterward we will die. It is the same for all enjoyments that are linked with negative actions.
Keeping distance ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheRemember that the disturbing emotions of anger, delusion, pride and jealousy are not beneficial in the slightest, but are extremely harmful. Again and again they create problems for ourselves and others. Engender the attitude that, “It is a bad idea to continue like that. I should change.” This frame of mind does not totally eliminate our tendencies to be involved in disturbing emotions. Still it makes it easier not to leap directly into them the next time the opportunity arises. Hence the first step is called ‘keeping distance’.
Remaining indifferent to the suffering of animals ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaYet for all the ease with which we connect and feel close to our pets and other animals, we all too often remain indifferent to the suffering of animals in general. As we smile at our pet’s antics or admire the qualities other animals display in the videos we enjoy so much, I think it would be good to reflect on our impact on the lives of animals more broadly. Many animals suffer terribly because they are put to work for our pleasure and comfort, or are raised for slaughter to satisfy our appetite for their flesh. We are able to be tender and loving toward the pet who sits at our side and yet be causing unbearable pain to the animals whose meat sits on our plate. We find this thoughts distasteful, and so we mentally distance ourselves by not tracing out the chains of causality and interdependence that link our bite of meat to the distress and terror of animals crowded together in narrow cages or filthy cattle yards. Our own taste for meat is a condition that makes us complicit in a chain of causal actions that results in suffering that we would never stomach if we had to watch it. That suffering is caused by us human beings and is rooted in our failure to recognize our connectedness to those beyond our immediate field of vision.
Opening our hearts and minds beyond limit ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronLife is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit.
Maintaing awareness in the states of agitation and meditative equipoise ~ Tilopa
TilopaIf you can maintain awareness in the states of agitation and meditative equipoise, the pollution of disturbing thoughts will clear automatically, just like a pond that is left undisturbed. Do not consider certain mental experiences as good and worth cultivating and other experiences as hindrances that need to be abandoned. If you can develop this attitude, your mind will gradually be emptied of its unconscious contents: The karmic traces and dispositions and all the obscurations.
Everything is produced from fantasies ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniBeautiful forms are just like a mass of foam,
Feelings are just like bubbles,
Perceptions are like mirages,
Conditioning is like the soft plantain tree,
And consciousness is just like an illusion.
Everything is produced from fantasies
And from the nonexistent imaginings of a fool.
We need space to grow and learn from our own mistakes ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaI have noticed that some people can be very critical of themselves. When people have low esteem or a tendency to judge themselves harshly, there is a danger that confronting their own faults can just end up reinforcing an unhealthy self-image. A negative fabricated identity can come to seem even more real and solid, and this makes it harder for people to transform. For such people in particular, but also for many of us in general, it is wiser to face our own faults within an overall spirit of forgiveness. Within relationships as well as within our own lives, we need space to grow and learn from our own mistakes. To that end, forgiving ourselves, as well as others, is a powerful tool for change.
Recognizing rigpa no matter what occurs ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheTo prepare for the bardo state, it is very important to always keep in mind that, “Whatever I experience right now, whatever happens, is unreal, illusory.” Such training will make it much easier to remember in the bardo states. The most crucial point, however, is to resolve on and rest in the state of rigpa, the nature of mind. Whether the world turns upside down or inside out, it does not matter: just lean back and rest in rigpa. We do not have to pigeon hole every single little experience that takes place as such-and-such, because there is no end to the ideas that dualistic mind can create. It is not at all necessary to categorize. It is more important to simply resolve to recognize rigpa no matter what occurs.
Continuous stream of virtue ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniFrom this time until the essence of enlightenment is reached, may the virtues of my body, speech, and mind continue as unceasingly as a stream. In whatever life I might be born, may I possess magnificent happiness and joy, and attain the ability and power to work for the benefit of all sentient beings. That Dharma which is understood only by the tathāgatas, that suchness which without doubt causes unsurpassable enlightenment — may I fully understand it without mistake, meditate upon it, teach it to others without mistake, and guide them.
Holding a diversity party in our living room ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronThe commitment to take care of one another is often described as a vow to invite all sentient beings to be our guest. The prospect can be daunting. It means that everyone will be coming to our house. It means opening our door to everyone, not just to the people we like or the ones who smell good or the ones we consider “proper” but also to the violent ones and the confused ones — to people of all shapes, sizes, and colors, to people speaking all different languages, to people with all different points of view. Making this commitment means holding a diversity party in our living room, all day every day, until the end of time.
Bodhicitta of application ~ Dezhung Rinpoche
Dezhung RinpocheIt is necessary to distinguish between the mere aspiration to achieve enlightenment and the actual effort put forth toward fulfillment of your resolve. Whenever your actions are motivated and guided by your intent to win enlightenment for the sake of all beings, those actions constitute the Bodhichitta of application. It is like first making up your mind to make a journey it India and then taking the steps to get there: you buy the ticket, board the plane, undergo the experience of traveling, and finally arrive at your destination. In the same way, the Bodhisattva first makes up his mind to strive solely for Buddhahood and then undertakes to train in the six paramitas as and so forth.
What makes this resolve and this action a manifestation of your Bodhichitta is the presence in your mind of great love and great compassion, especially the latter. With a friend sense of the limitless sufferings with which beings are faced—a sense that you cannot bear to be indifferent to their sufferings, nor to have them remain in their sufferings—you feel impelled to make any effort in your power to remove them from those sufferings. When you have this sense of compassion, and when it is so intense that you feel it to be almost unbearable, then you can be said to be motivated by true great compassion, and whatever action you take to attain Buddhahood automatically becomes Bodhichitta because it is genuine.
The same is true of your aspiration: it is not merely a verbal promise or an intention to sooner or later get around to doing something for beings. It becomes true Bodhichitta of aspiration only when you feel it from the heart and follow it up with the right actions. As the Bodhisattva Maitreya said:
It doesn’t look good if an intelligent person who is carrying on his head the great burden of all living beings dallies along the way. One who has resolved to liberate himself and others from the bonds of worldly existence should exert himself in efforts that are a hundredfold greater than usual.
Devotion is the fare on our journey toward enlightenment ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThe spiritual master is like the earth, never giving way beneath our feet. The spiritual master leads us to enlightenment without disappointing us. Borne by the air, a plane can take us quickly to where we could never go on foot. Borne by our devotion, the blessings of the teacher bring us swiftly to realization.
One of the meanings of the word dharma is “that which holds.” It holds and guides those who give themselves to it with confidence. A person being swept away by the swift current of a river can be gripped by a firm hand and hauled on to the bank. In the same way, the teacher’s hook can pull us out of the round of deaths and rebirths, as long as we can hold out to him the ring of our faith.
No student at any level of teaching in Buddhism, from the Fundamental Vehicle up to the Great Perfection, can do without the guidance of an authentic spiritual master. To place our trust in such a teacher is the best way to progress and to avert all the potential hindrances and wrong turnings that we could encounter. So, on our journey toward enlightenment, devotion is the fare — it is what we have to contribute ourselves in order to reach our destination.
The source of what we like or do not like ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheIt can be very difficult to accept that the source of what we like or do not like arises in our mind. When we get our heads stuck in the clouds – pretty clouds, ugly clouds – we cannot see that they are impermanent, that they have a life of their own, and that they will pass on, if we let them.
From one joy to the next ~ Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi LodröThere’s no end to the activity and delusions of saṃsāra:
The more you do, the more they go on increasing,
Animosity and attachment strengthen all the while,
Creating the causes for your own downfall.Turn your mind, therefore, towards the Dharma.
If you can integrate the Dharma physically, verbally and mentally,
You have set out on the path to liberation and enlightenment,
And, at the moment of death, you will have no regrets.
In this and all your future lives,
You will go from one joy to the next.
The Three Bodhies ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniThe dharmakāya remains the same nature for all the buddhas.
The saṃbhogakāya remains the same meditative absorption for all the buddhas.
The nirmāṇakāya remains the same awakened activity for all the buddhas.
Intellect and Intuition ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThere are two approaches to the spiritual path: the intellectual and the intuitive. In the intellectual tradition, spiritual development is viewed as a sharpening of intellectual precision, primarily through the study of theology. Whereas in the intuitive or mystical tradition, spiritual development is viewed as a deepening of awareness through practices such as meditation. These two approaches are not in opposition. Rather, they are two channels that combine to form the spiritual path.
Awareness of our own condition ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Namkhai Norbu RinpocheThe only source of every kind of benefit for others is awareness of our own condition. When we know how to help ourselves and how to work with our situation we can really benefit others, and our feeling of compassion will arise spontaneously, without the need for us to hold ourselves to the rules of behaviour of any given religious doctrine.
What do we mean when we say, becoming aware of our own true condition? It means observing ourselves, discovering who we are, who we believe we are, and what our attitude is towards others and to life. If we just observe the Limits, the mental judgments, the passions, the pride, the jealousy, and the attachments with which we close ourselves up in the course of one single day, where do they arise from, what are they rooted in? Their source is our dualistic vision, and our conditioning. To be able to help both ourselves and others we need to overcome all the limits in which we are enclosed. This is the true function of the teachings.
Progress in the practice ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheProgress in the practice depends upon cultivating faculties of mindfulness and alertness, which are lucid and sharp. If we do not maintain them, or if they are not intense enough, we will not be able to cut through the undercurrent of our thoughts.