Chögyam TrungpaWe cannot say that the phenomenal world we are living in — the traffic jams and the pollution and the inflation — is bad and devilish. We cannot condemn the world by putting it into those kinds of conceptual packages. That approach does not work, because it means that we are fighting with our own phenomena. Phenomena are ours: it is our country, our air, our earth, our food, our water, our electricity, our policemen. We are speaking of an organic reality.
Letting the world tickle your heart ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaReal fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others.
Stepping outside the boundaries of Buddhism ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThe world we live in is getting smaller and people’s actions have tremendous impact. In the era in which we live people cannot get away with clinging to their beliefs. I don’t have any personal attachment or clinging to being a Buddhist. We need to step outside the boundaries of Buddhism and really go out and share the benefits of our Buddhist practice with the rest of the world.
Aesthetic appreciation ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThe next bodhisattva action is meditation. In this case, meditation is almost, we could say, aesthetic appreciation. this means awareness of body, awareness of colors, awareness of things around you, awareness of people’s different styles. There’s always room for everything that comes up. Everything is treated reverently, respectfully. Nothing is regarded as rubbish. Even the garbage heap is a work of art. Things have their own place, and you appreciate this, which is meditation in the broader sense. Both the relevant and the irrelevant are respected, so you don’t have to economize on your time and energy. Because of that, everything becomes an object of meditation, of greater awareness, panoramic awareness. You take tremendous interest in different styles, people’s different approaches, and the different physical situations of objects around you, and the different emotional states within yourself. For the bodhisattva, the whole thing is constantly meaningful and workable.
Aesthetic appreciation does not mean looking for beauty alone. It means looking at things with space around them. When things are seen with space around them, they have their own pictorial quality, so to speak. Things are seen in perspective rather than as representing demands or expectations. So bodhisattvas make a wonderful audience for the theater of life and death. This is meditation. But at the same time, the bodhisattva takes part in this theater, so the whole thing does not become merely a matter of impersonal observation.
Enlightenment Is Irritatingly Possible ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaStudents might find sanity too spacious, too irritating. We would prefer a little claustrophobic insanity, snug and comforting insanity. Getting into that is like crawling back into a marsupial’s pouch. That’s the usual tendency, because acknowledging precision and sanity is too crispy, too cool, too cold. It’s too early to wake up, we’d rather go back to bed. Going back to bed is relating to the mind’s deceptions, which in fact we prefer. We like to get a little bit confused and set up our homes in that. We don’t prefer sanity or enlightenment in fact. That seems to be the problem rather than that we don’t have it or can’t get it. If we really prefer basic sanity or enlightenment, it’s irritatingly possible to get into it.
Diverting from our true purpose ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaNot attached to happiness nor depressed about suffering, we should seek a stable and constant path. If we are always looking to feel good, and if on top of that our minds are lost in distraction thinking about feeling good, then what will become of our life? We will be diverted from our true purpose and open ourselves to harm.
Connecting with the Guru ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThe guru is the equal of all the buddhas. To make any connection with him, whether through seeing him, hearing his voice, remembering him or being touched by his hand, will lead us toward liberation. To have full confidence in him is the sure way to progress toward enlightenment. The warmth of his wisdom and compassion will melt the ore of our being and release the gold of the buddha-nature within.
Generosity ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaGiving, in the sense of developing some real generosity, is not just a question of giving away objects and spending a large sum of money. You have to be wholly involved in the process of giving. You have to become one with what you are doing. No matter how small the thing is in terms of value, one must be fully involved in the giving, so that a part of one’s ego is also given away.
The vast sky of your mind ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronLet your experience pass through like stars in the vast sky of your mind. Nothing has to be too big of a problem.
Embracing a diversity of religious beliefs ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThe differences between religious beliefs are relatively superficial. Although the lineages and texts differ, in essence Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and the other religions share many similarities. This is easy to see when we consider their ethical values and their emphasis on the awakening of human beings’ highest potential.
Whether or not we think the tenets of other religions are true is not the point. The point is that if we care about others’ happiness, we can be pleased that their religion is serving to bring them some happiness. If their religion or spiritual path is contributing to their well-being, that is what really matters.
I keep copies of the scriptures of each of the major religions of the world in my room. I have a personal practice of my own that I do with them. I take each scripture from the shelf and hold it in my hands as I make the aspiration: “Many millions of people have placed their faith and hope in the teachings contained in this scripture. May these teachings become a true vehicle for those who make their own aspirations through them. May these teachings be a vehicle that brings them all happiness.
Blessings and devotion ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheWhen an enlightened master who has wisdom and compassion meets a disciple who has faith and diligence, it is as if the sun’s rays where suddenly concentrated through a magnifying glass and focused onto dry grass, causing it to burst into flames, at once. In the same way, the blessings we receive will correspond directly to the intensity of our devotion.
Bound to change ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheIn our delusion, we see things as being permanent and truly self-existing. But in reality phenomena are impermanent, and devoid of any true substantial existence. We want to believe that our friends, partner, wealth and influence will all endure, but by nature they are bound to change. It is therefore senseless to be so preoccupied with them.
Accept yourself ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhTo be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
Purpose of spirituality ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaThe very purpose of spirituality is self-discipline. Rather than criticizing others, we should evaluate and criticize ourselves. Ask yourself, what am I doing about my anger, my attachment, my pride, my jealousy? These are the things we should check in our day to day lives.
Opening without demand ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThe point is not to want to benefit anyone or make them happy. There is no audience involved, no ‘me’ and ‘them.’ It is a matter of an open gift, complete generosity without the relative notions of giving and receiving. That is the basic openness of compassion: opening without demand. Simply be what you are, be the master of the situation. If you will just ‘be’ then life flows around and through you.
Finding peace of mind in the midst of raging emotions ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheNo matter how trapped we may feel by anxiety, depression, or guilt, there is always another option available to us, and one that doesn’t ask us to stop feeling what we already feel, or to stop being who and what we are. When we know where to look, and how to look, we can find peace of mind in the midst of raging emotions, profound insight in the midst of complete confusion, and the seeds of compassion in our darkest moments, even when we feel completely lost and alone.
A gigantic state of BLAH ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThere is a kind of nondual state of confusion that goes on throughout all life. Experience comes out of that and dissipates back into it. Energies arise and emotions appear. It all takes place within this one all-pervasive state of confused being. It is very important for us to realize this background as the basic ground of everything and to understand how it arises or does not arise. It seems to be a big, gigantic state of BLAH. People have misunderstood this as a mystical experience. Unless you have some glimpse of this level of basic ignorance, you cannot have a glimpse of the rest. From this point of view, maybe finding the worst aspect of oneself is the first glimpse of the possibility of being better.
Competing with the projection ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaEmotions come from frustration. The meaning of emotion is frustration in the sense that we are or might be unable to fulfill what we want. We discover our possible failure as something pathetic, and so we develop our tentacles or sharpen our claws to the extreme. The emotion is a way of competing with the projection. That is the mechanism of emotion. The whole point is that the projections have been our own manifestations all along.
Clarity and emptiness ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheIn essence, the mind is what is aware of everything — it is a clarity that perceives all external objects and events. But try to find it, and it turns out to be as impossible to grasp and as elusive as a rainbow — the more you run after it, the farther away it appears to recede; the more you look at it, the less you can find. This is the empty aspect of the mind. Clarity and emptiness are inseparably united in the true nature of mind, which is beyond all concepts of existence and nonexistence.
Nowness ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaNowness is the sense that we are attuned to what is happening. The past is fiction and the future is a dream, and we are just living on the edge of a razor blade.