Advice ~ Padmasambhava

Master Padma said:
Whatever actions you engage in, do not do anything non-dharmic that fails to become the accumulation of merit and wisdom.
Do not desire anything other than omniscient Buddhahood and benefiting sentient beings.
Do not be attached to anything. Attachment itself is the root of bondage. Do not criticize other teachings and do not disparage people.
All the teachings are ultimately indivisible, like the taste of salt.
Do not criticize any of the higher or lower vehicles. They are identical in being the path to be journeyed, just like the steps on a staircase.
You cannot know another person unless you can perceive with super-knowledge. So do not criticize others.
In general, all sentient beings are by their very nature spontaneously perfect Buddhas. They possess the essence of enlightenment.
Do not examine other people’s faults or delusions.
Do not examine the limitations of others. Examine how you can change your own.
Do not examine the shortcomings of others but examine your own shortcomings.
The greatest of evils is to hold religious prejudice and to criticize other people without knowing their mind. So give up prejudice as if it were poison.

Padmasambhava

Extricating ourselves from positive obstacles ~ Pema Chödron

When someone is angry with us, it might remind us to meditate on patience. When we get sick, our suffering can put us in touch with the pain of others. When things go well, however, our mind easily accepts this. Like oil absorbing into our skin, attachment to favorable circumstances blends smoothly and invisibly into our thoughts and feelings. Without realizing what’s happening, we can become infatuated with our achievements, fame, and wealth. It’s difficult to extricate ourselves from positive obstacles.

Pema Chödron

Enduring friendships ~ Kyong Ho

Make friends but don’t expect any benefit for yourself. Friendship only for oneself harms trust. So an ancient once said, “Have an enduring friendship with purity in heart.”

Kyong Ho

Aspire to aspire ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Aspire not only to understand the Dharma intellectually, but to understand it experientially.
Aspire to embody ultimate and relative bodhichitta, so that it’s not just your good looks, knowledge and political clout that attract and magnetize sentient beings.
Aspire to create connections with people – even those who catch no more than a glimpse of your brightly coloured T-shirt in a crowd – that result in the seed of Dharma being sown in their minds.
Aspire that your body, your bearing, your ideas and thoughts all, in one way or another, become beneficial to sentient beings. For example, if I suddenly had an urge to check the state of the stock market, may that mundane thought mature into a beneficial manifestation.
Aspire never to be reborn into the family of a billionaire, as such circumstances would mean you only see a rosy picture of the world and deprive you of the wealth of understanding the Dharma.
At the same time, aspire to become President of the United States, or of China or Russia, so you can skilfully benefit sentient beings with the powers that job brings you.
Aspire to become a prostitute in a seedy red-light district of a major city, and for bodhichitta to be born in the minds of anyone with whom you become acquainted.
Aspire to practice the Dharma thoroughly and completely and pray that you will not always be waiting for the right time to start practising. When you have time, go somewhere quiet and practise.
Aspire never to put off practising what you already know because you want to gain more intellectual Dharma knowledge.
Aspire to experience sadness.
Aspire always to take the right direction, however ignorant you may be.
Pray that when you chase after meaningless desires, the object of your desire will lead you to benefit sentient beings.
When you lose your temper, may you feel embarrassed at your behaviour and gain some realisation.
When you feel depressed, may that very depression be the cause for you to realise the truth.
And most important of all, always aspire to aspire.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Such is the bodhisattvas’ expertise ~ Buddha Shakyamuni

Bodhisattvas comprehend exactly which teachings lead to the attainments of a stream enterer, a once-returner, a non-returner, and a worthy one who has exhausted defilement. They know which teachings sever the ties of existence, dissolve the processes of continued existence, and truly deliver the transcendence of suffering. Likewise, they know exactly which teachings lead to the attainment of a single rhinoceros-like solitary buddha. All this bodhisattvas comprehend by the power of genuine insight. Yet they do not actualize any of those attainments. Why? Because they think as follows:
‘The realms of sentient beings are my responsibility. I have roared like a lion, promising to liberate all beings who are confined to the wilds of cyclic existence. It would not be right of me to escape from that wilderness alone.’ Such is the bodhisattvas’ expertise with respect to the vehicles of the hearers and solitary buddhas.

Buddha Shakyamuni

The depth of mind free of reference ~ 17th Karmapa

Like the illusory face of this appearing world,
The movement of mind is not touched by artifice.
It is not altered by action, freedom or realization.
To remain in the depth of mind free of reference
is known as mahamudra.

17th Karmapa

Anywhere, anytime ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

Because awareness is as present in our lives as the air we breathe, we can access it anywhere, anytime.

Mingyur Rinpoche

Whenever a new situation arises ~ 14th Dalai Lama

Since compassion and a good heart are developed through constant and conscious effort, it is important for us first to identify the favorable conditions that give rise to our own qualities of kindness and a good heart, as well as the adverse circumstances that obstruct our cultivation of these positive states of mind. It is therefore important for us to lead a life of constant mindfulness and mental alertness. Our mastery of these faculties should be such that whenever a new situation arises, we are able to immediately recognize whether the circumstances are favorable or adverse to the development of compassion and a good heart. By pursuing the practice of compassion in such a manner, we will gradually be able to alleviate the effects of the obstructive forces and enhance the conditions that favor the development of compassion and a good heart.

14th Dalai Lama

May I carry the weight of Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings ~ Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

May I be reborn again and again,
And in all my lives
May I carry the weight of Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings.
And if I cannot bear that weight,
At the very least,
May I be born with the burden of thinking that the Buddhadharma may wane.

Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

The best part of all ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

But, the best part of all is that no matter how long you meditate, or what technique you use, every technique of Buddhist meditation, ultimately, generates compassion, whether we’re aware of it or not. Whenever you look at your mind, you can’t help but recognize your similarity to those around you. When you see your own desire to be happy, you can’t avoid seeing the same desire in others, and when you look clearly at your own fear, anger, or aversion, you can’t help but see that everyone around you feels the same fear, anger, and aversion. When you look at your own mind, all the imaginary differences between yourself and others automatically dissolve, and the ancient prayer of the Four Immeasurables becomes as natural and persistent as your own heartbeat.

Mingyur Rinpoche

Freedom from the exhausting postures of pretense and denial ~ Sharon Salzberg

It’s often said that the Buddha simply taught about “suffering and the end of suffering.” Suffering in his teaching does not necessarily mean grave physical pain, but rather the mental suffering we undergo when our tendency to hold onto pleasure encounters the fleeting nature of life, and our experiences become unsatisfying and ungovernable. Knowing this truth gives our lives wholeness and peace, as it frees us from the exhausting postures of pretense and denial.

Sharon Salzberg

Dualistic vision ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

When Buddha Sakyamuni died, his eighteen disciples quarreled over doctrinal issues and founded eighteen separate schools. Why did they do that? Because each of them heard and understood something different, sometimes contradictory to what the others had understood. [We are in] a dualistic vision in which everything seems solid to us, therefore, if I’m right (and of course I have it), then you can not have it. People have different political beliefs, follow different spiritual paths and run every day with but the spiritual path should help us to get rid of this kind of problem, otherwise we let ourselves be closed in another system of restrictions. Therefore, we should use our mind to recognize our limitations and understand that the problem is not that we we are right, and others do not have it, only that we follow a dualistic vision.

Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

The body does not truly exist ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

You can pile up grass to the height of a mountain, but if you take each blade of grass one by one, you will end up with nothing, with no such thing as a “mountain” entity. In the same way, with many stones we can make a solid wall. But if we then remove the stones one by one, not even the name “wall” will be left. Sometimes bubbles appear on the surface of a body of water. From the outside they look like spheres, with a certain solid form that lasts. But when they burst, nothing is left. Similarly, we have taken for granted that the body is existent when in reality there is no such thing. Unavoidably we come to the conclusion that the body does not truly exist.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Impermanence is everywhere ~ Patrul Rinpoche

Impermanence is everywhere, yet I still think things will last.
I have reached the gates of old age, yet I still pretend I am young.
Bless me and misguided beings like me,
That we may truly understand impermanence.

Patrul Rinpoche

Phenomena adorn emptiness ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The presence of space makes it possible for the whole universe to be set out within it, and yet this does not alter or condition space in any way. Although rainbows appear in the sky, they do not make any difference to the sky; it is simply that the sky makes the appearance of rainbows possible. Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Nothing to fear ~ Yeshe Tsogyal

I see nothing to fear in inner space.

Yeshe Tsogyal

Cutting free ~ Kyong Ho

Be equal to every hindrance. Buddha attained Supreme Enlightenment without hindrance. Seekers after truth are schooled in adversity. When they are confronted by a hindrance, they can’t be over-come. Then, cutting free, their treasure is great.