17th KarmapaWhen we are trying to cultivate a capacity to feel closeness to others, we do not need to create anything new. We are cultivating a latent ability, albeit one that might have been neglected or impaired during the course of our lives. There is every indication that the ability to experience genuine closeness is an innate potential of all human beings.
To end suffering ~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Nyoshul Khen RinpocheTo end suffering – not only by relieving its symptoms but by eradicating its root cause – is precisely the aim of the Buddha’s teaching. We must first realize that the true cause of suffering is not outside, but inside. That is why true spiritual practice consists of working on one’s own mind. The mind is very powerful. It can create happiness or suffering, heaven or hell. If, with the help of the Dharma, you manage to eliminate your inner poisons, nothing from outside will ever affect your happiness, but as long as those poisons remain in your mind, you will not find the happiness you seek anywhere in the world.
We hold nothing back ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWe hold nothing back – not our effort, not any resources we might have, not time itself. We do not even hold our futures to ourselves. If we limit our aspirations to short-term aims and allow our aspirations to end when we attain those limited results, we will not create the momentum needed to maintain our enthusiasm over the long haul, until that time when we have developed our qualities of mind and heart to their fullest capacity.
Putting down the heavy burden once and for all ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheOur endless wandering in samsara is the result of our negative emotions. But take the trouble to examine the nature of these emotions with which we are so obsessed and which are the very cause of the round of existence, and you will find that they do not have the least trace of reality. You will discover nothing but emptiness. True nirvana comprises the infinite, inexpressible qualities of primordial wisdom. These qualities are innate in the mind; there is no need to invent or create them. Realization uncovers them in the course of the path. Even these qualities, from an ultimate point of view, are simply emptiness.
Both samsara and nirvana are thus emptiness. It follows that neither one of them can be said to be bad or good. When you realize the nature of the mind you are liberated from the need to reject samsara and pursue nirvana. Seeing the world with all the unspoiled simplicity of a young child, you are free from concepts of beauty and ugliness, good and evil, and no longer fall prey to conflicting tendencies driven by desire or repulsion. Why trouble yourself about all the ups and downs of daily life, like a child who delights in building a sandcastle but cries when it collapses? To get what they want and be rid of what they dislike, look how people throw themselves into torments, like moths plunging into the flame of a lamp! Would it not be better to put down your heavy burden of dreamlike obsessions, once and for all?
That is what makes the entire difference ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheEverything stands or falls with this point. Do we know the very identity of momentary thoughts to be the empty and luminously cognizant mind, or not? That is what makes the entire difference. If we know that the nature of any momentary thought or emotion is empty cognizance, we are no longer fooled by it.
Continual inner peace, happiness and tranquility ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa RinpocheWhen our mind is totally aware there’s no I on these aggregates, then whether somebody praises us or puts us down, it doesn’t affect us, it doesn’t bring our life up or down. There’s continual inner peace, happiness and tranquility. We don’t suffer due to the external conditions, we don’t create negative karma by delusions arising and we don’t create the cause of suffering.
Advice to Myself ~ Patrul Rinpoche
Patrul RinpocheStop living a false and empty life.
Drop those deceptions of your own mind
And endless projects that you don’t need!Don’t make your head spin with the burden
Of strings of ideas that never come true
And endless distracting activities —
They’re just waves on water.
Just keep quiet.
Bound by practicality ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheSiddhartha was right to think that teaching would be no easy task. In a world that is driven by greed, pride, and materialism, even teaching basic principles such as love, compassion, and philanthropy is very difficult, let alone the ultimate truth of emptiness. We are stuck with our short-term thinking and bound by practicality. For us, something must be tangible and immediately useful in order to be worth our investment of time and energy. By those criteria, emptiness as defined by Buddha seems completely useless.
Discontentment ~ Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
Traleg Kyabgon RinpocheBuddhism frequently speaks of overcoming dissatisfaction and discontentment, as if these experiences are always undesirable. In certain respects, however, discontentment is necessary. No matter what we have achieved in the past about which we may justifiably feel proud, we should not be satisfied with that but should look to develop and improve ourselves further. This is an ongoing process. We should have the enthusiasm to want to go further and further in relating to others and developing ourselves on a spiritual and psychological level. Our normal experiences of dissatisfaction, incompleteness, deprivation, privation, or sense of lack can and must be sublimated into spiritual ones. We should never be satisfied with our spiritual progress, thinking, ‘‘This will do,’’ or ‘‘That is enough.’’ We should always have hunger for deeper, higher, richer experiences on the path.
Is there an I? ~ Seung Sahn
Seung SahnWhen you think death, you make death. When you think life, you make life. When you are not thinking, there is no life and no death. In empty mind, is there a you? Is there an I?
Reading the love letters of nature ~ Ikkyu
IkkyuEvery day, priests minutely examine the Dharma
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by
The wind and rain, the snow and moon.
Nothing else than the projection of one’s own mind ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheIn short, all the infinite phenomena of samsara and nirvana are nothing else than the projection of one’s own mind and are therefore an illusion. Nothing is truly existent and permanent. When you understand this, you will realize that everything is unborn like space, that its nature is emptiness. It is with this realization — that you yourself, the teacher, and all phenomena are like a dream and illusion — that you should practice the meditation on the wisdom deity and recite the mantra. And if you ever have a sign of accomplishment, even a vision of the yidam, you should continue to recognize its illusory nature and avoid the error of feeling attached or proud. To be conceited and think, “I have achieved a sign of accomplishment” is an obstacle, a demon.
However high your realization may be, you must never be proud of any signs such as clairvoyance that you may experience, but remain free from clinging and see their dreamlike nature. Otherwise, if you are attached to such things, it will be impossible for even the most basic qualities of the path to develop in your mind. As the great siddha Saraha said, “Wherever there is attachment, there will be a downfall.” Even the husk of a sesame seed’s worth of attachment will create great suffering in the mind. So if you have any result in your practice, you should simply think that it is the natural consequence of doing the practice and not be proud of it. As we read in Parting from the Four Attachments, the four-line teaching that Mañjushri gave in a vision to the great Sakyapa teacher Jetsun Trakpa Gyaltsen: As long as there is clinging, there is no view.
The teachings of the Buddha ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheWhat are the main teachings of the Buddha? The teaching is that one should pacify one’s mind. So one should generate inner peace in one’s mind. Buddha taught three different gradual paths to help us realise inner peace within our minds. They are Hinayana, Mahayana and the Secret Vajrayana. This is all the different of Buddhist teachings brought into three special points.
So why is it necessary that the Buddha taught in three different ways or three different paths? He presented the teaching in such a way because sentient beings of the world have different types of mind, different characteristics. Some people have very open, vast minds, some people have a very closed type mind. For that reason the Buddha taught varying techniques, not just one. However, if one reaches the very end of any of the three paths, the result is the same, the final result is complete enlightenment.
Outer and inner world ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaOur interdependent lives are shaped not only by material conditions but also by our emotional states, by the strength of inner qualities like patience, love, or wisdom, and by the beliefs and perceptions that influence our decisions — in short the whole suite of cognitive and affective forces at work within us. When I speak of the inner world, I do not have in mind an inner world that is totally distinct from the outer world. However, between our outer and inner conditions, I would argue that these inner conditions have more influence in shaping our world than the outer. This is because our inner world is constantly shaping the way we perceive and respond to the circumstances we find ourselves in. How do external situations appear in your mind? Is your mind disturbed? Do you feel happy? Your inner world has a powerful role in determining how you experience your external conditions and respond to them. There are people whose external conditions appear to be fine or even great, yet they may be holding sadness and experiencing a great deal of darkness within. Conversely, some who live in seemingly abject circumstances may experience contentment and joy.
An alert mindfulness that is just enough ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheA mindfulness that is gentle and watchful means an alert mindfulness that is just enough. In other words, there is just enough intentional effort that you do not become distracted. If you maintain that, then over time the recognition of the lucid nature of mind will occur.
Dictated by your previous actions ~ Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
Jamyang Khyentse WangpoWhen you pass away, nothing will do you any good except for the pure Dharma. You will not simply disappear when you die. Rather, what happens next will be dictated by your previous actions.
Teaching the Dharma without taming the own mind ~ Machig Labdrön
Machig LabdrönPeople these days use whatever little dharma they know to augment afflictive emotion, and then engender tremendous pride and conceit over it. They teach the Dharma without taming their own minds. But as with a river rock , not even a hair’s tip of benefit penetrates the other people. Even worse, incorrigible people [are attracted] to this dharma that increases conflict. When individuals who could be tamed by the Dharma encounter such incorrigible, their desire for the sacred Dharma is lost. It is not the fault of the Dharma; it is the fault of individuals.
Like disappearing thoughts ~ Sodo Yokoyama
Sodo YokoyamaThe sunset doesn’t know it’s the sunset, but it is the sunset. And as with the sunset, all things are like disappearing thoughts.
Until beings pass beyond saṃsāra’s pain ~ Shantideva
ShantidevaMay I be an isle for those desiring landfall,
And a lamp for those who wish for light,
May I be a bed for those who need to rest,
And a servant for all who live in need.May I become a wishing jewel, a magic vase,
A powerful mantra and a medicine of wonder.
May I be a tree of miracles granting every wish,
And a cow of plenty sustaining all the world.Like the earth and other great elements,
And like space itself, may I remain forever,
To support the lives of boundless beings,
By providing all that they might need.Just so, in all the realms of beings,
As far as space itself pervades,
May I be a source of all that life requires,
Until beings pass beyond saṃsāra’s pain.
Attain deliverance in disturbances ~ Kyong Ho
Kyong HoDon’t expect your practice to be always clear of obstacles. Without hindrances the mind that seeks enlightenment may be burnt out. So an ancient once said, “Attain deliverance in disturbances.”