Khandro RinpocheIt is very common, for western and eastern practitioners alike, to think we want to attain enlightenment and benefit sentient beings. But there is a tremendous difference between aspiration and actualization. We want to, we hope to, we wish to — but we may not actually have the courage to actualize our aspiration. Therefore the tendency is to take an intellectual approach to the teachings. The pitfall, then, is the tendency to come up with many impediments and obstacles to the path of practice.
Change ~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Chagdud Tulku RinpocheWhatever comes together must fall apart, whatever was born must die. Continual change, relentless change, is constant in our world.
The habits of mindfulness, alertness, carefulness ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheIt is important, in whatever practice you are doing, to cultivate mindfulness, alertness and carefulness in when you rise from meditation. Through inculcating these habits in your mind, then they will arise for you in the bardo. When the habits of mindfulness, alertness, carefulness, and so forth arise in the bardo, they will cause the appearances of the bardo to be far less overwhelming, you will gain more control over what happens to you, including more control over your rebirth.
A greater sense of possibility ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaDetermining who we are or how we are doing in life by comparing ourselves to others will never give us a stable or reliable measure of our well-being, because comparative judgments always shift based on who we are comparing ourselves to. We do not need to live our lives measuring ourselves against external standards set for us by others. We do not need to limit ourselves to those options. When we view who we are on the model of interconnectedness, we know that we are no single thing — not a fixed or bounded identity. The options for who we can become are as boundless as the number of points in an open network. Since we are related to all other points, we can strengthen our connections and grow in any directions. We can set our own course in life.
I feel that seeing ourselves as interdependent rather than as separate individuals is more productive because it offers more opportunities for freedom. We do not need to define ourselves by how we stand up to an endlessly moving external measure. Individuality gives a sense of restriction. Interdependence gives a greater sense of possibility.
Like dreams ~ Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche
Shechen Rabjam RinpocheAppearances, like dreams, are devoid of any intrinsic existence. They come from nothing and leave nothing behind no matter how long they last. How can they appear if they are devoid of intrinsic existence? In fact, they can manifest in infinite ways like a dream or a rainbow that appears only through the combination of many factors briefly coming together. These factors can come together precisely because they do not exist autonomously, endowed with a permanent reality. No phenomenon exists alone, and none has a solid existence. Appearances will become more transparent and less solid as we familiarize ourselves with seeing phenomena as dreams and illusions.
Good everything ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheAs Lama Je Tsongkhapa said, when you have bodhicitta all the good things in life are magnetically attracted to you and pour down upon you like rain. At present all we attract is misfortune because all we have is the self-cherishing thought. But with bodhicitta we’ll attract good friends, good food, good everything.
Blessing ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheSupplication creates blessing, and although the blessing is understood as something given to you, something that somehow engulfs you from the outside, in fact blessing really isn’t given to you at all. When you supplicate, you generate faith and devotion. That faith and devotion cause the appearance of what we call blessing.
The Importance of Meditation ~ Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Thinley Norbu RinpocheWhatever teachings one takes, it is very important to meditate on them. This will enable one to develop great qualities in Dharma. Without meditation, no matter how much teaching one hears, no matter how much teaching one writes down, no matter how much teaching one records on tape, one will never be able to develop the qualities of Dharma.
The ability to experience genuine closeness ~ 17th Karmapa
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.