Taming the ego ~ Dharmaraksita

Since your ego is your enemy, against whom shall you fight? Since your ego itself is the protector, whom shall you protect? It is the very witness of all you have done and left undone. When you have tamed your ego, you shall be liberated.

Dharmaraksita

A simple moment of awareness ~ Khandro Rinpoche

The essence of the highest teachings lies within a simple moment of awareness.

Khandro Rinpoche

Looking at the perceiving mind ~ Thrangu Rinpoche

When there are thoughts, mental images or perceptions, the usual habit is simply to lose control and be caught up in the show. We continually get absorbed in what is going on, instead of taking a good clear look at the perceiving mind.

Thrangu Rinpoche

The way to study ~ Shunryu Suzuki

We have to study with our warm heart, not just with our brain.

Shunryu Suzuki

No one is going to spoon-feed us ~ Thubten Chodron

We receive what we put into the Dharma. Our joyous effort brings good results over time. We are responsible for our spiritual practice, although we certainly depend on spiritual teachers to instruct us and a community of Dharma friends for support. However, no one is going to spoon-feed us. Our teachers and the Three Jewels are there to guide, teach, and inspire us, but we have to do the work of transforming our minds. As we do, we will become wiser, calmer, and more compassionate. Our mental and emotional clarity will increase, as will our sense of well-being.

Thubten Chodron

Stretching a bit further ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

To encourage curiosity and flexibility, it’s important to discover our limits, and then stretch a bit further.

Mingyur Rinpoche

Look at that which is meaningful ~ Tilopa

Wishing to attain liberation from intolerable suffering, rely upon a wise guru. When the guru’s blessings enter your heart, your mind will be liberated. These things of samsara are meaningless or pointless, the causes of suffering. And since all of these things that have been done or made are pointless, look at that which is meaningful.

Tilopa

Countless blossoms ~ Dogen Zenji

When the old plum tree suddenly blooms, the world of blossoming flowers arises. At the moment when the world of blossoming flowers arises, spring arrives. There is a single blossom that opens five petals. At this moment of a single blossom, there are three, four, and five blossoms, hundreds, thousands, myriads, billions of blossoms – countless blossoms.

Dogen Zenji

From within oneself ~ 14th Dalai Lama

Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.

14th Dalai Lama

No trace ~ Sheng Yen

The enlightened mind is like a bird in flight that leaves no trace of its path. People will say, “A bird just flew by.” In their mind, there is a trace of the bird’s path. This is attachment. For the enlightened practitioner, that moment is already gone—the bird has left no trace of its flight. Like the bird, from moment to moment the enlightened practitioner’s actions do not leave any trace.

Sheng Yen

Time is life ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Many people cannot allow themselves the time to sit and do nothing but breathe. They consider it to be uneconomical or a luxury. People say “time is money.” But time is much more than money. Time is life. The simple practice of sitting quietly on a regular basis can be profoundly healing. Stopping and sitting is a good way to focus on mindful breathing and nothing else.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Confusion is the only difference ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Effortlessly, the inconceivable qualities are naturally perfect. The only difference between buddhas and sentient beings is whether these qualities are realized or not. In terms of how things are, there is no difference between buddhas and sentient beings. However, in terms of how things appear, sentient beings are confused and buddhas are not. So confusion is the only difference.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Accommodating both wrong and right ~ Chögyam Trungpa

You are good; fundamentally, you are healthy. Moreover, that particular health is capable of accommodating your badness as well as your goodness. When you’re good, you’re not particularly bashful about your goodness, and when you’re bad, you’re not particularly shocked by that either. These are simply your attributes. When you begin to accept both aspects of your being as energy, as part of the perspective of your view of yourself, then you are connecting with the fundamental goodness, which can accommodate all of these energies as part of one basic being. This is very solid and earthy. It is invincible in fact. That is the basic idea of good: that good can accommodate both wrong and right at the same time. Because of that, it is good. It is solid soil, solid ground.

Chögyam Trungpa

Just mental states ~ Tenzin Palmo

We practice being able to stand back to see the thoughts, memories, feelings, and emotions as merely thoughts, memories, and feelings, as merely mental states, and not something solid or real. “Me” and “mine” are just mental states.

Tenzin Palmo

Time to act ~ 17th Karmapa

Compassion is not something to keep locked inside yourself. It is something to express in action. This compassion must persist beyond the thought, “If only their suffering would come to an end.” If we focus too long on wishing for something that we never pursue and that never happens, we run the risk of falling into a depression ourselves. When compassion arises, it is the time to act.

17th Karmapa

The faults within ~ Padampa Sangye

You say such clever things to people, but don’t apply them to yourself;
People of Tingri, the faults within you are the ones to be exposed.

Padampa Sangye

Advice for a King ~ Katok Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu

Svasti. You might have a hundred or a thousand teachers,
But the one who introduces you to mind’s nature is supreme,
Superior in kindness even to the Buddha —
To the root guru, I bow down in homage.
The very essence of your own mind,
Is entirely beyond arising, ceasing and remaining —
This is what followers of the Great Perfection
Call rigpa, pure and open awareness.
The essence of this approach is none other than
Taking this awareness as the path,
In undistracted, non-meditation —
So, without distraction, sustain the genuine nature.
What we call ‘stillness and movement inseparable’
Means that in stillness, which is beyond arising,
There is movement, which is beyond cessation —
Stillness and movement, arising and ceasing, are thus inseparable.
Undistracted awareness is the path of the Victorious,
And distraction is the playground of saṃsāra.
So maintain awareness without distraction,
Continuously, both day and night.
The nature of mind is clear light.
Sullying thoughts are to be purified.
But movement must neither be rejected nor indulged.
The stirrings of mind must naturally free themselves.
The source of virtuous action
Is none other than devotion for the guru.
So exert yourself in guru yoga,
And avoid sporadic practice.
There is no limit to what could be said,
But now is the time for essential practice,
So may this short explanation
Cause experience and realization to increase just like the waxing moon.

Katok Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu

The cultivation of compassion ~ Sakya Trizin

On whichever path you follow — the Mahayana path, and especially the Vajrayana path, which includes visualizations, recitations, and foundation practices — all practices are of course very, very important. But the most important practice of all is the cultivation of compassion. Without compassion, no matter what you do, it will not be the direct cause of enlightenment. For a practice to be a direct cause of enlightenment, you must have enlightenment mind. And to have proper enlightenment mind, you need compassion. Without compassion you can’t have the other qualities.

Sakya Trizin

Chaos is the inspiration ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Very beautiful situations have developed using chaos as part of the enlightened approach. There is chaos of all kinds developing all the time: psychological disorder, social disorder, metaphysical disorder, or physical disorder, constantly happening. If you are trying to stop those situations, you are looking for external means of liberating yourself, another answer. But if we are able to look into the basic situation, then chaos is the inspiration, confusion is the inspiration.