Thrangu RinpocheWhen, in the midst of the emergence of anger, you see and experience its emptiness directly, then it is naturally pacified. This works with any other kind of suffering or with any of the other kleshas as well. It is simply the recognition that there is really no thing there. This is the path of the recognition of the nature of kleshas.
Absence of essence ~ Buddha Shakyamunipalita
BuddhapalitaWhat is the purpose of teaching dependent arising? The master Nagarjuna, whose very nature is compassion, saw that living beings are beset by various sufferings and assumed the task of teaching the reality of things just as it is so that they might be free. He therefore began teaching dependent arising. For, it is said:
“Seeing what is not real, you are bound;
Seeing the real, you are free.”What is the reality of things just as it is? It is the absence of essence. Unskilled persons whose eye of intelligence is obscured by the darkness of delusion conceive of an essence in things and then generate attachment and hostility with regard to them. When the illumination of the knowledge of dependent arising clears away the darkness of delusion and the eye of wisdom sees the absence of essence in things, then there is no foundation for the other afflictions, and attachment and hostility do not develop.
Awakened and blossoming ~ Ringu Tulku
Ringu TulkuOur pure, enlightened mind is limitless. It has the potential to be anything, anywhere, anytime. Nothing can hold it back. The Tibetan word for Buddha is Sangye and this word is very evocative. It means “awakened and blossoming.” What awakens and grows within us is not a new or different intelligence. It is not something that we have never known before. It is the realisation of what we already know, our true nature. Our mind is identical to the Buddha’s enlightened mind. We are no different. He and many others after him escaped from ignorance and suffering. Their example provides the strength, perfect training, and blessings we need for our spiritual journey.
Famous unintentionally ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheThese days, Buddhist lamas and institutions are cultivating fame by blatantly branding themselves with logos and stickers and lapel pins. People have even hinted that in Kathmandu event coordinators hire people to wait in a crowd at the airport arrivals area to create a more impressive greeting when certain lamas are arriving.
In Bhutan and Nepal there is a trend of erecting big gates or archways festooned with banners to welcome lamas. Loyal disciples fastidiously calculate which lama has more gates and who has the largest convoy. It’s so pathetic because many of these displays are not even done elegantly. From a spiritual point of view, it’s odd to create a brand around a teacher. One justification is that publicity could be excused as a skillful means: making a louder noise provides more people with the opportunity to connect with and access the Dharma.
But fame shouldn’t have to be contrived. There are some teachers, like Milarepa, who became famous unintentionally because of who they were and how they taught. It’s almost certain that Milarepa didn’t invest time, energy, or resources in promoting himself.
Limitless aspirations ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaSince the future is limitless and sentient beings are limitless, our aspirations can be limitless too. With this attitude, we can reach the end of any problem, because we can make our aspiration unlimited and project it as far into the future as needed until that problem is solved. This can make our resolve to extend ourselves as much as needed absolutely unwavering. When our aspirations are vast as the sky and extending until the time when all suffering is ended, we will not be disappointed or discouraged if we do not see the results immediately or even in a foreseeable future.
Friendship ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaWhen you are young, healthy, and strong, you sometimes can get the feeling that you are totally independent and do not need anyone else. But this is an illusion. Even at that prime age of your life, simply because you are a human being, you need friends, don’t you?
All irritations are crucial ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaAll the things taking place around our world, all the irritations and all the problems, are crucial. Without others we cannot attain enlightenment — in fact, we cannot even tread on the path. If there is no noise outside during our sitting meditation, we cannot develop mindfulness. If we do not have aches and pains in the body, we cannot attain mindfulness; we cannot actually meditate. If everything were lovey-dovey and jellyfishlike, there would be nothing to work with.
Three yanas ~ Khandro Rinpoche
Khandro RinpochePractice on the path of hinayana — or sutrayana as it’s called nowadays — is based on self-discipline. Through awareness, discipline, and the ability to discern what is useful and what is harmful, we abandon useless and harmful activities. We could say that the hinayana path of practice is about morality, or self-discipline.
Practice on the Mahayana path, the “path of transformation,” not only keeps us from harming others, it allows us to develop the potential for helping them. Having developed self-discipline, we can expand a disciplined attitude towards the world and begin to involve others on our path. In this way, we can tap into qualities that might actually be helpful and allow us to be of some use to others. Such practices are referred to as the Mahayana path.
Practice on the vajrayana path, the “path of transcendence,” is about training the mind in such a way that transcendence arises. It is training the mind by knowing the nature of mind; and it is knowing the nature of mind by developing awareness of what the mind is. Simply put, the vajrayana trains in awareness of the true nature, such that all falsity collapses. When the true nature is revealed, the ability to transcend our constant attachment to “self” spontaneously arises — thus allowing genuine compassion to spontaneously pervade. This is the vajrayana path of practice.
The obstacle of pride ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheWhen one is practicing the Dharma and there are no great obstacles, it is easy to develop internal obstacles to one’s practice. They occur because one begins to think that one has a great practice and feels very proud. This pride itself is a great obstacle to one’s Dharma practice and meditation.
View all the compounded like that ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniAs a star, a visual aberration, a lamp, an illusion, dew, a bubble, a dream, lightning, and a cloud – view all the compounded like that.
Being diligent ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheWe think we’re being diligent by sitting down to meditate for hours at a stretch. But real diligence doesn’t mean focusing yourself beyond your natural limits; it means simply trying to do your best, rather than focusing on the result of what you’re trying to accomplish. It means finding a comfortable middle ground between being too relaxed and too wound up.
Opening up to the view of interconnectedness ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaOur grasping at what is me and mine puts up walls that can make our world close in on us. We end up peering through narrow windows and seeing what goes on around us through a myopic lens. No wonder there is such a sense of alienation and loneliness in the world. Opening up to the view of interconnectedness helps us to break down the barriers erected by our own egocentrism and to emerge from the narrow and dark cell in which we tend to shut ourselves.
Buddha Nature ~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Nyoshul Khen RinpocheBuddha-nature is pure, undefiled, unelaborated, unconditioned, transcending all concepts. It is not an object of dualistic thought and intellectual knowledge. It is, however, open to gnosis, intuition, the nondual apperception of intrinsic awareness itself, prior to or upstream of consciousness. Adventitious obscurations temporarily veil and, like clouds, obscure this pristine, sky-like, luminous fundamental nature or mind essence—also known as tathagatagarbha, buddha-nature.
All conventional practices along the gradual path to liberation and enlightenment aim to uncover this innate wisdom by removing and dissolving the obscurations, revealing what has always been present. This is the relation between how things appear to be and how things actually are: in short, the two levels of truth, absolute and relative or conventional truth. According to these two truths, there are different levels of practice.
Zen is simply the expression of truth ~ Dogen Zenji
Dogen ZenjiYour search among books, word upon word, may lead you to the depths of knowledge, but it is not the way to receive the reflection of your true self. When you have thrown off your ideas as to mind and body, the original truth will fully appear. Zen is simply the expression of truth; therefore longing and striving are not the true attitudes of Zen.
The supreme path for that person ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Namkhai Norbu RinpocheAll the various types of teachings and spiritual paths are related to the different capacities of understanding that different individuals have. There does not exist, from an absolute point of view, any teaching which is more perfect or effective than another. A teaching’s value lies solely in the inner awakening which an individual can arrive at through it. If a person benefits from a given teaching, for that person that teaching is the supreme path, because it is suited to his or her nature and capacities. There’s no sense in trying to judge it as more or less elevated in relation to other paths to realization.
As if for the last time ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheStart to look at and relate to everything and everyone around you as if you were seeing them for the last time.
Within the expanse of empty mind ~ Padmasambhava
PadmasambhavaWithin the sky-like empty mind, habitual tendencies and disturbing emotions are just like clouds and mist. When they appear, they appear within the expanse of empty mind. When they remain, they remain within the expanse of empty mind. And when they dissolve, they dissolve in that same expanse of empty mind.
Belief based on a self-centered idea ~ Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu SuzukiI discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color, something which exists before all forms and colors appear. That is a very important point. No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea. You strive for a perfect faith in order to protect yourself.
Blessings ~ Gyatrul Rinpoche
Gyatrul RinpocheThe lamas’ blessings are not on any schedule. They give their blessings inconceivably and continuously in whatever way might benefit us. We need to study and practice so that our minds are open to that blessing on every level, outer, inner, and secret. If we are never willing to give up our negative habits, our minds will not be able to open. Please, everyone, try to appreciate more and more deeply what the lamas have given us. ‘Appreciate’ doesn’t mean saying, “Wow! Now I am really special-see what the lamas gave me? I don’t know if they gave anything to anyone else, but I got my own special thing.” Don’t be that stupid. To ‘appreciate’ blessings means to internalize them, letting them mingle with your mind. Then your faith will deepen and you will become more humble. Slowly as your negative habits subside, your qualities will blaze forth of their own accord, not because you are boasting or showing them off to everybody. That is how we should show our appreciation for all the lamas’ blessings. Everybody, please try sincerely to practice in this way.
Emptiness and great compassion ~ Mipham Rinpoche
Mipham RinpocheWhen phenomena are indeed seen to be devoid of true existence, great compassion will well up effortlessly, a compassion that will never abandon living beings who circle in samsara through their clinging to true existence. For as it has been taught, it is in the nature of things that such an attitude is born.