Mingyur RinpocheGradually I began to recognize how feeble and transitory the thoughts and emotions that had troubled me for years actually were, and how fixating on small problems had turned them into big ones. Just by sitting quietly and observing how rapidly, and in many ways illogically, my thoughts and emotions came and went, I began to recognize in a direct way that they weren’t nearly as solid or real as they appeared to be. And once I began to let go of my belief in the story they seemed to tell, I began to see the ‘author’ behind them – the infinitely vast, infinitely open awareness that is the nature of mind.
Any attempt to capture the direct experience of the nature of mind in words is impossible. The best that can be said is that the experience is immeasurably peaceful, and, once stabilized through repeated experience, virtually unshakeable. It’s an experience of absolute well-being that radiates through all physical, emotional, and mental states – even those that might be ordinarily labelled as unpleasant. This sense of well-being, regardless of the fluctuation of outer and inner experiences, is one of the clearest ways to understand what Buddhists mean by ‘happiness’.”
Transforming knowledge into spiritual experience ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheThere’s a big difference between being able to explain religion intellectually and transforming that knowledge into spiritual experience.
Just sleeping in the mountains ~ Sera Khandro
Sera KhandroHey, hey!
Just sleeping in the mountains is not being in an isolated mountain retreat;
Wild animals all sleep in the mountains.
Although far from butchers who kill,
they lack a single source of protection or hope.
Reflecting on this makes me sad!
Nothing to be gained or lost ~ Padampa Sangye
Padampa SangyeThoughts come and go like a thief in an empty house –
People of Tangri, in fact there is nothing to be gained or lost.
There remain ~ Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe TsogyalMeditate upon the teacher as the glow of your awareness,
When you melt and mingle together,
Taste that expanse of nonduality.
There remain.
Enthusiastically benefiting whomever we come in contact with ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaJust as equality must ultimately be applied universally, so must our compassion, love, and sense of responsibility. They must continue to expand until we willingly and enthusiastically embrace the opportunity to benefit any being with whom we come into contact.
The gates sparkle ~ Hongzhi Zhengjue
Hongzhi ZhengjueAll buddhas and every ancestor without exception testify that they all arrive at this refuge where the three times [past, present, and future] cease and the ten thousand changes are silenced. Straight ahead, unopposed by the smallest atom, the inherently illumined buddha spirit subtly penetrates the original source. When recognized and realized exhaustively, [this spirit] shares itself and responds to situations. The gates sparkle and all beings behold the gleaming. Then they understand that from within this place fulfilled self flows out. The hundreds of grass-tips all around never are imposed as my causes and conditioning. The whole body from head to foot proceeds smoothly.
What is sitting ~ Dogen Zenji
Dogen ZenjiAt the very moment of sitting, what is sitting? Is it an acrobat’s graceful somersault or the rapid darting of a fish? Is it thinking or not thinking? Is it doing or not doing? Is it sitting within sitting? Is it sitting within body-mind? Is it sitting letting go of sitting within sitting, or letting go of sitting within body-mind? Investigate this in every possible way. Sit in the body’s meditation posture. Sit in the mind’s meditation posture. Sit in the meditation posture of letting go of body-mind.
My very own nature ~ Trulshik Rinpoche
Trulshik RinpocheThe primordial ground, the great, ever-pure primordial emptiness,
Which is free from all elaboration and change,
Is the very nature of uncompounded and self-arising awareness:
Bless me so that I may recognize the view, my very own nature.
Right here and now ~ Tenzin Palmo
Tenzin PalmoWhat do people think spiritual development is? It’s not lights and trumpets. It’s very simple. It’s right here and now. People have this idea that Enlightenment and realization is something in the distance – a very fantastic and magnificent happening which will transform everything once and for always. But it’s not like that at all. It’s something which is sometimes so simple you hardly see it. It’s right here in front of us, so close we don’t notice it. And it’s something which can happen at any moment. And the moment we see it, there it is. It’s been there all the time, but we’ve had our inner eye closed. When the moments of awareness all link up – then we become a Buddha.
Enlightenment poem ~ Xiangyan Zhixian
Xiangyan ZhixianOne stroke dissolves knowledge,
Struggle no longer needed.
I will follow the ancient path,
Not lapsing into quietude.
Noble conduct beyond sound and form –
No trace anywhere.
Those who have mastered the way
May call this an unsurpassable activity.
Song of Compassion ~ Shabkar
ShabkarAvalokiteshvara, mighty Great Treasure of Compassion,
From my heart I invoke your blessing.
By this blessing, may compassion be born in my mind
And the minds of all beings under the sky.If a man has compassion, he is Buddha;
Without compassion, he is a Lord of Death.With compassion, the root of Dharma is planted;
Without compassion, the root of Dharma is rotten.One with compassion is kind even when angry;
One without compassion will kill even as he smiles.For one with compassion, even enemies will turn into friends;
Without compassion even friends turn into enemies.With compassion, one has all Dharma;
Without compassion, one has no Dharma at all.With compassion, one is Buddhist;
Without compassion, one is worse than a heretic.Even if meditating on voidness, one needs compassion as its essence.
A Dharma practitioner must have a compassionate nature.Compassion is the distinctive characteristic of Buddhism.
Compassion is the very essence of all Dharma.Great compassion is like a wish-fulfilling gem.
Great compassion will fulfill the hopes of self and others.Therefore, all of you, practitioners and lay-people,
Cultivate compassion and you will achieve Buddhahood.May all men and women who hears this song
With great compassion benefit all beings!
There is no gap ~ Dogen Zenji
Dogen ZenjiAll-inclusive study is just single-minded sitting, dropping away body and mind. At the moment of going there, you go there; at the moment of coming here, you come here. There is no gap.
Possessing the view of realization ~ Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava“Mind” is discovered to be without something outside or inside. It does not have someone that looks; it is not the act of looking. It is experienced as a great original wakefulness without center or edge, an immense all-pervasiveness that is primordially empty and free. This original wakefulness is intrinsic and self-existing. It is not made right now, but is present within yourself from the very beginning. Decide firmly that the view is to recognize just that! To “possess confidence” in this means to realize that like space, mind is spontaneously present from the beginning. Like the sun, it is free from any basis for the darkness of ignorance. Like a lotus flower, it is untainted by faults. Like gold, it doesn’t alter its own nature. Like the ocean, it is unmoving. Like a river, it is unceasing. Like Mount Sumeru, it is utterly unchanging.Once you realize that this is how it is [and stabilize it], that is called “possessing the view of realization.”
Thinking about the consequences of our collective actions ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWhen many other people join in a trend, we are less likely to look beyond the pack to think about the consequences of our collective actions, but actually we should think more. This becomes particularly acute in the twenty-first century, when technology further intensifies the reach of such collective actions.
No modification ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheWhen you travel in an airplane, you can see all sorts of landscapes below — lakes, mountains, lush forests, deserts, cold and warm places. Likewise, during meditation, experiences of all kinds pass before your mind’s eye. At that time, the most important thing is to avoid any kind of clinging.
Don’t proudly think that these are “good” experiences and “Now I have realized the Great Perfection!” Neither should you be discouraged by “bad” periods of practice and feel like giving up meditation altogether, telling yourself, “I’ll never succeed.”
Let the mind remain in its completely natural, uncontrived state. Be like a newborn baby in its cradle. Even if surrounded by threatening armies wielding swords, the baby has no fear. In brief, there should be no modification of the natural state.
Contemplating the defects of samsara ~ Padampa Sangye
Padampa SangyeThink from time to time of all the defects of samsara;
People of Tingri, that will make your faith become much clearer.
Staying with the discomfort of a situation ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronDifficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface. And that becomes the moment of truth. You have the choice to launch into your lousy habitual patterns, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you.
Buying into emotions ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheSiddhartha was also trying to cut suffering at its root. But he was not dreaming up solutions such as starting a political revolution, migrating to another planet, or creating a new world economy. He wasn’t even thinking about creating a religion or developing codes of conduct that would bring peace and harmony. He explored suffering with an open mind, and through his tireless contemplation Siddharta discovered that at the root, it is our emotions that lead to suffering. In fact they are suffering.
One way or another, directly or indirectly, all emotions are born from selfishness in the sense that they involve clinging to the self. Moreover, he discovered that, as real as they may seem, emotions are not an inherent part of one’s being. They are not inborn, nor are they some sort of curse or implant that someone or some god has thrust upon us.
Emotions arise when particular causes and conditions come together, such as when you rush to think that someone is criticizing you, ignoring you, or depriving you of some gain. Then the corresponding emotions arise. The moment we accept those emotions, the moment we buy into them, we have lost awareness and sanity. We are “worked up.”Thus Siddhartha found his solution — awareness. If you seriously wish to eliminate suffering, you must generate awareness, tend to your emotions, and learn how to avoid getting worked up. If you examine emotions as Siddhartha did, if you try to identify their origin, you will find that they are rooted in misunderstanding and thus fundamentally flawed.
All emotions are basically a form of prejudice; within each emotion there is always an element of judgment.
No longer inhibited by ego ~ Bhante Gunaratana
Bhante GunaratanaA liberated person will indeed be generous and benevolent, but not because she has been conditioned to be so. She will be so purely as a manifestation of her own basic nature, which is no longer inhibited by ego.