Pema ChödronWe think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate the perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self-contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air.
The best way to love oneself ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaSome people find it hard to see their own inner beauty. They wish to learn to be kinder to themselves but do not know how to go about doing so. I would say that in being loving and affectionate towards others, you can discover affection and kindness towards yourself. The best way to love oneself and care for oneself is to love others.
Just open space ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaFundamentally, there is just open space, the basic ground, what we really are. Our most fundamental state of mind, before the creation of ego, is such that there is basic openness, basic freedom, a spacious quality; and we have now and have always had this openness.
Like two expressions on the same face ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheSamsara and nirvana are like two expressions on the same face, one dark and sullen, the other light and smiling. But, whatever the expression, we are not talking about a different face. It is not degraded when smeared with the dirt of samsara, neither is it improved when the dirt of samsara is washed off. Samsara and nirvana remain within the expanse of the absolute nature in the same way that the universe with its different continents all appear in space.
Essential Mahamudra Verses ~ Maitripa
MaitripaTo innermost bliss, I pay homage!
Were I to explain Mahamudra, I would say—
All phenomena? Your own mind!
If you look outside for meaning, you’ll get confused.
Phenomena are like a dream, empty of true nature,And mind is merely the flux of awareness,
No self nature: just energy flow.
No true nature: just like the sky.
All phenomena are alike, sky-like.That’s Mahamudra, as we call it.
It doesn’t have an identity to show;
For that reason, the nature of mind
Is itself the very state of Mahamudra
(Which is not made up, and does not change).
If you realize this basic reality
You recognize all that comes up, all that goes on, as Mahamudra,
The all-pervading dharma-body.Rest in the true nature, free of fabrication.
Meditate without searching for dharma-body—
It is devoid of thought.
If your mind searches, your meditation will be confused.Because it’s like space, or like a magical show,
There is neither meditation or non-meditation,
How could you be separate or inseparable?
That’s how a yogi sees it!Then, aware of all good and bad stuff as the basic reality,
You become liberated.
Neurotic emotions are great awareness,
They’re to a yogi as trees are to a fire—FUEL!What are notions of going or staying?
Or, for that matter, “meditating” in solitude?
If you don’t get this,
You free yourself only on the surface.But if you do get it, what can ever fetter you?
Abide in an undistracted state.
Trying to adjust body and mind won’t produce meditation.
Trying to apply techniques won’t produce meditation either.See, nothing is ultimately established.
Know what appears to have no intrinsic nature.
Appearances perceived: reality’s realm, self-liberated.
Thought that perceives: spacious awareness, self-liberated.
Non-duality, sameness [of perceiver and perceived]: the dharma-body.Like a wide stream flowing non-stop,
Whatever the phase, it has meaning
And is forever the awakened state—
Great bliss without samsaric reference.All phenomena are empty of intrinsic nature
And the mind that clings to emptiness dissolves in its own ground.
Freedom from conceptual activity
Is the path of all the Buddhas.I’ve put together these lines
That they may last for aeons to come.
By this virtue, may all beings without exception
Abide in the great state of Mahamudra.
At liberty to come or to go ~ Hui Neng
Hui NengWhen our mind works freely without any hindrance, and is at liberty to ‘come’ or to ‘go’, we attain Samadhi of Prajna, or liberation. Such a state is called the function of ‘thoughtlessness’. But to refrain from thinking of anything, so that all thoughts are suppressed, is to be Dharma-ridden, and this is an erroneous view.
Happiness and suffering ~ Padampa Sangye
Padampa SangyeHappiness and suffering, through a mechanism like the sounding of a lute’s body and strings,
People of Tingri, are produced when actions are combined with necessary conditions.
Abandon negative friendships ~ Padampa Sangye
Padampa SangyeFrequenting evil friends is bound to make your own behavior evil;
People of Tingri, abandon any friendships that are negative.
Anxiety is the illness of our age ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhSomeone asked me, “Aren’t you worried about the state of the world?” I allowed myself to breathe and then I said, “What is most important is not to allow your anxiety about what happens in the world to fill your heart. If your heart is filled with anxiety, you will get sick, and you will not be able to help.” There are wars — big and small — in many places, and that can cause us to lose our peace. Anxiety is the illness of our age. We worry about ourselves, our family, our friends, our work, and the state of the world. If we allow worry to fill our hearts, sooner or later we will get sick.
Before it is too late ~ Padmasambhava
PadmasambhavaHowever industrious you may be,
There is no end to worldly activities;
But if you practice the Dharma
You will swiftly conclude everything.However nice they may seem,
Samsaric affairs always end in disaster;
But the fruits of practicing the Dharma
Will never deteriorate.Since beginningless time you have collected and encouraged
Karma, negative emotions, and habitual tendencies,
Which force you to wander in samsara.
If you continue like that, when will liberation arrive?If you only see all this at the moment of death,
It’s rather too late –
When the head’s already been severed,
What use is any medicine?
Recognizing the suffering of samsara,
Turn toward the peace of nirvana.
No greater obstacle to Dharma practice ~ Gyelse Tokme Zangpo
Gyelse Tokme ZangpoYou won’t accomplish
Both the Dharma and the aims of this ordinary life
If that is your wish,
No doubt you’re deceiving yourself.
There is no greater obstacle to Dharma practice
Than to be obsessed by the achievements of this life.
Compassion ~ Atisha
AtishaTo be kind to those who have come from afar, to those who have been ill for a long time, or to our parents in their old age, is equivalent to meditating on emptiness of which compassion is the very essence.
The very essence of all Dharma ~ Shabkar
ShabkarIf someone has compassion, he is a 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 his enemies will turn into friends,
Without compassion, even his friends turn into enemies.With compassion, one has all Dharmas,
Without compassion, one has no Dharma at all.With compassion, one is a 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 laypeople,
Cultivate compassion and you will achieve Buddhahood.May all men and women who hear this song,
With great compassion, benefit all beings!
You can’t reject your nose ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheThe method of Lord Buddha’s teachings is to show you the nature of the human mind, your human potential and how you can develop further. Moreover, this method does not emphasize blind belief in, rather than understanding of, metaphysical processes. However, whether you are religious or non- religious, or a believer or a non-believer, the important thing is to know the nature of your own mind. If you don’t, it is so easy to think that you are healthy and functioning well in your daily life while in fact the root of disturbing emotions is growing firmer and deeper within your mind. With this fundamental cause of psychological disease within you, a tiny change of conditions can precipitate mental illness. As long as you are totally immersed in blind attachment to the sense world, not knowing the nature of your mind, this can happen. You can’t reject this: “I don’t believe it.” You can’t reject your nose: “I don’t believe I have a nose.” Whether you believe you have a nose or not, it’s there!
What is in front of us right in the moment ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronWe’re always in some kind of mood. It might be sadness, it might be anger, it might be not much of anything, just a kind of blur. It might be humor or contentment. In any case, whatever it is, that’s the path.
When something hurts in life, we don’t usually think of it as our path or as the source of wisdom. In fact, we think that the reason we’re on the path is to get rid of this painful feeling. In this way, we naively cultivate a subtle aggression against ourselves. However, the fact is that anyone who has used the moments, days, and years of his or her life to become wiser, kinder, and more at home in the world has learned from what’s happening right now. We can aspire to be kind right in the moment, to relax and open our heart and mind to what is in front of us right in the moment. Now is the time. If there’s any possibility for enlightenment, it’s right now, not at some future time.
Heart Advice ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaSo stay right here, you lucky people,
let go and be happy in the natural state.
Let your complicated life and everyday confusion alone
and out of quietude, doing nothing, watch the nature of mind.
This piece of advice is from the bottom of my heart:
fully engage in contemplation and understanding is born;
cherish nonattachment and delusion dissolves;
and forming no agenda at all reality dawns.
Whatever occurs, whatever it may be, that itself is the key,
and without stopping it or nourishing it, in an even flow,
freely resting, surrendering to ultimate contemplation,
in naked pristine purity we reach consummation.
Have you prepared yourselves a boat ~ Padampa Sangye
Padampa SangyeBirth, sickness, ageing and death flow on, a river without ford or bridge;
People of Tingri, have you prepared yourselves a boat?
No heaven, no earth ~ Dogen Zenji
Dogen ZenjiThe whole universe
Shatters into a hundred pieces.
In the great death
There is no heaven, no earth.Once body and mind have turned over,
There is only this to say:Past mind cannot be grasped,
Present mind cannot be grasped,
Future mind cannot be grasped.
What the Buddha taught ~ Nagarjuna
NagarjunaJust as a grammarian first has students
Read a model of the alphabet,
Buddha taught students
The doctrine that they could bear.To some he taught doctrines
To turn them away from ill-deeds.
To some, for the sake of achieving merit.
To some, doctrines based on duality.To some, doctrines based on non-duality.
To some, what is profound and frightening to the fearful –
Having an essence of emptiness and compassion –
The means of achieving unsurpassed enlightenment.
Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble ~ Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu SuzukiNothing comes from outside your mind. Usually we think of our mind as receiving impressions and experiences from outside, but that is not a true understanding of our mind. The true understanding is that the mind includes everything; when you think something comes from outside it means only that something appears in your mind. Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.