Shunryu SuzukiWhen you are sitting in the middle of your own problem, which is more real to you: your problem or you yourself? The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.
The whole purpose of the outer guru ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIdolizing and supplicating the outer guru should not be done at the expense of losing touch with the inner guru. We are not supplicating an almighty, independent creator.
The whole purpose of the outer guru is to fish out the inner guru, to teach us how to tap into the space between past thoughts and future thoughts and, if possible, remain there. That moment is the inner and secret gurus. Even if we manage once in a blue moon to encounter this state, managing to remain there for more than a moment is rare. We don’t even have the habit of wanting to do that.
Devotion to the guru helps us develop the habit of wanting. But we cannot expect the guru to do the job for us. We may be awestruck by the charisma, the power, the hats, the height of throne, the titles, and all the props. We are comforted by the idea that he will lead us and take care of us. But if we don’t use the outer guru to develop our inner and secret gurus, we will always remain at square one. We will be bombarded by emotion whether we win the lottery or hear that our boyfriend is flirting with another man.
Everything is in the Heart ~ Ryokan
RyokanEven if you consume as many books
As the sands of the Ganges
It is not as good as really catching
One verse of Zen.
If you want the secret of Buddhism,
Here it is: Everything is in the Heart!
Becoming aware of suffering ~ Joseph Goldstein
Joseph GoldsteinImagine holding on to a hot burning coal. You would not fear letting go of it. In fact, once you noticed that you were holding on, you would probably drop it quickly. But we often do not recognize how we hold on to suffering. It seems to hold on to us. This is our practice: becoming aware of how suffering arises in our mind and of how we become identified with it, and learning to let it go. We learn through simple and direct observation, seeing the process over and over again until we understand.
Samadhi ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheThe Sanskrit word samadhi is translated in Tibetan as tingdzin, which literally means “deep holding.” The mind is held firmly and deeply so the meditation becomes very stable. Samadhi can refer to either tranquility meditation or insight meditation. By doing this deep meditation, we experience the flavor of samadhi—the exquisite taste of meditation.
The magic show of consciousness ~ Joseph Goldstein
Joseph GoldsteinThe great discovery in our practice is that, on one level, birth and death, existence and nonexistence, self and other are the great defining themes of our lives. And on another level, it’s all just a dance of insubstantial appearances, what the Buddha called “the magic show of consciousness.”
Celebrity Gurus ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheSome disciples treat their gurus like movie stars. They go around wearing necklaces with the guru’s photo, or they hang the guru’s picture on their wall. Some kind of fall in love with the guru, but it’s more like an infatuation, the way others fall for their therapists. It becomes very personal and can easily be mishandled.
Many Tibetan lamas — also Thai, Burmese, all kinds of Buddhist teachers — allow a kind of merchandising of their image. It’s very confusing. The extent of promotion often correlates with their level of insecurity. They have a feeling of having to sell themselves. At public events in Taiwan some Mahayana monks emerge from a lotus onstage, and thousands of fans have this kind of ecstatic experience.
It’s as if these spiritual characters are worried they will lose their relevance. Like, “If you don’t do this, someone else will take over” — as if the Dharma is a brand like Apple that needs to keep up with the market, otherwise Samsung will take over.
Printing business cards, bags, announcement banners, fliers, buttons with the lama’s face, billboards proclaiming the greatness of the teacher … aren’t there other ways to reach sentient beings who need the Buddhadharma?
Simply an illusion ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi RinpocheIllusion immediately becomes more workable when we acknowledge it as simply an illusion. The Western habit is to work against the grain and to try and organize the illusory into something solid and structured … In the stressful attempt to nail down the illusory nature of things, our chance to be at ease, spacious, awake, and free, which already exists within ourselves, gets lost.
A few dead leaves ~ Ryokan
RyokanTo kindle a fire,
the autumn winds have piled
a few dead leaves.
Awareness of thoughts ~ Joseph Goldstein
Joseph GoldsteinEvery time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.
At all times and in every situation ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaIn short, at all times and in every situation, make sure that whatever you do turns into the sacred dharma and dedicate every virtuous action toward enlightenment. By doing so, you will fulfill your guru’s wishes and be of service to the Buddha’s dharma; you will repay your parents’ kindness and spontaneously accomplish the benefit of yourself and others. Please keep this in your heart.
In actuality ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheYou must…be very careful not to mistake the idea of emptiness for the actual experience. The idea of emptiness has to do with intellectual understanding, proving assumptions and drawing conclusions, whereas experience is to see it for what it is, within you, not as a theory but in actuality. You should make sure that you do not make the mistake of taking an idea for the actual experience.
Do not search for the truth ~ Sengcan
SengcanTo return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment,
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.
Freedom exists within our very own mind ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheMeditation is a mind-activity. Everywhere the mind goes, the opportunity for meditation exists. The idea that meditation is something that we only do sitting on a cushion in a particular way or at a particular time has created a lot of confusion. Yet if we can recognize awareness anywhere, anytime, we may ask why we make such a big deal out of meditation, with our cushions and mats and seven-point posture. The answer is that we have developed a very strong identification with our monkey-mind. In order to shift our identity to our natural awareness, we need aids, supports, and methods. We all need these strategies, but don’t confuse them with the true meaning of meditation. We are not training in order to to learn about objects. We are training to learn about our mind, because our mind holds the source of all possibilities — good and bad, happy and sad, sane and neurotic. Freedom exists within our very own heart and mind.
Trying to stop activity ~ Sengcan
SengcanWhen you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other,
you will never know Oneness.
Real wisdom ~ Ponlop Rinpoche
Ponlop RinpocheThe wisdom we’re looking for is not just an answer we get from a religious person or subject matter expert who tells us what to think. Real wisdom is when you find a true question. When you find it, you should not rush to answer it. Stay with it for a while. Make friends with it. We live in “instant times”—instant messaging, instant pictures, fast food—and our mind is accustomed these days to instant gratification. If we bring this expectation to our spiritual path, however, we’ll be disappointed. Some of our questions can’t be answered right away. We must be as patient as scientists are when they run their experiments and diligently evaluate and verify their findings.
Be without regret ~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom RinpocheStrive to accomplish the supreme unchanging goal. For life is passing, and there is no certainty about the time of death. Even if you should die tomorrow, you should have confidence and be without regret.
Seeing impermanence deeply ~ Joseph Goldstein
Joseph GoldsteinWisdom is the clear seeing of the impermanent, conditioned nature of all phenomena, knowing that whatever arises has the nature to cease. When we see this impermanence deeply, we no longer cling; and when we no longer cling, we come to the end of suffering.
Trapped in our own webs ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaTo understand how desire works, Buddhism offers the analogy of a silkworm that spins threads of silk to create a cocoon within which the silkworm itself gets trapped. In exactly this way, desire keeps producing more desire. Through our desire, we trap ourselves in our own webs. Desire never brings an end to desire; it only gives rise to more desire.
But in Their Ignorance ~ Shantideva
ShantidevaBeings long to free themselves from misery,
But misery itself they race to catch.
They long for joy, but in their ignorance,
Destroy it, as they would a hated enemy.