17th KarmapaMy own way of thinking is that when we are meeting with angry or stubborn people, we should bring even greater understanding to bear. The more closed-minded or hardheaded someone seems, the more reason there is for us to be open-minded and gentle when interacting with them. We can recognize how difficult and painful it is to live with anger or narrow views, and this allows us to feel compassion for them.
Inner freedom is key ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaFreedom does not start from the outside. Although external conditions have a part to play, that is not where freedom originates. This might sound backward, but authentic freedom arises initially from inner conditions. Its deepest roots are within us.
Most often when we speak of freedom, what we actually have in mind are freedom’s outer manifestations. This may be the gravest error we make in our understanding of freedom. If we think we will achieve freedom when we can exercise complete control over our immediate environment, we overlook the single most important determinant of authentic freedom: our own minds.
Our mind has unlimited potential. It is not bound to any one position or viewpoint. What we think or feel — our mental state — is not simply determined by outer circumstances. Because of this, no matter how challenging our external conditions might be, we can experience freedom if we cultivate the inner resources that allow us to feel free. The basis for establishing authentic freedom is within us.
If you can access a sense of inner freedom no matter what is going on around you, you are experiencing freedom. As important as outer liberties are, freedom does not consist solely in enjoying physical or verbal liberty, such as freedom of movement or freedom of speech. We may have the liberty to do and say as we wish and yet still be deeply unfree mentally or emotionally. This is why inner freedom is key. When we have freed our minds and hearts from within, our happiness no longer depends on making the rest of the world serve our self-centered goals. Not only that, we gain freedom to work to change the external conditions that have the potential to limit or obstruct our freedom from outside, and we also have what we need to be able to work for the freedom of others.
What are we looking for when we seek freedom? Maybe at the bottom of it all, the freedom we seek is the experience of genuine happiness. Since this is an inner experience, external things cannot be the measure of our happiness or our freedom. We will come back in a moment to the question of what we mean by happiness and how it enables us to experience freedom, but I think if we examine our own experiences, we can see that whether we call it freedom or not, if we feel free, we feel happy, and if we feel happy, we also feel free. The state of mind and the feeling we seek can be called freedom, or it can be called happiness. But whatever name we give it, if we want to experience happiness or freedom, we must cultivate the inner conditions that give rise to those states.
As wisdom dawns ~ Mipham Rinpoche
Mipham RinpocheAs the wisdom of recognizing your own true nature dawns, it clears away the blinding darkness of confusion, and, just as you can see clearly the inside of your home once the sun has risen, you gain confident certainty in the true nature of your mind.
Being in harmony with the dharma ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaThe categories of teachings are endless. The entrance doors to the vehicles are innumerable. The words to be explained are extensive. Even if you succeed in memorizing millions of volumes of dharma scriptures, unless you are able to practice the essential meaning, you can never be sure that they will help you at the moment of death. And even if your education in studies and reflections is boundless, unless you succeed in being in harmony with the dharma, you will not tame your enemy, negative emotions. Even if you succeed in being the owner of a trillion worlds, unless you can curtail your plans from within with the feeling that nothing more is needed, you will never know contentment. Unless you prepare yourself with the attitude that your death could happen at any time, you cannot achieve the great aim that is surely needed at the time of death.
Benefiting the mind ~ Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Thinley Norbu RinpocheThe point is that Dharma is intended to benefit the mind, so whatever one does in Dharma is likewise intended to benefit the mind. If a particular practice is beneficial to the mind, then it is positive. Therefore, if practices such as doing prostrations and setting up an altar and making offerings and repeating the Dorje Sempa [Vajrasattva] mantra benefit the mind, one should definitely do them. They can all benefit the mind.
Buddha Shakyamuni said that all phenomena are an expression of the mind. The mind is the most important thing to work with in Dharma. So one’s basic frame of reference in any Dharma practice is working with and transforming the mind, and whatever furthers that intention is an appropriate activity in Dharma.
Authentic love toward others ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWhen you feel authentic love toward others, you will be deeply moved to act. You will not rest until you have found ways to secure the happiness of all those you are able to include in your feelings of love. As you learn to love more and more widely, your love will motivate you to act to benefit not just the few people in your inner circle, but your whole society, and eventually, the whole world.
Gurus Don’t Fish for Devotion ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheMost Vajrayana students are convinced they have boundless devotion for their guru, but in reality what they feel is more like admiration, in the same way they might admire a political candidate whose ethical and moral standing reassures them.
Not only is that not devotion, it’s actually quite dangerous. If the politician ignores you or does something slightly unsavory, even just once, the next chance you get, you will probably not vote for him. Likewise, if the guru at some point ceases to reassure you, you will want to switch gurus. This fickleness is what keeps politicians on a continuous campaign trail, trying to prove their worth and distributing freebies to make people feel special. No guru should have to campaign in order to fish out devotion from a student.
Some admiration may come naturally at the beginning of a guru-disciple relationship, but how do you get beyond merely liking the guru to true devotion? You can start by checking your motivation. Forget about enlightening all sentient beings; you should be following the guru because, at the very least, you’re seeking your own enlightenment. Yet many people approach the guru with a less straightforward motivation.
Clinging cannot be limited ~ Sengcan
SengcanClinging cannot be limited;
even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming nor going.
Pursue the lasting goal ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaAt present we have achieved the perfect human body of freedoms and riches. We have met the precious teachings of the greater vehicle. We now have the independence to genuinely apply the sacred dharma, so do not squander your life on pointless things. Instead, pursue the lasting goal.
I now surrender ~ Ryokan
RyokanThe plants and flowers
I raised about my hut
I now surrender
To the will
Of the wind.
How liberation is to be gained ~ Mipham Rinpoche
Mipham RinpocheIf one trains for a long time in the union of the two truths, the stage of acceptance (on the path of joining), which is attuned to primordial wisdom, will arise. By thus acquiring a certain conviction in that which surpasses intellectual knowledge, and by training in it, one will eventually actualize it. This is precisely how the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas have said that liberation is to be gained.
Motivated by ordinary concerns ~ Patrul Rinpoche
Patrul RinpocheWhat makes an action good or bad? Not how it looks, nor whether it is big or small, but the good or evil motivation behind it. No matter how many teachings you have heard, to be motivated by ordinary concerns — such as a desire for greatness, fame or whatever, is not the way of the true Dharma.
Released from all entanglements ~ Sengcan
SengcanTo understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider motion in stillness
and stillness in motion;
both movement and stillness disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
Perfect like vast space ~ Sengcan
SengcanThe Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
Devotion is supreme ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheListening, contemplating, studying, and analyzing are common methods for seekers of truth, but in the end, the real understanding of emptiness can arise only when the mind is free of reference points, cultural hang-ups, values, the burden of logic, dialectics, reason, speculation, rationalism, and hypotheses. This is called devotion. Of all possible superior faculties, devotion is supreme.
When you find a spiritual master ~ Gampopa
GampopaWhen you find a spiritual master, then attend him properly without allowing your own arrogance and ego to interfere. Support his activities through sincere service and provision of necessities, but particularly through application of the teachings into practice-experiencing as well as understanding the teachings. If you are overpowered by arrogance and selfish purposes, then you will not receive the blessings no matter how great the spiritual master is or how powerful and profound the teachings may be.
On human intelligence ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaHuman intelligence is the source of our problems. But it would be foolish to think that the solution is to reduce intelligence. There is only one way out: we must not let our intelligence be guided by negative and harmful emotions. It must be guided only by proper and positive motivation if it is to become marvelously constructive.
We abide nowhere ~ Chatral Rinpoche
Chatral RinpocheWe abide nowhere, we possess nothing.
Necessity of some intellectual basis ~ Kalu Rinpoche
Kalu RinpocheWhether we follow the scholastic or meditative approach really depends on our inclination, but regardless of how extensive or specialized our interest may be, some intellectual basis is certainly necessary. It is said that someone who tries to meditate without a conceptual understanding of what he or she is doing is like a blind person trying to find the way in the open country: such a person can only wander about, with no idea how to choose one direction over another.
Flowers go on falling ~ Ryokan
RyokanThe winds have died, but flowers go on falling;
birds call, but silence penetrates each song.The Mystery! Unknowable, unlearnable.
The virtue of Kannon.