Thich Nhat HanhWalk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the earth with your feet.
Bring the earth your love and happiness.
The earth will be safe
When we feel safe in ourselves.
Wonderful journey ~ Matsuo Bashō
Matsuo BashōEvery day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
Seeing death with every breath ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahThe Buddha told his disciple Ananda to see impermanence, to see death with every breath. We must know death; we must die in order to live. What does that mean? To die is to come to the end of our doubts, all our questions, and just be here with the present reality. You can never die tomorrow; you must die now. Can you do it? If you can do it, you will know the peace of no more questions.
Shedding our covers ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaAccording to the Buddhist tradition, we don’t ever get new wisdom, nor does any foreign element come into our state of mind at all. Rather, practice is a question of waking up and shedding our covers. We have those goodies in us already; we only have to uncover them.
Elegance ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaElegance means appreciating things as they are. There is a sense of delight and of fearlessness.
With two widely opened white wings ~ Chandrakirti
ChandrakirtiWith two widely opened white wings
Of relative truth [skillful means] and absolute truth [wisdom]
The kings of swans [bodhisattvas] and their flock of swans [disciples]
Soar through the ocean of supreme Buddha qualities.
From the head to the heart ~ Ringu Tulku
Ringu TulkuIt is sometimes said that the longest journey we take is the journey from the head to the heart.
Any moment ~ 16th Karmapa
16th KarmapaAny brief moment, any time at all that one could use as an opportunity for dharma practice, one must use.
The greatest charity ~ Bodhidharma
BodhidharmaTo give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity.
The birth and the death of beings ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniThe three realms of existence are like a cloud in autumn:
The birth and the death of beings is like a dancer’s movement;
A being’s life is like a waterfall,
Like a flash of lightning in the sky;
It never stops even for a single moment and once it starts,
It goes inevitably to its conclusion.
Forervermore ~ Shantideva
ShantidevaAll other virtues are like the plantain tree:
They bear their fruit, and then they are no more.
Yet constantly the marvellous tree of bodhicitta
Yields fruit and, undiminished, grows forevermore.
The deeply interconnected nature of our existence ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaAt a fundamental level, as human beings, we are all the same; each one of us aspires to happiness and each one of us does not wish to suffer. This is why, whenever I have the opportunity, I try to draw people’s attention to what as members of the human family we have in common and the deeply interconnected nature of our existence and welfare.
All perceptions are similar to a dream ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheAt present we perceive samsara as something we have to reject and nirvana as something we have to attain. Now while this is correct according to relative truth, according to absolute truth the nature of the afflictive emotions and actions that we are supposed to reject is nothing other than emptiness. When we realize the dharmakaya, which is free from true existence, we will know that all perceptions are similar to a dream or an illusion and we will no longer crave these phenomena. As it is said, ‘While there is attachment, there is no view.’ And the absence of attachment is the supreme view.
Pride and pity ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpochePride and pity are closely related. Believing that your life is harder and sadder than everyone else’s is simply a manifestation of clinging to self. When the self develops self-pity, it eliminates any space that others have to feel compassionate.
Just observing ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheA more constructive approach to negative emotions, similar to working with negative thoughts, is simply to rest your attention on the emotion itself rather than on its object. Just look at the emotion without analyzing it intellectually. Don’t try to hold on to it and don’t try to block it. Just observe it. When you do this, the emotion won’t seem as big or powerful as it initially did.
The Insight of Inter-Being ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhThe insight of inter-being will help remove discrimination, fear, and the dualistic way of thinking. We inter-are — even suffering and happiness inter-are — and that is why the insight of inter-being is the foundation of any kind of action that can bring peace and brotherhood, and help remove violence and despair. That insight is present in every great spiritual tradition. We need only to go home to our own tradition, and try to reveal that, to revive that.
The fruit of dharma practice ~ Milarepa
MilarepaMy fear and doubts have vanished like mist
into the distance, never to disturb me again.
I will die content and free from regrets.
This is the fruit of dharma practice.
Indispensable to liberation ~ Tulku Thondup Rinpoche
Tulku Thondup RinpocheBuddhism teaches that in our true nature, we are enlightened—totally open, peaceful, joyful, compassionate, and omniscient. The Buddha proclaimed:
“Profound, peaceful, and free from concepts,
Luminous and uncompounded—
A nectar-like nature—that I have realized!”This aspect of our mind is “the true nature of the mind.” When we become aware of and perfect it, we become blossoming buddhas.
We’re all attracted to these highest views. But some students of Buddhism just want to meditate on the nature of the mind, emptiness-wisdom, free from concepts, without opening their hearts to the merit-making practices that are indispensable to liberation. They regard important practices like praying and generating devotion as “theistic” and “dualistic.”
Relating with people ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaCompassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.
You can be free ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa RinpocheYou have to remember buddha nature. In the emptiness of your heart, remember you have buddha nature. Delusions are not permanent, they are not part of you, they are temporary. You can be free from delusions and negative karma. Like a mirror covered by dust, you can clean it. The more you clean it, the clearer the reflection becomes. Your mind becomes clearer the more the delusions are purified.