VajravarahiThe innate purity that is the nature of mind
That is the essential Vajravarahi,
She exists within,
So do not look elsewhere.
That is foolish and childish.
The nature of mind, a wish-fulfilling gem,
Stripped of all mental fiction,
That is the most satisfying achievement.
Our own responsibility ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheWe are not compelled to meditate by some outside agent, by other people, or by God. Rather, just as we are responsible for our own suffering, so are we solely responsible for our own cure. We have created the situation in which we find ourselves, and it is up to us to create the circumstances for our release.
Just as we are ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronWhile we are sitting in meditation, we are simply exploring humanity and all of creation in the form of ourselves. We can become the world’s greatest experts on anger, jealousy, and self-deprecation, as well as on joyfulness, clarity, and insight. Everything that human beings feel, we feel. We can become extremely wise and sensitive to all of humanity and the whole universe simply by knowing ourselves, just as we are.
Just like salty water ~ Gyelse Tokme Zangpo
Gyelse Tokme ZangpoThe practice of all the bodhisattvas is to turn away immediately
From those things which bring desire and attachment.
For the pleasures of the senses are just like salty water:
The more we taste of them, the more our thirst increases.
Our life can be translated into love ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWe can color our whole life with kindness, transforming our everyday activities and suffusing our everyday ways of being with human warmth. This can happen. Our life can be translated into love.
Attaching More Importance to the Form of Our Religious Identities than to the Substance of What They Teach Us ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaIn 2001, the huge Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan were intentionally demolished. From a certain perspective within Islam, these statues were offensive instruments of idol worship, while to Buddhists they were reminders of sacred principles and the very best of our innate human potential. Basically, we Buddhists use physical images in our spiritual practice, while Muslims worship without images. Clinging to either position was creating a wall between people. But they are just statues. Allowing ourselves to be pitted against each other over a statue – now that is really clinging to biases.
Personally, I do not see a basis for treating religious differences this way. A while after the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed, I had the opportunity to meet with an Afghan youth group working for peace. I suggested to them that we might view the coming down of the Bamiyan Buddhas as bringing down the walls between all peoples. If the presence of those statues was setting us at odds, perhaps we could see it as useful that they were brought down. This is how I felt about it.
Walls come up between people when we attach more importance to the form of our religious identities than to the substance of what they teach us. When spiritual beliefs are used to build up walls between people, this is a total misunderstanding of the purpose of spirituality. Spirituality should mean coming closer to yourself. When this happens, you become closer to others, too. Spirituality and religion should dismantle discrimination and labels, not shore them up. It should break, not create, barriers between people.
The essence of mind ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheThe essence of mind that is primordially empty and rootless is unlike holding the idea of emptiness in mind, and it is not the same as the sustained attempt to feel empty. Neither of these helps very much. By growing used to this natural, original emptiness again and again, we become accustomed to it. Then there will be a stretch throughout the whole day from morning to evening, which is only empty awareness untainted by notions of perceived objects or the perceiving mind. This corresponds to having attained the bodhisattva levels, the bhumis. When there is never a break throughout day and night, that is called buddhahood, true and complete enlightenment.
Over and over again ~ Padmasambhava
PadmasambhavaAll beings have lived and died and been reborn countless times. Over and over again they have experienced the indescribable Clear Light. But because they are obscured by the darkness of ignorance, they wander endlessly in a limitless samsara.
The cause of suffering ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheNot recognizing the emptiness of phenomena is the cause of suffering. If we have a strong belief in external phenomena, this leads us to regard external phenomena as either good or bad. If we feel that the external phenomena are good, then we develop strong attachment to these external phenomena. If we regard external phenomena as bad, then we develop a strong aversion to them. This leads to further suffering. However, if we understand that external phenomena are not solid from the very first, then both the cause of suffering and the result of suffering will be naturally pacified.
The need to know suffering ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahPeople have suffering in one place, so they go somewhere else. When suffering arises there, they run off again. They think they’re running away from suffering, but they’re not. Suffering goes with them. They carry suffering around without knowing it. If we don’t know suffering, then we can’t know the cause of suffering. If we don’t know the cause of suffering, then we can’t know the cessation of suffering. There’s no way we can escape it.
Beginning to identify with pristine awareness ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheThough we’re conditioned to identify with the thoughts that pass through our awareness rather than with awareness itself, the awareness that is our true nature is infinitely flexible. It is capable of any and every sort of experience – even misconceptions about itself as limited, trapped, ugly, anxious, lonely, or afraid. When we begin to identify with that timeless, pristine awareness rather than with the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that pass through it, we’ve taken the first step toward facing the freedom of our true nature.
The real miracle ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhPeople say walking on water is a miracle, but to me walking peacefully on earth is the real miracle.
Going beyond the “eight worldly dharmas” ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheWe should really have this aspiration. We should pray that one day we reach a stage where we have enough courage to become just like these eccentric people. Right now, we can only afford to be slightly nonconformist. A little bit of craziness is okay. It’s kind of character building activity. But we are very scared of going beyond that! We would be outcast and all that.
So we should pray that someday, we really become crazy. Not in the sense of becoming something like a lunatic from one of these asylums. The craziness we are referring to means going beyond the “eight worldly dharmas”; truly not caring whether you are being praised or criticized is the ultimate craziness. From the mundane, worldly point of view, whenever you are praised, you are supposed to be happy; when you are criticized, you are supposed to be unhappy. However, the sublime beings are not moved – that’s why we think they are crazy. This is what you have to aim for.
Don’t do this right now, because it will backfire on you! Just aspire. If you tried doing this now, it would not only fail to help your practice it would also upset others. So continue In a way that any decent human being would want you to behave. But at the same time, let this alarm continuously sound in your head: “All of this is useless.”
By oneself ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniBy oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another.
The expression of total insult ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIn reality, nothing can save us from a state of chaos or confusion unless we have acknowledged it and actually experienced it. Otherwise, even though we may be in the midst of chaos, we don’t even notice it, although we are subject to it. On the path of meditation, the first real glimpse of our confusion and the general chaos is when we begin to feel uncomfortable. We feel that something is a nuisance. Something is bugging us constantly.
What is that? Eventually we discover that we are the nuisance. We begin to see ourselves being a nuisance to ourselves when we uncover all kinds of thought problems, emotional hang-ups, and physical problems in meditation. Before we work with anyone else, we have to deal with being a nuisance to ourselves. We have to pull ourselves together. We might get angry with ourselves, saying, “I could do better than this. What’s wrong with me? I seem to be getting worse. I’m going backward.” We might get angry with the whole world, including ourselves. Everything, the entire universe, becomes the expression of total insult. We have to relate to that experience rather than rejecting it. If you hope to be helpful to others, first you have to work with yourself.
Remain alone and practise the dharma ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheThese days, though, just to find the time to be entirely alone to practise can be extremely problematic, especially for those with families, and so to organise the ideal place would be an unimaginable luxury. So keep it simple and do your best to be completely alone for an hour or two every day.
As Jigme Lingpa said, the greatest merit of all is to be able to remain alone and do nothing but practise the dharma; even an offering of the entire world and everything in it would not be enough to merit the chance of practising in isolation. He also said it is only possible to see the flaws of samsara and the benefits of nirvana in solitude. So pray from the bottom of your heart that one day you will encounter such an opportunity.
Another very good reason for remaining alone is that it is so rare to meet unbiased people who compliment the dharma and harbour no envy.
Importance of a calm mind ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi RinpocheWithout calmness of mind, it is very hard to have a sense of delight. Without this sense of delight, there is no genuine compassion. If we are totally preoccupied with our own experience — how I feel, what my problem is, and so forth — there is no chance at all for us to care about how others feel. There is simply no room for compassion.
Living in harmony ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheMany of us lead family lives. At most, the members of a family stay together for the duration of a single lifetime, often much less. While that fleeting moment of being together still lasts, we should try to remain in perfect harmony with each other, while observing the Dharma as much as possible. Night and day, let us turn our minds toward goodness, love, and compassion. Doing a single prostration, saying a simple prayer, contemplating the nature of the mind for an instant are seeds that lead to enlightenment. To be united in this life as man and wife, parent and children, is the result of our past actions, of a shared karma. That is why we should at all costs avoid quarelling and live in harmony.
In the crystal mirror theater of awareness mind ~ Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Thinley Norbu RinpocheIn the crystal mirror theater of awareness mind the supreme artist performs his magical displays, but rare is the clear insight audience capable of viewing this wisdom.
We truly have everything we need already ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThe moment we stop letting greed make us chase after what we do not have and take for granted all that we do have, we can feel a deep and joyful sense of appreciation. We truly have everything we need already.