14th Dalai LamaIf we ourselves remain angry and then sing world peace, it has little meaning. First, our individual self must learn peace. This we can practice. Then we can teach the rest of the world.
Or are we so dull? ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaHappiness, hand in hand with suffering,
inexpressibly, is intrinsically present –
or are our minds too dull to notice?The build-up of samsaric propensities,
primordially, is the pure dimension of being –
pity him who has not noticed!In the field of sense organ, object and consciousness
every recollection and apperception, every flicker of the
mind,
arises as the dimension of perfect enjoyment –
how can we fail to see it!All goal-oriented conventional activity
and all chatter, gossip and laughter,
is the dimension of magical emanation –
surely we all know that! Or are we so dull?Every impulse and stirring of the mind,
seamless, like a flowing stream,
our constant mental enchantment,
is effortless, natural meditation –
surely we can’t miss that!Looking closely at matter and energy,
and at thought, sound and form,
it is all insubstantial projection,
and this view that empties our urban samsara
has always been with us, though unseen –
surely our doors of perception are now open!
Cultivating equanimity ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronTraining in equanimity is learning to open the door to all, welcoming all beings, inviting life to come visit. Of course, as certain guests arrive, we’ll feel fear and aversion. We allow ourselves to open the door just a crack if that’s all that we can presently do, and we allow ourselves to shut the door when necessary. Cultivating equanimity is a work in progress. We aspire to spend our lives training in the loving-kindness and courage that it takes to receive whatever appears—sickness, health, poverty, wealth, sorrow, and joy. We welcome and get to know them all.
Goodness is something we all have ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheThe realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by searching for it from afar. It is present within the essence of the mind itself. If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough. It is not as if we were lacking something before, so we need to make something new through our meditation. It is not as if we are bad and have to go through all sorts of efforts to make ourselves good. Goodness is something we all have. It has always been with us, but we have just not looked for it or seen it yet, so we have become confused. Therefore all we need to do is to just rest within it without changing it. We see where it stays and rest there, so we are like a kusulu. This means that we rest free and easy with nothing to do, very simply. We do not need to think that we are making something good or that we need to meditate properly. It is enough just to know what we already have.
Scattering stars like dust ~ Rumi
RumiWe come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.
You are discovering yourself ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheOne day I asked my father, “When I get enlightened, will I be able to remember me? My old self?” It was not unusual for my father to laugh affectionately at my questions, but he found this one particularly hilarious. Then he explained that enlightenment is not like being possessed by a spirit. Tibetan culture has a tradition of oracles, people who become possessed by spirits and make predictions and prophecies. When this happens, they forget their former selves and become different beings; they swirl and fall down like crazy drunks. To imitate their wild behavior my father waved his arms, raised one knee at a time, and danced in circles. Suddenly he stopped and said, “Not like that. Awakening is more like discovering yourself.” He cupped his hands together and told me, “If you have a handful of diamonds but don’t realize what they are, you treat them like pebbles. Once you recognize them as diamonds, you can use their precious qualities. Becoming a buddha is like discovering a diamond in your hand. You are discovering yourself, not getting rid of yourself.”
This is not a sure thing ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahActually in my own practice I didn’t have a teacher to give as much teachings as all of you get from me. I didn’t have many teachers. I ordained in an ordinary village temple and lived in village temples for quite a few years. In my mind I conceived the desire to practice, I wanted to be proficient, I wanted to train. There wasn’t anybody giving any teaching in those monasteries but the inspiration to practice arose. I traveled and I looked around. I had ears so I listened, I had eyes so I looked. Whatever I heard people say, I’d tell myself, ‘Not sure.’ Whatever I saw, I told myself, ‘Not sure,’ or when the tongue contacted sweet, sour, salty, pleasant or unpleasant flavors, or feelings of comfort or pain arose in the body, I’d tell myself, ‘This is not a sure thing’! And so I lived with dhamma.
Seeking diversions ~ Garchen Rinpoche
Garchen RinpocheMany of us seek diversions — going to the city, traveling, seeing films and so forth. If one recognizes the nature of one’s own mind, then that itself is the real entertainment, the real display. Simply to rest in Mahamudra, in the nature of mind, one will come to an understanding of all situations in samsara and nirvana. Then it will not be necessary to go looking for entertainment.
When we practice meditation in a place where there is no other person, then we have the conditions for realizing and stabilizing awareness of mind’s nature. From this perspective we understand the meaning of Tilopa’s words — that not seeing is the supreme insight.
If we have this kind of realization in our practice, then there is no need to seek any kind of diversion or entertainment.
Wherever is the need of beings ~ Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe TsogyalWherever there is space, five elements pervade,
Wherever the five elements, the homes of living beings,
Wherever living beings, karma and defilements,
Wherever is defilement, my compassion also.
Wherever is the need of beings, there I am to help them.
A treasure in the own palm ~ Saraha
SarahaHe in whose heart the words of the master have entered,
Sees the truth like a treasure in his own palm.
Awaken the Genuine Heart of Sadness ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaAwakened heart comes from being willing to face your state of mind. The sitting practice of meditation is a means to awaken this within you. When you awaken your heart, to your surprise, you find that it is empty. If you search for awakened heart, if you put your hand through your rib cage and feel for your heart, there is nothing there — except for tenderness. You feel sore and soft, and if you open your eyes to the world, you feel tremendous sadness. It is not the sadness of feeling sorry for yourself or feeling deprived. It is a natural situation of fullness. The genuine heart of sadness comes from this feeling that your nonexistent heart is full. Your experience is so raw, tender, and personal that even if a tiny mosquito lands on you, you feel its touch.
Our fundamental nature is intrinsic ~ Khandro Rinpoche
Khandro RinpocheOur fundamental nature is intrinsic. No sane, intelligent human being is impeded from being in touch with this basic nature. There is no one standing between you and it, no one is appearing like a mara to perform dances of distraction. At any given moment, each one of you — even with no understanding of Buddhism — has the natural potential to realize you are completely and inseparably united with your intrinsic wisdom nature. You have never been separate from it for a moment. It is not a sometimes-there-sometimes-not quality or an adornment that’s been attached or added on to you.
Offering our presence ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhThe most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
A good heart is needed ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaWe are not lacking in terms of the development of science and technology; still, we lack something here in the heart — a real inner warm feeling. A good heart is needed.
Buddhist renunciation ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheContrary to popular belief, buddhist renunciation is not self-flagellation or austerity.
Life is a stream of sensory illusions ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheFrom a Buddhist point of view, each aspect and moment of our lives is an illusion. According to the Buddha, it’s like seeing a black spot in the sky that you are unable to make sense of, then concentrating on it intensely until finally you are able to make out a flock of birds; or hearing a perfect echo that sounds exactly like a real person shouting back at you.
Life is nothing more than a continuous stream of sensory illusions, from the obvious ones, like fame and power, to those less easy to discern, like death, nosebleeds and headaches. Tragically, though, most human beings believe in what they see, and so the truth Buddha exposed about the illusory nature of life can be a little hard to swallow.
Right Time ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThere is a right time for everything. Farmers know when the time has come to plow, to sow, or to harvest, and they never fail to do each job when it is necessary. Now that you are in full possession of your faculties, have met a teacher, and have received his instructions, will you let the filed of liberation lie uncultivated?
The essence of mind ~ Chetsang Rinpoche
Chetsang RinpocheThe essence of mind is somewhat difficult to explain, so we look at it from the negative point of view, that is, what mind is not. First of all, we see that it is not something which arises or ceases or abides. It is free of these three things. From beginningless time, there is no arising, no cessation and no abiding in terms of staying in one place, not moving, or not changing. It is completely free of all three of these.
It is also free of being a thing or a substance composed of particles. The essential entity, or substance, of mind is not something that can be defiled or stained by grasping at subject and object. It is completely free of the stains from those activities.
Further, when we look at the essential substance of mind, we find that no matter how much we search for it, no matter how much we analyze it, there is no thing there to be found. There is no entity that we can come up with by searching, evaluating, and analyzing. No matter how much we seek for its essential substance, we cannot find it. The searcher, the one who does the search for essential substance of mind, cannot find it. Therefore it is said that the essential substance of mind itself is emptiness.
Speaking to Those Who Don’t Listen ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaPeople in the part of Tibet that I come from are called Khampas, and we Khampas have a reputation for being stubborn and unwilling to listen to others’ view. There used to be a saying in Tibetan: “Khampas have their ears on their bottoms”, meaning you get to listen not by speaking to us, but by smacking us. This may be said jokingly, but there is a certain grain of truth in it. Khampa culture often displays a reluctance to open to others’ views, as do other cultures, too, of course. We sometimes meet people who seem so deaf to divergent opinions that we may wonder where their ears are – and not only among us Khampas!.
When we do encounter people we find to be arrogant or hardheaded, there is a tendency to want to break through their resistance by being forceful with them. Similarly, when faced with someone who is angry, we often feel that we should not be soft or gentle, for fear that they will ignore us or even take our gentleness for weakness and attack us. I think we ought to consider carefully whether this is really the right approach. If you add your own anger to another person’s, it just results in more anger – and makes it harder to find a shared way forward another.
As we see, various emotional forces can keep people from listening to views that differ from their own. Stubbornness is one. A temporary upheaval of anger is another. We need to find ways to interact productively with people who are unable or unwilling to broaden their thinking in order to take in others’ perspectives. In such cases, it is up to us to find a healthy way to relate to their vantage point.
Peeling of our patches of samsara ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheHow much time do we really have left in this lifetime? Twenty years? Thirty, if we’re lucky? Given that everything we have understood so far is nothing more than a patch that’s holding together our version of samsara, are any of us really willing to spend another ten years believing in that reality? We must, therefore, be prepared to peel off those patches.