Chatral RinpocheWhichever method is best suited to your own capacity.
There’s no better sign of accomplishment than a disciplined mind,
This is true victory for the real warrior who carries no weapons.
The very root of Dharma ~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Nyoshul Khen RinpocheTo work on the mind is a very vast subject; in fact it is the subject of the entire Buddha Dharma. In essence the main reason the mind generates it’s confusing passions and intense emotions is the strong clinging to I, me, and mine. Because of that clinging, we suffer when do not obtain all that the I wants, and we suffer by experiencing with the I does not want.
It is through meditating over and again on the illusory and insubstantial nature of mind, ego, of self, that we slowly can dissolve ego clinging. Among all the methods to achieve this result, the deepest one is the meditation on bodhichitta – unselfish love and compassion. To be full of love for all sentient beings, and to consider others more important than ourselves is the very root of Dharma, combining wisdom and compassion.
The Greatness of Small Acts ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWhen you truly root yourself in a sense of responsibility and caring, then you will naturally act to ease the pain you see. Instead of being idealistic or waiting for the chance to have a big impact, you will be moved to act in small ways. And in the long run, this sense of deep concern will sustain your movements far beyond one single act.
Even in the short term, making a practical difference in just one person’s life is highly worthwhile. Ending the pain of an individual who is suffering is deeply meaningful. If you can make a difference in a few people’s lives, that is something major. The most important thing is to be sincere, and to remain sincerely conscientious about the responsibility that comes with the food we eat.
Then, you just have to start somewhere. You can stop eating meat. You can donate a certain percentage of what you earn to worthy causes. Educate yourself. Set an example for your peers. Open your heart. Share and give. Inspire others to do the same. This is how big things start.
Homesick ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheIn a sense, we’re homesick for our true nature.
The mind simply knows ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahMeditation means to make the mind peaceful in order to let wisdom arise. This requires that we practise with body and mind in order to see and know the sense impressions of form, sound, taste, smell, touch and mental formations. To put it shortly, it’s just a matter of happiness and unhappiness. Happiness is pleasant feeling in the mind, unhappiness is just unpleasant feeling. The Buddha taught to separate this happiness and unhappiness from the mind. The mind is that which knows. Feeling2 is the characteristic of happiness or unhappiness, like or dislike. When the mind indulges in these things we say that it clings to or takes that happiness and unhappiness to be worthy of holding. That clinging is an action of mind, that happiness or unhappiness is feeling.
When we say the Buddha told us to separate the mind from the feeling, he didn’t literally mean to throw them to different places. He meant that the mind must know happiness and know unhappiness. When sitting in samādhi, for example, and peace fills the mind, then happiness comes but it doesn’t reach us, unhappiness comes but doesn’t reach us. This is to separate the feeling from the mind. We can compare it to oil and water in a bottle. They don’t combine. Even if you try to mix them, the oil remains oil and the water remains water, because they are of different density.
The natural state of the mind is neither happiness nor unhappiness. When feeling enters the mind then happiness or unhappiness is born. If we have mindfulness then we know pleasant feeling as pleasant feeling. The mind which knows will not pick it up. Happiness is there but it’s ‘outside’ the mind, not buried within the mind. The mind simply knows it clearly.
If we separate unhappiness from the mind, does that mean there is no suffering, that we don’t experience it? Yes, we experience it, but we know mind as mind, feeling as feeling. We don’t cling to that feeling or carry it around. The Buddha separated these things through knowledge. Did he have suffering? He knew the state of suffering but he didn’t cling to it, so we say that he cut suffering off. And there was happiness too, but he knew that happiness, if it’s not known, is like a poison. He didn’t hold it to be himself. Happiness was there through knowledge, but it didn’t exist in his mind. Thus we say that he separated happiness and unhappiness from his mind.
Sanity on the spot ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaA story is told about Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, who had the desire to engage in a long period of fasting. He began to grow feeble and weak; he couldn’t sit and meditate, so finally the Buddha told him, “Ananda, if there is no food, there is no body. If there is no body, there is no dharma. If there is no dharma, there is no enlightenment. Therefore go back and eat.” That is the basic logic of the Buddhist teachings and of Buddhist psychology. We can actually be decent and sane on the spot, not through extreme measures but by managing our life properly, and thereby cultivating maitri, gentleness and friendliness to yourself.
Looking at the essence of thoughts ~ 9th Karmapa
9th KarmapaWhatever thoughts arise, do not do anything contrived, such as deliberately abandoning or adopting them — look at their very essence.
Suffering for sure ~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom RinpocheNow, one time out of hundreds you have obtained a human form. If you do not do what you can now to avoid rebirth in the lower realms, your place of rebirth might be unknown, but wherever it might be among the six classes of beings, suffering will be its only sure feature.
Study your mind ~ Milarepa
MilarepaI study my mind and therefore all appearances are my texts.
Identification with our thoughts and feelings ~ Tenzin Palmo
Tenzin PalmoWhen we are angry, when we are excited, when we are depressed, when we are elated, we are completely submerged in and identified with those thoughts and feelings. This is why we suffer. We suffer because we are completely identified with our thoughts and feelings and we think this is me. This is who I am.
Superficial dharma practice ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheDo not be superficial and inconstant, thinking that following the teacher and receiving his teachings will make you famous or that receiving only a few words of instruction and making a Dharma connection will suffice.
A jewel treasure ~ Geshe Langri Thangpa
Geshe Langri ThangpaWhen I see beings of unpleasant character
Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering,
May I hold them dear – for they are rare to find –
As if I have discovered a jewel treasure!
Making peace with ourselves ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhOur capacity to make peace with another person and with the world depends very much on our capacity to make peace with ourselves.
The path of knowledge ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheBuddhism isn’t some fanatical religious trip. It’s a philosophical way of living life. And also, to study Buddhism you don’t need to believe in something extreme. It’s a matter of investigating, examining and experimenting on yourself. It’s not just belief. Without understanding, belief can be very dangerous. So what Lord Buddha emphasized was that understanding is the path to liberation, knowledge is the path to liberation.
The very purpose of religion ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaIf you really take an interest in Buddhism, then the most important thing is implementation-practice. To study Buddhism and then use it as a weapon in order to criticize others’ theories or ideologies is wrong. The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life.
Emotionally not possible ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIf it were not for certain people’s greed for wealth, the highways would be filled with cars powered by the sun, and no one would be starving. Such advances are technologically and physically possible, but apparently not emotionally possible.
Right intention ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheNo matter which dharma practice you engage in, from ngöndro to offering a single candle, always do it with the intention that your practice will benefit all sentient beings. In this context, benefit does not only mean giving practical help, such as offering food or medicine, or feeding people’s emotions, egos and delusions. Here, benefit includes aspiring to be instrumental in the enlightenment of all sentient beings; without such an aspiration, it is easy for dharma practice to become self-serving.
A Song of No Attachment to This and That ~ Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche
Khenpo Tsultrim RinpocheThough shifting appearances ceaselessly rise
Just be unattached as a child at playThough seeming joys, troubles, friends, enemies rise
All thoughts free themselves like the waves of the seaWhat a wealth of thoughts – passion, aggression, praise, blame
Just look at their essence, the naked clear voidTo walk, sit, eat, lie down and all you can do
Just empty forms shining in clear light’s expanse
Emptiness ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheAlthough Siddhartha realized emptiness, emptiness was not manufactured by Siddhartha or anyone else. Emptiness is not the result of his revelation, nor was it developed as a theory to help people be happy.
Whether or not Siddhartha taught it, emptiness has always been emptiness, although paradoxically we can’t even really say that emptiness has always been, because it is beyond time and has no form. Nor should emptiness be interpreted as negation of existence — that is, we can’t say that this relative world doesn’t exist either — because in order to negate something, you have to acknowledge that there is something to negate in the first place.
Emptiness doesn’t cancel out our daily experience. Siddhartha never said that something spectacular, better, purer, or more divine exists in place of what we perceive. He wasn’t an anarchist refuting the appearance or function of worldly existence, either. He didn’t say that there is no appearance of a rainbow or that there is no cup of tea.
We can enjoy our experience, but just because we can experience something doesn’t mean that it truly exists. Siddhartha simply suggested that we examine our experience and consider that it could be just a temporary illusion, like a daydream.
Interdependence at work ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaYou can see interdependence at work by looking at how your own life is sustained. Is it only through your own exertions? Do you manufacture all your own resources? Or do they come from others? When you contemplate these questions, you will see very quickly that you are able to exist only because of others. The clothes you wear and the food you eat all come from somewhere else. Consider the books you read, the cars you ride in, the movies you watch, and the tools you use. Not one of us single-handedly makes any of these things for ourselves. We all rely on outside conditions, including the air we breathe. Our continued presence here in the world is an opportunity made possible entirely by others.