Khenpo Tsultrim RinpocheClearly, in order to end one’s own suffering, there is nothing more important than to realize that when one acts as if the body and mind constituted a lasting, separate, independent self, one unthinkingly attributes to them qualities which they simply do not have. Nothing in the whole stream of mental and physical phenomena that constitute one’s experience of body and mind has the quality of separate, independent, lasting existence. It is all change and impermanence, moment by moment and so none of it can be ‘self and it is one’s persistent effort to treat it as if it were, that makes it a constant stream of suffering (duhkha).
Not Bound ~ Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Dzigar Kongtrul RinpocheThe notion of enlightenment means, “not bound”. Not bound to what? Not bound to one’s own mind in ordinary ways; not bound in confusion to all the suffering that one’s mind has produced and is experiencing. So the notion of enlightenment is not something outside of one’s own mind.
We cannot imagine achieving enlightenment, let alone perfecting any of the qualities of buddhahood, if we hold to ourselves as who we think we are right now — with the way we think and the validity that we give to our own mind and its existence.
The practice of open and genuine compassion ~ Ponlop Rinpoche
Ponlop RinpocheCompassion must start with seeing our own suffering. If it does not, then seeing the suffering of others will be merely conceptual. It will merely be a matter of having learned about suffering from a book or philosophy. We may intellectually know about the different types of suffering and so forth, but without inward reflection, our understanding will always be a theoretical knowledge that is directed toward the outside. Starting from our own experience of suffering becomes most important for the practice of open and genuine compassion.
For the sake of all other beings ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIt’s vital always to bear in mind that we practise for the sake of all other beings, and that the enormity of this aspiration is what makes dharma practice both extremely powerful and inexhaustible, virtually guaranteeing that the result will be infinitely beneficial.
Our pain is self-inflicted ~ Shantideva
ShantidevaWe who are like senseless children shrink from suffering, but love its causes. We hurt ourselves; our pain is self-inflicted! Why should others be the object of our anger?
Science and Religion ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaSome people think science should take the place of religion in the modern world, but many others, even great scientists, disagree. Albert Einstein once said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” We need science. But we need religion, too. Scientific advancement brings consequences. Because of science, we have terrible nuclear weapons to deal with. Further, material progress has increased the disparity between rich and poor, to a point that seems almost unbridgeable. Without conscious thought and heartfelt direction, technology and science can potentially cause as much harm as good, and possibly more.
I think that science can be seen as our limbs – our hands and feet – while spirituality can serve as our eyes. Our hands and feet alone cannot tell us which direction to go. In fact, it can be dangerous to be efficient at moving ahead rapidly if we cannot see what lies ahead. We need to be able to foresee the consequences of scientific developments. We cannot think of science just as progress. We need to ask: Progress toward what?
Genuine compassion ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi RinpocheTrue compassion is undirected and holds no conceptual focus. That kind of genuine, true compassion is only possible after realizing emptiness.
In the monastery of your heart ~ Milarepa
MilarepaIn the monastery of your heart and body,
you have a temple where all buddhas unite.
See if you can bear sufferings ~ Khenpo Gangshar
Khenpo GangsharMeasure yourself against the various stages of the path; see if you can bear sufferings such as illness, being undermined, and despised. To be unable to do so is to be ordinary, a sign you have not completed the path.
Beginning to recognize your experiences as your own projections ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheWhat happens when you begin to recognize your experiences as your own projections? What happens when you begin to lose your fear of the people around you and conditions you used to dread? Well, from one point of view – nothing. From another point of view – everything.
Kindness and compassion ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaWhether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.
Pleasure and Pain ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaI think pleasure and pain are born out of the same kind of background. Generally, people regard pain as bad and pleasure as good, so much so that pleasure is regarded as joy and spiritual bliss, and is connected with heaven, while pain is associated with hell. So if one is able to see the absurdity and irony of trying to achieve pleasure by rejecting pain, fearing extreme pain and so striving toward pleasure, it is all very funny. There is some lacking of sense of humor in people’s attitudes toward pleasure and pain.
Your little pond ~ Rumi
RumiSwim out of your little pond.
Self-liberation ~ Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
Traleg Kyabgon RinpocheIn the mahamudra tradition, the notion of self-liberation is paramount. Through self-liberating our conflicting emotions and discursive thoughts by allowing them to simply arise and dissipate without any grasping or fixation, we transcend any spiritual requirement to renounce, purify, or transform them. This is the unique skillful means of path mahamudra that inexorably leads to spiritual realization.
Very little time left for practice ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIn this dangerous and unhealthy world, it would be quite an achievement for someone who is fifty years old today to live to be eighty. The lives of most fifty-year-olds are already more than half over, and the older we get, the quicker time seems to pass. The thirty years we imagine we have left will pass in the blink of an eye. For a start, we sleep for about eight hours a night, which accounts for ten of those thirty years.
Let’s assume that watching one movie a day and eating three times takes about four hours. We also gossip and catch up with friends, check the football results, do housework, pay bills, keep in touch with family and exercise, all of which probably eats up about two hours a day. And of course, most of us work for seven or eight hours a day.
Therefore, if we fifty-year-olds are lucky, we have less than two hours a day, or about two and a half years, left to live. And a great deal of that will be taken up with paranoia, anxiety, self-doubt and so on. So the bottom line here is there is very little time left for practice.
Loving ourselves ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhIf we cannot understand and love ourselves, how will we have the energy to love and understand others?
Fully alive ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronTo be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.
Refusing to open up ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahWhenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are wrong. It becomes wrong view. When suffering arises, where does it arise from? The cause is wrong view, the fruit of that being suffering. If it was right view it wouldn’t cause suffering.
Meditation on absolute bodhicitta ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRecognizing the empty, nonexistent, insubstantial nature of the ego is meditation on absolute bodhicitta.
Living the daily life with bodhicitta motivation ~ Lama Zopa
Lama Zopa RinpocheThe whole thing, so many practices, all come down to live the daily life with bodhicitta motivation to put all the effort in that whatever you do. This way your life doesn’t get wasted and it becomes full of joy and happiness, with no regrets later, especially when you die and you can die with a smile outside and a smile in the heart.