Ayya KhemaIf we divide into two camps; even into violent and the nonviolent; and stand in one camp while attacking the other, the world will never have peace. We will always blame and condemn those we feel are responsible for wars and social injustice, without recognizing the degree of violence within ourselves. We must work on ourselves and also with those we condemn if we want to have a real impact.
Perception is artificial and personal ~ Bhante Gunaratana
Perception is artificial and personal ~ Bhante Gunaratana
Bhante GunaratanaWe can prove to ourselves that perception is artificial and personal by remembering how often people disagree about the beauty or ugliness, deliciousness or distastefulness, pleasantness or unpleasantness, of a particular work of art, architectural style, item of clothing, type of food, or musical composition. Moreover, opinions often vary over time and space, from decade to decade, from country to country, and from earlier points in our life to later ones. For instance, we might have disliked classical music when we were younger, but now it is our favorite. Our perceptions also change according to circumstances. Yellow roses might look very beautiful when we see them in a summer garden, but seem unpleasant or even cause us pain when we see them at the funeral of a friend. In the same way, when we are ill, foods that we enjoyed on many occasions might seem disgusting or repulsive.
Doing Things Completely ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche
Tai Situ RinpocheThat way our practice has to be complete. And it doesn’t matter how much time you have, it is very important before you start your practice to just sit down for at least half a minute and sit quietly. If one minute, two minutes, five minutes, then wonderful, but at least for half a minute and then you are ready, you are calm. Then you say refuge and bodhichitta and then you do the actual practice. Then when you finish your practice – after your dedication – then again, just sit for as long as possible. If you are very busy with things waiting or the phone is ringing or something, then half a minute. Otherwise it becomes like you are obliged – you are obliged to do this practice, now I’m finished, okay, I’ll get up. It’s like an obligation, obliged. I hope that makes sense.
My understanding of obliged is that you are not doing it from your heart, but somehow you have to do it because it is your duty or something, you have to do it because you say you will do it. But it should not be like that. It should be from your heart, you want to do it and you are happy to do it, therefore you do it completely. One example is that in our everyday behavior, it is very important to be mindful, it is very important to be thoughtful, it is very important to be polite, and it is very important to be nice. Don’t behave like a monkey caught from a forest and put in a house. Everything has its own way of doing things. For example, you start a conversation nicely, and you end a conversation nicely.
Selflessness ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahThe real foundation of the teaching is to see the self as being empty. But people come to study the Dhamma to increase their self-view, so they don’t want to experience suffering or difficulty. They want everything to be cozy. They may want to transcend suffering, but if there is still a self, how can they ever do so?
Our own direct experience of reality ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhWhen our beliefs are based on our own direct experience of reality and not on notions offered by others, no one can remove these beliefs from us.
Winning a battle hard to win ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniWhoever doesn’t flare up
at someone who’s angry
wins a battle
hard to win.
The first mark of existence ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronThat nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence.
Bringing all our experiences onto the path ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheWhen we have enough food and clothes, enjoy good health, have whatever we need and are without troubles of any sort, we should not become attached to these benefits nor dependent on them. Conversely, when we do not enjoy such good conditions, and when everything is going badly, we should use such a situation as a trigger for our courage and take them as the Bodhisattva path. We should not give up when conditions are difficult; on the contrary, that is precisely when we should practice the twofold Bodhicitta, bringing all our experiences onto the path.
When the mind becomes the practices ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaReligion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner of religion, and when the mind does not become the practices one is not.
The quintessence of bodhichitta ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIf we are missing nonduality, our every act will lead to disappointment. How far do you go if you are a therapist trying to help an alcoholic or drug addict? If this person has somehow decided to become a drug addict for the next five thousand lifetimes, you, as a bodhisattva, must have the determination to be reborn wherever they are going to be reborn. You might, for instance, aspire to be reborn at the right time and place to be nearby him or her. Say for example, you are a bodhisattva and have been trying to help this drug addict for over two thousand lifetimes. Now, somewhere in an obscure place, their 2,042nd rebirth is going to happen. Although you need to appear for only half a day, in order to do that you actually have to be reborn there. It is almost a waste of a complete whole life, to be reborn there just to do something that will take only half an hour, or half a day, but as a bodhisattva you must do it. That is what we call the strength and quality of relative compassion.
Now we come to the real quintessence of bodhichitta. Why does a bodhisattva have this degree of compassion? Why don’t they give up? What is the real basis of their confidence? The bodhisattva realizes that the notion of “drug addict,” “problem,” “healing,” and “being healed” are all in their own mind. The bodhisattva knows that none of this exists “out there” somewhere, externally and truly. Based on this wisdom, the bodhisattva can develop compassion.
This understanding can really help. My own experience is like being a firefly in front of the sun. Even so, when I try to help people and things don’t work according to plan, I say to myself, “How can I get frustrated?” In the first place, I myself have set up a certain goal based on my own interpretation. In helping a person, I imagine that he or she should reach a certain level, but this is my own idea. After becoming obsessed with the idea of success, when the person is not there, I might lose hope and confidence in this person. Sometimes we do realize that it is all our own projection, but most of the time we don’t. Instead, we think: “This is how it should be. This is real success!” We don’t realize that it is all our own interpretation. This is where we go blind. When you are helping, if you know that your so-called “help,” “success,” and “failure” are all in your own mind, you won’t get worn out. Because you realize that it is all your mind’s doing, you won’t get tired. This is a very general and somewhat coarse example of ultimate bodhichitta. If you have this understanding, you have a complete picture of bodhichitta.
To reiterate, ultimate bodhichitta is an understanding of emptiness. Only when this is included is there a complete picture of bodhichitta. When we talk about bodhichitta, usually we make reference to something simple, such as a kind, compassionate heart, but that’s not all. This is something many people have. It does not necessarily make you a bodhisattva. Of course this is not to deny that there are very kind and compassionate people. There are people who may even sacrifice their lives for others, but still they may not be bodhisattvas. In fact, they are in danger of acting out their obsession and could end up being victimized by their goal-oriented mind. Being too obsessed with a goal can produce a lot of side effects, such as thinking, “This is how it should work!” With this approach, a bodhisattva can lose hope and determination when things do not work out; they may even stop being a bodhisattva. Having said this, a bodhisattva should not just do things aimlessly.
Distraction ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheUse every distraction as an object of meditation and they cease to be distractions.
Importance of Calm Abiding ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaWe cannot immediately grasp the more advanced practices, such as the Great Seal (mahamudra) or the Great Completion (mahasandhi), both of which lead to the result of primordial wisdom. For all of these higher-level practices, we need a steady basis, which is none other than the correct practice of calm abiding. If the untamed mind is filled with concepts and afflictions, these higher practices are not possible. In the beginning, a tree needs strong roots. Similarly, what is most important for meditation is calm abiding.
A very painful spot ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaSometimes one touches on a very painful spot where one is almost too shy to look into it, but somehow one still has to go through it. And by going into it, one finally achieves a real command of oneself. One gains a thorough knowledge of oneself for the first time.
The doctrine is compassion ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaMy true religion, my simple faith is in love and compassion. There is no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine, or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple. The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are – these are ultimately all we need.
The immediateness of what is happening right here and now ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIn our ordinary experience, there is the world and there is you. Recognizing this does not mean that you are going against the Buddha’s teaching of egolessness. There is definitely something there, which is the working basis and magic of the path. You cannot negate that you taste a good cup of coffee. You cannot say that there is no coffee and there is no “you” to taste it—there are such things! Mindfulness of life is based on that kind of immediate appreciation. The meditation practice is to learn to appreciate the immediateness of what is happening right here and now.
Chasing thoughts ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheWhen you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.
The importance of a good heart ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaIt is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.
Stopping to look for something ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhSitting at the foot of the bodhi tree on the night when he realized the truth, the Buddha discovered something which is very surprising to him and to us. He saw that the good, the beautiful and the true are to be found in everyone. But very few people know that. People think that the true, the beautiful, and the good exist somewhere else, it is in someone else. They do not know that in the deep levels of themselves there is the true, the beautiful, and the good. And because we are not able to be in touch with these things, the good, the beautiful, and the true, in ourselves, we have the feeling that we lack something, that we are a saucepan without a lid. And the whole of our life we are looking for someone else to replace that lack. How strange, all living beings have the fully awakened nature, but none of them know it. And because of that they drift and sink from lifetime to lifetime in the great ocean of Samara, in suffering. And that is what the Buddha said the moment when he realized the path.
And so when we are able to recognize that in us there is the essence of the good, the beautiful and the true, we will be able to stop going in search. We will stop feeling that we lack something and we will stop running around in the world, in the universe looking for something. The truth is that we return to ourselves in order to be in touch with the good, beautiful and true that are in us. And at the moment we are in touch with those things, we are able to stop wandering around feeling we lack something. And we are able to stop deceiving others. We don’t have to adorn ourselves, make ourselves up any more, because we have discovered the true, the beautiful, and the good right here within us.
Our fundamental problem ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheSince our fundamental problem is distraction, its fundamental solution is to be mindful. There are an infinite number of methods for developing mindfulness that all fall into one of two categories: shamatha or vipashyana. The point of shamatha practice is to make mind malleable. But a pliant mind alone will not uproot samsara completely, we also need to see the truth, which is why vipashyana practice is so crucial.
Unfortunately, though, mindfulness is difficult, mostly because we lack the enthusiasm to develop it, but also because our habit of longing for distraction is both deeply ingrained and extremely tenacious. It is therefore vital for a dharma practitioner to develop renunciation mind and to recognise the defects of samsara, both of which lie at the core of the Buddhist approach to training the mind.
Everything in the world is our teacher ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahWith even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher.