17th KarmapaWe may talk about the equality of ourselves and others, or exchanging ourselves with others, but we do not understand that this happens in everyday life. We think that it is something special or extraordinary, yet it is happening in our lives on a daily basis. We give something, and that opens the possibility of receiving: we naturally receive something when we give. This is how we live, whether it is in the business world, in our social lives, or in any other context. Giving and taking is happening all the time. Living is dependent on giving: we give and therefore we receive. This interdependence is natural; however, it takes a special effort to train our mind to know this well enough so that our understanding is clear and strong.
Please keep this in mind ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaIn short, at all times and in all situations, let whatever you do accord with the sacred Dharma and dedicate all virtue towards enlightenment. If you do so, you will fulfill the vision of your lamas and be of service to the teachings. You will repay the kindness of your parents and spontaneously benefit yourself and others. Please keep this in mind.
Illusion of our separateness ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhWe are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.
Losing confidence in oneself ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheWhen the underlying causes that produced and perpetuated an experience of happinesss change, most people end up blaming either external conditions or themselves. However, because it reflects a loss of confidence in oneself, or in the things we’re taught to believe should bring us happiness, blame only makes the search for happiness more difficult.
Three higher trainings ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheTraining in discipline purifies wrongdoing and wrong thinking; training in meditation stabilises right view, right motivation and right action; and training in wisdom liberates us from the root of ignorance.
Importance of dhamma practice ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahYou say that you are too busy to meditate. Do you have time to breathe? Meditation is your breath. Why do you have time to breathe but not to meditate? Breathing is something vital to people’s lives. If you see that dhamma practice is vital to your life, then you will feel that breathing and practising the dhamma are equally important.
Liberating others ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniIt is impossible to liberate others while you are bound. It is possible to liberate others when you are free.
Supreme Example ~ Chögyam Trungpa
You take refuge in the Buddha not as a savior – not with the feeling that you found something to make you secure – but as an example, as someone you can emulate. He is an example of an ordinary human being who saw through the deceptions of life, both on the ordinary and spiritual levels.
Love ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaEven more important than the warmth and affection we receive,is the warmth and affection we give. It is by giving warmth and affection, by having a genuine sense of concern for others, in other words through compassion, that we gain the conditions for genuine happiness. More important than being loved, therefore, is to love.
Dissolving our self-importance ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronThe fixed idea that we have about ourselves as solid and separate from each other is painfully limiting. It is possible to move through the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play. That we take ourselves so seriously, that we are so absurdly important in our own minds, is a problem for us. We feel justified in being annoyed with everything. We feel justified in denigrating ourselves or in feeling that we are more clever than other people. Self-importance hurts us, limiting us to the narrow world of our likes and dislikes. We end up bored to death with ourselves and our world. We end up never satisfied.
We have two alternatives: either we question our beliefs — or we don’t. Either we accept our fixed versions of reality, or we begin to challenge them. In Buddha’s opinion, to train in staying open and curious — to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs — is the best use of our human lives.
Benefits of suffering ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheSuffering, in fact, can be helpful in many ways. It spurs your motivation and as many teachings point out, without suffering there would be no determination to be free from samsara. Sadness is an effective antidote to arrogance.
Investigation ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaInvestigate the situation properly before taking action, whether in public or in private matters. Consider the long-term implications of your deeds. What is the best way to achieve your aims? What problems might arise and how can you avoid or overcome them? In the face of an insurmountable obstacle, what alternatives exist? The more you tap into your own and other people’s experience, the deeper into these questions you can go.
Conditioning ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheUltimately, in order to attain enlightenment, we must exhaust all our karma, both good and bad, not merely collect as much good karma as we can and get rid of the bad. Karma is by nature conditioning, and since all our activities are conditioned by karma, they can only be a direct contradiction to our independence. Therefore, it is not possible for any of us to be truly independent.
The point of thinking about cause and effect before we start to practice each day is not merely to gather knowledge about karma’s complex functions and systems, but to remind ourselves that we have no control over anything at all.
Whatever you encounter ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaWhatever you encounter — be it happiness or sorrow, good or bad — regard it as the kindness of the lama.
The miracle of mindfulness ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhIf we’re really engaged in mindfulness while walking along the path to the village, then we will consider the act of each step we take as an infinite wonder, and a joy will open our hearts like a flower, enabling us to enter the world of real.
Gaining control over your experience ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheTo the extent that you can acknowledge the true power of your mind, you can begin to exercise more control over your experience. Pain, sadness, fear, anxiety, and all other forms of suffering no longer disrupt your life as forcefully as they used to. Experiences that once seemed to be obstacles become opportunities for deepening your understanding of the mind’s unimpeded nature.
Five ways to rest the mind in meditation ~ Milarepa
MilarepaRest in a natural way like a small child.
Rest like an ocean without waves.
Rest within clarity like a candle flame.
Rest without self-concerns like a human corpse.
Rest unmoving like a mountain.
The natural beauty of meditation ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaMeditation is another dimension of natural beauty. People talk about appreciating natural beauty — climbing mountains, seeing giraffes and tigers in Africa, and all sorts of things. But nobody seems to appreciate this kind of natural beauty of ourselves. This is actually far more beautiful than flora and fauna, far more fantastic, far more painful and colorful and delightful.
Unfindability ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaSo what is emptiness? It is simply this unfindability. When we look for the flower among its parts, we are confronted with the absence of such a flower. That absence we are confronted with is the flower’s emptiness. But then, is there no flower? Of course there is. To seek for the core of any phenomenon is ultimately to arrive at a more subtle appreciation of its emptiness, its unfindability. However, we mustn’t think of the emptiness of a flower simply as the unfindability we encounter when searching among it’s parts. Rather, it is the dependent nature of the flower, or whatever object you care to name, that defines its emptiness. This is called dependent origination.
Like the shapes of clouds in the wind ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThese trains of thought and states of mind are constantly changing. Like the shapes of clouds in the wind. But we attach great importance to them. An old man watching children play knows very well that their games are of little consequence. He feels neither elated or upset at what happens in their game. While the children take it very seriously. We are exactly them.