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.
Training with uncertainty ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronMany of us prefer practices that will not cause discomfort, yet at the same time we want to be healed. But bodhichitta training doesn’t work that way. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next. We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not knowing is part of the adventure, and it’s also what makes us afraid.
You yourself must strive ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniYou yourself must strive.
The Buddhas only point the way.
Those meditative ones who tread the path
are released from the bonds of Mara.
Gender identities ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaOur ideas about what it means to be a woman or a man – that is, our gender constructs – are given meaning and importance in our day-to-day reality. Gender identities permeate so much of our experience that it is easy to forget that they are just ideas – ideas created to categorize human beings. Nevertheless, the categories of masculine and feminine are often treated as if they were eternal truths. But they are not. They have no objective reality. Because gender is a concept, it is a product of our mind – and has no absolute existence that is separate from the mind that conceives of it. Gender categories are not inherently real in and of themselves.
Harmonizing with actuality ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahTo define buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say: Don’t cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.
Training the Mind ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
The quintessence of the path is to have the wisdom that realizes egolessness. Until we have this wisdom, we have not understood the essence of the Buddha’s teaching.
In order to achieve this wisdom, first we have to make our mind malleable, workable—in the sense of being in control of our own mind. As Shantideva said, if you want to walk comfortably, there are two possible solutions. Either you can try to cover the whole ground with leather—but that would be very difficult—or you can achieve the same effect by simply wearing a pair of shoes. In the same way, it would be difficult to train and tame every single emotion that we have, or to change the world according to our desires. In fact the basis of all experience is the mind, and that’s why Buddhists stress the importance of training the mind in order to make it workable and flexible.
Yet a flexible mind is not enough. We have to understand the nature of the mind. This is very difficult to do, precisely because it involves the wisdom of realizing egolessness. We have been in samsara from beginningless time. Our habitual patterns are very strong. We are completely deluded. For this reason, it is very, very difficult for this wisdom to appear.
So what is to be done? There is only one way to obtain this wisdom—by accumulating merit. How should we accumulate this merit? According to the general vehicle of Buddhism, the method of accumulating merit is by having renunciation mind, by contemplating impermanence, by refraining from all the causes and conditions that will strengthen the ego, by engaging in all the causes and conditions that will strengthen our wisdom, by refraining from harming other beings, and so on. In the mahayana school, the merit is accumulated by having compassion for sentient beings.
To cut a long story short, if you want enlightenment you need wisdom. If you want wisdom, you must have merit. And to have merit, according to mahayana, you must have compassion and bodhichitta, the wish to establish beings in the state of freedom.
Failing to let go of ordinary concerns ~ Chatral Rinpoche
Chatral RinpocheYou might remain in a solitary place, physically isolated from the world,
Yet fail to let go of ordinary concerns, and, with attachment and aversion,
Seek to bring defeat upon your enemies while furthering the interests of your friends,
And involve yourself in all kinds of projects and financial dealings —
But there could hardly be anything worse than that at all.If you lack the wealth of contentment in your mind,
You’ll think you need all kinds of useless things,
And end up even worse than just an ordinary person,
Because you won’t manage even a single session of practice.
So set your mind on freedom from the need for anything at all.Wealth, success and status are all simply ways of attracting enemies and demons.
Pleasure-seeking practitioners who fail to turn their minds from this life’s concerns
Sever their connection to the authentic Dharma.
So take care to avoid becoming stubbornly immune to the teachings.
Never disturbed ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheEven though thoughts and emotions come and go, the mind’s natural clarity is never disturbed or interrupted.
Being in touch with all aspects of life ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhLife is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects.
Failing to see what is ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaYour mind is highly preoccupied with what you want, so you fail to see what is.
Invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaHard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger. Instead of getting angry nurture a deep caring and respect for troublemakers because by creating such trying circumstances they provide us with invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance and patience.