17th KarmapaWe should use our creativity and imagination and our senses to cultivate compassion and extend it to all sentient beings. We should try and free our compassion so that it can travel beyond our own bodies and seep throughout the environment. If we use our imagination in this way then our compassion can help beings.
For example, when the wind blows we can imagine that our compassion is spreading throughout space to benefit beings and enter their hearts. We can also imagine that our compassion is flowing out on the clouds towards sentient beings.
If we train ourselves in this way there will come a time when our compassion is natural and benefits beings. This is what happened to Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.
Practice ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaPractice guru yoga, pray with single-minded attention, and direct all virtuous actions to the benefit of all beings, your very own parents.
Knowing happiness and unhappiness ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahWe say that a meditator should not walk the way of happiness or unhappiness, rather he should know them. Knowing the truth of suffering, he will know the cause of suffering, the end of suffering and the way leading to the end of suffering. And the way out of suffering is meditation itself. To put it simply, we must be mindful.
Heart of sadness ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheKongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and ask them to grant their blessings, “So I may give birth to the heart of sadness.”
But what is a “heart of sadness”? Imagine one night you have a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later, whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change.
And the little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this inevitability is what is called the “heart of sadness.” Life, you realise, is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen.
The possibilities within us ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheOf course, developing loving-kindness and compassion toward those we know already isn’t so hard after a bit of practice. It’s a little bit more of a stretch to extend the same sense of warmth and relatedness toward those we don’t know, and in many cases, can’t even possibly know. As we hear about tragedies around the world, or even in our neighborhoods, a sense of helplessness and hopelessness may develop. There are only so many causes we can join, and sometimes our work and family lives prevent us from helping out in a direct way. The practice of immeasurable loving-kindness/compassion helps to relieve that sense of hopelessness. It also fosters a sense of confidence that whatever situation in which we find ourselves and whomever we face, we have a basis for relating in a way that is not quite so fearful or hopeless. We can see possibilities to which we might otherwise be blind and begin to develop a greater appreciation for the possibilities within us.
Wherever we walk ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhWherever we walk, whether it’s the railway station or the supermarket, we are walking on the earth and so we are in a holy sanctuary. If we remember to walk like that, we can be nourished and find solidity with each step.
Self-deception creates a dream world ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaSelf-deception seems always to depend upon the dream world, because you would like to see what you have not yet seen, rather than what you are now seeing. Self-deception manifests in trying to create or recreate a dream world, the nostalgia of the dream experience. The opposite of self-deception is just working with the facts of life.
Putting the mind at ease ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaFrom my own limited experience, I have found that the greatest inner tranquility comes from developing love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts our mind at ease. It helps remove our own fears and insecurities and gives us strength to face obstacles – it is the ultimate source of success in life.
The pathless path ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaThe pathless path
is the path always under our feet
and since that path is always beneath us,
if we miss it, how stupid!
Compassion in everyday life ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa RinpocheIf you have compassion in your everyday life, you collect the most extensive merit and purify much negative karma in a very short time. Many lifetimes, many eons of negative karma get purified. That helps you realize emptiness.
The continually changing pattern ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheAll phenomena appear in their uniqueness as part of the continually changing pattern. These patterns are vibrant with meaning and significance at every moment; yet there is no significance to attach to such meanings beyond the moment in which they present themselves.
Finding True Meaning ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThere is great transformative power in the act of discovery. No founder of any religion was a follower. The Buddha became the Buddha because he discovered important truths for himself. Many remarkable people following within his tradition also came to that understanding themselves. The same is true of the founders and remarkable followers of every other major world religion. Each brought forth new insights and understanding. Everyone is capable of that; you just need the right conditions. Joining a religion or studying its wisdom can be one of those conditions. But I have studied Buddhist philosophy for over a decade, and I can tell you that such study is not sufficient in order to find true meaning. Only if your own understanding is rooted profoundly within will you be able to awaken spiritually. Only you can understand your life and find its deepest meaning.
A magical golden key ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronBeing satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.
No end to samsara’s sufferings ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheThe masters of the past suggest we should constantly remind ourselves about: the imminence of death; the futility of our worldly activities; and the worst news of all, that there is no end to samsara’s sufferings. Just look around you and you will see that the world never ceases to churn out more and more of the same thing, and that the result is unremitting pain and unbearable suffering.
Clarity ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheClarity is always functioning even when we’re not consciously attentive to it.
Transcending both nonduality and duality ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaYou have to go beyond duality and you also have to go beyond nonduality at the same time. You have to return to duality: that is the final goal. It is like the ox-herding pictures: finally you return to the world, with a big belly and with the ox behind you. That picture, returning to the world, is the final point. So you have duality; then you discover nonduality because of duality; then you transcend both nonduality and duality because of them.
I am here for you ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhThe message of our buddhist practice is simple and clear: “I am here for you.”
Nature of Meditation and Post-meditation ~ Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu RinpocheFirst of all, what do we mean by meditation and post-meditation? When faults such as heaviness and wildness of mind have been cleared away and the mind rests within meditation, this resting within recognition of mind as it is—that is what is meant by meditation. When one has “risen from that,” which does not mean getting up from one´s cushion but rather that one´s mind has shifted, and then after one´s mindfulness of fundamental nature is restored — that is what is referred to as post-meditation or subsequent attainment, indicating one has recovered what one had before.
The taste of liberation ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniJust as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.
Timeless spontaneity ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaTimeless spontaneity, forever present, is created by no-one; it is the pure mind that like a wish-fulfilling gem is the origin of all our samsara and nirvana.