Pema ChödronIn the way we practice, we don’t say, “Hell is bad and heaven is good” or “Get rid of hell and just seek heaven,” but we encourage ourselves to develop an open heart and an open mind to heaven, to hell, to everything. Why? Because only then can we realize that no matter what comes along, we’re always standing at the center of the world in the middle of sacred space, and everything that comes into that circle and exists with us there has come to teach us what we need to know.
Birth and Death ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahOur birth and death are just one thing. You can’t have one without the other. It’s a little funny to see how at a death people are so tearful and sad, and at a birth how happy and delighted. It’s delusion. I think that if you really want to cry, then it would be better to do so when someone’s born. Cry at the root, for if there were no birth, there would be no death. Can you understand this?
Open to infinity ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaPure mind is like the empty sky,
Without memory, supreme meditation;
It is our own nature, unstirring, uncontrived,
And wherever that abides is the superior mind,
One in buddhahood without any sign,
One in view free of limiting elaboration,
One in meditation free of limiting ideation,
One in conduct free of limiting endeavor,
And one in fruition free of limiting attainment.Vast! spacious!
Released as it stands!
With neither realization nor non-realization;
Experience consummate! No mind!
It is open to infinity.
Close-minded for the dharma ~ Gampopa
GampopaA spiritual practitioner is in error when he has received abundant oral instructions and his mind still remains that of an ordinary person.
Moving closer to the truth ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronFear is a universal experience. Even the smallest insect feels it. We wade in the tidal pools and put our finger near the soft open bodies of sea anemones and they close up. Everything spontaneously does that. It’s not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share. We react against the possibility of loneliness, of death, of not having anything to hold on to. Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.
We are fundamentally awake ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIf we face ourselves properly, fully, then we find that something exists in us that is basically awake, as opposed to asleep. We find something intrinsically cheerful and fundamentally pride-worthy. That is to say, we don’t have to con ourselves. We discover genuine one-hundred-percent gold, not even twenty-four carat. We are fundamentally awake. You might think this is just an old myth, another trick to cheer us up. But no! It is real and good.
Our true nature is like a wineglass ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheOur true nature is like a wineglass, and our defilements and obscurations are like dirt and fingerprints. When we buy the glass, it has no inherently existing fingerprints. When it becomes soiled, the habitual mind thinks the glass is dirty, not that the glass has dirt. Its nature is not dirty, it’s a glass with some dirt and fingerprints on it. These impurities can be removed.
But no matter what method we use, the intent is to remove the dirt, not the glass. There is a big distinction between washing the glass and washing the dirt. If we think that the glass is somehow different than it was before, there is a misconception. Because the glass has no inherent fingerprints, when you remove the dirt, the glass isn’t transformed — it’s the same glass you bought at the store.
Breaking free from the ego’s grip ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi RinpocheEgo-clinging is very subtle. Everything we do seems to be another way to feed the ego. The ego bribes us into assuming a path that seems to be a genuine spiritual practice, but then our ego usurps it. Even chanting ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ can be appropriated by the ego. You sit down on your meditation cushion and assume the posture, but it’s because of ego. You light incense and prostrate before your statues in your little retreat room, but it’s still all for your ego. We need something to break free from the ego’s grip and that is the accumulation of merit and the purification of obscurations, in conjunction with devotion and compassion.
As a mother would her ailing child ~ Gyelse Tokme Zangpo
Gyelse Tokme ZangpoEven if others whom I have cared for like children of my own,
Should turn upon me and treat me as an enemy,
To regard them only with special fondness and affection,
As a mother would her ailing child — this is the practice of all the bodhisattvas.
Unlimited and completely aware ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheYour real nature, in other words, is not only unlimited in its potential, but also completely aware.
Impermanent like a candle in the wind ~ Yangthang Rinpoche
Yangthang RinpocheIf you fail to make use of the full human potential you now possess,
Which is impermanent like a candle in the wind,
Don’t think that you can rely on it for a long time to come.
Recognizing the discrepancy between appearance and reality ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaBecause all phenomena appear to exist in their own right, all of our ordinary perceptions are mistaken. Only when emptiness is directly realized during completely focused meditation is there no false appearance. At that time, the dualism of subject and object has vanished, as has the appearance of multiplicity; only emptiness appears. After you rise from that meditation, once again living beings and objects falsely appear to exist in and of themselves, but through the power of having realized emptiness, you will recognize the discrepancy between appearance and reality. Through meditation you have identified both the false mode of appearance and the false mode of apprehension.
Perceiver and Perceived ~ Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche
Khenpo Tsultrim RinpocheIn absolute terms, each moment of experience is empty of a difference in nature of perceiver and perceived. Rather than regarding consciousness merely as the seeing or observing aspect of a moment of experience, it is also the content of that experience.
Doubting the commonly accepted version of reality ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheOrdinary people do not question the commonly accepted version of reality. They conform to the standard values of subduing enemies and cherishing friends and family. Materialism, ambition and mundane achievements are the worldly hallmarks of success. We experience the phenomenal world and our minds as solid and truly existent. Very few people doubt these assertions and question their solidity. Yet, the process of disbelief is the first step on the spiritual path.
The pursuit of self-realization ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheTrue religion should be the pursuit of self-realization, not an exercise in the accumulation of facts.
The way of perfect bliss ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheBanishing all hope and all fear, rest in the diamond-like certainty that the primordial simplicity of awareness is itself buddhahood. That is the way of perfect bliss, in which all the qualities of enlightenment will flourish without effort.
Awakening to the truth ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheThe main purpose of spiritual path is awakening. This awakening isn’t some supernatural awakening. It’s awakening to the truth. We usually shy away from the truth, and so we constantly get ourselves bogged down. Because of this, the elements and ingredients of the path are especially designed to dismantle our strong habits, including our emotional habits, ideas, values, and principles.
Rejoice ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa RinpocheWhenever you hear that someone else has been successful, rejoice.
Always practice rejoicing for others – whether your friend or your enemy.
If you cannot practice rejoicing, no matter how long you live, you will not be happy.
Shifting Attention ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaUsually when we get angry about something our mind is totally focused on this one point, this personal incident, so our anger becomes stronger and stronger, then we feel that we have to do something about it, that we have to act. Anger can go to many places, towards oneself as well.
Instead of focusing on this one thing, if we can shift our attention, if we can let our mind feel the same about anger as we do about other things, if we can shift our attention and say; “I am angry about this thing, this is not right, and I am angry about that thing, that is also not right,” if I can concentrate on the many different things that I am angry about, then somehow my anger becomes less, because its not solid. It is not focused on one thing. After some time your mind moves evenly across many things that you are angry about, so that you do not need to be angry about one particular thing anymore.
It is very important that we try to shift our focus, our concentration, from one point to many other things. If we generate bodhicitta there are many benefits, many positive things.
Don’t be heedless ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniOver there are the roots of trees; over there, empty dwellings. Practice jhana, monks. Don’t be heedless. Don’t later fall into regret.