Flying off into the bardo ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

A vulture, when it has finished feeding off a carcass, abandons it and soars away. Similarly, when the time comes, your mind, having finished with this life, will abandon your corpse and fly off into the bardo.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Driven by ambitions ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Driven by the hunger for fame and originality, we are like these monkeys, thinking that we are so clever in discovering things and convincing our fellow humans to see what we see, think what we think, driven by ambition to be the savior, the clever one, the seer of all. We have all kinds of small ambitions, such as impressing a girl, or big ambitions, such as landing on Mars.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Contentment ~ 17th Karmapa

I truly feel that contentment is the greatest wealth. Anyone can claim it for themselves. Anyone can own it. Contentment is an incredible wealth that we don’t have to pay for, or seek anywhere outside ourselves. The natural resources to create this wealth are the inner riches of our own mind. Contentment is a wealth that gives the highest satisfaction, and we can gain it simply by mining our own resources, and knowing our own mind. We can cultivate the perspective that what we have is enough. We can see that we do not actually need more than we already have, and can be completely satisfied with that.

17th Karmapa

Assimilating the teachings properly ~ Patrul Rinpoche

If you have really assimilated the teachings properly, everything you do, say and think should be as soft as stepping on cotton wool, and as mild as tsampa soup laced with butter.

Patrul Rinpoche

The will to totally open our hearts to others ~ Lama Yeshe

Why are we bored, lonely and lazy? Because we don’t have the will to totally open our hearts to others. If you have the strength of will to totally open your heart to others, you will eliminate laziness, selfishness and loneliness. Actually, the reason you get lonely is that you are not doing anything. If you were busy, you wouldn’t have time to get lonely. Loneliness can only enter an inactive mind. If your mind is dull and your body inactive, then you get lonely. Basically, this comes from a selfish attitude, concern for yourself alone. That is the cause of loneliness, laziness and a closed heart.

Lama Yeshe

Ultimate contemplation ~ Longchenpa

Whatever occurs, whatever it may be, that itself is the key,
And without stopping it or nourishing it, in an even flow,
Freely resting, surrendering to ultimate contemplation,
In naked pristine purity we reach consummation.

Longchenpa

Personal verification ~ Ponlop Rinpoche

Ironically, in some respects, modern science has become our collective religion. We tend to believe what science tells us about our physical reality without much thought. On the other hand, when we’re told about the true nature of mind, we don’t easily believe it. Why do we believe in black holes, something we can’t readily experience, but doubt that our mind is awakened? While we may not have the opportunity to personally verify the research of scientists, we can evaluate the Buddha’s teachings on mind firsthand. At some point, after a period of questioning, analysis, and meditation, we can say with certainty whether those teachings are true in our experience or not.

Ponlop Rinpoche

Putting ourselves “inside the skin” of others ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves “inside the skin” of the other. We “go inside” their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the subject of our observation. When we are in contact with another’s suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, “to suffer with.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

The three needs ~ Drugpa Kunley

Although mind is clear, one needs a lama;
Although a lamp burns brightly, it still needs oil;
Although mind is self-evident, it needs recognition.

That is the teaching on the three needs.

Drugpa Kunley

The Four Immeasurables ~ Jigme Lingpa

Love means wishing for the happiness of others.
Like a loving mother cherishing her child,
One’s body, wealth, and virtue all amassed one gives for others’ benefit,
While training to endure the harms that they inflict.

Compassion is a powerful state of mind,
An inability to tolerate the fact that others suffer.
Beings in the six realms are entrapped by sorrow and its cause,
And seeing this brings tears to one’s eyes.

Joy is to delight in other’s pleasure and success;
It is to cultivate the wish that all have happiness.
It is a joy one feels when they achieve it for themselves
And is the wish that they should never be deprived of it

Impartiality is freedom from attachment and hostility,
When sides and factions are all seen as equal,
When enemy and friend and neither –
Are all treated with an evenhanded kindness.
We should practice these four attitudes, remembering
That all is without true existence.

Jigme Lingpa

Death Poem ~ Basho

On a journey, ill;
my dream goes wandering
over withered fields.

Basho

The first reliance ~ Mipham Rinpoche

Therefore do not rely on individuals,
But rely upon the Dharma.
Freedom comes from the genuine path that is taught,
Not the one who teaches it.

When the teachings are well presented,
It does not matter what the speaker is like.
Even the bliss-gone buddhas themselves
Appear as butchers and such like to train disciples.

If he contradicts the meaning of the Mahayana and so on,
Then however eloquent a speaker may seem,
He will bring you no benefit,
Like a demon appearing in a buddha’s form.

[First reliance: Rely on the message of the teacher, not on his personality.]

Mipham Rinpoche

Dualistic notions of perceiver and perceived ~ Gyelse Tokme Zangpo

The practice of all the bodhisattvas is never to entertain concepts,
Which revolve around dualistic notions of perceiver and perceived,
In the knowledge that all these appearances are but the mind itself,
Whilst mind’s own nature is forever beyond the limitations of ideas.

Gyelse Tokme Zangpo

Right there ~ Shunryu Suzuki

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

Shunryu Suzuki

The creation of space ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.

Chögyam Trungpa

Yogi’s mind ~ Tilopa

At first a yogi feels his mind
Is tumbling like a waterfall;
In mid-course, like the Ganges
It flows on slow and gentle;
In the end, it is a great
Vast ocean, where the Lights
Of Son and Mother merge in one.

Tilopa

Now is gone ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

You can break down the present into smaller and smaller increments, but between the instant of present experience and the instant you identify that instant as “now”, the moment has already passed. It is not longer now. It’s then.

Mingyur Rinpoche

Every Sentient Being Is Equal to the Buddha ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche

At times there has to be a raising of consciousness, as has been the case, for instance, with regard to ecological problems. For a long time the environment has just been exploited, but nowadays many people are conscious of this, are more careful, more considerate and concerned about the welfare of the future generations. I think this is wonderful; the same can be said for becoming conscious of the oppression of women through men. When something is going too far somebody has to stand up and say something, otherwise everybody will just follow the crowd so that nothing changes. In this way, so many people will suffer, which is not only unnecessary but negative. The Buddhist view of this is very clear. There are so many female Buddhas and the Buddha has pointed out unmistakably that every sentient being is equal to the Buddha. In certain texts, though, one may find some statements that seem to indicate the opposite, but I think these could be due to concepts popular at the time.

Tai Situ Rinpoche