Our capacity for love and tenderness ~ Pema Chödron

The next time you go out in the world, you might try this practice: directing your attention to people — in their cars, on the sidewalk, talking on their cell phones — just wish for them all to be happy and well. Without knowing anything about them, they can become very real, by regarding each of them personally and rejoicing in the comforts and pleasures that come their way. Each of us has this soft spot: a capacity for love and tenderness. But if we don’t encourage it, we can get pretty stubborn about remaining sour.

Pema Chödron

From within ~ 14th Dalai Lama

Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself.

14th Dalai Lama

Genuine love ~ Mother Teresa

Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Mother Teresa

Why all beings possess buddha nature ~ Maitreya

Because the perfect buddhas’s kaya is all-pervading,
Because reality is undifferentiated,
And because they possess the potential,
Beings always have the buddha nature.

Maitreya

Protect your mind ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche

If you neglect to protect your mind, you can neither close the door to suffering nor open the door to happiness.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The freedom to practice the Dharma ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

An explorer who discovers a treasure island can fill his ship with gold, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds. But his good fortune has nothing to compare with human life, which offers us something far more precious than any gold and precious stones-the chance to reflect on and practice the Dharma and give meaning to our lives. The treasures we have to choose from are the various teachings offered by the fundamental, the great, and the diamond vehicles.It is now, while you enjoy all the favorable conditions of human life, that you have the freedom necessary to practice the Dharma.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Looking into your own heart ~ Ajahn Chah

The Dhamma has to be found by looking into your own heart and seeing that which is true and that which is not, that which is balanced and that which is not balanced.

Ajahn Chah

The quintessence of true religion ~ Mahatma Gandhi

It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

Mahatma Gandhi

Jealousy ~ 17th Karmapa

From among all […] adverse conditions, the foremost is jealousy. Jealousy can rob us of our freedom and interrupt loving relationships between people. Jealousy occurs when we cannot tolerate others encountering situations that seem to involve more happiness than what we have. When we continually feel the need to have others beneath us and none equal to us, that is jealousy. When we are controlled by jealousy, we only feel comfortable when others come to us for assistance; we only feel at ease when others are looking to us with hope. We cannot stand being in situations where others have something that we need.
[…]
When we become jealous, we are not willing to see the positive qualities of others. Whether we are alone or in a group, when we are overcome by jealousy our eyes are not willing to see the good things in others; they are constantly looking for other’s faults. We build up intolerance toward the faults of others. In particular, when we see others enjoying good fortune that exceeds our own, we cannot stand it. In this way, we create extra and superfluous difficulties for our minds to deal with.

A better approach would be to pay more attention to our own conduct than to the conduct of others.

17th Karmapa

Neither this nor that ~ Saraha

The root of the whole of samsara and nirvana is the nature of mind. To realise it, rest in unstructured ease without meditating on anything. When all that needs to be done is to rest in yourself, it is amazing that you are deluded by seeking elsewhere! Everything is of the primordial nature, without its being this and not that.

Saraha

Doer and doing ~ Nagarjuna

A doer arises dependent on a doing, and a doing exists dependent on a doer. Except for that, we do not see another cause for their establishment.

Nagarjuna

Practise whichever method works for you ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Be skilful and practise whichever method works for you at this very moment. And don’t restrict yourself, because as a beginner it is so important for you to develop a taste for practice. Once you find the one or two practices that work best, concentrate on them.

It’s a bit like moving to the city. At first you wander all over the place, trying the different routes between your home and your job, until eventually you find the most convenient way, and then stick to it.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Essential meditation instruction ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Uncontrived naturalness is not something that one does, even though it sounds like you do remain in naturalness, and you avoid fabricating. Actually, it is the opposite of doing. One does not do anything. By repeatedly letting be in the state of uncontrived naturalness, it becomes automatic. Don’t think that there is a long moment between two thoughts that you need to somehow nail down and own. That would not be automatic; it would be fabricated. Rather than improving upon the recognition of your own nature, simply remain completely at ease. It is a matter of self-existing wakefulness getting used to itself. Do not try to keep the state of naturalness. The state will be self-kept as the natural outcome of your growing familiarity with it. Do not fall into distraction. Short moments, repeated many times. Because of our very strong habit to always do something, the moment of non-doing doesn’t usually last long. In other words, there is no real stability. We quickly create doubts through conceptual thoughts, wondering, “Is this it?” or “Maybe not?” Our recognition almost immediately slips away. That is just how it is, and there is not much that we can do about that initially. That is why we practice recognizing for short moments, repeated many times. If we do not repeat the recognition of mind essence, we never grow used to it. “Short moments” ensures that it is the real, authentic naturalness. For a beginner, recognition of the authentic state does not last longer than a short moment. “Many times” means that we need to grow more and more familiar with this state… To be relaxed and let go in the moment of recognizing — that is the most important thing. Then, when the recognition slips away, we can simply repeat it again. In the beginning, approach the natural state by settling the mind; otherwise our strong negative habits of involvement in thinking this and that keeps the attention very busy, and a multitude of thoughts arise. The starting point is therefore letting go, relaxing, and settling completely. Among the thoughts that arise, remain, and disappear, one tries to keep the quality of relaxing and remaining. That requires effort, and thus is not the effortless natural state. Still it is helpful because when the mind becomes more quiet and settled, it’s easier to recognize what it is that feels quiet, what it is that keeps still. When your mind, your attention, is not so busy, it becomes easier to see that it is not an entity.

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

The aim of spiritual life ~ Jack Kornfield

The aim of spiritual life is to awaken a joyful freedom, a benevolent and compassionate heart in spite of everything.

Jack Kornfield

Not Before and After ~ Dogen Zenji

Cause is not before and effect is not after.

Dogen Zenji

Understanding the Roots of anger ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When you understand the roots of anger in yourself and in the other, your mind will enjoy true peace, joy and lightness.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Turning away from suffering ~ Buddha Shakyamuni


All conditioned things are impermanent — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.

Buddha Shakyamuni

Dawn ~ Tagore

Death is not extinguishing the light
It is simply putting out the lamp
Because the dawn has come.

Tagore

Readiness to help ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

Compassion, is a complete identification with others and an active readiness to help them in any way.

Mingyur Rinpoche

Giving up ego-clinging ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Initially, to understand dharma even on an intellectual level is not at all simple. Then once we have some understanding, to put dharma into practice is even more subtle, because it requires that we go beyond our habitual patterns. Intellectually, we may recognize how our narrow-minded habits have brought about our own cycle of suffering, but at the same time we may also be afraid to engage wholeheartedly in the process of liberating these habits of ours.

This is cherishing of ego. For even if we think we want to practice the Buddhist path, to give up our ego-clinging is not easy, and we could well end up with our own ego’s version of dharma — a pseudo-dharma which will only bring more suffering instead of liberation.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche