Gyelse Tokme ZangpoThe practice of all the bodhisattvas is to give out of generosity,
With no hopes of karmic recompense or expectation of reward.
For if those who seek awakening must give even their own bodies,
What need is there to mention mere outer objects and possessions?
Flooding the world with your kindness ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronBe kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.
Faith in ourselves ~ Ayya Khema
Ayya KhemaIf the whole universe can be found in our own body and mind, this is where we need to make our inquires. We all have the answers within ourselves, we just have not got in touch with them yet. The potential of finding the truth within requires faith in ourselves.
Limitless freedom ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche
Tai Situ RinpocheOur ultimate essence and our ultimate primordial nature is limitless freedom.
Universal compassion needs constant cultivation ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaSince universal compassion involves gradually expanding one’s circle of concern to the whole of humanity, it needs constant cultivation.
It is entirely up to us ~ Ribur Rinpoche
Ribur RinpocheFollowing the self-cherishing mind is the source of all our suffering. We need to identify that self-cherishing mind as a demon taking over our mind and make a strong determination with very strong mindfulness, thinking, “I’m going to get rid of it.” With this determination, make a request to the guru to bless us and help us get rid of egoism, self-cherishing, and the obsession with self and with me-first.
Who has been leading us to all the trouble and suffering that we don’t want? Who has led us there? The self-cherishing mind, the self-centered thought that’s taken possession of our mind.
The bottom line is, what is this attitude of self-cherishing? It is an attitude of considering ourselves as more important and better than everybody else, or needing to achieve more than everybody else — whether it is a possession, happiness or getting rid of problems, or whatever. It is that kind of attitude that leads us and is the very cause of all our problems.
All goodness and happiness arises from wishing for others to be happy. Everything that runs smoothly and well in our lives comes from cherishing others. Whatever exists, requires causes and conditions—it doesn’t happen randomly. The same goes for our happiness. When we cherish others, we are generous and we don’t get angry with others—we practice patience, morality and non-harming.
It is entirely up to us. If we don’t want to suffer, we have to cherish others.
Gaining peace ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahIf you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.
It’s all a matter of motivation ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheBe ambitious about the magnitude of the motivation you arouse. Don’t settle for simple kindness when nothing less than the fully-fledged mind of bodhicitta is what is needed. Kyabje Dudjom Rinpopche said that dharma practice is really not that difficult, it’s all a matter of motivation. So never forget to arouse the motivation of wanting to bring all sentient beings to complete enlightenment. And the more magnanimous your motivation, the more merit you will accumulate, even when all you do is light a candle.
If you light a candle merely as a decoration for the living room, your motivation is that of an ordinary person.
If you light it with the wish to accumulate merit and eventually destroy samsara, you share the attitude cultivated by shravakayana practitioners.
To light the candle with the wish that any merit attained be dedicated to the enlightenment of all sentient beings, your attitude is the same as that of bodhisattvayana practitioners.
To consider the candle to be the light of wisdom that ilmuinates all sentient beings, with the aspiration that wherever its light falls becomes the mandala, is the attitude of a tantric practitioner.
If you wait and endure restlessness ~ Ajahn Sumedho
Ajahn SumedhoWhen you try to get rid of fear or anger, what happens? You just get restless or discouraged and have to go eat something or smoke or drink or do something else. But if you wait and endure restlessness, greed, hatred, doubt, despair, and sleepiness, if you observe these conditions as they cease and end, you will attain a kind of calm and mental clarity, which you will never achieve if you’re always going after something else.
Seeing impermanence ~ Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha ShakyamuniBetter it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.
Recognizing awareness ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheThe moon’s reflection on water appears without obstruction and seems to shine very brightly, yet it is simply the appearance of something that does not exist. There is no such thing as a moon in the water. Likewise, when one recognizes that thoughts have no true existence, one recognizes awareness, and this is dharmakaya.
Good morning vow ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhWaking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
Enduring success ~ Ringu Tulku
Ringu TulkuIt is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire, it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, “Nothing corrupts a person more than power.” Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for themselves and everyone else. Even if we have all the success we could dream of—fame, wealth, and so on—we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them. It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and arrogant.
Keep It Simple ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaOnce you have committed to a particular path, I suggest that you look for the simplest way forward. You should make things accessible and approachable in your religious community and in your personal practice, rather than more complicated.
Keep it simple. The life of the spirit is actually very basic and easy. We often don’t appreciate that. In the beginning, our spiritual path may strike us as very simple and perfectly clear. But then, after we have been practicing it for a few years, we sometimes find ourselves going backward, and moving away from that initial simplicity. The spiritual breakthrough we experience may simply consist in rediscovering what we had seen in the beginning.
Spiritual discovery is not a matter of finding wisdom out there somewhere. It is a matter of discovering what already exists within us. Like cleaning the surface of a stone inscription, the more you clean it, the more the original carving becomes apparent. We are like that stone. With spiritual practice, instead of gaining something we did not have before, we gradually make ourselves clearer to ourselves.
The foggy mind ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheIt’s the foggy mind, the mind that’s attracted to an object and paints a distorted projection onto it, that makes you suffer. That’s all. It’s really quite simple.
The key point of the entire path ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheYou may have heard me say this before, but it is the key point of the entire path, so it bears repeating: All that we are looking for in life — all the happiness, contentment, and peace of mind — is right here in the present moment. Our very own awareness is itself fundamentally pure and good. The only problem is that we get so caught up in the ups and downs of life that we don’t take the time to pause and notice what we already have.
The moment there is accumulation ~ Krishnamurti
KrishnamurtiTo understand conflict, we must understand relationship, and the understanding of relationship does not depend on memory, on habit, on what has been or what should be. It depends on choiceless awareness from moment to moment, and if we go into it deeply, we shall see that in that awareness there is no accumulative process at all. The moment there is accumulation, there is a point from which to examine, and that point is conditioned; and hence, when we regard relationship from a fixed point, there must be pain, there must be conflict.
Reaching the state of great equilibrium ~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom RinpocheAction is being truly observant of your own thoughts, good or bad, looking into the true nature of whatever thoughts may arise, neither tracing the past nor inviting the future, neither allowing any clinging to experiences of joy, nor being overcome by sad situations. In so doing, you try to reach and remain in the state of great equilibrium, where all good and bad, peace and distress, are devoid of true identity.
You have to do it ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaYou may hear what I’m saying and think that it’s true. But you have to practice it; you have to do it, sweethearts. We can’t just issue messages of philosophy all over the world. We are capable of actually sending up a satellite that would beam down Shambhala or Buddhist slogans twenty-four hours a day. What good would that do? We have to get ourselves together.
Peace from within ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma GandhiEach one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.