Ponlop RinpocheWhatever sensory experiences we go through, if we go through them with mindfulness and awareness, there is no limit to how far we can go. The limit is mindfulness and awareness. Even if we don’t enjoy the experience, that itself becomes a trip. The nonenjoyment becomes a cause of suffering. That’s why, if we don’t practice mindfulness and awareness, asceticism just becomes pain rather than a cause for liberation. That’s why Buddha said to forget about asceticism. That’s what Buddha did.
Tag Archives: awareness
Getting lost in good things ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche
Tai Situ RinpocheWe shouldn’t get carried away. We shouldn’t get lost when things happen to us. Getting lost in good things is as bad as getting lost in bad things. We should not get lost in anything. We should always be aware and mindful.
Free of all authority ~ Krishnamurti
KrishnamurtiTo be free of all authority, of your own and that of another, is to die to everything of yesterday, so that your mind is always fresh, always young, innocent, full of vigour and passion. It is only in that state that one learns and observes. And for this, a great deal of awareness is required, actual awareness of what is going on inside yourself, without correcting it or telling it what it should or should not be, because the moment you correct it you have established another authority, a censor.
No matter what you do ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheNo matter what you do, no matter what situation you are in — whether walking, sitting, eating or lying down — always suspend your attention within the nature of nondual awareness. That’s it!
Just know ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahJust know what is happening in your mind – not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer see it, know it, and be empty. It’s like a letter – you have to open it before you can know what’s in it.
Introduction to the nature of mind ~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom RinpocheYou actually have this awareness within you. It is the clear, naked wisdom of dharmakaya. But who can introduce you to it? On what should you take your strand? What should you be certain of? To begin with, it is your teacher that shows you the state of your awareness. And when you recognize it for yourself, it is then that you are introduced to your own nature.
Just to be aware ~ Krishnamurti
KrishnamurtiThe self is a problem that thought cannot resolve. There must be an awareness which is not of thought. To be aware, without condemnation or justification, of the activities of the self – just to be aware – is sufficient.
The womb of the buddhas ~ Milarepa
MilarepaBehold and search your unborn mind;
Seek not for satisfaction in samsara.
I attain all my knowledge through observing the mind within.Thus all my thoughts become the teachings of dharma,
And apparent phenomena are all the books one needs.
Seeing the innate face of the self-mind is supreme,
How can common meditation match it?He who realizes the nature of his own mind knows
That the mind itself is wisdom-awareness,
And no longer makes the mistake of searching for Buddha from other sources.
In fact, Buddha cannot be found by searching,
So contemplate your own mind.
This is the highest teaching one can practice;
This very mind is the tathagatagarbha, buddha nature, the womb of the buddhas.
Remain within your inner nature ~ Padmasambhava
PadmasambhavaA hundred things may be explained, a thousand told,
But one thing only should you grasp.
Know one thing and everything is freed –
Remain within your inner nature, your awareness!
Space yogi ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheWhile resting free of anything to imagine, like space, do not be distracted for even one instant. The one who trains like that can truly be called a ‘space yogi’. A yogi is an individual who connects with that which is naturally so. Space means that which always is. Remain without imagining anything at all, not meditating on anything. Once you start to meditate on space, it becomes an imitation. Simply allow the space to not wander. Remain undistracted. There is no impetus for any thoughts to reoccur. A thought is a mental way of formulating something — in other words, our attention formulates a thought. The thought doesn’t come from anywhere else. If we don’t think, where would a thought come from? In the basic space that is unimaginable, remain undistractedly. Let your indescribable awareness remain undistracted in the naked state of basic space. It doesn’t have to be imagined, because this basic space that is utterly naked is our own nature already. You don’t have to imagine that this is so.
The Song of the Twelve Deceptions ~ Milarepa
MilarepaWorldly affairs are all deceptive;
So I seek the truth Divine.Excitements and distractions are illusions;
So I meditate on the non-dual Truth.Companions and servants are deceptive;
So I remain in solitude.Money and possessions are also deceptive;
So if I have them, I give them away.Things in the outer world are all illusion;
The Inner Mind is that which I observe.Wandering thoughts are all deceptive;
So I only tread the path of wisdom.Deceptive are the teachings of expedient truth;
The final truth is that on which I meditate.Books written in black ink are all misleading;
I only meditate on the pith-instructions of the whispered lineage.Words and sayings, too, are but illusion;
At ease, I rest my mind in the effortless state.Birth and death are both illusions;
I observe but the truth of no-arising.The common mind is in every way misleading;
And so I practice how to animate awareness.The Mind-holding Practice is misleading and deceptive;
And so I rest in the realm of reality.
Free ~ Mipham Rinpoche
Mipham RinpocheIf we are not trapped in the mire of mental constructs,
The manifestation of awareness is directly seen,
Free from constructs.
Without tying knots in the air with the rope of speculation,
May we be skilled in spontaneously resting in the genuine nature.
Fully alive and fully aware ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat HanhNothing is more precious than being in the present moment, fully alive and fully aware.
Being aware of what’s going on ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheMeditation is so much easier than most people think: Whatever you experience, as long as you are aware of what’s going on, is meditation!
Primordially pure ~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom RinpocheFrom the very beginning, awareness has never been established as being material and having characteristics that can be conceptualized, because its essence is primordially pure, sublime, all-pervasive emptiness. The ocean of realms of phenomena of existence and enlightenment naturally manifest as the display of unobstructed emptiness, like the sun and its rays. Therefore, awareness is neither partial nor a completely empty void because its nature is the supreme spontaneous presence of wisdom and noble qualities.
The void nature of thoughts ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheWhat we normally call the mind is the deluded mind, a turbulent vortex of thoughts whipped up by attachment, anger, and ignorance. This mind, unlike enlightened awareness, is always being carried away by one delusion after another. Thoughts of hatred or attachment suddenly arise without warning, triggered by such circumstances as an unexpected meeting with an enemy or a friend, and unless they are immediately overpowered with the proper antidote, they quickly take root and proliferate, reinforcing the habitual predominance of hatred or attachment in the mind and adding more an more karmic patterns.
Yet, however strong these thoughts may seem, they are just thoughts and will eventually dissolve back into emptiness. Once you recognize the intrinsic nature of the mind, these thoughts that seem to appear and disappear all the time can no longer fool you. Just as clouds form, last for a while, and then dissolve back into the empty sky, so deluded thoughts arise, remain for a while, and then vanish into the voidness of mind; in reality nothing at all has happened.
When sunlight falls on a crystal, lights of all colors of the rainbow appear; yet they have no substance that you can grasp. Likewise, all thoughts in their infinite variety – devotion, compassion, harmfulness, desire – are utterly without substance. There is no thought that is something other than voidness; if you recognize the void nature of thoughts at the very moment they arise, they will dissolve. Attachment and hatred will never be able to disturb the mind. Deluded emotions will collapse by themselves. No negative actions will be accumulated, so no suffering will follow.
The meaning of wrathful deities ~ Garchen Rinpoche
Garchen RinpocheThe transformation that occurs when the afflictive emotions are subdued with the sharp discriminating awareness is the arising of the wrathful deities. The actual nature of the afflictive emotions is primordial wisdom, thus the five poisons are the five wisdoms. Through the power of awareness the afflictive emotions collapse, and this collapsing reveals their true nature, primordial wisdom. This collapsing or transformation is the wrathful deity.
The wrathful deities are infuriated with compassion; they are not angry. They are like a mother taming a mischievous child. The mother loves the child and becomes infuriated in order to help her child. The wrathful deities arise with intense compassion, taming the very coarse afflictive emotions of sentient beings. Their compassion is even more intense than the compassion of peaceful deities.
Learning to be aware of your actions ~ Lama Yeshe
Lama YesheEvery minute you perform hundreds of karmic actions, yet you are hardly conscious of any of them. In the stillness of meditation, however, you can listen to your mind, the source of all this activity. You learn to be aware of your actions to a far greater extent than ever before. This self-awareness leads to self-control, enabling you to master your karma rather than be mastered by it.
Mindfulness is our practice ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheI will repeat that mindfulness, in other words ‘awareness,’ is our practice. We are ignorant beings, and as such require constant reminders about the importance of making the effort to land in this awareness. Therefore all our guru’s activities—from when he yawns or coughs, to when he appears or disappears—are his way of reminding us to come back, again and again, to mindfulness. And as long as we are mindful and aware, no one practice is better than another.
Just naturally alert ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheTo keep an eye on whether one is distracted or not, first of all, one needs effortful mindfulness. When that slowly, slowly has become habituated it becomes effortless. By effortful mindfulness, one is led to the effortless.
When effortful mindfulness has become self-sustained, there is a vivid, wakeful, effortless state of being awake without any need for force or struggle, without rigidity, just naturally alert. When you become accustomed, there is only undistracted rigpa.
It is said, “Sustain primordial free awareness with natural mindfulness.” That means without being distracted, without being carried away, exactly as it is, rest freely. Although this self-abiding non-distraction is called mindfulness, in this context there is no duality.