Buddha ShakyamuniBeautiful forms are just like a mass of foam,
Feelings are just like bubbles,
Perceptions are like mirages,
Conditioning is like the soft plantain tree,
And consciousness is just like an illusion.
Everything is produced from fantasies
And from the nonexistent imaginings of a fool.
Tag Archives: conditioning
Awareness of our own condition ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Namkhai Norbu RinpocheThe only source of every kind of benefit for others is awareness of our own condition. When we know how to help ourselves and how to work with our situation we can really benefit others, and our feeling of compassion will arise spontaneously, without the need for us to hold ourselves to the rules of behaviour of any given religious doctrine.
What do we mean when we say, becoming aware of our own true condition? It means observing ourselves, discovering who we are, who we believe we are, and what our attitude is towards others and to life. If we just observe the Limits, the mental judgments, the passions, the pride, the jealousy, and the attachments with which we close ourselves up in the course of one single day, where do they arise from, what are they rooted in? Their source is our dualistic vision, and our conditioning. To be able to help both ourselves and others we need to overcome all the limits in which we are enclosed. This is the true function of the teachings.
Observing our conditioning first ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Namkhai Norbu RinpocheMany spiritual paths have as their basis the principle of compassion, of benefiting others. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, for example, compassion is one of the fundamental points of the practice, together with the knowledge of the true nature of phenomena, or voidness. Sometimes, however, compassion can become something constructed and provisional, because we don’t understand the real principle of it. A genuine, not artificial, compassion, can only arise after we have discovered our own condition. Observing our own limits, our conditioning, our conflicts and so on, we can become truly conscious of the suffering of others, and then our own experience becomes a basis or model for being able to better understand and help those around us.
Conditioning ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheUltimately, in order to attain enlightenment, we must exhaust all our karma, both good and bad, not merely collect as much good karma as we can and get rid of the bad. Karma is by nature conditioning, and since all our activities are conditioned by karma, they can only be a direct contradiction to our independence. Therefore, it is not possible for any of us to be truly independent.
The point of thinking about cause and effect before we start to practice each day is not merely to gather knowledge about karma’s complex functions and systems, but to remind ourselves that we have no control over anything at all.
Gazing at the uncontrived sameness of every experience ~ Longchenpa
LongchenpaWe should cast aside all childish games that fetter and exhaust body, speech and mind; and stretching out in inconceivable nonaction, in the unstructured matrix, the actuality of emptiness, where the natural perfection of reality lies, we should gaze at the uncontrived sameness of every experience, all conditioning and ambition resolved with finality.
A constant battle within ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaThe practice of Dharma is a constant battle within, replacing previous negative conditioning or habituation with new positive conditioning.
Never really content ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheThe Buddha compared attachment to drinking salt water from an ocean. The more we drink, the thirstier we get. Likewise, when our mind is conditioned by attachment, however much we have, we never really experience contentment.
The capacity of meeting everything anew ~ Krishnamurti
KrishnamurtiThis, after all, is the truth: to have the capacity of meeting everything anew, from moment to moment, without the conditioning reaction of the past, so that there is not the cumulative effect which acts as a barrier between oneself and that which is.
The profound absence of objectification ~ Nagarjuna
NagarjunaThose whose mind has transcended
Existence and non-existence and abides no more [in them],
They’ve realized the meaning of conditioned existence,
The profound absence of objectification.
Conditioned by one’s ego ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Namkhai Norbu RinpocheIn general, many people have a strong ego. They think, “Oh I know everything”. Some people even qualify themselves. They feel, “Oh I am not normal, I am a special person, I am a daka, or dakini”. This means one is not daka or dakini, but is conditioned by one’s ego.
All it takes is a bit of practice ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheAll it takes to accomplish these marvels is a little patience, a little diligence, a little willingness to let go of conditioned ideas about yourself and the world around you. All it takes is a bit of practice in waking up in the middle of the dreamscape of your life and recognizing that there is no difference between the experience of the dream and the mind of the dreamer.
Just as the landscape of a dream is infinite in scope, so is your buddha nature.