Unless you have made a clear decision to turn your back on samsara, then however many prayers you recite, however much you meditate, however many years you remain in retreat, it will all be in vain. You may have a long life, but it will be without essence. You may accumulate great wealth, but it will be meaningless. The only thing that is really worth doing is to get steadily closer to enlightenment and further away from samsara. Think about it carefully.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva
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Further quotes from the book The Heart of Compassion:
- Accepting short-term sufferings
- Cutting through subtler misconceptions
- I like suffering
- Protecting ourselves from future suffering
- Practice day and night
- No greater obstacle to Dharma practice
- Meaningless activities without end
- No more than an empty echo
- Before it is too late
- Start observing your mind
- Never stop thinking about how to gain liberation
- The importance of relative bodhicitta
- Conduct
- The children of the buddhas
- Giving and taking
- Seeing clearly how deceiving the ways of the world are
- The best opportunity to put the teachings into practice
- Neither discouragement nor pride
- Powerful sources of help
- Two types of friends