Without the personal advice of Buddha, our only option is to rely on the existing generalisations provided by the dharma that are themselves the result of centuries of guesswork. Not very encouraging news in some ways, but do not despair. This guesswork may be hundreds of years old, but it was originally developed by some of the greatest scholars and practitioners ever to have walked this earth. So rest assured that if the answer to the question “What do I do if I want to follow the path of dharma?” turns out to be shamatha meditation or the four foundations, you won’t go far wrong.
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices
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Further quotes from the book Not for Happiness:
- Rip that ego apart
- Relative and absolute truth
- It’s all a matter of motivation
- The decision to follow a spiritual path
- Three higher trainings
- Opposite direction to dharma
- No substitute for being guided by a guru
- Maintaining a strong grip on the habits
- Merely the product of your own perception
- Dharma is not a therapy
- Our fundamental problem
- Sadness
- Mara’s five arrows
- Nothing genuinely works in samsara
- Mind-made illusions
- It cannot be fixed
- Very little time left for practice
- We must also practice it
- What Is Bodhichitta