Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results. ~Sakyong Mipham
Ven. Toum Vachana
The ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness. This means extending to others the kind of concern we have for ourselves. ~Dalai Lama
Focus on selfless love, the fervent wish that all sentient beings may find happiness and the causes of happiness.
Let the loving kindness permeate your mind and rest in this all encompassing feeling of altruistic love. ~Matthieu Ricard
The mind is the root from which all things grow if you can understand the mind, everything else is included. It’s like the root of a tree. All a tree’s fruit and flowers, branches and leaves depend on its root. If you nourish its root, a tree multiplies. If you cut its root, it dies. Those who understand the mind reach enlightenment with minimal effort. ~Bodhidharma
If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it. ~Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
~Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Try to imagine what it’s like when this moment of empty cognizance suffused with awareness starts to last for a full hour, unbroken. The very first moment of empty cognizance already has the potential for full omniscience, as well as the potential for compassion and loving kindness – the potential ability to protect and help other beings, as well as to manifest the activity that functions for the welfare of all. All these qualities are present, but not fully manifest. The longer this duration lasts, the more the qualities become visible, actualized. They don’t just appear later on, when realization is fully experienced. When the sun rises in the morning, do we have to wait for it to shine for it to be warm and brilliant? Although the noon sun may be stronger than the dawn sun, all of its qualities are present from the very first moment, though they may not be fully manifested. It’s the same in this training. What is essential is to train in order to attain stability.
Please understand that ‘rangjung yeshe’, self-existing wakefulness, is primordially endowed with all perfect qualities. The qualities of enlightenment are not a fabrication or a product. They are not a new achievement, an unprecedented new discovery, or something that we achieve. They are present from the very beginning. It’s like the unchanging brilliance of the sun shining in the sky. It can be obscured by clouds, but these clouds are neither primordial nor intrinsic to the sky; they are always temporary, momentary. What prevents full realization of our innate nature of self-existing wakefulness is the momentary occurrence of thoughts and fixation. Because this occurrence is momentary, it can be cleared away. It’s very important to understand this.
The moment you think only of yourself,
the focus of your whole mind narrows,
and because of this narrow focus
uncomfortable things can appear huge
and bring you fear and discomfort
and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery.
The moment you think of others
with a sense of caring, however,
your mind widens.
Within that wider angle,
your own problems appear
to be of no significance,
and this makes a big difference.
~14th Dalai Lama
The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently. ~Pema Chödron
Normally the way that we relate to patience is that sometimes we can be patient and at other times we feel we cannot. The type of patience we need to cultivate is persistent patience, which means that we are patient when we can be patient and we are patient when we feel we cannot be patient. If we lack this, then we will have no way to overcome our kleshas because patience is the opposite of and the remedy to both anger and hatred. ~17th Karmapa
Some people say that meditating on compassion brings them more suffering and pain, and so it’s difficult to meditate on it. Actually, this is not the case. Due to great compassion, we become fearless. It is only when we do not understand how to meditate on compassion properly that we will have pain. It is also extremely important to realize that we are not meditating on suffering, but on the people who are suffering. This is a key distinction.
Lamp for the path to enlightenment – teachings by the Gyalwang Karmapa: Day three
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