Thoughts are just displays of the mind. They may be waves stirring up the all-ground consciousness, but this is not a fault. If you just rest loosely in them, they will disappear right there. This is why when we meditate we should let the thoughts that occur in the sixth mental consciousness relax into the all-ground consciousness. ~Thrangu Rinpoche
Patience is not learned in safety. It is not learned when everything is harmonious and going well. When everything is smooth sailing, who needs patience? If you stay in your room with the door locked and the curtains drawn, everything may seem harmonious, but the minute anything doesn’t go your way, you blow up. There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out. ~ Pema Chödron
Every kind of teaching is transmitted through the culture and knowledge of human beings. But it is important not to confuse any culture or tradition with the teachings themselves, because the essence of the teachings is knowledge of the nature of the individual. Any given culture can be of great value because it is the means which enables people to receive the message of a teaching, but it is not the teaching itself. ~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
If you exaggerate the value of external objects, thinking that they are the most important things in life, you ignore your inner beauty and internal joyful energy; if you look only outside of yourself, you neglect your most precious human qualities — your intellect and your potential to communicate in higher ways. Thus, meditation shows you clean clear which objects of attachment confuse you and with which kinds of mind you relate to them. ~ Lama Yeshe
Ananda has 2 little cakes for his birthday today. He does not want anything else.
Thinking of you on your birthday, and wishing you all the best! I hope it is as fantastic as you are!
I hope that you have the greatest birthday ever from the moment you open your eyes in the morning until they close late at night.
Wishing you all the great things in life, hope this day will bring you an extra share of all that makes you happiest. Happy birthday.
— Unknown
Most of us tend to resent being confronted with the truth, and from resentment springs denial. The most obvious example is that we feel annoyed when we are forced to acknowledge the illusory nature of our lives and the reality of death. We also take exception to contemplating it, even though death is an irrefutable universal truth. Our habitual reaction is to pretend it will never happen — which is how we deal with most of the other inconvenient truths we find difficult to stomach. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Practitioners sometimes endure long periods when their practice appears to have no effect on what seem to be particularly stubborn obstacles, and as a result assume their practice is not working. But they are wrong. With hindsight, they come to realise that the “obstacle” they so desperately wanted to eradicate was actually the best thing that ever happened them. This kind of turnaround is quite common, and with experience practitioners begin to appreciate that “bad” circumstances create a far more fertile ground for practice than “good” ones. ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
We have received a precious human rebirth, which is extremely rare and with it we can achieve any happiness that we wish for ourselves. This is not just the happiness of this life — even mice and tiny insects are very clever in achieving the happiness of this life. Achieving the happiness of this life is nothing special. The special capacity that we have as human beings is achieving happiness beyond this life. ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Much though he recites the sacred texts, but acts not accordingly, that heedless man is like a cowherd who only counts the cows of others — he does not partake of the blessings of the holy life.
Little though he recites the sacred texts, but puts the Teaching into practice, forsaking lust, hatred, and delusion, with true wisdom and emancipated mind, clinging to nothing of this or any other world — he indeed partakes of the blessings of a holy life. — Dhammapada
Translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita
If he recites many teachings, but
— heedless man —
doesn’t do what they say,
like a cowherd counting the cattle of
others,
he has no share in the contemplative life.
If he recites next to nothing
but follows the Dhamma
in line with the Dhamma;
abandoning passion,
aversion, delusion;
alert,
his mind well-released,
not clinging
either here or hereafter:
he has his share in the contemplative life.
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. ~ Marcus Aurelius
