“We are each living in our own soap opera. We do not see things as they really are. We see only our interpretations. This is because our minds are always so busy...But when the mind calms down, it becomes clear. This mental clarity enables us to see things as they really are, instead of projecting our commentary on everything.”
― Tenzin Palmo
“Through the practice of shamata meditation, the tumultuous habits of mind calm down; and then we can investigate the characteristics of the calm waters beyond the monkey’s control. This is called vipashyana—or insight—meditation. I knew monkey mind intimately. I also knew that when we dismiss any value to knowing this monkey, it’s like owning a car without knowing how to drive. The less we know about the chattering, muttering voice in our heads that tells us what to do, what to believe, what to buy, which people we should love, and so forth, the more power we grant it to boss us around and convince us that whatever it says is true.”
― Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
“Self-reflection is a practice, a path, and an attitude. It is the spirit of taking an interest in that which we usually try to push away.”
― Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche
"Compassion is not about kindness. Compassion is about awareness. Compassion in the general sense of kindness would be an expression of awareness, but one that might not necessarily be free from the stain of ego-grasping. Genuine compassion is egoless. It is the inherent essence expressed, inseparable from awareness. This natural essence, which is genuine compassion, does not need to be formulated or even expressed as something like “compassion.” We see this exemplified in our great teachers. Their genuine compassion does not require phrases and expressions or even actions. Just their presence, who they are, is nothing other than the quintessence of compassion."
-Khandro Rinpoche
The root of Dharma is your mind.
Tame it and you’re practicing Dharma.
To practice Dharma is to tame your mind,
And when you tame it, then you will be free!
- Dudjom Rinpoche
“The fact that nothing is certain, and we therefore can’t hold on to anything, can evoke fear and depression in the mind. But it can also evoke a sense of wonder, curiosity, and freedom.”
― Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Victor Frankl (Psychiatrist and Neurologist)
To end suffering – not only by relieving its symptoms but by eradicating its root cause – is precisely the aim of the Buddha’s teaching. We must first realize that the true cause of suffering is not outside, but inside. That is why true spiritual practice consists of working on one’s own mind. The mind is very powerful. It can create happiness or suffering, heaven or hell. If, with the help of the Dharma, you manage to eliminate your inner poisons, nothing from outside will ever affect your happiness, but as long as those poisons remain in your mind, you will not find the happiness you seek anywhere in the world.
- Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
"Where is the best place?
Not clinging to a place or location is the best place."
-Machig Labdrön
The true bodhisattva spirit grows out of this personal sense of freedom. You discover that you don’t feel so needy anymore. You don’t crave another refueling – with shamatha or with other people’s love and attention – because you know within yourself how to be free, how to be confident. With this sense of security and freedom, you begin to direct your attention to the needs of others. The compassion expands.
-Tsoknyi Rinpoche
“Above all, be at ease, be as natural and spacious as possible. Slip quietly out of the noose of your habitual anxious self, release all grasping, and relax into your true nature. Think of your ordinary emotional, thought-ridden self as a block of ice or a slab of butter left out in the sun. If you are feeling hard and cold, let this aggression melt away in the sunlight of your meditation. Let peace work on you and enable you to gather your scattered mind into the mindfulness of Calm Abiding, and awaken in you the awareness and insight of Clear Seeing. And you will find all your negativity disarmed, your aggression dissolved, and your confusion evaporating slowly like mist into the vast and stainless sky of your absolute nature.”
― Sogyal Rinpoche
Recognizing the instability of causes and conditions leads us to understand our own power to transform obstacles and make the impossible possible. This is true in every area of life. If you don’t have a Ferrari, you very well may create the conditions to have one. As long as there is a Ferrari, there is the opportunity for you to own one. Likewise if you want to live longer, you can choose to stop smoking and exercise more. There is reasonable hope. Hopelessness — just like its opposite, blind hope — is the result of a belief in permanence.
You can transform not only your physical world but your emotional world, for example, turning agitation into peace of mind by letting go of ambition or turning low self-respect into confidence by acting out of kindness and philanthropy. If we all condition ourselves to put our feet in other people’s shoes, we will cultivate peace in our homes, with our neighbors, and with other countries.
– Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
“Once you realize the true evolution of your mental problems, you’ll never blame any other living being for how you feel.”
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche
“You alone are responsible for cleaning your own Mind.
Nobody can do the washing for you.”
- Khadro-la
"Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche always placed great emphasis on the importance of merging our mind with the Dharma and unifying the practice and daily life. Our aim should be to blend with the Dharma in meditation and to carry the quality of the meditation into all of our actions. Dharma needs to become second nature. We are probably not integrating the practice into our lives if, after having practiced a lot, we remain just as angry as before—or even a little more so.
Another indication of a lack of integration is the absence of a sense of well-being. A genuine practitioner should at least become a good human being."
– Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche
“The highest practice is the one that is most effective, not necessarily the one categorized as “higher.”
― Tenzin Wangyal
