From The Heart of the Buddha, pages 87 to 88. Published by Shambhala Publications.

 

If you meditate on mind training, and your personality becomes stiff with pride and arrogance, it is as though you have reduced a god to a demon – dharma has become non-dharma.

The more you meditate on mind training and dharma, the more supple your personality should become.

Act as the lowest servant to everyone.

~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

 

The past has gone, the future has not come, so the most important moment of your life is always right here, right now.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

When truth and the courage to walk on the path of truth are joined with mindfulness, a practitioner truly begins to practice the dharma.

~ Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche

 

THE PAIN OF EXPOSING OURSELVES

We tend to seek an easy and painless answer. But this kind of solution does not apply to the spiritual path, which many of us should not have begun at all. Once we commit ourselves to the spiritual path, it is very painful and we are in for it. We have committed ourselves to the pain of exposing ourselves, of taking off our clothes, our skin, nerves, heart, brains, until we are exposed to the universe. Nothing will be left. It will be terrible, excruciating, but that is the way it is.

~CHOGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE

 

SMILE

“We can change the world, definitely. The problem is that we don’t smile when chaos occurs to us. When chaos occurs, even within that chaos, we can smile which cures confusion and resentment. Do you understand?”

No matter which vehicle you choose to travel in, whether it is a train, aeroplane, or car, you will not reach your destination without fuel. Likewise, no matter which practice that you engage in, whether it is sutra, tantra, or dzogchen, you will not reach buddhahood without bodhicitta.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

(Often translated as the mind of enlightenment, bodhicitta is the compassionate wish to attain the enlightened state of a buddha for the benefit of all beings.)

The difference of mind, between the wise and the ignorant is simple, as a person crossing a field.

From the field of peace and calm abiding mind to that of hate and arrogance.

Which ground they choose to walk on.

Is either sacred ground. .Or that of the hells.

#ngakpainbc

All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.

-Nagarjuna

 

All of samsara and nirvana are your own mind, They don’t arise from anything else in the slightest. Everything, such as joy and suffering, good and bad, High and low, are the conceptual constructs of mind.

~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

 

Thoughts come and go like a thief in an empty house. There is nothing to be gained or lost.

~ Padampa Sangye

 

in the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously. -Milarepa

Change your mind, and it’s as though you have changed the world.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

When thoughts arise, recognize them clearly as your teacher. …

~Gampopa

 

Although all practitioners have a lineage, If one has the dakini lineage, one has everything.

Although all practitioners have a grandfather, If one has Tilo, one has everything.

Although practitioners have a lama, If one has Naro, one has everything.

Although practitioners have teachings, If one has the hearing lineage, one has everything.

All attain the Buddha through meditation, But if one attains Buddhahood without meditation, there is definite enlightenment.

There is no amazing achievement without practice, But there is amazing achievement without practice.

By searching, all will find enlightenment, But to find without searching is the greatest find.

~Marpa

 

No matter which vehicle you choose to travel in, whether it is a train, aeroplane, or car, you will not reach your destination without fuel. Likewise, no matter which practice that you engage in, whether it is sutra, tantra, or dzogchen, you will not reach buddhahood without bodhicitta.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

(Often translated as the mind of enlightenment, bodhicitta is the compassionate wish to attain the enlightened state of a buddha for the benefit of all beings.)

///

What you see, hear, and touch is your own mind.

There is nothing but mind. Mind transcends birth and death.

The essence of mind is pure Consciousness that never leaves reality, even though it experiences the things of the senses.

~ Niguma

 

The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions ~ Chogyam Trungpa

 

SIX THINGS NOT TO DO !

From Khyad par gyis zhus pa’i mdo

1 Not grasping is GENEROSITY !

2 Not remaining is MORALITY !

3 Not protecting is PATIENCE !

4 Not trying is UNBENDING EFFORT !

5 Not thinking is SAMADHI !

6 Not aiming is WISDOM !

Wherever there is space, five elements pervade, Wherever the five elements, the homes of living beings, Wherever living beings, karma and defilements, Wherever is defilement, my compassion also. Wherever is the need of beings, there I am to help them.

~ Yeshe Tsogyal

 

SOIL IS GOOD ENOUGH TO CULTIVATE

We do not have to be ashamed of what we are. As sentient beings we have wonderful backgrounds. These backgrounds may not be particularly enlightened or peaceful or intelligent. Nevertheless, we have soil good enough to cultivate; we can plant anything in it.

From the book : “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism”

~CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE  

Four Foundations of Mindfulness

being mindful of the breath,

being mindful of walking, sitting, lying down and standing,

being aware of the 32 parts of the body, and.

clearly comprehending what is beneficial and not beneficial.

…

If the meditator is able to use whatever occurs in his life as the path, his body becomes a retreat hut.

~ Jigme Lingpa

 

When a rainbow appears vividly in the sky, you can see its beautiful colors, yet you could not wear it as clothing, or put it on as an ornament. It arises through the conjunction of various factors, but there is nothing about it that can be grasped. Likewise, thoughts that arise in the mind have no tangible existence or intrinsic solidity. There is no logical reason why thoughts, which have no substance, should have so much power over you, nor is there any reason why you should become their slave.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

Buddhism promises nothing. It teaches us to be what we are where we are, constantly

~ Chogyam Trungpa

 

“The one who experiences perceptions does not exist before, during, or after the experiences of seeing and so forth. Knowing this, all thoughts of an “experiencer of perceptions” either existing or not existing are over-turned.”

Dukkham-eva hi na koci dukkhito, Karako na, kiriya va vijjati, Atthi nibuti, na nibbuto puma, Maggam-atthi, gamako na vijjati:

“Mere suffering is, but no sufferer is found.

The deeds exist, but no performer of the deeds:

Nibbana is, but not the one who would enter it.

The path is, but no one on a path is to be seen.”

Kammassa Karako natthi, Vipakassa ca vedako, Suddhadhamma pavattanti, Ev ‘etam sammadassanam:

“No doer of deeds is found, No one exists who reaps the karma from those deeds.

Empty phenomena roll on, This view alone is right and true.”

Na hettha devo brahma va, Samsarass-atthi karako, Suddhadhamma pavattanti, Hetusambharapaccaya ti.

“No god, no Brahma exist, that may be called the maker or cause of this wheel of life. Empty phenomena roll on, dependent only on conditions.” (From Visuddhimagga XIX.)

The liberation that the Buddha offered, was a very strange one, because the suffering self which sought liberation, merely vanished like a whirlpool ceasing to whirl upon a river.

When you are away from your spiritual friends, and you feel lonely on the path, and you feel a lack of encouragement to go on, just remember that all of the enlightened beings are always with you. You are never alone.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

Talking about his own life and work:

“Upon my arrival in the West, I felt strongly that a meeting of the two minds [East and West]—culturally, spiritually, metaphysically—could be realized by means of “first thought best thought,” the uncontaminated first glimpse of one another. With natural skepticism as well as deep appreciation, I applied myself to examine Western wisdom and uncover the nature of occidental insight. I found that I had to immerse myself thoroughly in everything, from the doctrines of Western religion up to the way people tied their shoelaces. I was intensely curious to discover in all this where were the true heart and the true brain. And I was determined to find these matters out by personal experience, rather than by secondhand account.” […]

“Toward the end of his life, Trungpa Rinpoche was fond of hiding behind doorways and jumping out to surprise an unsuspecting passerby with a huge exclamation that was close to the ghostly “Boo!” He was particularly delighted if he could make someone shriek or jump into the air. At times, he incorporated the “Boo! transmission” into his dharma talks, startling whole audiences into wakefulness at the most unexpected moments. The ability to bring things to one extraordinary point from the midst of silence and spaciousness was a fundamental gift that he had and which he gave to his students, in many different ways. In part, this was the teaching of first thought best thought.

Rinpoche also used the principle of heaven, earth, and man (in the sense of humanity) in his development of the principles of dharma art. This threefold principle comes from the Chinese tradition and was also integrated and developed further in Korea and Japan. Rinpoche would have known this threefold view of the world from his studies in Tibet, and he would also have applied this concept in his studies of flower arranging, or ikebana, where it is commonly used to describe the elements of an arrangement. Beginning around the time that he began to focus on the Shambhala teachings, Rinpoche chose to apply this schema in dharma art presentations. He treated the topic in a number of different ways. Relative to the discussion of first thought, the heaven, earth, and man material in his essay in The Art of Calligraphy: Joining Heaven and Earth is particularly germane. In the section of his essay entitled “Creation,” heaven is presented as the first step or stage in creating a work of art. Here, he connects heaven with vision, or nonthought. The experience of heaven is like standing in front of your huge blank canvas, holding your brush, ready to paint:

“At that point you become frightened, you want to chicken out and you do not know what to do. . . . [Or] you might have blank sheets of paper and a pen sitting on your desk, and you are about to write poetry. You begin to pick up your pen with a deep sigh— you have nothing to say. . . . That first space is heaven, and it is the best one. It is not regarded as regression, particularly; it is just basic space in which you have no idea what it is going to do or what you are going to do about it or put into it. This initial fear of inadequacy may be regarded as heaven, basic space, complete space.”

Rinpoche goes on to talk about how first thought arises in that space:

“Then as you look at your canvas or your notepad, you come up with a first thought of some kind, which you timidly try out. You begin to mix your paints with your brush, or to scribble timidly on your notepad. The slogan “first thought is best thought!” is an expression of that second principle, which is earth. Finally, he says, you have the man principle, which is the confirmation of both the panic of heaven and the first thought of the earth principle. “At that point there is a sense of joy and a slight smile at the corners of your mouth, a slight sense of humor. You can actually say something about what you are trying to create” […]

As he wrote in the chapter “Meditation” in Dharma Art, when you create violent artwork:

“You are creating black magic, which harms people rather than helps them. . . . Creating a work of art is not a harmless thing. It always is a powerful medium. . . . It challenges people’s lives. So there are two choices: either you create black magic to turn people’s heads, or you create some kind of basic sanity. Those are the two possibilities, so you should be very, very careful.” […]

“As Trungpa Rinpoche says in Dharma Art:

“The basic notion of nontheistic symbolism is that whatever exists in our life— our birth, our death, our sickness, our marriage, our business adventure, our educational adventure— is based on symbolism of some kind. . . . Symbolism usually comes as messages. It is a very simple eye-level relationship: me and my world. . . . There is always some kind of message taking place. What message? We don’t know. It’s up to you. There’s not going to be a fantastic dictionary or encyclopedia. This is simply a reminder that every activity you are doing— smoking cigarettes, chewing gum— has some kind of meaning behind it. (“Ordinary Truth”)

In the vajrayana Buddhist perspective, which is the basis for this understanding, symbolism is not something impersonal. It is deeply personal, connected to our existence and to our nonexistence, as Rinpoche points out:

“People’s usual idea of symbolism is that it is something outside them, like a signpost or billboard, that gives them signs, perhaps of religious significance. That’s not quite true. Symbolism is connected with your self, your inner being. In other words, you are the biggest symbol of yourself. That is symbolism. . . .

There are two basic understandings of symbolism: the theistic and the nontheistic. Theistic symbolism is a constant self-existing confirmation; that is, whenever symbolism exists, you exist and your world exists. In the case of a nontheistic symbolism such as Buddhism, you don’t exist, symbolism doesn’t exist, and the universe doesn’t exist. That’s quite shocking! “How do we go beyond that?” you might ask. But we don’t actually go beyond that. Instead of trying to go beyond it, we try to get into it. (“ Ordinary Truth”)

~ Chögyam Trungpa

Nagarjuna: “What language describes is non-existent. What thought describes is non-existent. Things neither arise nor dissolve, just as in Nirvana.”

“Thought is bondage; the immeasurable openness of empty awareness is freedom.” Dzogchen Master Nyoshul Khenpo

 

…

Calm and self-control, are signs of listening to the Dharma. Few passions, are the signs of meditation. Harmony with everyone, is the sign of a practitioner. Your mind at ease, is the sign of accomplishment.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

 

At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself, while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters. Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly practices the dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead, be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may arise.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

 

Illusion immediately becomes more workable when we acknowledge it as simply an illusion. The Western habit is to work against the grain and to try and organize the illusory into something solid and structured.

In the stressful attempt to nail down the illusory nature of things, our chance to be at ease, spacious, awake, and free, which already exists within ourselves, gets lost.

~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche

 

“You have an inclination: In the flash of one second, you feel what needs to be done. It is not a product of your education; it is not scientific or logical; you simply pick up on the message. And then you just act: You just do it. That basic human quality of suddenly opening up is the best part of human instinct.”

~CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE

 

Thoughts are mind-itself.

If you wish to abandon them,

they will increase.

Since they are unborn,

they should not be rejected.

-Gampopa

 

“On the other hand, intrinsic awareness (rigpa) is the essence of the dharmakaya, forever untouched by the habitual tendencies emanating from nominal delusion. It does not depend as much as a hair’s breadth upon the meritorious two accumulations and traversing the path of liberation. In the knowledge of basic natural perfection, pure presence is reflexively released and thus is a result not generated from a cause.

“That spontaneously arisen pure presence, timelessly free of any blemish, abides in its own space as the buddha-potential of the dharmakaya. We must understand that it always stays in the space of the unconditioned essence.”

Rigtsal, Tulku Pema (2013-02-19). The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen (p. 219). Snow Lion. Kindle Edition.

Recognize everything as being the nature of objectless emptiness. This space of emptiness is the ground of all appearances of samsara.

~ Dudjom Lingpa

 

Spiritual Materialism & Disappointment

 

As long as we follow a spiritual approach promising salvation, miracles, liberation, then we are bound by the “golden chain of spirituality.” Such a chain might be beautiful to wear, with its inlaid jewels and intricate carvings, but nevertheless, it imprisons us. People think they can wear the golden chain for decoration without being imprisoned by it, but they are deceiving themselves. As long as one’s approach to spirituality is based upon enriching ego, then it is spiritual materialism, a suicidal process rather than a creative one.

All the promises we have heard are pure seduction. We expect the teachings to solve all our problems; we expect to be provided with magical means to deal with our depressions, our aggressions, our sexual hangups. But to our surprise we begin to realize that this is not going to happen. It is very disappointing to realize that we must work on ourselves and our suffering rather than depend upon a savior or the magical power of yogic techniques. It is disappointing to realize that we have to give up our expectations rather than build on the basis of our preconceptions.

We must allow ourselves to be disappointed, which means the surrendering of me-ness, my achievement. We would like to watch ourselves attain enlightenment, watch our disciples celebrating, worshipping, throwing flowers at us, with miracles and earthquakes occurring and gods and angels singing and so forth. This never happens. The attainment of enlightenment from ego’s point of view is extreme death, the death of self, the death of me and mine, the death of the watcher. It is the ultimate and final disappointment. Treading the spiritual path is painful. It is a constant unmasking, peeling off of layer after layer of masks. It involves insult after insult.

Such a series of disappointments inspires us to give up ambition. We fall down and down and down, until we touch the ground, until we relate with the basic sanity of earth. We become the lowest of the low, the smallest of the small, a grain of sand, perfectly simple, no expectations. When we are grounded, there is no room for dreaming or frivolous impulse, so our practice at last becomes workable. We begin to learn how to make a proper cup of tea, how to walk straight without tripping. Our whole approach to life becomes more simple and direct, and any teachings we might hear or books we might read become workable. They become confirmations, encouragements to work as a grain of sand, as we are, without expectations, without dreams.

We have heard so many promises, have listened to so many alluring descriptions of exotic places of all kinds, have seen so many dreams, but from the point of view of a grain of sand, we could not care less. We are just a speck of dust in the midst of the universe. At the same time our situation is very spacious, very beautiful and workable. In fact, it is very inviting, inspiring. If you are a grain of sand, the rest of the universe, all the space, all the room is yours, because you obstruct nothing, overcrowd nothing, possess nothing. There is tremendous openness.

You are the emperor of the universe because you are a grain of sand. The world is very simple and at the same time very dignified and open, because your inspiration is based upon disappointment, which is without the ambition of the ego.

~ Chogyam Trungpa

 

Please understand that all sentient beings, all our parents, want nothing but happiness. Unfortunately, through their negative actions they only create the causes for further pain and suffering. Take this to heart and consider all our parents, wandering blindly and endlessly through painful samsaric states. When we truly take this to heart, out of compassion we feel motivated to achieve enlightenment to truly help all of them. This compassionate attitude is indispensable as a preparation for practice.

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

 

EGO FINDS A NAME FOR ITSELF

The ego feels rather lonely and, at the same time, keeps busy trying to defend itself. It finds that it consists of a collection of desires, expectations, ideas, conclusions, memories, and many other things. This collection is too complicated for the ego to grasp; therefore, it conveniently constructs “I am” or “I am the ego” and puts this label on itself as if it were a real individual entity. Having found a name for itself, the ego has to constantly work to secure itself, because fundamentally it knows that it is not real and sound.

From the book : “Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery”

~CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE  

Sentient beings fixate on thoughts, the true Yogi does not. Sentient beings’ thought are like carving on stones; whatever is thought stays, leaving a trace. Whatever the mental act, a trace remains. This is why we must accept that there is karma, there are disturbing emotions and there are habitual patterns. But, on the other hand, the thoughts occurring in a true Yogi’s mind are like drawings in air. There is an apparent movement, but it is only seeming because he perceives the nature of his mind. There is no clinging to perceiver and perceived and, hence, no karma accumulation whatsoever. This is the meaning of unceasing, self-occurring self liberation.

It is not possible to be enlightened while still having obscurations and negative karma. They need to be interrupted and purified, and that is why one does the purification practices and apologises for any negative deeds one has done. There is also another way to thoroughly and perpetually bring an end to negative karma and obscuration. The moment of recognizing mind essence totally interrupts the karma and obscurations, for that moment. It purifies the negative karma that has been continued from the past and it interrupt any creation henceforth. As long as this recognition last, karma and obscurations are completely ended. Complete stability in the recognition of empty cognizance, therefore, involves the total elimination of all obscurations and negative karma.

– Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

from the book “Vajra Speech: A Commentary on The Quintessence of Spiritual” ISBN: 978-9627341444 – https://amzn.to/1q5Vgrv

 

Primordial emptiness is free from change, and it is the nature of awareness.

Bless me so that I may recognize this view, my very own nature.

~ Trulshik Rinpoche

 

The nature of mind is simply the mind itself left in an unaltered state.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

No matter how many times you are reborn and die, your mind is beyond birth and death. Only its state changes, from subtle to coarse, from coarse to subtle.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

If ye realize the Emptiness of All Things, Compassion will raise within your heart; If ye lose all differentiation between yourselves and others, fit to serve others ye will be; And when in serving others ye shall win success, then shall ye meet with me; And finding me, ye shall attain to Buddhahood.

~Milarepa

 

If you meditate on mind training, and your personality becomes stiff with pride and arrogance, it is as though you have reduced a god to a demon – dharma has become non-dharma.

The more you meditate on mind training and dharma, the more supple your personality should become.

Act as the lowest servant to everyone.

~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

 

If your mind is pure, Everyone is a Buddha.

If your mind is impure, Everyone is ordinary.

~ Trulshik Rinpoche

 

The first meeting with oneself, with aloneness, is meeting one’s real ego without clothing—naked ego, assertive, distinct, clear, definite ego. . . .

Such experiences of being in retreat are not exactly wretched. There is a very faint, subtle sense that you are falling in love with something. You begin to appreciate the desolation. A subtle romanticism is happening completely. Because there is nothing to entertain you, everything comes back to you. The songs of Milarepa, at the early stage of his being in retreat, are love songs. They praise the terrain, the mountains, his cave, his desolateness, his solitude, and the memory of his guru. Those are his love songs .

From talk five of “The Message of Milarepa,” a seminar given at Karme-Choling Meditation Center, Barnet, Vermont, in July, 1973. ©1998 Diana J. Mukpo

Please try to look after this fragile world for the very short time that you are on it, and leave it for the next generation in a way that you would like to find it.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

LOVE OURSELVES

It takes a long time to take our fences down. The first step is to learn to love ourselves, make friends with ourselves, not torture ourselves anymore. And the second step is to communicate to people, to establish a relationship and gradually help them. It takes a long time and a long process of disciplined patience.

~ Chogyam Trungpa

~~~ From Working with People in The Myth of Freedom

 

Since there is no self, there is also no other.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

Whenever you are in awe of an enlightened being, remember to be in awe of your own potential too. Because ultimately there is no difference.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

One must not blame one’s surroundings, one must not blame people, one must not blame external conditions, but without trying to change anything, just step in and try to observe. That is real contemplation on a subject. And when one is able to overcome the romantic and emotional attitude, one discovers truth even in the kitchen sink. So the whole point is not to reject but to make use of that very moment, whatever the situation may be, and accept it, and respect it.’ .

~ Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche Meditation in Action

 

To let the mind become vast and open like the sky, is the key instruction for enhancing practice.

~ Shri Singha

 

Confess your hidden faults. Approach what you find repulsive. Help those you think you cannot help. Anything you are attached to, let it go. Go to the places that scare you.

~ Padampa Sangye

 

(These five teachings are often attributed to Machig Labdron, but it was her teacher, Padampa Sangye, who gave them to her)

What is the use of a realization that fails to reduce your disturbing emotions?

~ Guru Rinpoche

 

Becoming liberated from samsara is an inner journey. You can travel across the world and universe, and you will not find a way out. To get out, you must go in.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

 

“Fundamentally, there is just open space, the basic ground, what we really are. Our most fundamental state of mind, before the creation of ego, is such that there is basic openness, basic freedom, a spacious quality; and we have now and have always had this openness.”

~ Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, excerpt from ‘The Sanity We Are Born With, Buddhist Approach to Psychology’

~CHOGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE

WORKING IN THE SOIL OF SAMSARA

The bodhisattva vow acknowledges confusion and chaos — aggression, passion, frustration, frivolousness — as part of the path. The path is like a busy, broad highway, complete with roadblocks, accidents, construction work, and police. It is quite terrifying. Nevertheless it is majestic, it is the great path. “From today onward until the attainment of enlightenment I am willing to live with my chaos and confusion as well as with that of all other sentient beings. I am willing to share our mutual confusion.” So no one is playing a one-upmanship game. The bodhisattva is a very humble pilgrim who works in the soil of samsara to dig out the jewel embedded in it.

From the book : The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation”

The location of the truth of the Great Perfection is the unfabricated mind of the present moment, this naked radiant awareness itself, not a hair of which has been forced into relaxation. Maintaining this at all times, just through not forgetting it even in the states of eating, sleeping, walking, and sitting, is called meditation. However, until you are free from the obscurations of cognition, it is impossible for this not to be mixed with the experiences of bliss, clarity, and nonconceptualization. Nevertheless, just by not forgetting the nature of one’s own awareness — the kind that is not a tangled mindfulness that gets more tangled in order to be mindful — at some point the unelaborated ultimate truth, transcending terms and examples, will appear.

~ Jigme Lingpa

Every time you connect with essence love, a little bit more clarity stays around the love, a little bit more space opens up around it. Your mind becomes clearer. You experience expanded possibilities. You become a little more confident, a little more willing to connect with others, a little more willing to open up to other people, whether that means talking about your own stuff or listening to theirs. And as that happens a little miracle occurs: You’re giving, without expectation in return. Your very being becomes, consciously or not, an inspiration to others.

~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Rest in a natural way like a small child.

Rest like an ocean without waves.

Rest within clarity like a candle flame.

Rest without self-concerns like a human corpse.

Rest unmoving like a mountain.

~ The Mahasiddha Milarepa

We need to find the link between our traditions and our present experience of life. Nowness, or the magic of the present moment, is what joins the wisdom of the past with the present. When you appreciate a painting or a piece of music or a work of literature, no matter when it was created, you appreciate it now. You experience the same nowness in which it was created. It is always now.

From the book : “Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior”

The essence of the highest teachings lies within a simple moment of awareness.

~ Khandro Rinpoche

Mind, which is like lightning, a breeze, or passing clouds, is coloured by its various thoughts of everything under the sun, but when examined thoroughly is found to lack a basis or origin. Just like a mirage on the horizon, it is devoid of essential nature. While being empty, it appears; and while appearing, it is empty.

~ Mipham Rinpoche

Chögyam Trungpa ~ NO LIMITATION NO COMPROMISE

A description for a crazy-wisdom person found in the scriptures is: “He subdues whatever needs to be subdued and destroys whatever needs to be destroyed. The idea is that whatever your neurosis demands, when you relate with a crazy-wisdom person, you get hit with that. Crazy wisdom presents you with a mirror reflection. That is why Padmasambhava’s crazy wisdom is universal. Crazy wisdom knows no limitation and no logic regarding the form it takes. A mirror will not compromise with you if you are ugly. And there is no point in blaming the mirror or breaking it. The more you break the mirror the more reflections of your face come about from further pieces of the mirror. So the nature of Padmasambhava’s wisdom is that it knows no limitation and no compromise

~ Crazy Wisdom

All appearances are vast openness, Blissful and utterly free.

With a free, happy mind I sing this song of joy.

When one looks toward one’s own mind – The root of all phenomena – There is nothing but vivid emptiness, Nothing concrete there to be taken as real.

It is present and transparent, utter openness, Without outside, without inside – An all pervasiveness Without boundary and without direction.

The wide-open expanse of the view, The true condition of the mind, Is like the sky, like space: Without center, without edge, without goal.

By leaving whatever i experience Relaxed in ease, just as it is, I have arrived at the vast plain That is the absolute expanse.

Dissolving into the expanse of emptiness That has no limits and no boundary, Everything i see, everything i hear, My own mind, and the sky all merge.

Not once has the notion arisen Of these being seperate and distinct.

In the absolute expanse of awareness All things are blended into that single taste – But, relatively, each and every phenomenom is distinctly, clearly seen.

Wondrous!

~ Shabkar

Ordinary people do not question the commonly accepted version of reality. They conform to the standard values of subduing enemies and cherishing friends and family. Materialism, ambition and mundane achievements are the worldly hallmarks of success. We experience the phenomenal world and our minds as solid and truly existent. Very few people doubt these assertions and question their validity. Yet, the process of disbelief is the first step on the spiritual path.

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Experiences are like mist: they will fade away. Practitioners who spend their time practicing in seclusion are certain to have many different experiences, but these experiences are very unreliable. As it is said, experiences are like rainbows, but the great meditator who runs after them like a child will be deceived. We may occasionally have flashes of clairvoyance, seeing things we cannot ordinarily know. We may have signs of accomplishment, or predictions from the deity or the dakinis. But such experiences in most cases give rise to hope and expectation. They are none other than the tricks of demons: they simply cause obstacles. When true realization dawns in one’s mind, it is like the king of mountains, Mount Meru, which no wind can shake.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Relax. You already have everything that you need. Your nature is already whole. Your nature is already pure. There is nothing to obtain. You just have to give up and let go what is covering it.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

You say such clever things to people, but you do not apply them to yourself.

The faults within you are the ones to be exposed.

~ Padampa Sangye

The ultimate definition of bravery is not being afraid of who you are.

– Chögyam Trungpa

I see nothing to fear in inner space.

~ Yeshe Tsogyal

It is not when things go well that you can judge a true practitioner. When adverse circumstances arise, you can clearly see shortcomings in their practice.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

We have to allow ourselves to realize that we are complete fools; otherwise, we have nowhere to begin. — Chögyam Trungpa

The mind that’s always been free has no defining marks. Even when looking, nothing is seen – it is emptiness. But it is not an empty void – it is aware and clear. Awareness and emptiness are indivisible, pervasive like the sky, Without focus, all-penetrating, beyond coming and going.

~ Nyala Pema Dundul

Be careful and compassionate with your body, speech and mind. A stone dropped into water will cause a ripple to move outwards in all directions, continuing on long after that stone left the hand. Likewise, a single action can cause a ripple effect within the interconnectedness of all phenomena, continuing on long after that action was carried out or forgotten.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

“Emptiness is not something like just remaining there without having thoughts or anything at all. It is said in the scriptures that if one does not know how to meditate properly on emptiness, then one can fall into the wrong way. To correctly establish the ultimate nature as emptiness, investigate the true nature of mind. Maintain this through the practice of meditation. Emptiness which is merely empty and the emptiness which is the nature of mind are different. The first emptiness is just nothingness. This kind of emptiness is shown by the example of ‘the horns of a rabbit’. It is just not there. But the emptiness of the mind is different. It does not have any form, colour or shape. It is not existent, and at the same time, it is everything. It is that which creates all of Samsara and Nirvana.”🍁

~ Kyabje Penor Rinpoche.

To take others’ misdeeds and suffering upon oneself, To give away one’s own virtue and happiness to others, To meditate continually on emptiness and compassion— One who adopts these three is a bodhisattva.

~ Buton Rinchen Drup (1290-1364)

The greatest bodhisattvas confront any situation with compassion, no matter how peaceful or violent the situation is. On rare occasions, when a peaceful approach has clearly failed to help a situation, the intensity of their verbal and physical actions might have to be increased, to the point that they appear to become extremely forceful, and may even shock onlookers. But before, during, and after such actions, they are always motivated by compassion, and never by anger.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

To be a hermit doesn’t just mean to live in the deep forest. It means that one’s mind is free from dualistic constructs.

~ Guru Rinpoche

Alert, alert, Yet relax, relax. This is a crucial point for the view in meditation.

~ Machig Labdron

“Remember the clear light, the pure clear white light from which everything in the universe comes, to which everything in the universe returns; the original nature of your own mind. The natural state of the universe unmanifest. Let go into the clear light, trust it, merge with it. It is your own true nature, it is home.”

—Tibetan Book of the Dead—

Someone who begins to develop an interest in the teachings can tend to distance themselves from the reality of material things, as if the teachings were something completely apart from daily life. Often, at the bottom of all this, there is an attitude of giving up and running away from one’s own problems, with the illusion that one will be able to find something that will miraculously help one to transcend all that. But the teachings are based on the principle of our actual human condition. We have a physical body with all its various limits: each day we have to eat, work, rest, and so on. This is our reality, and we can’t ignore it.

~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

If you can remember that all beings have buddha nature, it will help you cultivate equanimity, because it will feel like everybody is your family. The greater your equanimity, the greater your love and compassion towards them, no matter who they are, or what they have done.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

The basic ground of my presence is undefinable, never constrained, restricted or contaminated. I am open, ungraspable, naked, ever fresh – the always already integrated empty presence.

Without change or effort this state is also the infinite richness of all possible appearances. Open and empty is not other than rich and full. This is the open field within which gestures arise: gestures of identity, of connection, of control, of limitation, of welcome, of conflict. All of samsara and nirvana is just the play of possibilities of this field of becoming.

When fear, attachment and self-cherishing arise, they are the empty radiance of the ungraspable nature. Relax and see that they go free by themselves. Identity, intention, hope, fear, lostness, despair, all are moments devoid of enduring essence. Without trying to change the experience be present as the experiencer, the source; presence inseparable from space.

I am open, I am everything, I am just this, I am nothing. Whatever is said or thought is mere play; nothing is nothing, everything is nothing, nothing is everything.

I am a non-entity. Our presence, this amazing, ungraspable facticity of awareness is also an illusion. Nothing, something, everything, anything, just this thing, nothing – these moments are not separate and other, they are the non-dual ungraspable richness of the open ground.

I am, a non-entity. I am a non-entity. I, am a non-entity. Problems are mere parsing and punctuation. Start with ‘I am’, awaken to ‘I am’, relax as ‘I am’.

I am a non-entity (James Low)

Kye! O Sentient Beings of the Three Realms, Each and every one, I am the All-Creating King. You were created by me. You are my children. You are equal to me. You are me. That is why I have actually come forth for you.

–Kulayarāja Tantra (Tib. ཀུན་ བྱེད་རྒྱལ་པོ་, künjé gyalpo, Wyl. kun byed rgyal po)

From another thread:

“James, there never was a Buddha as a human being! No one was ever a human being; just like in a dream, no one was ever in the dream or in dream bodies. No one ever existed as a “being” of any kind.”

Diamond Sutra:

SECTION XXV. THE ILLUSION OF SELF

“Subhuti, what do you think? Let no one say the Buddha cherishes the idea: “I must liberate all living beings”. Allow no such thought, Subhuti. Why not? Because in reality there are no living beings to be liberated by the Buddha. If there were living beings for the Buddha to liberate, He would partake in the thoughts of selfhood, personality entity, and separate individuality.”

Also from the Diamond Sutra:

“Yet when vast, uncountable, immeasurable numbers of beings have thus been liberated, verily no being has been liberated. Why is this, Subhuti? It is because no Bodhisattva who is a real Bodhisattva cherishes the idea of an ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality.”

This means not even a Bodhisattva nor a Buddha has ever existed to know this… all dream… dreamed by no one… just empty appearances…

The dream and the experiencer “seem” real, but only during the dream.. same for daytime consciousnesses and your “self”.

…

Your mind is highly preoccupied with what you want, so you fail to see what is.

Chögyam Trungpa

from the book “Transcending Madness: The Experience of the Six Bardos”

…

A POEM BY DRUKPA KUNLEY

The Five Spiritual Ways

I practice the path of self-discipline. I meditate every day.

I go the way of embracing love. I work as a mother and father of all beings.

I do the deity yoga. I visualize myself as a Buddha in the cosmic unity.

I read the books of all religions and practice all at the right moment.

The life is my teacher and my inner wisdom is my guide.

🌺~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 🌺

FREEDOM FROM EGOHOOD

The dictators of the world are egomaniacal people, obviously. But more ordinary people also function in that way, including ourselves. We would like to possess our world, and so we act in such a way that whatever we see around us is completely in order, according to our desire to maintain the security of “me,” “myself”—which is egohood. Inspired by means of discipline, meditation, and discriminating awareness, we have freedom from egomaniac-ness, freedom from egohood.

From the book : “Heart of the Buddha : Entering the Tibetan Buddhist Path”

The young grasp at the future. The old grasp at the past. The wise remain in the present.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

In my isolated mountain retreat of limitless appearances, Remaining in the practice where the world and beyond arise as ornaments, I sustained the fundamental nature, free from fixating on hope and fear. Gazing upon my own true face – innate luminosity – I possess the instructions on self-liberation of appearances.

In my isolated mountain retreat of self-luminous detachment, Resting in the practice of luminosity without clinging, I sustained the fundamental nature of self-emergent simplicity. Gazing upon my own true face – carefree openness – I have the teachings on self-liberation of destructive emotions.

~ Sera Khandro

As a river rushes to the sea, As the sun and moon glide across the mountains of the west, As days and nights, hours and moments flee, Life flows away, inexorably.

~ Guru Rinpoche

No matter how young, rich, and powerful you are, Impermanence waits for nobody.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die. Whatever is stored up is impermanent and is bound to run out. Whatever comes together is impermanent and is bound to come apart. Whatever is built is impermanent and is bound to collapse. Whatever rises up is impermanent and is bound to fall down.

So also, friendship and enmity, fortune and sorrow, good and evil, all the thoughts that run through your mind – everything is always changing.

~ Patrul Rinpoche

All the water and drink you’ve consumed From beginningless time until now has failed to satisfy your thirst or bring you contentment.

Drink therefore of this stream of enlightened mind, Fortunate Ones.

~ Milarepa

When you look at mind, there is nothing to be seen. And in this not seeing, you see the essence of mind.

~ Machig Labdron

No matter what happens in space, space can never be harmed or destroyed. Likewise, no matter what arises in the mind, no matter how violent or deluded it is, the nature of mind has always and will always be pure.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

In essence, the mind is what is aware of everything — it is a clarity that perceives all external objects and events. But try to find it, and it turns out to be as impossible to grasp and as elusive as a rainbow — the more you run after it, the further away it appears to recede; the more you look at it, the less you can find. This is the empty aspect of the mind. Clarity and emptiness are inseparably united in the true nature of mind, which is beyond all concepts of existence and nonexistence.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Freedom is timeless, It is constantly present.

~ Longchenpa

Crush the eggshell of the mind and unfold your wings in the open sky. Destroy the hut of duality and inhabit the expansive mansion of pure awareness. There are no other enemies or obstacles to overcome and vanquish. Ignorance – dualistic thinking – is the great demon obstructing your path. Slay it right now and be free!

~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

“The Zerbu continues:

Do anything without any indecision or hesitation.

Without expectations or doubts

all actions are completely free.

Behavior becomes like a peacock`s,

taking all negative obstacles and appearances as blessings.

When unhappy, abide completely in unhappiness;

when hungry, abide completely in hunger;

when afraid, abide completely in fear;

when you don’t like something, abide completely in the state of not liking.

This is the big wind.

When vision is an obstacle, be careful;

when vision becomes your friend, liberate yourself.

Then everything becomes a benefit to your practice.”

…

Every appearance and every event is the mind’s miraculous display.

~ Yeshe Tsogyal

..

Even though the sun is always there, it will only be seen once the wind has blown away the clouds. Likewise, only when the wind of dharma practice has blown away the clouds of obscurations, will the nature of mind appear.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

“When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative to wake a person up.” – Chögyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume 6

The more you wish happiness for others, the more you have. The less you wish happiness for others, the less you have.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

(The Nature of Mind) No words can describe it No example can point to it Samsara does not make it worse Nirvana does not make it better It has never been born It has never ceased It has never been liberated It has never been deluded It has never existed It has never been nonexistent It has no limits at all It does not fall into any kind of category.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

🌺~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 🌺

FACING OUR LIVES

We cannot avoid our lives. We have to face our lives, young or old, rich or poor. Whatever happens, we cannot save ourselves from our lives at all. We have to face the eventual truth — not even the eventual truth but the real truth of our lives. We are here; therefore, we have to learn how to go forward with our lives. This truth is what we call the wisdom of Shambhala. The introduction of such wisdom into North American culture is an historical landmark. However, my purpose is not to convert you to what I have to say. Rather, the more you understand, the more you will realize your own responsibility.

From the book : “Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala”

🌺~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 🌺

BECOME THE PANIC

Usually when panic arises, we try to brush it off and occupy ourselves with something else. There is somebody very reasonable in us, who says, “This is your imagination. Everything is going to be okay. Don’t worry. Take a rest. Have a glass of milk.” But if instead you go along with the panic and become the panic, there is a lot of room in the panic, because the panic is full of air bubbles, so to speak. It is very spacious. You probably find yourself suspended in the midst of panic, which is suspended in space.

From the book : “Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle”

🌺~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 🌺

YOU CAN NOT WATCH YOUR OWN BURIAL

Since enlightenment is based on dissolving the ego and its expectations, it has been said that you cannot watch your own burial, and you cannot congratulate yourself on becoming the first buddha of the age or the first buddha of New York.

From the book : “The Path of Individual Liberation: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume One”

To offer care and affection to sentient beings

In desperate situations who lack protection

Brings just as much merit as the meditation

On emptiness with compassion as its core

— Chatral Rinpoche —

🌺~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 🌺

When things are going badly, don’t freak out, and when things are going well, don’t relax .

‘Very beautiful situations have developed using chaos as part of the enlightened approach. There is chaos of all kinds developing all the time: psychological disorder, social disorder, metaphysical disorder, or physical disorder, constantly happening. If you are trying to stop those situations, you are looking for external means of liberating yourself, another answer. But if we are able to look into the basic situation, then chaos is the inspiration, confusion is the inspiration.’ .

Chögyam Trungpa The Pocket Chögyam Trungpa

Some last iluminating words of Nisargadatta Maharaj

N.MAHARAJ:” Whatever I had thought earlier has now changed. What is happening now is that even the slightest touch of individuality has completely disappeared and it is consciousness as such which is spontaneously experiencing. The result is total freedom. All the time there was complete conviction that it was consciousness which was experiencing; but that ‘ I’ which the consciousness was experiencing was there. Now that has totally disappeared; therefore, whatever happens in the field of consciousness, I who am there before consciousness, am not concerned in any way. The experience is of consciousness experiencing itself.”

…

Sometimes the biggest obstacle in your life can become your greatest teacher.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

“Crazy wisdom is absolute perceptiveness, with fearlessness and bluntness. Fundamentally, it is being wise, but not holding to particular doctrines or disciplines or formats. There aren’t any books to follow. Rather, there is endless spontaneity taking place.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

From inner disturbance, comes outer disturbance. From inner peace, comes outer peace. All of the hate and love in this world has come from within. Until inner peace is practiced by all, there will be no end to the fighting.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Becoming liberated from samsara is an inner journey. You can travel across the world and universe, and you will not find a way out. To get out, you must go in.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

If you can view gold and dirt with equanimity and see them as equal, That is a sign of having realized the illusory nature of transient things.

~ Nyala Pema Dundul

The pathless path is the path always under our feet. And since that path is always beneath us, if we miss it, how stupid!

~ Longchenpa

Of all the fighting in the world, ignorance is the most dangerous enemy, and anger is the most lethal weapon.

Only the warrior of wisdom who holds the spear of compassion can defeat them.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

We always have a choice: we can limit our perception so that we close off vastness, or we can allow vastness to touch us. ~Chögyam Trungpa

There is a well-known saying which declares, “lt is difficult for one who is clever and learned in worldly wisdom to encounter the Buddha dharma.”

This is a problem for many people who are practicing Zen nowadays. Such persons try to come to an understanding through conceptual thinking alone. They insist that reality according to the way they think it should exist. However, such worldly wisdom only screens the truth. Through scheming and speculating, it just gives rise to mere cleverness. Without being able to free yourself from such intellectual thinking, it will be extremely hard to encounter the true Buddha dharma. For this reason, those who only practice intellectual Zen are unable to make any progress.

Even when sitting in meditation, they are still burdened with all their concepts. They project all of their clever ideas in front of them and only succeed in obstructing themselves.

You must reject all concepts at once! Only then can you smoothly enter into and progress with your practice. Just as clouds in the sky obscure the brightness of the sun, so do conceptions prevent the bright light of your original nature from shining forth.

– Zen master Kusan Sunim

Crazy Wisdom

Below is Dorje Trolo, a crazy wisdom manifestation of Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche. In this one of eight emanations, he is terrifying and wrathful in order to bring local deities and guardians under his control.

My teacher the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche was also a crazy wisdom guru, in fact the Trungpa lineage was known for possessing that activity. I was present at a number of crazy wisdom happenings with my teacher, so I know it exists and how it feels.

On one occasion my teacher stopped breathing while giving a talk and being a physician I went to his aid in front of 3 hundred students. What I experienced helping him was invaluable to me , and everybody involved entered enlightened mind as the event progressed, whether they knew it or not. Accidents happen to be one of the ways we can have our mind turn to the enlightened state, and watching one’s guru begin to die definitely fulfills that criterion.

Crazy Wisdom is actually not the way the wisdom works. More accurately, it is wisdom crazy, wisdom so great that to an unenlightened person it appears crazy. When experienced, there is no sense that the guru has planned it , which is very strange when seen, as would be expected from crazy wisdom. The event happens spontaneously. It is quite eerie when something that brings so much benefit just happens. One wonders how could that be, but that’s how it seems?

Crazy wisdom has two main components. One must be fully involved, with total interest in the world, so that one is simply an aspect of what is happening and not standing outside of it trying to manipulate what transpires. The other component is complete fearlessness. And this is why I don’t think there are many crazy wisdom gurus around. The level of fearlessness required to enact that level of wisdom is astonishing. Death meant nothing to my teacher and he did many things that proved it.

Padmasambhava shows his total fearlessness by riding on a pregnant tigress. Being pregnant she is very hungry, so any mistake riding her could be costly. This danger in crazy wisdom is also an aspect of the Vajrayana in general. In that yana we begin to use the energies of anger, fear, pride , jealousy, whatever arises, to benefit others. If for a moment we slip into ego centric activities,the energies instead of being seen as empty, hit our ego and overwhelm us. It’s something like riding a pregnant tigress.

….

We may shout, ‘Let there be peace!’ but this won’t really bring peace. Peace will appear in the world around us only when each individual learns to tame the disturbances arising within his or her own mind.

~ Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Never give up. It is the difficult circumstances that can make a great practitioner.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

…

If we continue to meditate on the Buddhist path we will eventually have all kinds of experiences that we may never have had before, such as bliss, clarity, nonconceptuality, and clairvoyance. But we must understand that they are only a byproduct of our meditation, and that they are not the ultimate goal. If we become attached to these experiences they will only distract us from the path and we will not progress towards Buddhahood.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Unborn, yet continuing without interruption,

neither coming nor going, omnipresent,

Supreme Dharma,

unchangeable space, without definition,

spontaneously self-liberating–

perfectly unobstructed state–

manifest from the very beginning,

self-created, without location,

with nothing negative to reject,

and nothing positive to accept,

infinite expanse, penetrating everywhere,

immense, and without limits, without ties,

with nothing even to dissolve

or to be liberated from,

manifest beyond space and time,

existing from the beginning,

immense ying inner space,

radiant through clarity

like the Sun and the Moon,

self-perfected,

indestructible like a Vajra,

stable as a mountain,

pure as a lotus,

strong as a lion,

incomparable pleasure beyond all limits,

illumination, equanimity,

peak of the Dharma,

light of the [U]niverse,

perfect from the beginning. – Song of the Vajra

Although mind is clear, one needs a lama; Although a lamp burns brightly, it still needs oil; Although mind is self-evident, it needs recognition.

That is the teaching on the three needs.

Drugpa Kunleg

When starting out on the path to buddhahood you need a great amount of courage to go in a different direction from this world’s materialistic culture, particularly if that is all that your family and friends are engaging in.

You must ask yourself what is more important: The duration of a short materialistic life that will end in death, or the infinite continuum of your mind?

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

All of the teachings of Buddha are of one taste, one way – all leading to the truth, all arriving at the truth. Although there are different vehicles, they neither contradict each other, nor reject the basis of each other. The things that are fully made clear in the lower vehicles are neither changed nor rejected by the higher vehicles, but accepted as they are. The points that are not made completely clear in the lower vehicles are made clear in the higher vehicles, but the basic structure is not changed, and none of the points that are already clear are contradicted. Therefore, different vehicles and traditions do not go in different directions, and they do not arrive at different conclusions.

~ Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo

Two truths ~ Nagarjuna https://justdharma.com/s/rviy7

The Buddha’s teaching of the Dharma is based on two truths: a truth of worldly convention and an ultimate truth.

Those who do not understand the distinction drawn between these two truths do not understand the Buddha’s profound truth.

Without a foundation in the conventional truth the significance of the ultimate cannot be taught. Without understanding the significance of the ultimate, liberation is not achieved.

– Nagarjuna

Mūlamadhyamakakārika 24:8-10

from the book “The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika” ISBN: 978-0195093360 – https://amzn.to/1i0JqLZ

There is no difference between buddhas and sentient beings other than their scope of mind. What is called mind, consciousness, or awareness, is of a single identity. The mind of a sentient being is limited. The mind of a buddha is all-pervasive. So develop a scope of mind that is like the sky, which has no limit to the east, west, north, or south.

~ Shri Singha

True compassion is utterly neutral and is moved by suffering of every sort; not tied to right and wrong, attachment and aversion.

~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

Note that all dualistic concepts and emotions – even positive ones such as caring, compassion, and wishing others well – are accompanied by grasping at ‘self’. So although positive emotions are good, they still fall short of perfection, which is the primordial wisdom beyond dualistic thinking and emotional sensations.

Grasping at positive qualities is nonetheless a stepping-stone to perfection, helping us eventually to loosen the grip of grasping at ‘self’ and to experience sensations of peace and joy. So transforming from negative to positive, and then from positive to perfection, is the ideal way to move towards the full perfection of buddhahood.

~ Tulku Thondup

Where is the best place?

Not clinging to a place or location is the best place.

~ Machig Labdron

Through meditation practice, we discover a sense of clarity, unconditional clarity. Such clarity is ostentatious and has immense brilliance. It is very joyful, and it has potentialities of everything.

It is a real experience.

Once we have experienced this brilliance, this far-seeing, ostentatious, colorful, opulent quality of clarity, then there is no problem.

It is indestructible.

Because of its opulence and its richness, it radiates constantly, and immense unconditional appreciation takes place.

From the book “Journey Without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha”

Just as light destroys darkness, Generosity destroys miserliness, Discipline destroys harmfulness. Patience destroys intolerance, Perseverance destroys laziness, Concentration destroys distraction, Wisdom destroys ignorance.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

‘IT WOULD BE interesting to examine this subject in terms of what is not a sense of humor. Lack of humor seems to come from the attitude of the “hard fact.” Things are very hard and deadly honest, deadly serious, like, to use an analogy, a living corpse. He lives in pain, has a continual expression of pain on his face. He has experienced some kind of hard fact—“reality”—he is deadly serious and has gone so far as to become a living corpse. The rigidity of this living corpse expresses the opposite of a sense of humor. It is as though somebody is standing behind you with a sharp sword. If you are not meditating properly, sitting still and upright, there will be someone behind you just about to strike. Or if you are not dealing with life properly, honestly, directly, someone is just about to hit you. This is the self-consciousness of watching yourself, observing yourself unnecessarily. Whatever we do is constantly being watched and censored. Actually it is not Big Brother who is watching; it is Big Me! Another aspect of me is watching me, behind me, just about to strike, just about to pinpoint my failure. There is no joy in this approach, no sense of humor at all.’ .

Chögyam Trungpa Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

“The fundamental characteristic of true compassion is pure and fearless openness without territorial limitations. There is no need to be loving and kind to one’s neighbors, no need to speak pleasantly to people and put on a pretty smile. This little game does not apply. In fact it is embarrassing. Real openness exists on a much larger scale, a revolutionarily large and open scale, a universal scale. Compassion means for you to be as adult as you are, while still maintaining a childlike quality. In the Buddhist teachings the symbol for compassion, as I have already said, is one moon shining in the sky while its image is reflected in one hundred bowls of water. The moon does not demand, “If you open to me, I will do you a favor and shine on you.” The moon just shines. The point is not to want to benefit anyone or make them happy. There is no audience involved, no “me” and “them.” It is a matter of an open gift, complete generosity without the relative notions of giving and receiving. That is the basic openness of compassion: opening without demand. Simply be what you are. Be the master of the situation. If you will just “be,” then life flows around and through you. This will lead you into working and communicating with someone, which of course demands tremendous warmth and openness.” — Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

“The obstacles and deviations of spiritual vehicles include views, meditations, initiations, mandalas, samayas, behaviors, paths, levels, wisdoms, sacred activities and goals. It is impossible for practitioners to get familiar with Natural Presence while conditioned by and attached to these obstacles and deviations.” –Jim Valby, Five Principles of rDzogs chen Transmission

Our mind is spinning around, About carrying out a lot of useless projects. It’s a waste! Give it up! Thinking about the hundred plans you want to accomplish, With never enough time to finish them, Just weighs down your mind. You are completely distracted, By all of these projects, which never come to an end, But keep spreading out more, like ripples in water. Don’t be a fool. For once, just sit tight.

~ Patrul Rinpoche

Among Tibetans there is a saying that a person who thinks he is better or above others because he is wiser, more capable, more knowledgeable or learned is like someone sitting on the highest peak of the highest mountain. And what is it like on the peak of that mountain? It is very cold there. It’s very hard. It’s very lonely and nothing grows there. On the other hand, the person who cultivates humility and puts himself in a lower position is said to enjoy living on the fertile land of the plains.

~ Khandro Rinpoche

If your intention is not clear, if you aren’t really weary of samsara, then going on retreat is just another game. Even if you stayed for your whole life, you would just be wasting time and you would not learn anything. Many animals spend their lives in caves or in the ground like groundhogs, just eating and shitting without practicing Dharma. The Buddha said that people who go on retreat without first understanding real Dharma have the solitude of a demon’s hook. The same is true for those who understand Dharma but have no intention of benefiting sentient beings, just wanting to go from samsara’s suffering to samsara’s vacation. When people who have spent time in solitude without understanding come out of retreat, only hair, beards, and fingernails are longer; otherwise, everything is the same. When they come out, they have more ego than before and they boast about their accomplishments with saintly pride or siddha arrogance.

— Thinley Norbu, from “Gypsy Gossip and Other Advice”

(The Nature of Mind)

No words can describe it No example can point to it Samsara does not make it worse Nirvana does not make it better It has never been born It has never ceased It has never been liberated It has never been deluded It has never existed It has never been nonexistent It has no limits at all It does not fall into any kind of category.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

Since you have immense richness in you already, you don’t have to ask for somebody’s pardon or somebody’s loan. Organizationally we do, but spiritually we don’t have to. The notion of feast, or celebration, is very difficult to understand. Should we just try to cheer ourselves up, because there is a lot of richness taking place around us? Not quite. That’s still a poverty approach; there’s no individual personal dignity involved. Whenever there’s personal and individual dignity, asking seems to be unnecessary—you just take advantage of that richness. That is what’s known as “vajra pride.” Poverty mentality means experiencing the lack of something or other, then trying to get it from somewhere else. But we don’t have to experience that lack—we could actually experience a sense of richness. – Chögyam Trungpa, Glimpses of Realization

Changing habits is like a straightening out of a tightly rolled scrap of paper. You unfold the paper and straighten it out, but if you let go of it even briefly, it rolls right back up by itself.

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Those who do you harm are teachers, challenging your attachment and aversion.

~ Jigme Lingpa

“When you are fully gentle, without arrogance and without aggression, you see the brilliance of the universe.” — Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Ultimately, happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by them.

~ Mingyur Rinpoche

THE PLAYFUL MAIDEN

The playful maiden is all-present. She loves you. She hates you. Without her your life would be continual boredom. But she continually plays tricks on you. When you want to get rid of her she clings. To get rid of her is to get rid of your own body—she is that close. In tantric literature this is referred to as the dakini principle. The dakini is playful. She gambles with your life.

Vajrayogini is one of the main dakinis. She is a sow-headed goddess who is prominent in the tantric iconography and mandala practice. She is the consort of the herukas (the Sambhogakaya Buddhas). She represents the essence of tantric practice because she is the channel as well as the activator. She is the living force, the life-thread of the world. She abruptly instigates situations of chaos or joy. Her sow’s head represents ignorance as an adornment. She drinks the hot blood of passion and the intoxicating liquor of confusion. She creates pestilence, war, and famine.

The Sanskrit word lalita, “dance of maya,” describes feminine inspiration. The female gives birth to a child or a lion cub—an offspring of whatever species—cherishes it, nurses it, encourages it to play games using hands or claws or teeth, until her offspring begins to discriminate. In other words, it no longer mistakes shit for food, this for that. This is an extremely powerful educational process. It can only develop in the environment of feminine inspiration. — Chögyam Trungpa, Milarepa: Lessons from the Life and Songs of Tibet’s Great Yogi

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.”

~ Ram Dass

When you have subdued an opponent, A thousand more are still to be overcome. Instead, crush your disturbing emotions, Which are the enemies dwelling in your mind.

~ Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorje

You don’t have to do anything with your mind, Just let it naturally rest in it’s essential nature.

Your own mind, unagitated, is reality.

Meditate on this without distraction.

Know the Truth beyond all opposites.

Thoughts are like bubbles that form and dissolve in clear water.

Thoughts are not distinct from the absolute Reality, so relax, there is no need to be critical.

Whatever arises, whatever occurs, simply don’t cling to it, but immediately let it go.

What you see, hear, and touch are your own mind.

There is nothing but mind.

Mind transcends birth and death.

The essence of mind is pure

Consciousness that never leaves reality, even though it experiences the things of the senses.

In the equanimity of the Absolute, there is nothing to renounce or attain.

~ Niguma

Buddhism does not give you anything. Buddhism just shows you how to uncover what you already have.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

We often think the only way to create happiness is to try to control the outer circumstances of our lives, to try to fix what seems wrong or to get rid of everything that bothers us. But the real problem lies in our reaction to those circumstances. What we have to change is the mind and the way it experiences reality.

~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

In the universal womb that is boundless space, All forms of matter and energy occur, As flux of the four elements. But all are empty forms, lacking inherent existence.

~ Longchenpa

For the warrior, this experience of sad and tender heart is what gives birth to fearlessness ~ Chogyam Trungpa

TAMING YOUR MIND

There are six observations to make in order to tame your mind:

If you assume that sense objects truly exist, observe the changing of the four seasons.

If you assume that your life is permanent, observe the dew on a blade of grass.

If you are ignorant of cause and effect, observe how seeds sprout into seedlings.

If you don’t understand that what you perceive derives from mind, observe the dreams you have while asleep.

If you don’t understand the single taste of everything, consider a piece of sugarcane.

If you don’t understand nonduality, compare water and ice.

Each of these observations effectively remedies a particular problem.

~ The Venerable Longchenpa

It can happen that a phrase intended to indicate a state beyond concepts just ends up becoming another concept.

In the same way that if you ask a person their name, and they say that they do not have a name, you will then perhaps mistakenly call them, “No name“.

~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

True success is not measured by the amount of money that you have made. It is measured by the amount of wisdom and compassion that you have cultivated.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

it’s not the appearance that binds you, it’s the attachment to the appearance that binds you. – Tilopa

There is no better sign of accomplishment than a disciplined mind. This is true victory for the real warrior who carries no weapons.

~ Chatral Rinpoche

This primordial ground is present in the mindstreams of all sentient beings, but it is tightly constricted by dualistic grasping; and it is regarded as external, firm, and solid. This is like water in its natural, fluid state freezing in a cold wind. It is due to dualistic grasping onto subjects and objects that the ground, which is naturally free, becomes frozen into the appearances of things.

~ Dudjom Lingpa (1835 – 1904)

Confess your hidden faults. Approach what you find repulsive. Help those you think you cannot help. Anything you are attached to, let it go. Go to the places that scare you.

~ Padampa Sangye

(These five teachings are often attributed to Machig Labdron, but it was her teacher, Padampa Sangye, who gave them to her.)

If you do not have the clairvoyance to see your past and future lives, you can still get a feeling of what they could be, by understanding how karma works, and observing what is happening right now.

As Padmasambhava said, “If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.”

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

‘The bodhisattva vow acknowledges confusion and chaos—aggression, passion, frustration, frivolousness—as part of the path. The path is like a busy, broad highway, complete with roadblocks, accidents, construction work, and police. It is quite terrifying. Nevertheless it is majestic, it is the great path. “From today onward until the attainment of enlightenment I am willing to live with my chaos and confusion as well as with that of all other sentient beings. I am willing to share our mutual confusion.” So no one is playing a one-upmanship game. The bodhisattva is a very humble pilgrim who works in the soil of samsara to dig out the jewel embedded in it.’ .

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche The Myth of Freedom

Insults are illusion.

Praise is illusion.

The wise are not moved by either.

Those under the trance of Mara are like the ocean tides moving to moon phases.

The stars and planets with their alignments, hold sway over the emotions and minds of men.

They are bound by desire.

They are bound by lust.

They are influenced by greed and hatred.

Those who meditate and abide in Dharma are not bound by the fetters of heavenly bodies.

They have crossed the shore after a raging storm.

They have cut through deception and been released from doctrines.

Fear has left, no longer to trouble them.

#ngakpainbc

“Deixa o que aparece aparecer e os conceitos desaparecer”

~ Tilopa, Mahamudra do Ganges

☀️~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche ☀️

THE MAJESTY OF THE WORLD IS ALWAYS THERE

Look at the sun. The sun is shining. Nobody polishes the sun. The sun just shines. Look at the moon, the sky, the world at its best. Unfortunately, we human beings try to fit everything into conditionality. We try to make something out of nothing. We have messed everything up. That’s our problem.

We have to go back to the sun and the moon, to dragons, tigers, lions, garudas (mythical birds).

We can be like the blue sky, sweethearts, and the clouds so clean, so beautiful. We don’t have to try too hard to find ourselves. We haven’t really lost anything; we just have to tune in. The majesty of the world is always there.

From the book : “Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala”

Some people spend all their energy, and even risk their lives to achieve fame. Fame and notoriety are both no more than an empty echo. Your reputation is an alluring mirage that can easily lead you astray. Discard it without a second thought, like the snot you blow from your nose.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself, while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters. Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly practices the dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead, be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may arise.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

Focusing on all sentient beings, practice the four boundless qualities: love, which is the wish that they be happy; compassion, the wish that they be free from suffering; sympathetic joy, which is to feel happy when they are happy; and impartiality, which is to treat them impartially as equals, without attachment or aversion.

~ Kangyur Rinpoche

From your birth to your death you will experience constant change. Family, friends, jobs, homes, cultures, politics, possessions, youth, and health are as fleeting as clouds in the sky. Nothing is certain, nothing lasts.

Not only do you not know your next rebirth, but wherever and whoever you will be, you will again experience constant change. There is never an end to uncertainty within samsara.

You now hold a key that can unlock the door to liberation. But you should know that the only way to turn that key is through practice. Do not throw it away.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

To be a hermit doesn’t just mean to live in the deep forest. It means that one’s mind is free from dualistic constructs.

~ Guru Rinpoche

Fear is a hallmark of your progress on the path – Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa ~ You may step in some dog shit on the pavement, and suddenly you have no idea … The practice of meditation is designed not to develop pleasure but to understand the truth of suffering; and in order to understand the truth of suffering, one also has to understand … When true awareness takes place, suffering does not exist. ~ The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma

During this degenerate age in the outer world, there are many natural disasters due to the upsetting of the four elements. Also, demonic forces come with their many weapons to incite the fighting of wars. All of those forces have caused the world to come to ruin and led all to tremble – so terrified that their hair stands up on end. Still, the demonic forces find it necessary to come up with new types of weapons. If we were called on to confront them, there is no way we Dharma practitioners could defeat them. That is why we make supplication prayers to the three jewels, do the aspiration prayers, the offering prayers and the prayers of invocation. We are responsible for those activities. This is what I urge you to do.

~ Chatral Rinpoche

I see nothing to fear in inner space.

~ Yeshe Tsogyal

The genuine warrior becomes truly gentle because there is no enemy at all ~ Chögyam Trungpa

The biggest threat to the environment is not humans. The biggest threat is greed.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

When desire or anger arise, the weakest practitioners immediately blame the outside world, and never practice. While the strongest practitioners immediately look inside, and always practice.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Poverty is often measured by the lack of food, clothing, and shelter. But the greatest poverty is the lack of happiness.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

You don’t lose anything by sharing. Strength grows by giving it away.

~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Of course you must study the dharma to know exactly what you have to do, but you must also understand that an inch of practice can sometimes be worth a mile of theory.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

🌺~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 🌺

THE CREATION OF SPACE

Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.

There are signs of accomplishment, such as having good health and long life or becoming famous and influential, but these belong to the superficial type of accomplishment. The true, unmistaken signs of accomplishment as established by the masters of the lineage, are to possess compassion, devotion and an acute sense of impermanence.

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Peace will only prevail if it is born within the mind.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche

Samsara is not regarded as a nuisance alone, but it has its own potent message that is worthy of respect ~ Chogyam Trungpa

In the name of the eternal Dharma and all Buddhas

Let this message reach to every being of the entire Creation!

~

I am SAMANTADARSIN, the ultimate and last Buddha.

Love, Respect and Protect the Woman!

~

The purpose and role of awakening and enlightenment is now fulfilled here, in the Saha world as well.

To the benefit of all beings,

I, Samantadarsin, recognized and understood that the casue and source of all

Beauty, wisdom, pleasure and happiness is Sakti, the Woman, the admirable and wise Great Mother.

Vajra Buddhas in the Buddha lands are not red, blue, green or yellow only by themselves:

The reason for all colors and joy is to love and honor the Mother so that she can bring life, joy, playfulness and prosperity from Herself.

When the Father turns away from Her,

Just to have delight in himself and to build Buddha matrices in His own imagination,

The Mandala of total Creation begins to disintegrate and decay because the Mother is unable to grow, nurture, and maintain the Mandala due to the lack of love.

This will eventually lead to the decomposition and dissolution of the Mother, and the Father will eventually be left alone, without joy, colors and life, all color will disappear from the Buddha matrices, no more samadhi-joy will be experienced, only the infinite loneliness and a sad white empty light.

All Buddhas must understand this now, that the Mandala cannot be repaired forever by producing new angry protector Buddhas and maintainers.

If the Woman suffers because she is not loved, everything will eventually disappear.

Therefore, I, Samantadarsin,

By all my power and merit, want that,

There must be no more Buddha-lands where there are no Women,

But to merge the whole Buddha-matrix with the whole Mandala, the body of the Mother,

And there

All Buddhas should find themselves in their Female counterparts, not just by imagined her in their minds,

But, on an experiential level, give yourself and everything to the Woman,

Love her, and protect, nourish and adore with all your heart and your whole being,

To help the Great Mandala grow and expand forever, without any error and deficiency, to infinity!

All Buddas should make this same offering,

As I Samantadarsin made it, to offer their whole being, completely to the Mother, and love her with full heart, in an experiantial level.

Let this message reach all Buddhas in the Infinite Buddha Matrix right now

And let this ultimate realization and understanding kept and remembered forever!

I am Samantadarsin, the Omnipresent.

Non-meditation is when, having entered the womb of the natural state, the desire to meditate or not to meditate is purified, and there are no fabrications or fixations whatsoever in the mind.

~ Jigme Lingpa

Enlightenment is nothing other than the state beyond all obstacles, in the same way that from the peak of a very high mountain one always sees the sun. Enlightenment is not a paradise or some special place of happiness, but it is in fact the condition beyond all dualistic concepts, including those of happiness and suffering.

When all our obstacles have been overcome, and we find ourselves in a state of total presence, the wisdom of enlightenment manifests spontaneously without limits, just like the infinite rays of the sun. The clouds have dissolved, and the sun is finally free to shine once again.

~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Intertwined are the natures of emptiness and compassion

Indivisible, unceasing, emptiness exists.

I see the empty dakini,

Milking, milking, and drinking the sky.

She churns the sky in sky unseen,

Upon the earth, bound by samsara she does not dwell.

I see the empty dakini

Milking, milking, and drinking the sky.

A dakini such as she wanders from home, from the root;

Stainless is the magnificent taste of compassion.

I see the empty dakini,

Milking, milking, and drinking the sky.

Why should anyone else do what Saraha says?

Day and night he walks to drink the sky.

I see the empty dakini,

Milking, milking, and drinking the sky.

Saraha’s Song is complete.

Empty minds, empty bodies, empty emotions, but not nothingness. The waves that surface in the form of emotions, desires, and aversions are also empty, and their force is also empty. Yet the empty force of the empty wave has the empty power to knock over a mind that is also essentially empty but does not know it, and is stuffed with ideas. But if we do not create a story around the wave, then we have empty water dissolving into the empty ocean, like water being poured into water. No problem. Emotions themselves are not the problem. It’s how we relate to them.

~ Mingyur Rinpoche

Mindfulness should guide all your actions and your spiritual endeavors. Whatever you do, always apply three essential points:

Undertake the action with the intention of doing so for the benefit of all beings. Execute it with perfect concentration, free of attachment to concepts of subject, object, and action. And, finally, dedicate the merit you have created to the enlightenment of all beings.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Those who are content to have nothing, will feel like they have everything.

But those who want to have everything, will feel like they have nothing.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Art becomes the real practice of awareness ~ Chogyam Trungpa

Love includes accepting others and being noble, reasonable, openhearted, resourceful, and free of possessiveness. With love, you are totally gentle, utterly kind, thorough, wise, fearless, and willing to commit yourself to any situation. You are warrior like, industrious, tireless, and never take time off for yourself. I think that covers the Buddhist version of the word love. ― Chögyam Trungpa, The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Two

Our buddha heart contains certain qualities, which we could call our true buddha genes. We all possess these particular buddha genes. Isn’t it strange to say that the mind has genes? But it turns out to be true. These buddha genes have two characteristics: They are able to see through and not be afraid of the reality of the phenomenal world. Second, these genes also contain gentleness; they are ever so loving, which goes beyond just being kind. They are extremely tender and absolutely free from any form of aggression. They are so soft and kind.

– Chögyam Trungpa

Vision is mind.

Mind is empty.

Emptiness is clear light.

Clear light is union.

Union is great bliss.

“In the state of aggression, you are constantly trying to fight with someone else. Your mind is so occupied with your opponent that you are continuously defensive, trying to defend yourself in the fear that something will happen to you. Therefore, you are not able to see a positive alternative, that one could actually deal effectively with problems. Instead, your mind is clouded, and you do not have the clarity of mind to deal with situations. So you see, the ability to respond and act appropriately in situations has nothing to do with cranking up aggression. On the other hand, it is not particularly based on the pacifist idea of not fighting at all. We have to try to find a middle ground, where one engages the energy fully but without any aggression. The real way of the warrior is not to become aggressive and not to act against or be hostile to other people. — Chögyam Trungpa, “From “The Martial Arts and the Art of War” in The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Volume Eight

Every moment of your life provides an opportunity to practice, no matter where you are, or what is happening. Do not keep practice just something that is done in a dharma centre, or in front of a shrine, or on your meditation seat. But also let the whole world and all that you encounter within it become the training ground for your mind. The more that you do this, the faster you will move on the path to buddhahood, and the happier you will become on the way.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Some people think that victory is the only sign of strength, and that fame and fortune is the greatest prize. But the strongest people of all are those who are able to lose while rejoicing in the victory of others. Only they can experience inner peace and happiness, no matter what happens, and that is the greatest prize of all.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Do you always follow the opposite of Dzogchen precepts ?!

The Ten Absences

1. There is no view on which one has to meditate.

2. There is no commitment, or samaya, one has to keep.

3. There is no capacity for spiritual action one has to seek.

4. There is no mandala one has to create.

5. There is no initiation one has to receive.

6. There is no path one has to tread.

7. There are no levels of realization (bhumis) one has to achieve through purification

8. There is no conduct one has to adopt, or abandon

9. From the beginning, self-arising wisdom has been free of obstacles

10. Self-perfection is beyond hope or fear.

(“The Supreme Source,” Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, pp. 67-68.)”

Emptiness and luminosity are not two separate things, but rather the nature of emptiness is luminosity, and the nature of luminosity is emptiness. This indivisible emptiness-luminosity, the naked mind, free of everything, dwells in the uncreated state.

~ Guru Rinpoche

There are seven dangers you should watch:

• Falling into the blissful Hinayana peace;
• Using your Buddhist knowledge to get food;
• Inflating yourself with pride of priesthood;
• Falling into Yogic-Madness;
• Indulging in Empty Speeches;
• Falling into the Trap of Nothingness.

Thus, ignorance is the cause of fallacies and dangers.

~ Song of Dangers and Fallacies by Jetsun Milarepa རྗེ་བཙུན་མི་ལ་རས་པ  ( The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa )

Even though emptiness is hard to grasp, it is also “knowing one that frees all.”

“Knowing one,” meaning once your wisdom-door is wide open, you are able to open hundreds of other doors, every single other door.

Please pay special attention to this key point of knowing one that liberates everything!

~ Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche

“In art, the basic sense of delight and spontaneity in a person who has opened fully and thoroughly to themselves and to life can provide wonderful rainbows and thundershowers and gusts of wind. We don’t have to be tied down to the greasy-spoon world of well-meaning artists with their heavy-handed looks on their faces and overfed information in their brains. The basic idea of dharma art is the sense of peace and the refreshing coolness of the absence of neurosis.” .

Chögyam Trungpa “Joining Heaven and Earth,” in True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art

No matter where you stay, be it a busy place or a solitary retreat, the only things that you need to conquer are your mind’s five poisons, and your own true enemies, the eight worldly concerns – nothing else.

~ Chatral Rinpoche

(Five poisons: Ignorance, attachment, aversion, pride, jealousy.)

(Eight worldy concerns: Hope for happiness and fear of suffering. Hope for fame and fear of insignificance. Hope for praise and fear of blame. Hope for gain and fear of loss.)

‘You need to develop a state of mind that is cutting through fundamental spiritual materialism. Beyond this, there is nothing to cut through. … At the same time, we see that destroying spiritual materialism is itself a form of spiritual materialism — and destroying that destroying is spiritual materialism as well. Finally we begin to see that even the idea of cutting through becomes questionable.’ .

Chogyam Trungpa Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

“The innate purity that is the nature of mind… exists within, so do not look elsewhere.”

~ Virupa

“You cannot have complete devotion without surrendering your heart.  Otherwise, the whole thing becomes a business deal.  As long as you have any understanding of wakefulness, any understanding of the sitting practice of meditation, you always carry your vajra master with you, wherever you go.  You have the vajra master with you all along.  That is why we talk about the mahamudra level of all-pervasive awareness.  With such awareness, everything that goes on is the vajra master.  So if your vajra master is far away, there is really no reason for sadness– although some sadness can be useful, because it brings you back from arrogance.

As an example, I am far away from my master, Jamgon Kongtrul of Shechen, right now.  He is not here.  That situation seems to be very basic and ordinary.  At the same time, that absence becomes presence all the time.  I do not particularly miss my vajra master, but I long for him quite a lot.  Actually, what I long for is to be able to introduce my students to him so that he could see how great they are doing.  That is the only thing.  I wish he were right here so that I could introduce my students to him, show him their faces, show him how their discipline is coming along, and let him know that everything is fine.  I wish I could show him that.  Apart from that, it seems to be very much the case that the presence of my teacher is right here, right now.  Otherwise, I would not be teaching.”

Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa RInpoche

If the meditator is able to use whatever occurs in his life as the path, his body becomes a retreat hut.

~ Jigme Lingpa

~Chögyam Trungpa THE UTTERLY VISIONARY QUALITY OF LOVE Love is very noble, elegant, beautiful, resourceful and utterly visionary. Being utterly visionary has a touch of humor and a lot of fearlessness. It is the foundation of mahayana. You are willing to jump in, and you are entirely free from panic. You have long-lasting vision and effort. Bodhisattvas, mahayana practitioners committed to helping others, are known as warriors because they are visionary. They are not confused, and they do not shy away from others.

from the book “The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Two”

Primordial emptiness is free from change, and it is the nature of awareness.

Bless me so that I may recognize this view, my very own nature.

~ Trulshik Rinpoche

Freedom is timeless. Freedom is constantly present.

~ Longchenpa

There is no such thing as a bad mind. There is only a mind that is untrained, or trained. Every being has the same potential, including you.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Chogyam Trungpa ~ DECEPTION

Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to as spiritual materialism.

True teachers who do not deceive on the supreme path, are like great ships that rescue beings from the ocean of existence. They are like rain of nectar that covers the flames of karma and defilements. And they are like the sun and moon that dispels the darkness of ignorance.

~ Jigme Lingpa

🌺~LONGCHENPA 🌺

Since things neither exist nor don’t exist, are neither real nor unreal, are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting – one might as well burst out laughing.

The secret mandala consists of simplifying our psychological behavior, our meditative behavior, into a sense of awareness and openness in which we have no hesitation, none whatsoever, in dealing with our emotions. In the secret mandala emotions are all interwoven and interconnected. Passion is connected with aggression, aggression is connected with ignorance, ignorance is connected with envy or jealousy, and so forth. There is a continuous web taking place that is quite obvious and real. Therefore a person at the tantric level should not regard any one emotion as a big deal, but all emotions are a big deal. All the emotions that exist in a person’s mind are the same problem or the same promise, for that matter. They contain the seed of freedom, or liberation, and as well, the seed of imprisonment.

In the secret mandala we work with all our hidden corners, any little areas of irritation. In fact, those things that we regard as little problems may actually be our biggest problems. Those problems are completely interrelated, which is the notion of mandala here. There is a sense of continuity in our emotions and a sense of openness at the same time. For instance, we lose our temper, we become outraged, we are about to strangle our partner, and in fact we begin to do that itself is a mandala display. We feel angry, we feel passionate, we feel jealous, and we feel ignorant- all those things are happening at once. That is a real experience. There is no “how to do it”; we did it already. That is our chance. In fact, that is our golden opportunity. We have manifested the secret mandala already. On the other hand, we usually do not acknowledge or experience our emotions properly.

When we need release we might make love; when we need release we might kill someone. That is not quite the proper way to approach our emotions. Exploding on the spot is not the way to express emotions directly. Emotions are sacred; they should be regarded as real and obvious things that can teach us something. We should relate with them properly, without “getting off” on something or other. We might say, ‘Tm bored. Let’s go to the movies.” That is not quite the way to deal with our boredom. The tantric approach to emotions is much more disciplined and much more personal. It is highly personal; that is why this mandala is called the sacred mandala. It is very difficult to achieve, but it is also very important and extremely sacred. Normally, no one is able to achieve such perfection, or even to conceive of such a possibility. So we should respect the sacredness of the secret mandala. ― Chögyam Trungpa, Journey Without Goal

We might wonder why the vajrayana is kept secret at all. What is this famous tantric secret? The secret is not particularly exotic. It is not anything special. It simply refers to what we discover when we begin to play with the cosmos, the energy of the universe. As children we know that if we touch a naked wire we get a shock; we learn that by playing with our world. If we speed in our motor car we will crash. We know that much. Here we are talking about the spiritual equivalent of that knowledge, which is a hundred times worse or a hundred times more powerful, depending upon how we would like to put it. We are talking about the energy that exists in the world. We first have a glimpse of that energy, we get completely fascinated by it, and then we begin to play with it. We are asking for trouble, as any sensible person would tell us.

This warning has been given hundreds of times: “Don’t get into tantra just like that. Start with hinayana, graduate to mahayana, and then you can become a tantric practitioner. If you have already done your homework and finished your basic training, then you can become a tantric practitioner. But even then, it is still dangerous.” That has been said many hundreds of times. Every book written on tantra, every commentary, every tantric text that has been recorded in the history of the cosmos, begins with that warning: “Be careful; think twice; pay respect; don’t just take this carelessly-be careful.” ― Chögyam Trungpa, Journey Without Goal

One who sees the Dharma sees me.

One who sees me sees the Dharma.

O wise men, just as a goldsmith would test his gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it, so must you examine my words and accept them, not merely out of reverence for me.

My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience…

My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship.

My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river.

Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation.

If you were to follow the Dharma purely out of love for me or because you respect me, I would not accept you as disciple.

But if you follow the Dharma because you have yourself experienced its truth, because you understand and act accordingly – only under these conditions have you the right to call yourself a disciple.

~ Buddha

Expectation, comparison, and judgement are obstacles for compassion and meditation. Let them go.

~ Phakchok Rinpoche

With enough heat, ice will turn into water, and then water will turn into steam. Likewise, with the heat of practice, intellectually understanding the nature of reality will eventually turn into the direct experience of it. As long as you keep practicing, this is guaranteed.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Get out of the construction business! Stop building bridges across the raging waters of samsaric existence, attempting to reach the “far shore,” nirvana. Better to simply relax, at ease and carefree, in total naturalness, and just go with the primordial flow, however it occurs and happens. And remember this: whether or not you go with the flow, it always goes with you.

~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

What makes… a great warrior is that he has no opinions; he is simply aware ~ Chogyam Trungpa

We know that smoke indicates the presence of fire, but smoke is not the fire itself. But by following the smoke we can find the fire.

Likewise, it is important to understand that the view of reality (which is emptiness) is not the same as the actual experience of reality. But by following the view and becoming familiar with it, we will arrive at the actual direct experience of reality itself, free from any concepts or theories.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Don’t burden others with your expectations. Understanding their limitations can inspire compassion instead of disappointment, ensuring beneficial and workable relationships. Remember that you have only a short time together. Be grateful for each day you share.

~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

No matter how dangerous and destructive a hurricane can be, inside its centre there is the stillness.

Likewise, no matter what is happening in your life, no matter how much suffering it has caused you, there is great peace inside, waiting to be discovered.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

My native land is all lands, In no particular direction. My monastery is the solitary mountains, In no particular place. My family is all the beings of the six realms. My name is “Hermit Protected by the Three Jewels.”

~ Shabkar

If the warrior does not feel alone and sad, then he or she can be corrupted very easily. In fact, such a person may not be a warrior at all. To be a good warrior, one has to feel sad and lonely, but rich and resourceful at the same time. This makes the warrior sensitive to every aspect of phenomena: to sights, smells, sounds, and feelings. In that sense, the warrior is also an artist, appreciating whatever goes on in the world. Everything is extremely vivid. The rustling of your armor or the sound of rain drops falling on your coat is very loud. The fluttering of occasional butterflies around you is almost an insult, because you are so sensitive. ~~~ Chögyam Trungpa #trungpa

Conquering Fear,” The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa

Becoming liberated from samsara is an inner journey. You can travel across the world and universe, and you will not find a way out. To get out, you must go in.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Since all words are mental fabrications…may I remain silent as long as deemed necessary.

In silence I find refuge and healing.

The world is aflame with pointless banter.

May I remain silent until blessed words that heal come from my lips.

When I must speak, may my words be filled with wisdom, that cuts through illusion like a sword, with their meaning entering the hearts and minds of beings.

-Manjushri

Machig Labdron

Thanks to Rinchen Paldrön.

Wisdom from an Old Lady

“For ninety-nine years,

I have worked for the benefit of beings.

Now this work is almost complete.

I will not take birth again

in this human realm

in a physical form,

nor will I leave behind

any remains or relics.

But my emanations in the world

will be innumerable;

and many will recognize them.

They will be perceived in different ways,

depending on karma,

pure or impure.

In the same way, mind itself

has no support, has no object:

let it rest in its natural expanse

without any fabrication.

When the bonds (of negative thoughts)

are released,

you will be free, there is no doubt.

As when gazing into space,

all other visual objects disappear,

so it is for mind itself.

When mind is looking at mind,

all discursive thoughts cease and

enlightenment is attained.

As in the sky all clouds

disappear into sky itself:

wherever they go, they go nowhere,

wherever they are, they are nowhere.

This is the same for thoughts

in the mind:

when the mind looks at mind,

the waves of conceptual thought disappear.

This body of ours is impermanent,

like a feather on a high mountain pass.

This mind of ours is empty and

clear like the depth of space.

Relax in that natural state,

free of fabrication.

When mind is without any support,

that is mahamudra.

Becoming familiar with this,

blending your mind with it

— that is buddhahood.

Supreme view is beyond all duality

of subject and object.

Supreme meditation is without distraction.

Supreme activity is action without effort.

Supreme fruition is without hope and fear.

This old lady has no instructions

more profound than this to give you.”

Materialism

However industrious you may be,

There is no end to worldly activities;

But if you practice the Dharma

You will swiftly conclude everything.

However nice they may seem,

Worldly affairs always end in disaster;

But the fruits of practicing the Dharma

Will never deteriorate.

Since beginningless time you have collected and encouraged

Karma, negative emotions, and habitual tendencies,

Which force you to wander in samsara.

If you continue like that, when will liberation arrive?

If you only see all this at the moment of death,

It’s rather too late –

When the head’s already been severed,

What use is any medicine?

Recognizing the suffering of samsara,

Turn toward the peace of nirvana.

~ Padmasambhava

Materialism

In Trungpa Rinpoche’s presentation, spiritual materialism can fall into three categories — what he calls the three “Lords of Materialism” (Tibetan: lalo literally “barbarian”) — in which a form of materialism is misunderstood as bringing long term happiness but instead brings only short term entertainment followed by long term suffering:

1. Physical materialism is the belief that possessions can bring release from suffering. In Trungpa’s view, they may bring temporary happiness but then more suffering in the endless pursuit of creating one’s environment to be just right. Or on another level it may cause a misunderstanding like, “I am rich because I have this or that” or “I am a teacher (or whatever) because I have a diploma (or whatever).”

2. Psychological materialism is the belief that a particular philosophy, belief system, or point of view will bring release from suffering. So seeking refuge by strongly identifying with a particular religion, philosophy, political party or viewpoint, for example, would be psychological materialism.

From this the conventional usage of spiritual materialism arises, by identifying oneself as Buddhist or some other label, or by collecting initiations and spiritual accomplishments, one further constructs a solidified view of ego. Trungpa characterizes the goal of psychological materialism as using external concepts, pretexts, and ideas to prove that the ego-driven self exists, which manifests in a particular competitive attitude.

3. Spiritual materialism is the belief that a certain temporary state of mind is a refuge from suffering. An example would be using meditation practices to create a peaceful state of mind, or using drugs or alcohol to remain in a numbed out or a euphoric state.

According to Trungpa Rinpoche, these states are temporary and merely heighten the suffering when they cease. So attempting to maintain a particular emotional state of mind as a refuge from suffering, or constantly pursuing particular emotional states of mind like being in love, will actually lead to more long term suffering.

The underlying source of these three approaches to finding happiness is based, according to Trungpa, on the mistaken notion that one’s ego is inherently existent and a valid point of view. He claims that is incorrect, and therefore the materialistic approaches have an invalid basis to begin with.

The message in summary is, “Don’t try to reinforce your ego through material things, belief systems like religion, or certain emotional states of mind.” In his view, the point of religion is to show you that your ego doesn’t really exist inherently. Ego is something you build up to make you think you exist, but it is not necessary and in the long run causes more suffering.

However industrious you may be, there is no end to worldly activities; but if you practice the Dharma You will swiftly conclude everything.

However nice they may seem, Samsaric affairs always end in disaster; but the fruits of practicing the Dharma Will never deteriorate.

~Padmasambhava

We must be willing to be completely ordinary people, which means accepting ourselves as we are without trying to become greater, purer, more spiritual, more insightful. If we can accept our imperfections as they are, quite ordinarily, then we can use them as part of the path. But if we try to get rid of our imperfections, then they will be enemies, obstacles on the road to our ‘self-improvement’. — Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three”

Whether we and our fellow beings experience happiness or suffering, whether we have peace or violence in the world, depends entirely on the condition of our minds. The mind is what determines whether there will be happiness or suffering. Our states of mind are what makes our actions negative or positive.

~ Trulshik Rinpoche

Chogyam Trungpa ~ One must go realize that to meditate is to pass beyond effort, beyond practice, beyond aims and goals, and beyond the dualism of bondage and liberation

Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa –

Buddhism does not give you anything. Buddhism just shows you how to uncover what you already have.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.

Their wisdom was unfathomable.

There is no way to describe it;

all we can describe is their appearance.

They were careful

as someone crossing an iced-over stream.

Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.

Courteous as a guest.

Fluid as melting ice.

Shapable as a block of wood.

Receptive as a valley.

Clear as a glass of water.

Do you have the patience to wait

till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

till the right action arises by itself?

The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.

Not seeking, not expecting,

she is present, and can welcome all things.

The location of the truth of the Great Perfection is the unfabricated mind of the present moment, this naked radiant awareness itself, not a hair of which has been forced into relaxation. Maintaining this at all times, just through not forgetting it even in the states of eating, sleeping, walking, and sitting, is called meditation. However, until you are free from the obscurations of cognition, it is impossible for this not to be mixed with the experiences of bliss, clarity, and nonconceptualization. Nevertheless, just by not forgetting the nature of one’s own awareness — the kind that is not a tangled mindfulness that gets more tangled in order to be mindful — at some point the unelaborated ultimate truth, transcending terms and examples, will appear.

~ Jigme Lingpa

“Why do you stay in prison,

when the door is so wide open?”

~ Rumi ~

Activities are endless, like ripples on a stream. They end only when you drop them.

Human moods are like the changing highlights and shadows on a sunlit mountain range.

All activities are like the games children play, like castles being made of sand.

View them with delight and equanimity, like grandparents overseeing their grandchildren, or a shepherd resting on a hill watching over his grazing flock.

~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

‘Crazy wisdom is absolute perceptiveness, with fearlessness and bluntness. Fundamentally, it is being wise, but not holding to particular doctrines or disciplines or formats. There aren’t any books to follow. Rather, there is endless spontaneity taking place.’

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Chögyam Trungpa

The Essential Chogyam Trungpa​

Tilopa speaking to Naropa

“Naro..

Like a Compass

Brought in a Dream

Praise and Blame

Cannot point you

In the right direction either.

Success and Failure

Cannot be diagnosed

From outside.

Regretting your Past

And fretting about the Future

Makes the present

Opportunities inaccessible.

Practice being here until “Now” disappears,

And you dwell nowhere.

Like visiting a new city,

Explore the tiniest detail of Now.

If you can stay present

Just for a few moments,

Everything becomes self-luminous.

Breath-In

“Many will never know or see this wondrous miracle”

Breath-Out,

May these prayers reach all the Realms of Life

And reveal this miracle to them”

from “Stones to Shatter The Stainless Mirror:

The Fearless Teachings of Tilopa To Naropa”

Translated by Kiley Clark

Chogyam Trungpa ~ If you cease to imprison yourself, you are truly free

Of all the fighting in this world, the biggest battle is inside, and the greatest enemy is you.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

From inner disturbance, comes outer disturbance. From inner peace, comes outer peace. All of the hate and love in this world has come from within. Until inner peace is practiced by all, there will be no end to the fighting.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

When you look at mind, there is nothing to be seen.

And in this not seeing, you see the essence of mind.

~ Machig Labdron

It may be that you become rich,

But you will have a hard time being satisfied.

Be able to cut the knot of greed.

That is what really matters.

~ Terdak Lingpa

The pathless path is the path always under our feet. And since that path is always beneath us, if we miss it, how stupid!

~ Longchenpa

Though primordially we are not separate, not recognizing me, you experience me externally.

~ Yeshe Tsogyal

‘There is a traditional four-line chant attributed to the great Kagyü teacher Gampopa, called the Four Dharmas of Gampopa, that goes:

Grant your blessing

so that my mind may be one with the dharma.

Grant your blessing

so that dharma may progress along the path.

Grant your blessing

so that the path may clarify confusion.

Grant your blessing

so that confusion may dawn as wisdom.

In this chant, it is said that your mind should be one with the dharma. You individually are trying to mix your stream of being, your mind, with the dharma. You find dharma in yourself, in what you are, so your understanding of the dharma and your experience of it become a part of you. True dharma is found within your lifestyle, within your pain and within your pleasure. Rather than being something external, truth is within you constantly. You do not have to bring somebody else’s style into your being—your style is the style of a buddha. If you work fully and thoroughly, if you look into yourself completely, you find individual salvation within you—you become buddha. The nontheistic approach is very simple and compassionate: you take a stand on giving up your trip and you do it. It’s as simple as peanut butter.’

.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

The Path of Individual Liberation: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma

.

The higher you go up the ladder, the more painful the fall. The lower you go down the ladder, the less painful the fall. If you are not on the ladder, you can not fall.

Likewise, big ego, big fall, big suffering. Less ego, less fall, less suffering. No ego, no fall, no suffering.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Just as space can accommodate the whole universe – the mountains, continents, and so forth – the nature of the mind is so vast that it can accommodate the whole of phenomena.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

I am not really impressed by someone who can turn the floor into the ceiling, or fire into water. A real miracle is if someone can liberate just one negative emotion.  -Lerab Lingpa

There is no thing to see: you simply need to see that.

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Emptiness and luminosity are not two separate things, but rather the nature of emptiness is luminosity, and the nature of luminosity is emptiness. This indivisible emptiness-luminosity, the naked mind, free of everything, dwells in the uncreated state.

~ Guru Rinpoche

“The fool waits

For conditions

To be right before

Being happy.

And even then, it is fleeting

Maintains joyous

Attitude, always….

…An open heart is the best medicine,

Open it a little more

Wth every breath.

Approach every act

As if it were your

Last on Earth.

Think,

If my next birth were

Determine by this act alone,

What Karmic impact

Will be left on my loved ones and

The World in General.

By this word, thought, or deed?”

Seek to make

Peace without

Judging who is

Right or wrong.

Walk away

From argument.

Heat old and new

Wounds before

They get infected.

Do not talk about people behind their back,

Quickly over look their mistakes,

As well as your own.

If you stop from doing \, jut there 3 things, you

will

Have produced more positive Karmic  Seeds, than are

atoms

Scattered though-out the entire Universe!

At various times And various places,

There will be earthquakes,

Floods, famine, fire, disease,

And even collisions with astral bodies.

Such things are not to be feared…

If you are living with the thought,

Like me all sing want to be protected,

Love and accepted I will help them”

During troubled

Times, if someone

Says, Pray to my God

Or lose your head!”

Better to live without

A head then to live

With one owned

By another.

…Find your own truth,

Question everything.

Do the next right thing,

And your life will be sweet incense.

Be sincere,

Live according to your true nature.

It’s better to be a sincere Fool,

Than to fake that you are wise.

People can be helped

By the truth of your brokenness,

But not by the lie of your wholeness.

When you do these Practices

Stress and Worry cannot

Find You.

from “Stones To Shatter The Mirror:

The Fearless Teachings of Tilopa To Naropa 

by Kiley Clark

When we say ‘Emaho’ (‘Wonder’) it is the wonder or surprise that comes from realizing the unborn nature. Phenomena have never been born in the past, they do not dwell in the present, and they will never cease in the future. They neither come nor go. This is the real meaning of the absolute truth, the primordial nature.

Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche – “Zurchungpa’s Testament Commentaries – on Wisdom –Collected Works , Vol III” –

pg 291,

Shambhala

Empty minds, empty bodies, empty emotions, but not nothingness. The waves that surface in the form of emotions, desires, and aversions are also empty, and their force is also empty. Yet the empty force of the empty wave has the empty power to knock over a mind that is also essentially empty but does not know it, and is stuffed with ideas. But if we do not create a story around the wave, then we have empty water dissolving into the empty ocean, like water being poured into water. No problem. Emotions themselves are not the problem. It’s how we relate to them.

~ Mingyur Rinpoche

Chogyam Trungpa ~ THE TRUTH OF DUHKA

Whether we eat, sleep, work, play, whatever we do life contains duhka, dissatisfaction, pain. If we enjoy pleasure, we are afraid to lose it; we strive for more and more pleasure or try to contain it. If we suffer pain we want to escape it. We experience dissatisfaction all the time. All activities contain dissatisfaction or pain, continuously

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. Perception is not reality. What appear to be faults in others may actually be reflections of our own emotional afflictions. I don’t have an attitude problem – you have a perception problem.

Remember, the way people treat us is their karma. The way we react is our own.

~ Trulshik Rinpoche

Becoming “awake” involves seeing our confusion more clearly.

~ Chogyam Trungpa

The extent of your realization will be known when you encounter difficult circumstances. You will not know the extent of your realization when things go well.

The difficult circumstances will reveal your hidden faults.

~ Khenpo Munsel

Outwardly, practise according to the sutras,

Be meticulous about cause and effect, and what you adopt or avoid.

Inwardly, practise according to the unsurpassable secret mantra,

It is important to combine generation and completion.

Secretly, practise according to the great secret Atiyoga,

And gain liberation in a body of light within a single lifetime.

– Padmasambhava

As you start to see your own potential, you will also begin to recognize it in every being around you. Buddha nature is not a special quality available to just a privileged few.

~ Mingyur Rinpoche

To let the mind become vast and open like the sky, is the key instruction for enhancing practice.

~ Shri Singha

‘You take refuge in the Buddha not as a savior – not with the feeling that you found something to make you secure – but as an example, as someone you can emulate. He is an example of an ordinary human being who saw through the deceptions of life, both on the ordinary and spiritual levels.⁣’

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Chögyam Trungpa⁣

The Heart of the Buddha: Entering the Tibetan Buddhist Path

“This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.” ~ Rumi ~

MAHAMUDRA SONG :

“Mahamudra transcends all words

And symbols, but for you, Naropa,

Earnest and loyal,

I have to say this:

The Emptiness doesn’t need support,

Mahamudra rests on nothing.

Without making any effort,

One can break the yoke

Thus – reaching Liberation.

If one sees nothing when staring into space,

If with the mind one then observes the mind,

One destroys distinctions and reaches Buddhahood.

The clouds that wander through the sky

Have no roots, no home; nor do the distinctive

Thoughts, which float through the mind.

Once the nature of mind is seen,

Discrimination stops.

In space shapes and colours form,

But neither by black nor white is space tinged.

From the nature of mind all things emerge,

The mind is not tainted by virtues or vices.

The darkness of ages cannot hide the bright sun

Nor the long kalpas of samsara

can hide the splendid light mind.

Though words are spoken to explain the Emptiness,

Emptiness for itself can never be expressed.

Though we say “the mind is a bright light,”

It is beyond all words and symbols.

Although the mind’s nature is empty,

It embraces and contains all things.

Do nothing with the body but relax,

Shut firm the mouth and keep silent.

Empty your mind and focus on nothingness.

Like a hollow bamboo relax your body.

Without giving or taking, put your mind to rest.

Mahamudra is like a mind that clings to nothingness.

Thus practicing, you will reach Buddhahood.

The practice of Mantra and Paramita,

Instruction in the Sutras and Precepts,

And teaching of Schools and Scriptures will not bring

Realization of the Inner Truth.

If the mind with desire is looking to goal,

It only conceals the Light.

He who keeps Tantric Precepts,

Yet makes discriminations,

betrays the spirit of samaya.

Cease all activity,

abandon all desire,

let thoughts arise and disappear

like the waves of the ocean.

He who never harms the Non-abiding

Nor the Principle of Non-distinction,

Uphold the Tantric Precepts.

He who abandons craving

And doesn’t cling to this or that,

Realize the true meaning of Scriptures.

In Mahamudra all sins are burned;

In Mahamudra one is released

From the prison of this world.

This is the Dharma’s supreme torch.

Those who don’t believe it

Are fools who ever wallow

In misery and sorrow.

To strive for Liberation

One should rely on a Guru.

When your mind receives his blessing

Liberation is at hand.

Thus, all things of this world are insignificant,

nothing, but seeds of sorrow.

Small teachings lead you to act small;

one should follow only the great teachings.

Transcending duality is the vision of the king.

Conquer distractions is the practice of kings.

The path of non-practice is the way of all Buddhas.

One who travels that road reaches Buddhahood.

This world is transient,

like ghosts and dreams, without any substance.

Renounce it and forsake your kin,

cut the cords of lust and hatred

and meditate in the forests and mountains.

If without effort you remain

Loosely in the “natural state,”

Soon Mahamudra you will win

And attain the Non-attainment.

Cut the root of a tree

And the leaves will wither;

Cut the root of your mind

And samsara will fall.

The light of any lamp

Dispels in a moment

The darkness of long kalpas;

The strong light of the mind

In just a flash will burn

The veil of ignorance.

Whoever clings to mind sees not

The truth of what’s beyond the mind.

Whoever strives to practice Dharma,

Finds not the truth that’s beyond the practice.

To see what is Beyond both mind and practice,

One should cut cleanly through the root of mind

And observe it naked.

One should thus break away

From all distinctions and remain at ease.

One should not give or take

But remain natural,

For Mahamudra is beyond

All acceptance and rejection.

Since Alaya is unborn,

No one can obstruct or soil it;

Staying in the “Unborn” realm

All appearance will dissolve Into the Dharmata,

And the will and pride will vanish into nothingness.

The supreme Understanding transcends

All this and that.

Supreme Understanding

transcends “this” and “that”.

The supreme action

handles all situations, without attachment.

The supreme realization

is to realize immanence without hope.

At first, the yogi feels his mind

falls as a waterfall;

half of its course flows slow and placid,

as the Ganges;

In the end,

It is a great vast ocean,

Where the Lights of Son and Mother

Merge into One.”

(A beautiful painting of the great Indian master Tilopa clutching a fish)

Practice in a straightforward way. There is no need to live in fantasy and ‘pretend’ to be anything other than what you are. Be honest and open with yourself – if you are a good person, recognize that goodness and build upon it. If you are a deluded person, recognize that delusion and begin to disentangle yourself from it, be rid of it. It is essential that your practice be pure, straightforward and honest.

~ Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche

Knowing one thing, everything is liberated.

~ Sherab Zangmo

We abide nowhere, we possess nothing.

~ Chatral Rinpoche

When desire or anger arise, the weakest practitioners immediately blame the outside world, and never practice. While the strongest practitioners immediately look inside, and always practice.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Thoughts come and go like a thief in an empty house.

There is nothing to be gained or lost.

~ Padampa Sangye

That is all ~ Kalu Rinpoche

My advice, don´t be a Buddhist.

In the end it´s all about personal gain, fame and business.

Just be a person with a good heart, that´s the meaning of a truthful Dharma practitioner.

We live in illusion and the appearance of things.

There is a reality. We are that reality.

When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything.

That is all.

~ Kalu Rinpoche

Thanks to: Dharma Roots

The speed and distance that you travel on the path is determined by the level of your courage to go in the opposite direction from what you have been doing since beginningless time.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

When a water drop merges with the ocean, it is indivisible from the ocean. And the one space on the outside and inside of a broken vase cannot be differentiated, but extends into a single, all-pervasive space. Likewise, in the identification within yourself of the pure awareness, the nature of your mind, there is nothing to be altered and nothing else with which to engage.

~ Sera Khandro

With mahayana practice, there is no cultivation — you just do it. It’s like taking medication: the pills you take might taste terribly bitter, but you take them anyway.

The mahayana is very harsh, but it is also very gentle. The intention is gentle, but the practice is harsh.

By combining the intention and the practice, you are being both “harshed” and “gentled.” That process turns you into a bodhisattva. It is like jumping into a blender: you begin to feel that you are swimming in the blender, and you might even enjoy it a little bit after you have been processed.

From : “The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion”, Shambhala Publications

Never underestimate the importance of keeping your vows. Just how a castle will protect the king from being attacked by the enemy, the vows will protect your mind from being attacked by your afflictive emotions.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

No amount of intellectual knowledge can satisfy the need for the direct experience that is beyond concepts and duality. Do not be a fool and spend your whole life in a book.

Of course you must study the teachings, but you must also know when it is time to put what you have learnt into practice. Only direct experience can set you free.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche