Even if you have studied many methods, you cannot apply them all. This is why it is essential to integrate practice with your daily life. Making a practice ritual for an hour or two hours is not the most important thing. The essence is to unite every moment of time with your practice.
If you can’t understand this, you’ll never gain realization, because when you distract, you’ll keep accumulating unwanted karma and won’t get free from dualistic vision.
—Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
There are these four types of people to be found existing in the world. Which four?
One in darkness who is headed for darkness,
one in darkness who is headed for light,
one in light who is headed for darkness,
and one in light who is headed for light.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Tamonata Sutta
One should cultivate the friendship of the two leading forth into light.
Those leading into delusion’s darkness should be swiftly abandoned.
—Nagarjuna, Letter From A Friend
Don’t remember the past.
Don’t imagine the future.
Don’t examine the present.
Don’t explain how things are.
Don’t control your experience.
Rest and relax.
—Tilopa, The Six Nails
The unconditioned is great nirvana, that which transcends impermanence.
True permanence is pure being. True being is complete purity. True purity is bliss.
True permanence, bliss, being, and purity are the Tathagata.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Great Nirvana Sutra
At first, the yogi feels the mind to be turbulent,
like the upper course of a rushing mountain torrent.
Then it becomes smooth like the broad river Ganges.
In the end, it is like entering the ocean, a child returning to the lap of the mother.
One who wishes to attain this level of meditation
should first begin by practicing remembrance of the breath.
Through directing the gaze and other such exercises,
the mind will be disciplined until it abides in its natural state.
—Tilopa
Unless we practice loving feelings toward everyone we meet, day in, day out, we are missing out on the most joyous part of life.
If we can actually open our hearts, there’s no difficulty in being happy.
—Ayya Khema
When pure gold is covered by dirt it is not obvious that it is gold, even though this dirt is temporary. But once it is removed, we realize that the gold is gold.
In the same way, when our confusion is purified, the wisdom which is our basic wakefulness is made manifest.
—Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Aspire always to take the right direction, however ignorant you may be.
Pray that when you chase after meaningless desires, the object of your desire will lead you to benefit sentient beings. When you lose your temper, may you feel embarrassed at your behavior and gain some realization. When you feel depressed, may that very depression be the cause for you to realize the truth.
And most important of all, always aspire to aspire.
—Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
The enlightened mind is without coming or going. It is neither outside nor inside. Transcending thought, it has no partiality.
It is ultimate reality, unlimited and unconfined, wherein there is no wide or narrow and no high or low.
So, set aside all anxious search for it.
—Longchenpa
The most important practice of all is to cultivate compassion. Without compassion, no matter what else you might do, no other practice will be a direct cause of enlightenment.
For a practice to be a direct cause of enlightenment, you must possess the mind of enlightenment, bodhichitta. And to possess the necessary mind of enlightenment, you need compassion. Without compassion you cannot develop other qualities.
—Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche
