There is no other difficult practice equal to patience. Do not get angry with someone who harms you, and even if you do get angry, do not remain so. It is the ultimate austerity.
Therefore, do not allow yourself even the slightest occasion for anger, which is incompatible with such a sublime austerity as patience.
—Kangyur Rinpoche
Practicing and “getting it done” are different. Getting it done is about accomplishing a limited objective, it has a beginning and end, it fulfills an obligation.
Real practice is not that. It is constant and uninterrupted. It has no endpoint. It accomplishes nothing.
—TN
The search for happiness is not about looking at life through rose-colored glasses or blinding oneself to the pain and imperfections of the world. Nor is happiness a state of exultation to be perpetuated at all costs —it is the purging of mental toxins, such as hatred and obsession, that literally poison the mind. It is also about learning how to put things in perspective and reduce the gap between appearances and reality.
To that end, we must acquire a better knowledge of how the mind works and a more accurate insight into the nature of things, for in its deepest sense, suffering is intimately linked to a misapprehension of the nature of reality.
—Matthieu Ricard
Mind transcends birth and death.
In the equanimity of the absolute,
there is nothing to renounce or attain.
—Niguma
Appearances are mind,
mind is emptiness,
emptiness is spontaneous presence,
spontaneous presence is self-liberation.
—Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje
If your aspiration for enlightenment (bodhicitta) is impure, it is not the cause of the right path.
If your aspiration does not include all beings, it does not result in perfect enlightenment.
If it is not sincere, its power is not strong.
Therefore, make sure that your aspiration is pure, all-embracing, and sincere.
—Genshin
In recommending remembrance of the Buddha, I do not intend to reject the various other sublime practices.
However, this remembrance of the Buddha does not distinguish among males and females, nobles and commoners, or whether it is performed while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. It does not matter when, where, or under what condition it is practiced, and is not difficult to perform.
When one desires to seek birth in the Pure Land, there is nothing more expedient than the remembrance of the Buddha.
—Genshin
