Worldly activities never end

Some of us imagine there will come a point when we can give up our samsaric activities and worldly duties completely and devote our time to the Dharma, but Jigme Lingpa pointed out that such a time will never come.

It’s not that you must cease all worldly activity and only practice the Dharma but rather that you should train yourself to remember that your worldly activities don’t come to an end. He is saying that you shouldn’t kid yourself into believing that at some point in this lifetime you won’t have anything else to do. With this procrastinating attitude—imagining that there will be an end to our activities—we may never begin to practice. Samsaric endeavors are endless and fruitless; samsaric activities never end.

So whenever and wherever devotion arises spontaneously, use it. Don’t imagine you will be able to practice later using that moment of devotion as your inspiration, because by the time you practice, the devotion will have been exhausted.

~Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche