There are two aspects of mindfulness: first, to remember what causes suffering and needs to be avoided, and what brings happiness and needs to be accomplished; and second, to be constantly vigilant lest we fall under the power of delusion. If we mechanically follow our wandering thoughts instead of remembering to investigate our mind, afflictive... Continue Reading →
When your mind remains in pure awareness, with no thought of past or future, without being attracted by external objects or occupied by mental constructions, it will be in a state of primordial simplicity. In that state, there is no need for the iron hand of forced vigilance to immobilize your thoughts. As it is... Continue Reading →
Generally speaking, we feel attachment to our family, to our belongings, and to our position, and aversion to anyone who hurts or threatens us. Try turning your attention away from such external objects and examine the mind that identifies them as desirable or hateful. Do your desire and anger have any form, color, substance, or... Continue Reading →
As we tame the wildness of our minds with the appropriate discipline, all our defects will gradually disappear and all the qualities of a Bodhisattva will bloom. As Nāgārjuna said:Someone who has acted carelessly,But later becomes careful and attentiveIs as beautiful as the bright moonemerging from the clouds.However intractable our ego-clinging might seem, it is... Continue Reading →
If you follow the example of most people of this decadent age, you will end up being just like them—an expert fraud. You will waste your life chasing after the unattainable. You will be like children who are so busy playing that they are indifferent to hunger and cold and don’t notice the day passing—until... Continue Reading →
When engaging in meditation practice, we should feel it to be as natural as eating, breathing and defecating. It should not become a specialized or formal event, bloated with seriousness and solemnity. We should realize that meditation transcends effort, practice, aims, goals and the duality of liberation and non-liberation. Meditation is always ideal; there is... Continue Reading →
Our first concern tends to be our own search for happiness and our attempts to escape suffering. But if you step back and see yourself as just one among the whole infinity of sentient beings, your individual wants and fears begin to look insignificant in comparison. Just as you want to be happy, so too... Continue Reading →
The practise of Dharma should bring you to the point where you can maintain the same constant awareness whether in or out of practise sessions. This is the quintessential point of all spiritual instruction; without it, however many mantras and prayers you recite, however many thousands of prostrations and circumambulations you do, as long as... Continue Reading →
If you conquer the primordial nature by distinguishing mind from awareness, the view of the absolute will naturally become clear…One day, as your confidence in awareness grows, mind will appear as witless as a child, and awareness as wise as a venerable old sage. Awareness will not run after mind, but eclipse it. In a... Continue Reading →
Like waves, all the activities of this life have rolled endless on, yet they have left us empty-handed. Myriads of thoughts have run through our minds, but all they have done is increase our confusion and dissatisfaction.Normally we operate under the deluded assumption that everything has some sort of true, substantial reality. But when we... Continue Reading →
How far do you go if you are a therapist trying to help an alcoholic or drug addict? If this person has somehow decided to become a drug addict for the next five thousand lifetimes, you, as a bodhisattva, must have the determination to be reborn wherever they are going to be reborn. You might,... Continue Reading →
When we recognize a thought, that recognition alone will not liberate it. It is not that we should not recognize it; it must be recognized.But then when recognizing it, without grasping at the thought, the basis from which it arises – the unaltered natural state of mind pointed out by our teacher – should also... Continue Reading →
Ordinary enjoyments are pleasurable in the beginning, but as time goes on, they become an increasing source of torment, If you wrap a strip of wet leather around your wrist, it is fine at first, but as the leather dries and shrinks, it tightens painfully. What a relief it is to cut it away with... Continue Reading →
By and large, human beings tend to prefer to fit in to society by following accepted rules of etiquette and being gentle, polite, and respectful. The irony is that this is also how most people imagine a spiritual person should behave. When a so-called dharma practitioner is seen to behave badly, we shake our heads... Continue Reading →
Ordinary enjoyments are pleasurable in the beginning, but as time goes on, they become an increasing source of torment, If you wrap a strip of wet leather around your wrist, it is fine at first, but as the leather dries and shrinks, it tightens painfully. What a relief it is to cut it away with... Continue Reading →
When you travel in an airplane, you can see all sorts of landscapes below — lakes, mountains, lush forests, deserts, cold and warm places. Likewise, during meditation, experiences of all kinds pass before your mind’s eye. At that time, the most important thing is to avoid any kind of clinging. Don’t proudly think that these... Continue Reading →
“The towns and countryside that the traveller sees through a train window do not slow down the train, nor does the train affect them. Neither disturbs the other. This is how you should see the thoughts that pass through your mind when you meditate. —DILGO KHYENTSE RINPOCHE”
