Dharma Moment

The View

2012-02-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

"The dharmadhatu, which is free from all elaboration, is also called 'tatagatagarbha'. All schools of Vajrayana both the older and the more recent, speak about this buddha nature, the wisdom of clear light. because it cannot be established to have true existence or to be autonomous, it is termed 'free from elaboration.' In essence it is primordially pure, by nature it is spontaneously present. It is the buddha nature that serves as the ground for all samsara and nirvana, a vast expanse, within which all elaborations arise and subside. Pure by its very nature, this is what we term 'view', an expanse that permeates everything and within which everything is contained and complete."

HH The Dali Lama, Dzogchen

Teaching of All the Buddhas

2012-02-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

"Not to commit any evil
To do everything good,
And to purify one's mind.
This is the teaching of all the Buddhas."

Dogen, Hymn for the Seven Past Buddha's Precepts

Superior Insight Meditation

2012-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

"Mind, unidentifiable, is the expanse of emptiness.
The variety that arises is the door of awareness.
Free of concept, stark, empty, clear.
Resting within this, regard the expanse.
You will arrive at the pith of superior insight meditation."

Paltrul Rinpoche, Clear Elucidation

Tolerance and Patience

2012-02-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

"Tolerance and patience are extremely important for the balance of our mind. How do we practice them? Simply to think that they are noble principles is not enough. It is when we actually hit difficulties that the real opportunity to practice patience comes along. Who is it then that can create that kind of opportunity? Our enemy. In this sense, our enemy is like a teacher, one who is sincerely teaching us patience and tolerance. For a person who believes in the importance of compassion and love, the practice of patience and tolerance is essential. If we can only reflect along these lines, whatever strong negative attitudes or ill feelings we have towards our enemy will naturally reduce."

HH The Dalai Lama, Public Talk 1989

Touching Impermanence Deeply

2012-02-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

"We have to nourish our insight into impermanence every day. If we do, we will live more deeply, suffer less, and enjoy life much more. Living deeply, we will touch the foundation of reality, nirvana, the world of no-birth and no-death. Touching impermanence deeply, we touch the world beyond permanence and impermanence."

Thich Nhat Hanh, Teachings of the Buddha

The Core of Calm Abiding

2012-02-06T10:41:00.002-08:00

"In pristine meditation, do not meditate with the intellect.
Do not contrive an undisturbed state through fabrication.
Do not regard thoughts as faults.
Do not meditate for the sake of non-thought.
Rest in mind’s own way, and keep watch from a distance.
Meditate, and you will arrive at the core of calm abiding."

Paltrul Rinpoche, Clear Elucidation of True nature

Vigilance

2012-02-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

Vigilance is the path to the Deathless,
Negligence the path to death.
The vigilant do not die
The negligent are as if already dead."

Buddha, Dhammapada, 1:1

The Truth of Beyond-Practice

2012-01-31T11:08:00.000-08:00

"Whoever clings to mind, sees not the truth of what's beyond the mind.
Whoever strives to practice Dharma, finds not the truth of Beyond-practice.
One should cut cleanly through the root of mind and stare nakedly.
One should thus break away from all distinctions and remain at ease."

From the Song of Tilopa

True Dharma

2012-01-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

For those who are unsteady of mind
Who do not know true Dharma,
And whose serenity wavers,
Wisdom does not mature.

For one who is awake
Whose mind isn't overflowing
Whose heart isn't afflicted
And who has abandoned both merit and demerit
Fear does not exist."

Buddha, Dhammapada 3:38-39

Method of Liberation

2012-01-27T06:46:00.000-08:00

"For those that put their trust in a meditation which lacks this vital point of the method of liberation and is merely some state of mental quiescence, will only stray into the meditation states of the higher realms. People who claim that it is sufficient simply to recognize stillness and movement are no different from ordinary people with their deluded thinking. And as for those who give it all kinds of labels like 'emptiness' and 'dharmakaya', the basic flaw in their remedy is exposed when it fails to hold up under the first misfortune or difficulty they meet. So without this [recognition of rigpa], meditation is but the path of delusion."

Patrul Rinpoche, commentary on the "Hitting the Essence in Three Words"

Seeing Pain Clearly

2012-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

"We have to arrive in the present moment before we can have insight about the true nature of all existence. Recognizing mental habits purifies the mind so we can put side the habitual and recognize what is actually present. Any experience is impermanent, impersonal, and unsatisfactory. Where is the joy in suffering? It is in the mind able to do it’s work unhindered. Vipassana penetrates to the most painful places in the mind and asks if we are ready to see the pain clearly. To know the three characteristics of any experience and then to let it go."

Steve Armstrong, 2008 lecture

Practice With Intelligence

2012-01-25T08:13:00.000-08:00

"You should not practice like a machine, but with intelligence, so that each step, each breath, will make you feel better. Each mindful meal, each cup of tea, can make you feel better. Touch the wonders of life within and around you. Nourish yourself by allowing the beautiful and healing elements around you to penetrate you. This is the most important thing to do."

Thich Nhat Hahn, Anger

Wrong Grasp of the Dhamma

2012-01-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

“Suppose a man needing a snake, seeking a snake, wandering in search of a
snake, saw a large snake and grasped its coils or its tail. It would turn back
on him and bite his hand or arm or one of his limbs, and because of that he
would come to death or deadly suffering. Why is that? Because of his wrong
grasp of the snake. So too, here some misguided men learn the Dhamma but
having learned the Dhamma, they do not examine the meaning of those
teachings with intelligence, they do not gain a reflective acceptance of them.
Instead, they learn the Dhamma only for the sake of criticising others and
winning in debates, and they do not experience the good for the sake of which
they learned the Dhamma. These teachings, being wrongly grasped by them,
conduce to their harm and suffering for a long time."

Buddha, Majima Nikaya 22:134 Stephen Batchelor translator

Accomplishing the Benefit of All Beings

2012-01-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

"The desire for happiness can expand beyond ourselves to a vast circle of being. Dealing with what is in front of you in terms of happiness and suffering: meeting suffering by doing what ever you can to relieve that suffering or further the happiness of any being we meet with a heart of joyfulness, cheerfulness and delight. This is the real meaning of accomplishing the benefit of all sentient beings. We do this one interaction at a time; not all beings at once."

The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, NY 2011

What is Compassion

2012-01-22T15:55:00.000-08:00

"The attitude of attending to others as though they are pitiful or totally different from us, is not compassion. Compassion is recognizing the non-distinction between the suffering of others and our own suffering. We all share the experience of human happiness and suffering. Meditation on compassion cultivates courage and hope: the thought, the resolution that I will end suffering. To be oppressed by suffering, to feel there is no way out, is suffering; not compassion."

The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, NY 2011

Selflessness

2012-01-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

"In a surprising way, mindfulness and investigation of thoughts and emotions deepen our understanding of selflessness. There is a momentous difference between being lost in or identified with a thought or emotion, and the spaciousness of a mind that simply sees them arise and pass away in the open sky of awareness."

Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace

Unlocking the Secret of Thought and Emotion

2012-01-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

"Knowing how to unlock the secret of thought --
when thought arises it is the great stillness,
when blatant afflictive emotion, it is illuminating wisdom."

Paltrul Rinpoche, Clear Elucidation

Samsara and Nirvana

2012-01-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

"Though all the dharmas of the phenomenal world
That is comprised by both samsara and nirvana
Are primal simplicity that is without a self,
By fixation and ignorance, we wander here in samsara.

Though the joys and sorrows of samsara and nirvana
Do indeed appear, from the very time they appear,
They are within the emptiness that is their nature.
We should know them to be like dreams and like illusions."

Longchenpa, The Great Perfection Mind Easer of Weariness

Seeing Meaning in Life

2012-01-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

"Even if we are in pain, if we can see meaning in our life, we will have energy and joy. Energy is not the result of good health alone or the wish to achieve some goal... material or spiritual. It is a result of feeling some meaning to our life."
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of The Buddha's Teachings

Mindfulness While Making Tea

2012-01-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

"Mindfulness while making tea:
Prepare a pot of tea to serve a guest or to drink by yourself. Do each movement slowly, in mindfulness. Do not let one detail of your movements go by without being mindful of it. Know that your hand lifts the pot by its handle. Know that you are pouring the fragrant warm tea into the cup. Follow each step in mindfulness. Breathe gently and more deeply than usual. Take hold of your breath if your mind strays."

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness

Blissful practice for a cold day!

Shines With Wisdom

2012-01-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

"As a sweet-smelling lotus
Pleasing to the heart
May greow in a heap of rubbish
Discarded along the highway,
So a disciple of the Fully Awakened One
Shines with wisdom
Amid the rubbish heap
Of blind, common people."

Buddha, Dhammapada 4:58-59

Freed By Understanding

2012-01-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

"Mara does not find the path
Of those endowed with virtue,
Living with vigilance,
and freed by right understanding."

Buddha, Dhammapada 4:57

Scent of Virtue

2012-01-13T06:05:00.000-08:00

"The scent of virtue
Is unsurpassed
Even by sandalwood, rosebay,
Water lily, and jasmine."

Buddha, Dhammapada 4:55

Fruitless

2012-01-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

"Like a beautiful flower,
Brightly colored but lacking scent,
So are well-spoken words
Fruitless when not carried out."

Buddha, Dhammapada 4:51

Supreme Refuge

2012-01-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

"People threatened by fear
Go to many places of refuge.
To the mountains, forests,

Parks, trees, and shrines.

None of these is a secure refuge;
None is a supreme refuge.
Not by going to such a refuge
Is one released from all suffering."

Buddha, Dhammapada, 13: 188

All Dharmas are Equal

2012-01-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

"Within the equality wisdom all the dharmas are equal.
Here samsara and Nirvana are non-dual.
This is the equality of the great perfection."

Longchenpa, Great Perfection The Nature of Mind Easer of Weariness

Although empty....

2012-01-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

"The mind is empty in essence.
Although empty, everything constantly arises in it."

The Third Gyalwang Karmapa

Although.....

2012-01-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

"Although sensory appearances do not exist, they manifest in all their variety.
Although emptiness does not exist, it extends infinitely, reaching everywhere.
Although dualistic perception does not exist, there is still fixations on things having individual identity.
Although they have no basis, a continual succession of lifetimes manifests.
Although nothing exists that can be refuted or proved, pleasure is accepted and pain is rejected."

Longchenpa, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission

Pure Willingness

2012-01-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

"Absolute letting go can only be done when there is pure willingness, which is the devotion to awaken to the Buddha nature within."

Anam Thubten, lecture

Shine!

2012-01-06T09:03:00.001-08:00

"However young,
The seeker who sets out upon the way
Shines brightly over the world.

But day and night
The man who is awake
Shines in the radiance of the spirit.

Meditate.
Live purely.
Be quiet.
Do your work, with mastery.

Like the moon,
Come out from behind the clouds!
Shine."

The Buddha, Dhammapada

Mind Like Space

2012-01-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

"Mind at first is empty of a cause of arising
In the middle of remaining, and at last of ceasing.
It has no color or shape. Its essence cannot be grasped.
The past has ceased, and the future has not yet arisen.
The present does not remain, outside, inside or anywhere.
Know it to be like space, free from complexity."

Longchenpa, The Great Perfection

Mired in Suffering

2012-01-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

"But suffering, both as cause and effect, is rushing upon us.
Like a moth attracted by the flame of a lamp,
Enticed by grasping, desirous of its wished-for object;
Or like beings like deer, and bees, and elephants,
Enticed by means of sound or smell or taste, or touch,
Beings are seduced by desire for the five objects of sense.
See how they never are happy, but only in suffering."

Longchenpa, Great Perfection: The Nature of Mind, Easer of Weariness

Being An Object of Enjoyment

2012-01-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

"May I always be an object of enjoyment
For all sentient beings according to their wish,
And without interference, as are the earth,
Water, fire, winds, herbs, and wild forests."

Nagarjuna, The Precious Garland

The Transcender of Existence Rightly Understands

2012-01-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

"The wise one, learned, does not feel
The pleasant and painful mental feeling.
This is the great difference between
The wise one and the worldling.

For the learned one who has comprehended Dhamma,
Who clearly sees this world and the next,
Desireable things do not provoke their mind,
Towards the undesired, she/he has no aversion.

For her/him attraction and repulsion no more exist;
Both have been extinguished; brought to an end.
Having known the dust-free, sorrowless state,
The transcender of existence rightly understands."

Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya 36:6(6)

Awakened Mind is Great Bliss!

2011-12-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

"While reflecting you may understand emptiness, but it is still confusion.
While clinging you may cling to the view, but it is still a fetter.
While thinking you may understand dharmakaya, but it is still a thought.
While meditating you may cultivate nonthought, but it is still conceptual.

I am Nagarjuna,
Who is at ease since nonarising dharmakaya is beyond the aggregates.
I am at ease since my unvoiced, unceasing speech is beyond conceptual attributes.
And I am at ease since my thought-free mind of wisdom is beyond birth and death.
I have realized that awakened mind is great bliss."

Nagarjuna, from the Wellsprings of Perfection

Happy New Year to each and every reader of this blog!

Wow!

2011-12-29T19:16:00.001-08:00

“Meditation is dying before we die.”

Ajahn Chah

Motivation

2011-12-28T17:56:00.000-08:00

"At a deeper level, I think the demarcation between violence and non-violence depends very much on motivation. If it is sincerely motivated with compassion, then a little harsh word or harsh physical action is essentially non-violent; with negative motivation, such a desire to cheat or deceive or exploit, then even apparently friendly words and actions are essentially violent. Motivation is the most important factor. In this sense, violence means any action that is motivated by hatred."

The Dalai Lama, Transforming the Mind

The Essence

2011-12-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

"The nature of mind is priomordially the Buddha.
And this mind, beyond arising and ceasing is like the sky.
Once you realize that all things neither arise nor cease,
The training is then to let be in this nature without seeking."

Gampopa, Wellsprings of Perfection

Master The Mind; Master All Things

2011-12-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

"Mind whirls around like a swung fire-brand; mind vacillates like a wave; mind burns like a forest fire; mind swells like a mighty flood. If one considers this well, one will live with mindfulness well directed on the mind. One will not succumb to the mind's mastery, but will exercise mastery over the mind, If the mind is mastered, all things are mastered."

Buddha, Arya-Ratnamegha Sutra

The Mind Can Never Be Harmed

2011-12-24T12:16:00.000-08:00

"Because of its immateriality, the mind can never be harmed by anyone. However due to its attachment to the body, the mind is tormented by suffering. Neither contempt, abusive speech nor disgrace harm the body. Why then, mind do you become angry?"

Shantideva, The Bodhisattva's Way of Life translation by Alan and Vesala Wallace

Where to Begin The Spiritual Journey

2011-12-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

"The most critical part of the spiritual journey is the beginning. How do we begin? The Buddha taught that first we need to focus on ourselves, on gaining what we call 'individual freedom'... You begin with who you are right now; it's your neurotic self, the illusion of ego, that is starting off on the road to freedom. What other self is there to wake up and free from suffering?"

Dzogchen Ponlop, Rebel Buddha

Love is a Practice

2011-12-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

"Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself—if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself—it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice."

Thich Nhat Hanh, interview Shambala Sun

Emptiness Enhances Love and Compassion

2011-12-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

"Understanding that beings are empty of inherent existence, you develop even more profound love and compassion by holistically seeing how they bring suffering on themselves through ignorance of the nature of people and other phenomena. Realizing the emptiness of inherent existence opens the way to enhance love and compassion."

The Dalai Lama, How to See Yourself As You Really Are

Boundless and Free

2011-12-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

"How boundless and free is the sky of awareness!
How bring the full moon of wisdom!
Truly is anything missing now?
Nirvana is right here before our eyes
this very place is the Lotus Land;
this very body, the Buddha."

Hakuin Zenji, Song of Zazen

Gone Beyond Becoming

2011-12-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

"Let go of the past, let go of the future,
Let go of the present.
Gone beyond becoming,
With the mind released in every way,
You do not again undergo birth and old age."

Buddha, Dhammpada, 24:348

Ultimate Happiness

2011-12-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

"The Buddha said, 'The greater the power, the greater the misery; the greater the wealth, the greater the miserliness; the more caught up we are in samsaric situations, the greater our self-deception.' We have to realize that what we want to experience, and can experience, is ultimate happiness, a state that is indestructible, beyond circumstances and conditioning factors. To attain this we must give up temporary satisfaction, which in any case are full of false premises and pretense."

Kalu Rinpoche, The Dharma

Happiness Results From Virtuous Conduct

2011-12-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

"When the Dharma becomes our path, we develop an attitude of compassion. In contemplating the beings who are in samsara with us, we consider that space is infinite, pervading all directions, and that the realm of sentient beings extends as far as space itself... When compassion develops we see that all life is the same, and that every single beings wishes to be happy: in every form of life a fundamental search for happiness goes on, but in a way that contradicts and defeats the aim of this search. Few beings understand that real happiness is the result of virtuous conduct."

Kalu Rinpoche. The Dharma

Advice from Shantideva

2011-12-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

"If there is a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for despondency?
And if there is no help for it,
What use is there in being sad?"

Shantideva

What Is There To Lose Or Gain?

2011-12-15T11:46:00.000-08:00

"In the entire ten directions of the Buddha's universe
There is only one way.
When we see clearly, there is no difference in the teachings.
What is there to lose? What is there to gain?
If we gain something, it was there from the beginning.
If we lose anything, it is hidden nearby."

Ryokan, Zen Buddhist Master

Misplaced Effort

2011-12-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

"Much of our planning is like waiting to swim in a dry ravine.
Many of our activities are like housekeeping in a dream.
Delirious with fever, one does not recognize the fever."

Paltrul Rinpoche, Sacred Word

A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

2011-12-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Please read this very important document from the ecologically minded Buddhist community at large.
http://www.ecobuddhism.org/bcp/all_content/buddhist_declaration/

Samsara is without discoverable beginning

2011-12-12T07:57:00.000-08:00

At Savatthi, "Bhikkhus, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. Whenever you see anyone happy and fortunate you can conclude: 'We too have experience the same thing in this long course.' For what reason? Because bhikkhus, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. It is enough to be liberated from them."

Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya

The Unborn, Unbecome, Unmade, Unfabricated

2011-12-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

"There is an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated. If there were not that unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated, there would not be the case that emancipation from the born, become, made, fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated, emancipation from the born, become, made, fabricated is discerned.

Buddha, Udana VIII.3; Nibbana Sutta

Mind Is By Nature Beyond Description

2011-12-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

"All phenomena are without are without bases, without foundation.
Without desire and free of conditioned existence,
mind is by nature uncontrived and beyond description.
Concepts based on the confusion of plans and actions fall away.
There are no phenomena, no buddhas, no ordinary beings,
no "I", no identity, no dualistic perceptions."

Longchenpa, A Treasury of Spiritual Transmission

Fearlessness

2011-12-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

"When I reside in pure awareness, even though there may be many beings in fear, I remain fearless."

From A Tibetan Buddhist Doha (song of enlightenment)

Not Understanding

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

"Not understanding the meditation to be free from reference point,
I went astray, mentally contriving to accept and reject,
For this I apologize in the state of self-manifest awareness."

Manjushrimitra, Wellsprings of Perfection

Love Alone Heals Hatred

2011-12-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

"Hatred never ceases by hatred,
But by love alone is healed.
This is an ancient and eternal law."

The Buddha, Pali Canon

The Play of Experience 5

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

"The state of pure and total presence is the clear light, the pure fact of awareness, non-conceptual ever-fresh awareness; whereas mind is the motivating factor of samsara; pervasive conceptualization. As The Two Truths says, 'Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara.'"

Longchenpa, The Jewel Ship

The Play of Experience 4

2011-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

"All that is experienced and
Your own mind are the unique primary reality.
They cannot be conceptualized according to the cause and effect systems of thought.
Investigate your mind's real nature.
So that your pure and total presence will actually shine forth."

Longchenpa, The Jewel Ship

Play of Experience 3

2011-12-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

"Without understanding me, the creativity of the universe,
But investigating the phenomena that I manifest,
You perceive everything dualistically due to your attachment and longing.
Impermanent, apparitional things will fade away.
They are aimless, like a blind man."

Longchenpa, The Jewel Ship

The Play of Experience 2

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

"All the capacities, forms, and pristine awarenesses of the buddhas;
The bodies of sentient beings, their habituations, and so forth
All environments and their inhabitants, life forms and experiences;
Are the primordial state of pure and total presence."

Longchenpa, the Jewel Ship

The Play of Experience 1

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

"All that is has me universal creativity, pure total presence at its root.
How things appear is my being.
How things arise is my manifestation.
Sounds and words heard are my messages expressed in sounds and words."

Longchenpa, the Jewel Ship

Groundless and Fearlessness

2011-11-30T09:06:00.000-08:00

"This instruction on prajnaparamita is a teaching on fearlessness. To the extent that we stop stugling against uncertainty and ambiguity, that that extent we dissolve our fear. The synonym for total fearlessness is full enlightenment--wholehearted, open-minded interaction without world. Meanwhile we train in patiently moving in that direction. By learning to relax with groundlessness, we gradually connect with the mind that knows no fear."
Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You

The Paramitas

2011-11-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

" The six paramitas are the path of the Bodhisattva. The principle paramita is that of wisdom. Without achieving this paramita, one will not be able to achieve the state of Buddhahood. The root of samsara can be cut by obtaining the paramita of wisdom."
Anam Thubten

The Aspiration of Samantabhadra

2011-11-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

"The connate ignorance
Is a distracted, mindless cognition.
The labeling ignorance
Is holding self and other to be two.
The two ignorances, connate and labeling,
Are the ground of the confusion of all beings.
Through the aspiration of Samantabhadra
May the thick mindless obscurity
Of all samsaric beings be dispelled.
May dualistic cognition be clarified.
May awareness be recognized."

The Aspiration of Samantabhadra

(from Dzogchen Ponlop's commentary, "Penetrating Wisdom")

Buddha-ness

2011-11-27T12:22:00.000-08:00

"The humanness inside you is Buddha-ness. The genuine human being inside you is already Buddha-ness."

Anam Thubten, Dharma Talk

I and Mine

2011-11-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

"Hail to loving concern for transmigrating beings.
Powerless like a bucket traveling up and down a well
Through initially exaggerating oneself, "I,"
And then generating attachment for things,

"This is mine."

Chandakirti's Supplement

Establish Yourself In The Way

2011-11-25T08:31:00.000-08:00

"Love yourself and be awake
Today, tomorrow, always.

First establish yourself in the way,
Then teach others and so defeat sorrow.

To straighten the crooked
You must do the harder thing--
Straighten yourself.

You are your only master.
Who else?
Subdue yourself,
And discover your master."

Buddha, Dhammapada

Lifelong Practice

2011-11-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

As Milarepa said, "Do not entertain hopes for immediate realization, but practice all your life."

All Sound As The Voice of Enlightenment

2011-11-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

"When clinging is interrupted, then whatever occurs--sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or textures--can all be said to be the expression of emptiness. The statement, "Whatever is heard is the voice of enlightenment" doesn't mean that we become deaf. There is still hearing, but you don't cling to this hearing; you don't fixate on the sound as being something either. You experience it in a freer, more spacious way."

Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Fearless Simplicity

Welcoming Difficulty

2011-11-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

“Have an attitude of welcoming to difficult thoughts and feelings. Welcoming something allows it to be what it is. Trust this welcoming and you begin to notice cessation.”

Ajahn Sumedho, Lecture 2008

Realizing the Intent of Nagarjuna

2011-11-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

"The nature of samsara and nirvana lacks even an atom of existence.
The dependent origination of cause and effect is unfailing.
These two are mutually without conflict; in fact, they are a support for one another.
May we realize the intent of Nagarjuna."

Tsongkhapa

Inherent Non-Existence

2011-11-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

Whatever may be an object of examination, does not exist inherently. As that object of existence does not exist inherently, how can the thought-consciousness of that non-inherently existing object exist inherently? Therefore, because the object of examination and the thought-consciousness arise from causes and conditions, they are empty of inherent existence."

Nagarjuna, Seventy Stanzas :61

Compassion For Oneself

2011-11-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

"From a practical point of view, for someone to develop genuine compassion towards others, first he or she must have a basis upon which to cultivate compassion and that basis is the ability to connect to one's own feelings and to care for one's own welfare. If one is not capable of doing that, how can one reach out to others and feel concern for them? Caring for others requires caring for oneself."

HH Dalai Lama, Transforming the Mind

Equality and Sacredness

2011-11-18T17:33:00.000-08:00

"For beginners I recommend the method of pure recognition: recognition without judgment. Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized and treated on an absolutely equal basis, because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant are all sacred."

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness

From This Wisdom Comes

2011-11-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

Wisdom comes from a deep sense of impermanence. It also develops through a greater and greater experience of selflessness, of moving beyond our very small world of ego identification. In a surprising way, mindfulness and investigation of thoughts and emotions deepen our understanding of selflessness. There is a momentous difference between being lost in or identified with a thought or emotion, and the spaciousness of a mind that simply sees them arise and pass away in the open sky of awareness."

Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace

The Three Statements

2011-11-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

"There are three statements:
Recognize the empty quality.
Train in the perceiving quality.
Practice their indivisibility."

Adeu Rinpoche, Freedom and Bondage: The Life and Teachings of Adeu Rinpoche

Intention Is Action

2011-11-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

"“It is intention (cetana), monks, that I declare to be action (kamma). Having willed, one performs an action of body, speech or mind.”
Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya, VI, 63, p. 173

indestructibility of Mind

2011-11-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

" A non-conceptual sense that nothing can harm the mind regardless of whether or not thoughts have ceased.” (Direct perception without the distraction of grasping, non-clinging, luminously present. In the cognized just let there be the cognized.) This is becoming lucid to our own mind in the waking state. All phenomenon arises and passes away."

Alan Wallace, Retreat 2008

One Ground; Two Paths

2011-11-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

"There is one ground and two paths: the path of awareness and the path of unawareness. The ground is innately enlightened and beyond all polarities. Samsara is the path of unawareness. If you want to cross the ocean of delusion and reach the other side, you must embark on the path of infinite compassion and transcendent wisdom which is Bodhichitta; the path of awareness."

Anam Thubten, dharma talk

Becoming A Being

2011-11-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

"As the Buddha said, when you become a being, you identify with form, feeling, perception, fabrications or consciousness of particular kinds. And whatever way you identify yourself, that is how you limit yourself. You gain certain powers by bringing those things under control, but you also take on certain limitations. These limitations may not be getting in the way of the particular task you want to do, but if you take one particular idea of who you are and apply it everywhere, you begin to see where the limitations are. And of course one big limitation is always there.... When you become a being, you've got to feed the things you identify with."

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Meditations 5

Knowing The Essence of Mind

2011-11-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

"We should work for Buddhahood within the essence of mind. We should not look for it apart from ourselves. He who is kept in ignorance of his essence of mind is an ordinary being. He who is enlightened in his essence of mind is a Buddha."

Hui Neng, 6th century Zen Master

Compassionate Action

2011-11-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

"[In Tonglen practice] the fundamental change of attitude is to breathe the undesirable in and breathe the desirable out. In contrast, the attitude that is epidemic on the planet is to push it away if it's painful and to hold on to it tightly if it's pleasant. The basic ground of compassionate action is the importance of working with rather than struggling against."

Pema Chodron, Comfortable with Uncertainty

A Yogi's Perception

2011-11-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

"In a yogi's perception, there is not even a dust mote of impurity. This is called the great equality of samsara and nirvana. The yogi sees samsara and nirvana as great equality, because they are like that. Although it might not appear like this to others, when obscurations and habitual patterns are purified everything is seen as pure in one's own perception."

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Vajra Speech

Consciousness, Thus Unestablished

2011-11-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

“Wherever there is something that is intended, something
that is acted upon, or something that lies dormant, then that becomes the basis for consciousness to land.
And where consciousness lands, that then is the cause for confusion,
attachment, becoming and rebirth, and so on."

“But if there is nothing intended, acted upon, or lying latent,
then consciousness has no basis to land upon.
And having no basis to land, consciousness is released.
One recognizes, ‘Consciousness, thus unestablished, is released.’
Owing to its staying firm, the heart is contented.
Owing to its contentment, it is not agitated.
Not agitated, such a one realizes complete, perfect nibbana within themselves.”

Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya 12.38 and 22.53

Do Not Fixate On Nonduality

2011-11-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

"In awakened mind, appearances and emptiness have never existed.
But do not fixate on nonduality, for the inconceivable and miraculous display still occurs.
With no time frame, the unborn basic space of phenomena
     is an unchanging, undivided, and uncompounded expanse.
Throughout the three times [past, present and future] buddhahood is awareness,
   the basic space of timeless awareness, the expanse of enlightenment,
   of self-knowing awareness that outshines dualistic perceptions.
With no division into outer and inner, the true nature of phenomena is spontaneous and spacious."

Longchenpa, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission

Reality has been already enlightened all along.

2011-11-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

"Reality has been already enlightened all along. How amazing it is! There is already unfathomable freedom within reality itself. It has no beginning or end. The moment of awakening to the reality, you feel that you have accidentally fallen into a bottomless sea of love and freedom. That is what reality is; a bottomless sea of love and freedom."

Anam Thubten Rinpoche, dharma talk 2011

Main Thing For A Happy Life

2011-11-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

" From birth to death basic human affection is the main thing for a happy life. Once you develop a certain amount of compassionate mind, automatically your inner mind opens to happiness. No fear, no jealousy, no doubt. Once your own mind opens to others, then you feel very at ease. If you close this inner door and just think about me, then you develop some kind of paranoia about what others may be thinking about you. Or question their motives. As a result you feel lonely. Then you may feel helpless and feel more stress, frustration and depression. Open your heart, extend your hand and bring people together.”

HH Dalai Lama

The True Nature of Phenomena

2011-11-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

"Awakened mind is the actual state of everything.
It exhibits an unceasing quality.
Whatever arises in all its variety is naturally and clearly apparent,
evident within pure basic space, the true nature of phenomena.
There is no division or exclusion, this mode of awareness is without restriction."

Longchenpa, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission

The Blissful Realm

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Within the expanse of spontaneous presence is the ground for all that arises.
Empty in essence, continuous by nature,
It has never existed as anything whatsoever, yet arises as anything at all.
Within the expanse of the three kayas, although samsara and nirvana arise naturally,
They do not stray from basic space... such is the blissful real that is the true nature of phenomena."

Longchenpa, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission

Is There A Self?

2011-11-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

"[Vacchagotta:] “How is it, Master Gotama, is there a self?”
The Buddha remained silent.
[Vacchagotta:] “Then how is it, Master Gotama, is there no self?”
The Buddha again remained silent.
Vacchagotta got up from his seat and went away.

The Buddha turned to his attendant Ananda and said: “If I had
answered, ‘there is a self,’ this would have been siding with those who are eternalists …
and if I had answered, ‘there is no self,’ that would have been
siding with those who are nihilists….”

Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya 44:10 (Stephen Batchelor translator)

Advice From A Bodhisattva

2011-11-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

" When I see beings of unpleasant character

Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering,
May I hold them dear—for they are rare to find—
As if I have discovered a jewel treasure!

When others, out of jealousy,
Treat me wrongly with abuse, slander, and scorn,
May I take upon myself the defeat
And offer to others the victory.

When someone I have helped,
Or in whom I have placed great hopes,
Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways,
May I regard him still as my precious teacher."

Bodhisattva Langri Tangpo, a few of "The Eight Verses"

What Use Is Rushing Around?

2011-10-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

What use is rushing around?
Coming and going just tires you out.
Look how far your wandering has taken you from the Dharma.
Now you'd better just settle down and relax your mind;
Staying put, carefree and at ease, recite om mani padme hum."

Patrul Rinpoche, The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones

One Taste

2011-10-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

"Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this Dhamma and Discipline has one taste; the taste of liberation."

Buddha, Udana Sutta

Reliquishing Confusion

2011-10-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

“When not examining one’s own confusion,
It is possible to have the appearance of a Dharma practitioner
while doing what is not Dharma.
Therefore, it is the practice of Bodhisattvas to relinquish
their own confusion, through continuously examining it.”

Shantideva, The way of the Bodhisattva

So may I endeavor to examine my own confusion in each moment and know things as they truly are.

It All Belongs...

2011-10-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

" The heart needs to be established in lovingkindness in order to do any kind of concentration meditation. Metta (lovingkindness) practice is the radical recognition in the heart that everything belongs. Not dwelling in aversion. Radical acceptance is steering the mind toward what’s wholesome, honest, loving and generous. Everything is the dharma, it all belongs: Even the difficult things and difficult aspects of ourselves. We bring lovingkindness to them and by recognizing them we see the insubstantiality of all things and respond appropriately from this wisdom of heart and mind."

Ajahn Sumedho, 2009 retreat

I love Ajahn Sumedho's teachings. He gets right to core of Buddhist practice, with no holds barred honesty, demanding nothing less than total effort and right understanding. May I be inspired by his relentless pursuit of the ground of all being.

The Wise Are Fully Restrained

2011-10-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

"Guard against anger erupting in your body;
Be restrained with your body.
Let go of bodily misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your body.

Guard against anger erupting in your speech;
Be restrained with your speech.
Let go of verbal misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your speech.

Guard against anger erupting in your mind;
Be restrained with your mind.
Let go of mental misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your mind.

The wise are restrained in body,
Restrained in speech,
The wise are restrained in mind.
They are fully restrained."

Buddha, Dhammapada 17:231-234

Restrained means mindful, aware, awake, knowing what is arising internally and responding to it internally with kind attention and skillful means. In this way we care for our emotions and we care for others through skillful responses that are non-harming and full of kindness and patience.

Only This Vast State of Presence

2011-10-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

"There is not a single state which is not this vast state of presence.It is the site and home of everything.
So remain in this which cannot be constructed or taken apart.
Here it is not necessary to progress gradually or to purify anything."

Longchenpa, The Jewel Ship

I read this text over and over again and each time I am filled with unbounded gratitude for the momentous gifts of Longchenpa's awakened mind, and his unwavering commitment to teach the heart of the dharma with unmatched clarity.

Destroy this Unlimited Suffering

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Like a thoroughbred horse touched by the whip,
be strenuous, be filled with spiritual yearning.
By faith and moral purity, by effort and meditation,
by investigation of the truth,
by being rich in knowledge and virtue,
and by being mindful,
destroy this unlimited suffering."

Buddha, Dhammapada 10:144

Set Aside Violence

2011-10-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

"Even though she be well-attired,
yet if she is poised, calm, controlled and established in the holy life,
having set aside violence towards all beings,
she, truly, is a holy woman, a renunciate."

Dhammapada, 10:142

All householders can be renunciates in this way, in their lives, every day.