The aspiration to rejoice in the good fortune of others can feel feeble compared with our resentment or self pity

The aspiration to rejoice [in the good fortune of others] can feel feeble compared with our resentment or self-pity. We know how easy it is to let our emotions hook us in and shut us down. We'd be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain. It's rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die... Whenever we get caught, it's helpful to remember the teachings-- to recall that suffering is the result of an aggressive mind. Even slight irritation causes us pain and we indulge in it. This is the time to ask, "Why am I doing this to myself again?"

--Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You, Shambhala Publications

We have mistaken our non existent personal experience

We have mistaken our nonexistent personal experience to be objects, and by the power of ignorance, mistaken self-awareness to be a "self." This dualistic fixation has made us wander in the sphere of samsaric existence. May we cut ignorance and confusion at the very root.

--H.H. the III Karmapa, Aspiration of Mahamudra

The practice of Dharma

The practice of Dharma should bring you to the point where you can maintain the same constant awareness whether in and out of practice sessions. This is the quintessential point of all spiritual instruction.

--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Always scrutinize your own shortcomings

Always scrutinize your own shortcomings. Ignore the faults of other people. Keep the attitude: "Whether they are pure or impure, It is none of my business!" Be your own teacher; keep a strict check on yourself. That is sufficient!

--Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche, from: The Tibetan Buddhism Pocket Reader, by Reginald A. Ray, Shambhala Publications

Give up the mind that wants to meditate

Give up the mind that wants to meditate and calm down. Focus on nothing at all. Disturbing thoughts and lazy indifference are not liberation. Remain unstained by thoughts and circumstances; Rest relaxed in the uncontrived nature of mind, free of elaborations or alteration. For the benefit of one and all, simply preserve peerless awareness.

--Sukkhasiddhi

Uninterrupted Wisdom of Consciousness

The uninterrupted wisdom of consciousness manifests as the world of desire. The nature of consciousness manifests as the world of form. The essence of consciousness, which is unborn, manifests as the formless world.
--Kunjed Gyalpo, The Fundamental Tantra Of The Dzogchen Semde

Quoted In Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche's Book, The Supreme Source, Published by Snow Lion

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The unborn essence beyond concepts is dharmakaya. Consciousness that enjoys it's own nature is sambhogakaya. The emanation of consciousness that benefits beings through mind is nirmanakaya.

The moment they discover the equanimity of the non-conceptual state, even beings of the hell realms and of the other realms of samsara who have fallen prey to the sufferings of heat and cold, of hunger and of thirst, of foolishness and speechlessness, can liberate themselves in the authentic, natural condition.

--Kunjed Gyalpo, The Fundamental Tantra Of The Dzogchen Semde

Quoted In Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche's Book, The Supreme Source, Published by Snow Lion

Without Fixating

Without fixating, look naturally into the essence of whatever occurs. The watcher and the watched will then mingle into one, Without any fixation concerning 'looking' and 'meditating.'

--Karma Chagmey Rinpoche, from: 'The Quintessence Of Spiritual Practice, The Direct Instructions Of The Great Compassionate One'

From Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's Book: The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, Rangjung Yeshe Publications

A minute to be-Give yourself a break

A MINUTE TO BE Give yourself a break....Just enjoy the day, your normal existence. Allow yourself to sit in your home or take a drive into the mountains. Park your car somewhere; just sit; just be. It sounds very simplistic, but it has a lot of magic. You begin to pick up on clouds, sunshine and weather, the mountains, your past, your chatter with your grandmother and your grandfather, your own mother, your own father. You begin to pick up on a lot of things. Just let them pass like the chatter of a brook as it hits the rocks. We have to give ourselves some time to be....We have to learn to be kinder to ourselves, much more kind. Smile a lot, although nobody is watching you smile. Listen to your own brook, echoing yourself. You can to a good job. In the sitting practice of meditation, when you begin to be still, hundreds of thousands, millions, and billions of thoughts will go through your mind. But they just pass through, and only the worthy ones leave their fish eggs behind. We have to leave ourselves some time to be. You're not going to see the Shambhala vision, you're not even going to survive, by not leaving yourself a minute to be, a minute to smile....Please give yourself a good time. -- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, =46rom "Blamelessness: How to Love Yourself" in GREAT EASTERN SUN: THE WISDOM OF SHAMBHALA All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo.

Don't worry, you're all tulkus

Don't worry... You're all tulkus ... incarnations of beings who have taken the bodhisattva vow to raise all sentient beings to the level of complete enlightenment...Just because you don't have an important title attached to your name doesn't mean that you haven’t appeared in this life to fulfill your bodhisattva vow.... Historically, the term "Rinpoche" referred to a person who is born with a "wealth" or "precious inheritance" of knowledge, whereas nowadays, it often refers to a person born into a wealthy family....Be grateful that you don't have a title...and rest assured that you entered this life and have the opportunity to continue in the stream of Buddhist teachings as a result of the vows and practices you engaged in during previous lives.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Crazy Wisdom, Shambhala Publications

Humor means a sense of delight

Humor means a sense of delight, rather than mocking everything. When the setting sun people rule the world, they get more uptight, more tough and tough and tough. Queen Victoria said, "We are not amused." I'm afraid so. But when we rule the world, we are very amused. That's how you stay in your saddle, so to speak, in order to become a permanent ruler, in order to rule a long time.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From "Vision of the Great Eastern Sun" in THE 1978 KALAPA ASSEMBLY TRANSCRIPTS, page 106.

We don't need to shut out the outside

We don’t need to shut out the outside, and neither should we shut off the inside.

– Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Carefree Dignity