The journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step

Perceptions

Interpretation of the mind

Buddhism also explains that the fundamental nature of human consciousness is pure and clear; that the nuclear essence of human beings is their mind, not this body of flesh and blood. Furthermore, we believe that recognizing our lives as pleasurable or miserable depends largely on how our mind interprets them. If you think your life is miserable, it becomes miserable.
– Lama Yeshe

October 21, 2024 | Categories: Mind, Perceptions, Pleasure, Zen | Leave a comment

It is not you

The nature of mind has to be recognized by the nature of mind. It is not ‘you’ recognizing your nature of mind; it is your nature of mind recognizes your nature of mind. It is so easy therefore it is so difficult. It is there all the time. Our mind recognizes our nature of mind all the time. We are never separate. But somehow, as it is said in the mahamudra prayer, “self awareness, under the power of ignorance, is confused into a ‘self'”. So because of ignorance, the nature of mind that we recognize every moment, every moment we mistake it as ‘I’.
– Tai Situ Rinpoche
from the book “Shangpa Kagyu Teaching

May 9, 2024 | Categories: Mind, Perceptions, Zen | Leave a comment

Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people

Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people.

– Buddha Shakyamuni

May 3, 2024 | Categories: Belief system, Illusions, Perceptions, Samsara | Leave a comment

Just projections of the mind

A beautiful object has no intrinsic quality that is good for the mind, nor does an ugly object have any intrinsic power to harm it. Beautiful and ugly are just projections of the mind. The ability to cause happiness or suffering is not a property of the outer object itself. For example, the sight of a particular individual can cause happiness to one person and suffering to another. It is the mind that attributes such qualities to the perceived object.
– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes

March 7, 2024 | Categories: Eight Fold Path, Mind, Perceptions, Zen | Leave a comment

Mere appearance

In a dream, there’s nothing substantial but there is the mere appearance of something substantial. Thus, its true nature transcends both existence and nonexistence. Its true nature is not something we can describe with these kinds of terms, because it is beyond any type of thing we might be able to think up about it. And so, just like a flower that appears in a dream, all phenomena that appear, wherever they appear, are the same. They all appear in terms of being a mere appearance. There is nothing substantial to them, and their true nature transcends both existence and nonexistence and any other idea. All phenomena that appear to us in this life are exactly the same.
– Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

February 15, 2024 | Categories: Dreams, Perceptions, Samsara, Zen | Leave a comment

Pure perception

The guru must have pure perception of his own guru and, if possible, of all phenomena. On a more individual level, the guru must have pure perception of his or her students. Pure perception is the foundation of the Vajrayana. Even in the Mahayana, pure perception if the driving force behind working with a disciple. As Lord Maitreya said, a bodhisattva must know that other sentient beings have Buddha nature and that they can be enlightened. So a guru must have confidence that the student’s defilements, no matter how hideous, are temporary; they can be purified and removed. No matter how long it takes, no matter how tedious a job, a guru with a strong view of pure perception will not give up on the student.

– Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

February 8, 2024 | Categories: Defilements, Guru, Perceptions, Zen | Leave a comment

All phenomena are merely mind

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All phenomena are merely mind, manifesting as environment, objects and the physical body.

Karma Tutob Gyatso

December 3, 2023 | Categories: Mind, Perceptions, Phenomena, Samsara, Zen | Leave a comment

We never actually perceive what is there

We never actually perceive what is there, only what is related back to us through our senses. The reality perceived by a fly, with its very differently structured eye and antennae, is very different from the reality we perceive, but it is equally valid from the fly’s point of view. We don’t see things better than the fly does, we just see our own version. Take this glass, for example. It’s very solid. If I were to hit somebody with it, he would feel it. But modem physics tells us that this glass is composed mostly of space, with just a few electrons, protons, and neutrons zooming around in it. Yet we don’t perceive it that way. And if I were an ant, or an elephant, or a dolphin, I would perceive something else again. Each of these perceptions is valid. Our version is no better than anyone else’s.
– Tenzin Palmo
from the book “Reflections On A Mountain Lake: Teachings On Practical Buddhism”
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes

November 9, 2023 | Categories: Illusions, Perceptions, Quantum theory, Samsara, Zen | Leave a comment

Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it.

The presence of space makes it possible for the whole universe to be set out within it, and yet this does not alter or condition space in any way. Although rainbows appear in the sky, they do not make any difference to the sky; it is simply that the sky makes the appearance of rainbows possible. Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it.
– Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

October 11, 2023 | Categories: Illusions, Perceptions, Samsara, Zen | Leave a comment

Rather than being trapped by your perceptions

We are naturally attached to comfort and pleasure and bothered by physical and mental suffering. These innate tendencies lead us to seek out, maintain and try to increase whatever gives us pleasure comfortable clothing, delicious food, agreeable places, sensual pleasure – and to avoid or destroy whatever we find unpleasant or painful. Constantly changing and devoid of any true essence, these sensations rest on the ephemeral association of the mind with the body, and it is useless to be attached to them. Rather than being dragged along and trapped by your perceptions, just let them dissolve as soon as they form, like letters traced on the surface of water with your finger disappearing as you draw them.

– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book “The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most”

With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes

May 21, 2020 | Categories: Perceptions, Suffering, Tibetan Buddhism | Leave a comment

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