You must walk the path
As long as our minds are filled with negative emotions due to our ego-grasping delusion – greed, aversion, jealousy, arrogance, pride and our usual mental state of total confusion – even if the Lord Buddha himself were standing in front of us, what could he do except to tell us how to cultivate our mind, how to let go of the negativities and cultivate the good. Well, you can read that in any Dharma book.
The Lord Buddha himself says that you yourself must walk the path, Buddhas only point the way. So even if we met the greatest master in the world, all he could do would be to say, “practice.” He is not going to do it for us.
– Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Ordinary people do not question the commonly accepted version of reality
Ordinary people do not question the commonly accepted version of reality. They conform to the standard values of subduing enemies and cherishing friends and family. Materialism, ambition and mundane achievements are the worldly hallmarks of success. We experience the phenomenal world and our minds as solid and truly existent. Very few people doubt these assertions and question their solidity. Yet, the process of disbelief is the first step on the spiritual path.
– Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Right here with us
Only when we have a genuine, abiding desire to free ourselves from suffering and all its causes does our spiritual journey begin. That original desire is very potent and very real. It is the basis upon which we enter the path that will lead us to our goal. Yet from the point of view of the Vajrayana, or tantric, school of Buddhism, there is no place to go on that path, no end of the road where we will one day satisfy our thirst for liberty. Why? Because the very thing that we are looking for — freedom, wakefulness, enlightenment — is right here with us all the time.
– Ponlop Rinpoche
Guru advice
When you think of me, think of the numberless buddhas guiding you through my form. You can think that they are bringing you from the lower realms, from samsara, and bringing you to enlightenment, from lower nirvana to enlightenment. Their kindness is like the sky; each kindness is like the sky. Think nectar is coming, with compassion, and is entering you, purifying all the defilements and negativities collected from beginningless rebirths up to now. These negativities are purified and at the end, you receive all the realizations. Think that.
I’m not saying that I’m an enlightened being or that I have realizations; I’m not saying that. It’s numberless buddhas who are guiding you through this form that you have the karmic connection or link with, so think like that. It’s the same as with His Holiness. With that meditation, you can recite my name mantra. That is great, great, great.
-Lama Zopa Rinpoche
We tend to seek an easy and painless answer
We tend to seek an easy and painless answer. But this kind of solution does not apply to the spiritual path, which many of us should not have begun at all.
Once we commit ourselves to the spiritual path, it is very painful and we are in for it. We have committed ourselves to the pain of exposing ourselves, of taking off our clothes, our skin, nerves, heart, and brains, until we are exposed to the universe. Nothing will be left. It will be terrible, excruciating, but that is the way it is.
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Attracted by mountains and waters
GREEN LEAVES ZEN- Earth Warriors, Our Temple is the Earth. ·
The main purpose of the spiritual path is awakening
The main purpose of the spiritual path is awakening. This awakening isn’t some supernatural awakening. It’s awakening to the truth. We usually shy away from the truth, and so we constantly get ourselves bogged down. Because of this, the elements and ingredients of the path are especially designed to dismantle our strong habits, including our emotional habits, ideas, values, and principles.
– Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
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