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Quotations on:
Buddhism in the West
His Holiness the Dalai Lama |
It is vital for us to obtain genuine confidence in the nature of mind and reality, grounded in understanding and reason. What we need is a skeptical curiosity and constant inquiry, a curious mind, drawn toward all possibilities; and when we cultivate that, the desire to deeply investigate naturally arises.
The Middle Way |
Just hearing about patience does not mean
you are experiencing it now or will easily develop it. To lay
the ground for training the mind, you must first tame the mind.
To tame the mind, it is extremely important to do the basic shamata
[tranquility meditation, calm abiding] practice, which develops
calmness and tranquility. Then you can add the practice of patience,
understanding the benefits of patience and reminding yourself
to take advantage of the available antidotes.
Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, from Dharma
Paths
When I was in India living close to Tibetan
monks and lamas, I was often surprised at the apparently easy-going,
laid-back way in which many of them seemed to live their practice.
They often esponded to my intensity and fervor with the expression
kale kalepe TOnang (literally "please go slowly"). Essentially, what they
were saying was take it easy, go slowly, and you get there. They seemed
highly amused by the attitude I had towards my practice, as though
they could not understand why I was so driven. They did not have the
underlying emotional disposition in their psyches that said they were
not good enough. This does not mean they did not practice and work
hard. It meant that they let things be and did not have the neurotic
intensity of striving many of us suffer from in the West.
Rob Preece, The Wisdom of Imperfection
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Don’t be in too much of a hurry to solve all your doubts and problems. As the masters say: “Make haste slowly.” I always tell my students not to have unreasonable expectations, because it takes time for spiritual growth. It takes years to learn Japanese properly or to become a doctor. Can we really expect to have all the answers, let alone become enlightened, in a few weeks?
The spiritual journey is one of continuous learning and purification. When you know this, you become humble. There is a famous Tibetan saying: “Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.” And Milarepa said: “Do not entertain hopes for realization, but practice all your life.”
For all its dangers, today’s world is also a very exciting one. The modern mind is slowly opening to different visions of reality. Great teachers like the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa can be seen on television; many masters from the East now visit and teach in the West; and books from all the mystical traditions are winning an increasingly large audience. The desperate situation of the planet is slowly waking people up to the necessity for transformation on a global scale.
Enlightenment is real, and there are enlightened masters still on the earth. When you actually meet one, you will be shaken and moved in the depths of your heart and you will realize that all the words, such as illumination and wisdom,that you thought were only ideas are in fact true. |
The
Dharma center is an emergency rescue operation,
like when police go in with
sirens blaring, helicopters
whirling - to rescue people in distress! Like
that, the
meditation center plays a very important role in the
emergency
rescue of people, human beings, using
the seat belt and life jacket of the
lam-rim.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Last
updated:
August 4, 2009
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