🪷Akong Tulku Rinpoche - Collected Quotes

"Another misconception is to see the path of compassion and self development as a means or justification for cutting oneself off from society. This is a negative attitude, however, rather than something useful and beneficial to all. There is something essentially wrong with the motivation when our practice of meditation is used to preserve and confirm our own negativity towards society." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987) 

"As human beings there is a great deal of desire and attachment in our lives. This can cause much suffering, both to ourselves and to others. If the desire is unfulfilled we become unhappy. Even when we get what we want the happiness is only temporary, because invariably a new desire arises to take its place. Time after time all we are doing is trying to satisfy desires which are limitless, shapeless and as vast as the sky." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"Avoiding or escaping situations merely takes our mind off our problems without actually doing anything to solve them." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"Before we can tame the tiger we must first track it down." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"Compassion means the wish to benefit all beings and free them from the causes of suffering." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"First we have to tame our minds and build a solid foundation for our further development." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"Impermanence, then, pervades all of the outer world and all our inner experience. We can neither prevent it nor avoid it. It happens all the time. What we can do is to acknowledge it. Accepting it in this way will help us to appreciate what we already have whilst lessening our involvement with it. Realising impermanence will enable us not to get sidetracked in useless pursuits. Instead we can mature our minds by simply applying this under- standing throughout our lives. (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"Nowadays many people come to meditation with the wrong motivation. They wish to use meditation to further their own ends, without thinking of anyone else. But hoping to achieve clairvoy- ance, astral travel, special powers and similar attainments only feeds and strengthens the ego, without increasing understanding at all. Rather than pursuing exciting experiences, our task is to learn how to deal with the mind and help others. Even if such experi- ences were to occur, they are not the goal or the target and should be left alone."(Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"The correct approach is to train the tiger in a dignified way, in a very accepting way. We accept the tiger even if we can’t directly see it. The important thing is to face the situation as it is." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"The mind is the root of all our experience, both of ourselves and of others. If we perceive the world in an unclear way, confusion and suffering will surely arise. It is like someone with defective vision seeing the world as being upside down, or a fear- ful person finding everything frightening. We may be largely unaware of our ignorance and wrong views, yet at present the mind can be compared to a wild tiger, rampaging through our daily lives. Motivated by desire, hatred and bewilderment this untamed mind blindly pursues what it wants and lashes out at all that stands in its way, with little or no understanding of the way things really are." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)   

"The mistake is that we expect to find happiness outside our- selves, failing to realise that it can only come from within." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"The right motivation is the wish for the happiness and well- being of everyone, so that all may attain peace and freedom from the causes of suffering." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"The way forward is to identify and ripen the positive qualities that exist within ourselves and all others, and to develop them whenever and however we can. How is this to be achieved? In the first place we shouldn’t try to run before we can walk, so we must learn to go forward step by step. First, we generate the right attitude towards ourselves, second to our friends and families, then it is extended to include everyone." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"What we learn from looking into ‘the mirror’ can be very useful on the path, but first it has to become part of our general experience and not remain separate from it. For if we don’t inte- grate the understanding and compassion that is awakened, we are merely putting on another mask." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987) 

"[...] whatever we see inside ourselves as bad arises from ignorance, which can and must be transformed into wisdom. When we begin to turn our mind inward and purify what we find there, the way will have been found, and all external situations will automatically become easier to deal with in a useful, positive way." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

🪷Week 2024-02: Thubten Zopa Rinpoche - Collected Quotes

"As long as the mind is unsubdued, there is always outside harm. Once the mind is subdued, once there is no anger in the mental continuum, there is no outside enemy. An outside enemy exists only if there is anger inside." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, "The Door to Satisfaction: The Heart Advice of a Tibetan Buddhist Master", 1994)

"A sick body with a good heart is more beneficial to future lives than a fit, healthy body that is used for self-cherishing." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche)

"By renouncing samsara, we renounce our habitual grasping, unhappy minds. And by renouncing samsara, we embrace our potential for enlightenment." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche)

"Each one of us is responsible for other living beings' happiness, besides our own. As a result, your loving kindness is the most wish-fulfilling thing in life, more precious than anything else in this world. That makes for a most satisfying, fulfilling life." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche)

"If one does not remember death, one does not remember Dharma." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, "The Door to Satisfaction: The Heart Advice of a Tibetan Buddhist Master", 1994)

"If you know the psychological nature of your own mind, depression is spontaneously dispelled; instead of being enemies and strangers, all living beings become your friends. The narrow mind rejects; wisdom accepts. Check your own mind to see whether or not this is true." (Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Make Your Mind an Ocean: Aspects of Buddhist Psychology", 1975) [attributed to Thubten Zopa Rinpoche] 

"It is great that even before we become enlightened or generate any lam-rim realizations we are able to offer incredible benefit to others. The person who does this is a very fortunate person and should rejoice very often." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche)

"Live with compassion. Work with compassion. Die with compassion. Meditate with compassion. Enjoy with compassion. When problems come, experience them with compassion." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, "How to be Happy", 2009)

"Mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what you are doing. What you really need to watch is your motivation." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, 1975)

"When it is impossible for anger to arise within you, you find no outside enemies anywhere. An outside enemy exists only if there is anger inside." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche)

"When there is hallucination, there is the truth, by recognising it as hallucination. Where there is suffering, there is peace and bliss, by letting go and experiencing it for numberless suffering sentient beings. Always think of how others are kind and precious Treat them as you would like to be treated." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche)

"Whenever you hear that someone else has been successful, rejoice. Always practice rejoicing for others-whether your friend or your enemy. If you cannot practice rejoicing, no matter how long you live, you will not be happy." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, "Transforming Problems into Happiness" 2001) 

🪷Week 2022-19: Dalai Lama - Collected Quotes

"Because we all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity. We are dependent on each other in so many ways, that we can no longer live in isolated communities and ignore what is happening outside those communities, and we must share the good fortune that we enjoy." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], [Nobel lecture] 1989)

"Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama, "Ocean of Wisdom: Guidelines for Living", 1989)

"To study Buddhism and then use it as a weapon in order to criticize others' theories or ideologies is wrong. The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life with the knowledge of the Buddhist teachings." (Tenzin Gyatso, [14th Dalai Lama], "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", 1990)

"Tibetan Buddhism considers sleep to be a form of nourishment, like food, that restores and refreshes the body. Another type of nourishment is samadhi, or meditative concentration. If one becomes advanced enough in the practice of meditative concentration, then this itself sustains or nourishes the body." (Dalai Lama, "Tibetan Dream Yoga: A Complete System for Becoming Conscious in Your Dreams", 1994)

"To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in somebody else. Rather than speaking badly about people and in ways that will produce friction and unrest in their lives, we should practice a purer perception of them, and when we speak of others, speak of their good qualities." (Dalai Lama), "The Path to Enlightenment", 1994)

"What acts as a far more effective circumstance for generating compassion and what, in fact, rouses us from our comfortable meditation seat is actually seeing or hearing others - encountering others directly, not just conceptually in our imagination." (Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra", 1994)

"As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery.

We have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace.

The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as

anger and attachment, fear and suspicion,

while love and compassion, a sense of universal responsibility

are the sources of peace and happiness." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "Path To Tranquility", 1998)

"The feeling of unbearableness at the sight of other peoples’ suffering, other sentient beings’ suffering. In order to generate that feeling one must first have an appreciation of the seriousness or intensity of another’s suffering. The more fully one understands suffering, and the various kinds of suffering that we are subject to, the deeper will be one’s level of compassion." (Dalai Lama & Howard C Cutler, "The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living", 1998)

"True friends share genuine closeness and remain friends irrespective of fluctuating fortunes." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "The transformed mind: reflections on truth, love, and hapiness", 1999)

"Attachment constrains our vision so that we are not able to see things from a wider perspective." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "Transforming the mind: teachings on generating compassion", 2000)

"Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Therefore, a truly compassionate attitude towards others does not change even if they behave negatively. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other..." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama]," The Compassionate Life", 2001)

"The mind has power over the body and speech, and therefore any training of body and speech must begin with the mind." (Dalai Lama, "Stages Of Meditation", 2002)

"According to Buddhist psychology most of our troubles stem from attachment to things that we mistakenly see as permanent." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "How to See Yourself As You Really Are", 2006)

" To help us bring benefit to others through our words and actions, it is useful to cultivate an attitude of sympathetic joy in others' achievements and good fortune. This attitude is a powerful antidote against envy, which is not only a source of unnecessary suffering on the individual level but also an obstacle to our ability to reach out and engage with others." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World", 2011)

"The way to develop inner peace through meditation begins with the recognition that the destroyer of inner peace is not some external foe, but is within us. Therefore, the solution is within us too. However, that inner change does not take place immediately in the way that we switch on a light, but takes weeks, months and years." (Dalai Lama, [talk] 2014)

"It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come." (Dalai Lama)

"Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it." (Dalai Lama)

"Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects." (Tenzin Gyatso, Dalai Lama XIV)

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." (Dalai Lama)

"My religion is kindness." (Dalai Lama)

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day". (Dalai Lama)

"Once a year, go someplace you have never been before." (Dalai Lama)

"One must lose all, sacrifice, in order to gain anything, you must first lose everything." (The 14th Dalai Lama)

"Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values." (Dalai Lama)

"Out primce purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." (Dalai Lama)

"Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free." (Dalai Lama)

"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." (Dalai Lama)

"Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer." (Dalai Lama)

"Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other." (Dalai Lama)

"Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality." (Dalai Lama)

"Silence is sometimes the best answer." (Dalai Lama)

"Spend some time alone every day." (Dalai Lama)

"Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk." (Dalai Lama)

"The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well being." (Dalai Lama)

"The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness." (Dalai Lama)

"The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred." (Dalai Lama)

"There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster." (Dalai Lama)

"There needs to be understanding that anger never helps to solve a problem. It destroys our peace of mind and blinds our ability to think clearly. Anger and attachment are emotions that distort our view of reality." (Dalai Lama) [attributed] 

"This is my simple religion. No need for temples. No need for complicated philosophy. Your own mind, your own heart is the temple. Your philosophy is simple kindness." (14th Dalai Lama)

"True change is within; leave the outside as it is." (Dalai Lama)

"We all have to live together, so we might as well live together happily." (Dalai Lama)

"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection." (Dalai Lama)

"We cannot hope to die peacefully if our lives have been full of violence, or if our minds have mostly been agitated by emotions like anger, attachment, or fear. So if we wish to die well, we must learn how to live well: Hoping for a peaceful death, we must cultivate peace in our mind, and in our way of life." (Dalai Lama)

"We need to strengthen such inner values as contentment, patience and tolerance, as well as compassion for others. Keeping in mind that it is expressions of affection rather than money and power that attract real friends, compassion is the key to ensuring our own well-being." (Dalai Lama, [address] 2013)

"What is Love? Love is the absence of judgment." (Dalai Lama)

"When you lose, don’t lose the lesson." (Dalai Lama)

"When you realize you have made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it." (Dalai Lama)

"When you think everything is someone else's fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy. Pride leads to violence and evil. The truly good gaze upon everything with love and understanding." (Dalai Lama)

"Why worry? If there is anything that you can do to change it then change it, if not then why worry." (Dalai Lama)

"Wisdom is the best guide and faith is the best companion. One must try to escape from the darkness of ignorance and suffering, and seek the light of Enlightenment." (Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, "The Teaching of Buddha", 1966) [attributed to Dalai Lama]