“The whole point of receiving and practicing the teachings is to understand your buddha nature, which is the very essence of your being. This understanding comes through practice. If we lacked the buddha nature, what would be the point of the practices? Why would we practice these complicated techniques, and learn the symbolism, if the buddha nature was not already within us, waiting to be revealed? It would be ridiculous to practice if our true nature were not what it is. It would be like pressing a rock to get oil. The effort would be fruitless.

Yet, we must make efforts to realize our buddha nature, even though we all possess it. Just as you would not know that butter is the essence of milk unless you churned the milk—and not just a few churns will do; you really must churn with effort—in the same way, you must practice with effort and diligence to understand your own true nature.

Nevertheless, you must remember that practice only reveals what is already present. If you churn water hoping to get butter, it will not happen, will it? We undergo the hardships of the spiritual path because our essence is already Buddha. It is already perfectly realized. If it were not, practice would be pointless. The process is like refining ore that you know has gold in it. You work long and hard to extract the gold from the rock, but if you knew the rock had no gold in it, why would you try to extract it?”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“Samantabhadra (Tib. Kuntuzangpo), the primordial Buddha, and Buddha Shakyamuni both said that the tathagatagarbha, the buddha essence, is intrinsically present in all animate beings. It is not that some have it and some do not. Every creature that lives has the buddha essence.

If this is so, is there any difference between buddhas and sentient beings? There is one difference, but it is not in their true nature. Every being is Buddha. Buddhas, however, have applied the methods and realized their true nature. They have become buddhas by purifying all their obscurations and karmic afflictions. They have removed all negative habits through joyous effort (Tib. brtson ‘grus, pronounced “tsondru”) and by applying different techniques and practices.

Although sentient beings desire happiness and the state of freedom and bliss, they continue accumulating negative causes, obscurations and karmic afflictions. They just sink deeper into ignorance which is the lack of awareness of their true nature. That is the only difference between buddhas and sentient beings.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

I have not written much here of late because I have very little I want to say. My time and thoughts are more and more spent on practice.

I have never wished for Telegram clout, and I only really started this channel to dialogue with my friends. I certainly have no desire to present my own ideas or project anymore.

Realising how little I know has created in me the firm determination to look inwards. As such, things like politics have become much less interesting to me.

However, for those who are politically minded, I think it is important to realise that we deserve everything we go through. There is not a single thing happening to our countries, or ourselves, that we did not create the causes for in the past.

It's your fault. You made this for yourself.

That is the inviolable Law of Karma manifesting through dependent origination.

When Shariputra asked Ashvajit what it was the Buddha taught, Ashvajit said:

ye dharmā hetu-prabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgato hy avadat
teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃ vādī mahāśramaṇaḥ

"All phenomena arise from causes, the Tathagata has taught these causes, and the means of their cessation, thus teaches the great ascetic."

This is so profound that it became a mantra used by all Buddhist schools to understand the essence of the Buddha's teaching.

Therefore, if you wish to put an end to the suffering of yourself, your family, nation and the world, you have no choice but to work on your own mind.

If you try to get retribution without cultivating universal love within yourself, you simply perpetuate the cycle of samsara. When you understand that all beings are seeking happiness, you can successfully forgive them for the horrific mistakes they make, and therefore overcome the delusion of inherent self that causes suffering for yourself and everyone around you.

To rise above the cycle is the only way to end it.

This is true for you, as well as everyone you wish to protect.

«The reality of your own Self-nature is the absence of cause and effect. Nirvana is the essence of consciousness. Our consciousness is Buddha. Our consciousness is the full, clear, calm radiance. You may think you can find Buddha or Enlightenment somewhere outside of consciousness (mind), but there is no such place.
...
If you want to find Buddhahood, truly, you have to enlighten your own nature. Your own nature is the Buddha. Buddha is within you. He is the realization of Non-action.
If you don't see your nature, you will be entangled in delusion all your life. If you don't see your nature and flounder around all day looking elsewhere, you'll never find the Buddha. The truth is that there is nothing there to look for. But to reach this realization you need a teacher, you should try and work hard to master your consciousness and attain Liberation.
Life and death are important. Don't waste your time! Self-deception is not beneficial. Even if you have mountains of jewels and servants as many as grains of sand in the Ganges, you see them only when your eyes are open. But when your eyes are closed forever, what will you see? You must realize that everything you see is like a dream and an illusion».

Bodhidharma, from «Sermon on the Blood Vessel»

“It is important to realize that all the happiness and suffering, joy and sorrow you are experiencing now have not been decided for you by gods such as Indra, Brahma, and Vishnu, nor have they come about on their own. They are the natural result of your own past actions. So make a promise that even if the whole world rises up as your enemy, you will not wander from the absolute nature. Then, even if someone appears to threaten your life, if you can remain in equanimity within the recognition of the absolute nature, that enemy will be unable to harm you. But if you fall into delusion, thinking that enemies exist truly, and as a result you react by trying to defeat them and to protect others who arouse attachment in you, then you will surely be betraying the Buddhas of the past, present, and future.

Be mindful at all times of what is right and what is not; and be vigilant as to whether you are actually acting accordingly. Mindfulness and vigilance will then be your teachers.”

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

“It is not exactly clear how Westerners got the idea that married couples, or, for that matter, any couple having a lot of desire for each other, could practice the Vajrayana techniques taken from tantric Buddhism or some other spiritual tradition. They try to visualize themselves as deities but then engage in an ordinary sexual act based on attachment/desire. They want an experience of something more blissful than ever before. This is one of the biggest mistakes a person can make. This activity does not even approximate the practices we are discussing.

One who attempts tantric practices in this way, lacking the proper prerequisites and permission from the vajra guru, just accumulates causes for lower rebirtheven, perhaps, causes for the lowest possible rebirth, since this is to misuse and disrespect pure Dharma practice. Pure Dharma has nothing to do with ordinary sexual desire.

Since deities do not have desires, it is a grave error to visualize oneself as a deity to achieve purposes conceived by a desiring mind. A yogi or yogini who practices with a partner must not lose even one drop of essential fluid and must definitely be free of desire or attachment. To perform these secret practices, a practitioner must be on a very high level and must practice solely for the sake of sentient beings. When a practitioner arrives at this level of practice, it is very wonderful, but one must wait until the right time arrives.

The practices of union are the most secret for a number of reasons. These practices are protected with secrecy because, of all desirable activities, human beings have the greatest desire for sex, and this desire causes them to misuse and misinterpret the practices.

If human beings, motivated by sexual desire, attempt these most advanced techniques without being qualified, they will definitely suffer in lower rebirths. This is, in fact, one of the fastest ways to be born into the lower realms. These practices are kept secret to prevent their being misused.

You must understand that the Vajrayana practices are the swiftest of all Buddhist teachings and the most secret. They are protected ever so carefully by the protector deities (dharmapalas). If you misuse these practices, the dharmapalas create obstacles for you and your teachers. For instance, a potentially long life could be shortened.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

The Gods visit the Virtuous. The Bodhisatta is a childless king and he asks his queen to pray for a son. Sakka hears her prayer and goes to question her about her virtues. Hearing her answers he readily grants her request.

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“You should know that rigpa, the primordial wisdom nature which is the nature of the mind, has nothing to do with personality or the conceptual mind. It is the essential nature of each and every human being, without exception, never changing. This nature cannot be changed by the different forms, personalities and characteristics that a person assumes as a wanderer in cyclic existence. It cannot be changed because it is unborn and unceasing. It is the nature as it always has been and always will be. To the degree that you are unfamiliar with this understanding, you are unlikely to have recognized the original nature.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“If the mind wanders even the tiniest bit when you are reciting the mantra, your practice will accomplish nothing. The obscurations of your speech might diminish from reciting the mantra in this fashion, but you will certainly not accomplish the results you are seeking through the sadhana.

A quote from Guru Rinpoche says, “A person who experiences mental wandering while performing vajra recitation will never achieve any result, even from reciting the mantra for an eon of time.”

Of course, this is not surprising. If, while speaking to someone, you fail to look them in the face and instead allow your vision to wander everywhere else, you cannot establish the mental, visual or personal contact that would make your conversation a meaningful exchange. Similarly, if you recite mantra with a wandering mind, you cannot comprehend the substance of the mantra. So how can you expect to achieve results? You are just playing a game.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“Whenever you are afflicted by sentient beings or anything else, if you habituate your mind to dwelling on suffering only, even the most insignificant circum­stance will bring forth great distress. This is because whatever attitude you cultivate towards felicity and adversity will, by nature, grow stronger. Thus, as the power of gradual habituation increases, eventually virtually everything that appears will lead to misery, and there will be no possibility of happiness.

By not recognizing that this is due to your own mental habits, you blame this on external circum­stances, and eventually the flames of hatred, evil actions, suffering and so on spread endlessly. Thus, appearances arise as enemies. The reason why sen­tient beings of this corrupt era are afflicted by suffer­ing stems from our interior powers of discrimination; so this calls for precise understanding.

Recognize again and again the pointlessness and great detriment of all the miserable anxiety you expe­rience through regarding adversity as being purely unfavorable. And thoroughly accustom yourself to the powerful anticipation, "From now on, whatever kind of adversity arises, I shall not quail." In this way practice cultivating great courage. If adversity can be corrected, there is no need to be despondent; and, if it cannot be remedied, there is no benefit even if one becomes unhappy.

If you do not react with anxiety, due to the strength of your mind, it will be easy to experience and handle even great adversity as if it were as light and flimsy as cotton wool. On the other hand, if you react with anxiety, you will become unbearably oppressed with overwhelming misery in the face of even minor adversity. For example, while thinking about a gorgeous woman (or man), even if you try to stop desire, you just wear yourself out.

Likewise, by engrossing your­self in the miserable aspects of some adverse situa­tion, you will be unable to develop any sense of fortitude. Thus, as in the instructions on guarding the doors of the senses, in the event of adversity you should not become engrossed in its characteristics; rather, get used to placing your mind in its natural state and let it apprehend its own nature.”

Jigme Tenpe Nyima

“To sum up: In order not only to prevent all unfavor­able circumstances and adversity from afflicting your mind, but to cause them to elicit a sense of good cheer, you should put a stop to experiences of aversion toward both inner and outer obstacles - illness as well as enemies, spirits, vicious gossip, etc. Practice seeing everything solely in an agreeable way. For that to happen, you should stop seeing those harmful situa­tions as something wrong, but give all your effort to seeing them as valuable. For it is the way our minds apprehend situations that makes them agreeable or disagreeable. For example, those who reflect at length on the faults of worldly amusements become increas­ingly perturbed the more they are surrounded by admiring people and enjoyments; whereas those who regard worldly amusements as beneficial aspire to increase them.

By training in this way, you will become gentle-minded, easy-going, and courageous; there will be no obstacles to your spiritual practice; all unfavorable circumstances will arise as splendid and auspicious; and your mind will continually be content with the joy of serenity. To follow a spiritual path in a degen­erate era, such armor as this is indispensable.

Then, since you are free of the suffering of anxiety, other types of misery also vanish, like weapons falling from the hands of soldiers; and even illnesses, etc. tend to disappear of their own accord. We can learn from the saints of the past who say, "By not becoming distressed at anything and not succumbing to unhap­piness, your mind will not become troubled; since it is undisturbed, your nervous system will not become disturbed; due to that, the other elements of your body will not come into disequilibrium; as a result, your mind will not become m troubled, etc., and the wheel of well-being spins on."

They also say, "Just as birds find horses and don­ keys with sores on their backs easy prey, so do ma­levolent spirits find an easy target in people with fearful dispositions, but it is hard for them to over­ come people of steady character."

Therefore, the wise see that all adversity and felic­ity depends on the mind, and they seek happiness within the mind. Since they have the complete causes of happiness within them, they do not rely on exter­nals. They are not afflicted by the harms of sentient beings or anything else, and this remains true even at the time of death. They are always free.”

Jigme Tenpe Nyima

“Whenever you are afflicted by another being or by anything at all, if you habituate your mind to dwell­ing on suffering only, then even the most insignifi­cant, tiny circumstance will bring forth great distress.

This occurs because you always want to accomplish your own needs and fulfill your own desires, which are primarily the eight worldly concerns, leading to non-virtue. This is your habituation. Since your mind is habituated to dwelling on negativity, if some small thing happens, some small affliction, then you imme­diately grasp onto this, shaping it into something very, very big. Even though initially it's something very insignificant, you allow it to bring you a huge amount of distress.

This happens because, whatever attitude is being cultivated towards happiness or adversity, by nature it will grow stronger. This is something that you become accustomed to. For instance, most habits are considered to be some­what harmful. Perhaps you like to eat hot chili, be­cause you have cultivated an attitude to partake of hot chili. But in fact it burns your tongue; it makes you sweat; it burns holes in your stomach; and on and on. Nevertheless, it is your habit, so you keep eating it.

Perhaps you like to drink liquor or have another habit such as this, which may actually be shortening your life, but in fact you keep on partaking of it, all the while knowing that it's really harming you. Because you are so attracted to it, you think it's something good. The desire is stronger than knowing what the result will be, which is suffering. Because the habit or desire is so strong, the suffering is not considered to be great.

The strength of the mind can never be underestimated; it is the single most powerful force in existence. Any habituation will continue to increase, depending upon which direction it is headed. Even­tually everything will lead to that. Keeping this in mind, as the gradual habituation increases in the case of suffering, virtually everything that appears will eventually lead to misery.

Even the most insignificant event will be the cause for much greater misery. Eventually there will be no possibility for happiness at all. This is something important to bear in mind in terms of your close relationships and family situations. If you don't recognize that this is due to your own mental habits, you will blame it on external circum­stances.

Eventually the flames of hatred, non-virtue, and suffering will spread on endlessly, because you continue to believe that the problem arises from exter­nal circumstances.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“Suffering is very kind to you. If you don't have suffering, you will not turn from attraction to cyclic existence, which means you will never be free. It's as simple as that. Sometimes it's very difficult to take a foul-tasting medicine, for instance Chinese medicinal tea. You take it because you know that it will benefit you. How difficult is it to undergo surgery, yet you know that there's a chance that your illness may be cured. Just like that, it's extremely difficult to accomplish dharma.

How could it be otherwise? Yet, if you understand that this suffering, although severe, is something agreeable to what your goal is and, in fact, can be endured quite easily by facing adversity with a sense of good cheer, your inability to endure physical pain will be overcome. Because one has a sense of mental well-being, which means mental strength, the mind becomes strong and begins to feel peaceful or happy about the practice. That alone makes the physical pain seem like something imperceptible. Then the inability for physical pain to afflict the mind is achieved. This is something that is a prerequisite for someone who is going to go deeper into dharma practice, particularly the ability to overcome illness by means of inner strength.

This indicates that one is able to overcome physical pain through one's sense of mental well­ being, suggesting that this is also the same way to overcome enemies, demonic force possession, and on and on.

What is also being brought out here is that revers­ing this attitude of aversion towards adversity is the basis for causing adversity to arise as the spiritual path. As long as your mind is still troubled with anxiety and despair, it's impossible for adversity to be brought onto the path. If the mind is troubled and you're trying to force yourself to endure suffering, that's not going to work. The only way that it will work is if you are able to consider the points of this training, to apply them to each experience, and to train gradually.

Initially you must practice with some minor adver­sity. Thaťs a very important point. Gradually it will become easier, until finally you will be able to practice in the face of great adversity. You must never try to practice in the face of great adversity as a beginner.

As you develop each virtue on the path, it's just like developing patience. First, you learn to be patient with yourself. Once you've been able to see some effective positive results and unprecedented benefits, then you can practice patience with your spouse, family, friends, and so forth. Once you see benefits there, you can practice patience with other objects that are more difficult to practice with. Training in generosity may begin with something as simple as giving something from the right hand to the left hand and back to the right hand, then giving it to the hand of another, like your spouse or your child, and then to the hand of a friend, and eventually to the hand of a stranger. Like this, minor moves to major.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“If at first something seems as though it may be harmful, if you can turn from aversion and open yourself to its potency to become the path, your strength on the path will surely increase. In order for all this to happen, you simply have to stop seeing circumstances as harmful situations or as something that is wrong. Give all your effort towards practicing to see it as something that is valuable.

Based on that, you develop a sense of good cheer. Trying to practice this is the essence of the first aspect of the teaching on the transformation of adversity into the path.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“Whatever is grasped by mental designation is the imaginary nature. Non-entities and the appearances of objects arising in the mind are imaginary.

The relationship between name and object, such as grasping the name as the object, or mistaking the object as the name, are also imaginary.

Outer, inner, fringe and center; big and small; good and bad; space and time, and so on - whatever is grasped by thought is imaginary in nature.”

~ Arya Taranatha

“Those who are wise see that all experiences of adversity and felicity depend upon the mind. They seek happiness that arises from within the mind. They realize then that all the causes for happiness come from within themselves, and no longer need to be dependent upon external circumstances.

They achieve what is called personal freedom or self-control. They're not afflicted by the harms of other sentient beings. If you have personal power or freedom, then this will be something that holds true even at the time of death. You are always free, because you are free.

Without accomplishing this, you are like the foolish whose minds never become steady. There will be an endless flood of obstacles that seem to be plaguing you which go on and on. The foolish then go running after external objects in their pursuit of happiness. Whatever happiness they achieve is something that leads to yet more suffering. There arises an inability to be satisfied because, whenever you think happiness arises due to external events, this will be endless.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“The view is to believe in and understand the buddha nature, the essence of all the buddhas. If one knows the buddha nature, then that is to know the unchanging essence which is free from any limitation, the original primordial nature of the mind as it is. This is not like a light bulb that suddenly comes on or something that is newly acquired. It is the nature as it has always been and always will be: primordially perfect. To recognize the buddha nature is the view.

To fail to recognize the buddha nature is to deviate into confusion. If you recognize your buddha nature, this is the same as having an audience with all the buddhas. You will meet face to face with all your root teachers.

Where is it? How can you see it? Why don't you see it? You are in a state of obscurity which is only temporary, like a suddenly-arising condition such as the clouds that obscure the sun. You know the sun is there, as it always is; but you cannot see it, because it is temporarily covered by clouds. That does not mean the sun is no longer there. Like that, while you are in this sudden condition of habituation with karmic afflictions and obscurations, you must train on the path to remove them.

The path is practiced only to remove obscurations and to accumulate merit, so that you can realize your own nature. When the wind comes along and blows the clouds away, the sun is then revealed. Such is the potency of the path through which the obscurations dissolve. The buddha nature is revealed.”

Gyatrul Rinpoche

“Apart from the power of mental imprints, (phe­nomena) do not exist.
All avenues of appearances, negative and affir­mative,
Are dream-like, though they are apprehended as external phenomena.”

Lochen Dharma Shri

"First, if you want to practice the teachings, but have not done so, you have not yet made a deep enough commitment. With the recklessness of a lunatic, you must make a radical decision: to listen to the advice of a qualified spiritual master and to no one else.

"Having made this deep commitment, begin the preliminary practices, using the “four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma” in order to tame your mind.

"Next, no matter what happens to you, good or bad, recognize that ordinary worldly preoccupations do not have the slightest meaning whatsoever, not even so much as a tiny seed of sesame.

"Until you are able to regard the ordinary affairs of samsara with a kind of natural revulsion—like someone sick with hepatitis served a pile of greasy food—you are likely to turn into a hyperactive renunciant, like an ox with its tail caught in a door.

"If you’re motivated to give up ordinary activities just from a fleeting impulse of renunciation, you’ll wind up a failed “realized yogi,” a jaded “great meditator,” like someone who wastes his time soaking hard, ruined boots in water, hoping someday they’ll soften again.

"Until you have completely come to understand the “four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma” and have created a real capacity to renounce ordinary life, don’t even bother mouthing mantras and giving up ordinary activities to do practice. This is important.

"Conversely, once you begin to experience an unwavering weariness with samsara, an authentic sense of renunciation, immutable devotion and strong sense of self-confidence, you have taken the first step: adamantine freedom from the opinions of others.

"This is the time to distance yourself from friends and from enemies, to give up plans, to ignore everything that you were supposed to get done, unswayed by the opinions of your friends or partners. This is the time to turn a deaf ear to both your superiors and your subordinates. This is the time to decide, on your own, to take up the reins of your destiny and make your escape, like a wild animal caught in a trap, working to set itself free...

"...Also, unless you are propelled along the path by the life force of constant diligence and relentless perseverance, even though you are knowledgeable about the noscriptures of the nine vehicles, this will not result in attaining buddhahood in a single lifetime.

"However, take confidence in knowing that, one day, merely by having heard the words the Three Jewels, you will attain the enlightened state."

— Patrul Rinpoche, Enlightened Vagabond

“All animate and inanimate phenomena, including oneself and others, and things that are designated and characterized as obstacles, demons and hindrances, seem to be truly existent. However, apart from the deceptive appearances of one's own mind, there is nothing whatever that exists in reality. Things do indeed appear, but they are not real. Regard these as illusory hallucinations, like the appearances of a dream which do not, in fact, exist, and see them simply as random, unconnected appearances.”

Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje