"Since everything is but an apparition, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter."

Longchenpa

"In the world of nature there always exists an appropriate order and everything has its own function. If this order is disturbed, the functioning is interrupted and the whole order will go to ruin."

Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai

"The mind has, in general, two aspects, stillness and movement. Sometimes, the mind is quiet and free from thoughts, like a calm pool; this is stillness. Eventually, thoughts are bound to arise in it; this is movement. In truth, however, although in a sense there is a movement of thoughts within the stillness, there is actually no difference between these two states — just as the nature of stillness is voidness, the nature of movement is also voidness. Stillness and movement are merely two names for the one mind."

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

"Moral concepts practiced without understanding can be the greatest of obstacles to fulfilling the Bodhisattva's vow of uncompromising compassion. Do not cultivate virtue and renounce vice. Rather, learn to accept all things as they arise. Penetrate the essence of each experience until you have achieved the one taste.

"While medicine heals and poison kills,
Their ultimate essence is the same.
Both positive and negative qualities
Are aids on the path —
The sage rejects nothing.
Yet the unrealised fool
Five times poisoned
Is lost forever in samsara."

— Mahasiddha Ghantapa

"Misery is one truth of life. It arises because of craving and aversion, which in turn arise from taṇhā (tṛśṇā). If these causes are eradicated, then the root cause of misery is eradicated. For this, there is a practical technique, a path, and a way: an Eightfold Path, which teaches one, while living a moral and upright life, to master one’s mind and to develop paññā (experiential wisdom). If one practises paññā (prajñā), then new impurities do not arise in the mind and the old stock of impurities is automatically removed. After all, what is the eradication of suffering? It is a direct result of purifying the mind, the experience of nibbāna (nirvāṇa). Misery, its cause, its eradication and the path of its eradication are called Noble Truths of suffering. The final aim of the teaching of the Buddha is to eradicate all suffering."

Acharya S.N. Goenka

"[...] today ārya merely denotes a caste or race. However, in the days of the Buddha, ārya denoted not simply caste or race but, rather, qualities. If a person of any race, caste or class—walking on the path of the Dhamma (Universal Law) by the development of morality, mastery over the mind and experiential wisdom—attained the first of the four stages of liberation, he was called an Ārya (a Noble One). This stage is called sotāpanna (stream-enterer)—that is, this person has entered the stream of complete liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Such a person is partially liberated. One is totally freed from the possibility of future lives in the lower worlds because of eradication of all kammas (karmas) that would take one to such lower worlds even though one still has some kammas left which will result in a maximum of seven lives before final liberation from all rebirth. Hence, one is ennoscriptd to the epithet of ārya. Continuing the practice of Vipassana, the practitioner successively becomes a sakadāgāmī (once-returner), anāgāmī (non-returner) and finally attains the state of an arahat (fully liberated being). Thus, ārya-satya (Noble Truth) is a truth through the experience of which anyone can become an ārya—noble person."

Acharya S.N Goenka

"If one practises only sīla (morality), the starting point of this pure path of Dhamma, one becomes happy in this life and gets divine happiness after death. If one practises the middle part of Dhamma, samādhi (concentration of mind), one enjoys the bliss of absorption and after death gets brahmic happiness. And if one gets rid of all the kammas (conditionings) through the practice of paññā (penetrating wisdom)—the final part of the Path—then one experiences the infinite happiness of nibbāna and after death attains the eternal, permanent and deathless state. In this manner the Noble Eightfold Path is absolutely complete; there is no need to add anything to it. It is totally pure; it contains no impurity that needs to be removed."

Acharya S.N Goenka

"Deities, as we see them, are not essentially superior individuals living in faraway worlds that sometimes come to the rescue of human beings, even if their manifestations may give that impression. In truth, if we realize the true nature of our minds, the deities reveal themselves as being not different from our own minds. As long as we do not realize it and live in the duality I/other, the deities enter the play of duality and a relationship is established between these two poles of manifestation, I and the deity.

Let us suppose that in a dream we meet a deity. We would be sure of the individual existence of that deity. Also, we would be sure of the reality of the "I" who, upon seeing the deity, would feel joy and devotion. However, in truth, the person perceiving the deity and the deity would both be manifestations from the same inexpressible essence, the mind itself. In the same way, for those who live on a relative level, the deities appear on a relative level without being separated from their essence, which is none other than the essence of the mind."

Bokar Rinpoche

"We have explained that, to benefit beings, fully awakened beings, such as the buddhas, spontaneously assume, in a non-intentional way, various forms on the level of pure manifestation normally inaccessible to ordinary human beings. They are called the Body of Enjoyment [Sambhogakaya]. These forms can be diversified: male, female, peaceful, wrathful, and in several aspects. These deities come directly from the compassionate activity of the buddhas. If the deities have a feminine appearance, they are called goddesses.

From a relative point of view, however, some deities are considered the result of a human ascending to the divine. There are men or women who have embarked on the dharma path, rid themselves of all imperfections of the ordinary state, and have seen the qualities of the awakened state bloom within themselves. They have reached a divine state and become "gods" or "goddesses.""

Bokar Rinpoche

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραχμάναι")."

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata

“The Buddha, the great Yogi (mahāyogī), sits on a lotus, [head] bent, listening, and wearing mendicant’s rags. [He possesses] beautiful lotus eyes, has a lotus-shaped mark, and is fixed with a jewel. [He is] established in the world, positioned in Samādhi, his hands [making the] wish-granting and protection [mudrās]. Deva holds a rudrākṣa and a lotus. Thus, [the Mantrin] should worship and meditate upon Buddha, [who] grants the fruits of mokṣa to women”.

Netra Tantra, 13.29-36

About “tantra practitioners” who employ sex as “the ultimate means” in their “tantra”:

“Those who have not been initiated (adikshita), who deny mudras and mantras, who have not done japa and puja, should not use Kula-tattvas (here panchamakara, i.e. meat, wine, fish, roasted grains, sex). Using them like this will lead the sadhaka to the hell”.

“There are a lot of people who, relying on their opinion, reject the tradition of spiritual transmission and, following false teachings, engage merely in imitation and distortion of Kula-dharma.”

“Thus, if merely by consuming wine one could achieve siddhis, then all unworthy people, who enjoy in heavy drinking, should have achieved siddhis. If merely by consuming meat one could attain spiritual purity, then all meat-eaters should have reached sainthood. If mere sexual pleasure with one’s partner could bring to Liberation, then all living beings should have reached it through the attachment to their partners”.

Kulavali-tantra, ch. 8

"If selflessness is demonstrated, the immature grasp to the explanation thinking there is no self. The intelligent on the other hand think "The [self] exists conventionally, there is no doubt."

Nirvana Sūtra

Glory to Heruka Chakrasamvara, beloved of Vajrayogini! You are smeared in ashes and your four faces reveal the enlightened nature of all beings in all directions. Though your limbs are the very links of the dependency of all things, each hand of yours is equipped with those powers that destroy ignorance! O Heruka, you are ever in union with Vajrayogini, and so you as the wheel of supreme bliss liberate all beings from dualities while still appearing as the one and the many!

"Karma ou Ação não pode destruir a ignorância visto que não é oposto a ela. Só o Conhecimento ou Jñāna destrói a ignorância como a densa escuridão é destruída pela luz.
Por meio da ação alguém satisfaz seus desejos. Portanto a ação está em harmonia com a ignorância e não pode, portanto, destruí-la diretamente."

Adi Sankarancharya

"Thereupon, magically influenced by the Buddha, the venerable Sariputra had this thought: "If the buddha-field is pure only to the extent that the mind of the bodhisattva is pure, then, when Sakyamuni Buddha was engaged in the career of the bodhisattva, his mind must have been impure. Otherwise, how could this buddha-field appear to be so impure?"

The Buddha, knowing telepathically the thought of venerable Sariputra, said to him, "What do you think, Sariputra? Is it because the sun and moon are impure that those
blind from birth do not see them?"

Sariputra replied, "No, Lord. It is not so. The fault lies with those blind from birth, and not with the sun and moon."

The Buddha declared, "In the same way, Sariputra, the fact that some living beings do not behold the splendid display of virtues of the buddha-field of the Tathagata is due to their own ignorance. It is not the fault of the Tathagata. Sariputra, the buddhafield of the Tathagata is pure, but you do not see it."

Vimalakirti Sutra

"Termas are texts uttered by Padmasambhava in the 8th century in Tibet, then hidden to be discovered later by predestined "terma discoverers," in an epoch that would need them. These termas may take the form of materially written texts, hidden in rocks, walls, or other places, or directly given to the discoverer by a deity. They also can be revealed in the mind. In that case, they are called gongters, as was the case of the Tara terma received by Chogyur Lingpa."

Bokar Rinpoche

"It is true that from the standpoint of ultimate reality, the deity and our mind are one; but we also must understand that from this ultimate point of view, there is neither suffering nor fear. In reality, that which appears now as suffering, fear, and danger is nothing else but a manifestation of our mind. Just as our mind, during a dream, can create appearances that cause us to suffer, threaten us, or make us afraid.

However, as long as we have not realized ultimate reality, we are exposed to suffering and fear that we conceive as real. It is in this relative context that the deity, who also appears to us momentarily as outside ourselves, brings us help when we pray to her.

This prayer, in a relative sense, is necessary as long as we remain in the relative level. The ultimate prayer is to dwell in ultimate truth, the nature of mind, beyond any duality, where the mind, appearances, and deities are revealed to be of a single essence.

Until we attain this level, while we perceive suffering and fear as real, we also call upon a ,deity that we perceive as existing outside of us. However, she really brings help and protection.

It is necessary to differentiate between the realization of nonduality and the present state in which all our experience is lived in a constant subject/object duality."

Bokar Rinpoche

"Individual karmas are varied and of different kinds. Some karmas may not be modified. In this case, if we carry the karma for such a painful event to occur, it will occur. If, on the contrary, we do not have the karma for such a happy circumstance to manifest, it will not manifest. The prayer will hardly be able to modify things.

When we say that the law of karma is infallible, it means that a cause will necessarily produce its effect if nothing prevents it from happening. But if new elements come into play, a change is possible. Sincere devotion and prayer, as well as regret of past negative acts, are factors that can modify karma. There are profound means related to genuinely awakened beings or deities like Tara. That is why these means allow purification to change karma. Besides putting into work such factors, karma effectively produces its effects in an infallible way.

The seed of a weed will grow in an infallible way, unless we pull out the young sprout."

Bokar Rinpoche

Vaishnavas at Krishna temple offering Guru Puja to the Dalai Lama, and performing Abhisheka (ritual bathing) of his feet.