Rinpoche Quotes & Sayings

Don't let any emotional thought concerning success or failure, fame or gain, overtake you, and don't dwell upon them. Give up your personal shortcomings, such as foolish talk, distracting activities, and absentmindedness. Train in being totally gentle in all physical, verbal, or mental activities. Don't ponder the flaws of others; think instead of their good sides. — Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Letting go of fixation is effectively a process of learning to be free, because every time we let go of something, we become free of it. Whatever we fixate upon limits us because fixation makes us dependent upon something other than ourselves. Each time we let go of something, we experience another level of freedom. — Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

He past is only an unreliable memory held in the present. The future is only a projection of our present conceptions. The present itself vanishes as soon as we try to grasp it. So why bother with attempting to establish an illusion of solid ground?.. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Simply allow your thoughts and experiences to come and go, without ever grasping at them. — Dilgo Khyentse 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

As Trungpa Rinpoche put it, "Everybody loves something, even if it's only tortillas." Bodhichitta — Pema Chodron

Stupas protect beings from 5 major disasters: war, epidemic diseases, famine, pollution, n poverty. — Akong Rinpoche

Achala, worrying and scheming about your next life, before you have even completed this one, is not a good practice. Rinpoche — Daniel Prokop

Give Happiness, Patience, kindness, and Care, and the PAIN goes away.
Then only LOVE remains ... — Tsem Tulku Rinpoche

A mantra is like meeting the Buddha or Bodhisattva himself. — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

For most of us, karma and negative emotions obscure the ability to see our own intrinsic nature, and the nature of reality. As a result we clutch on to happiness and suffering as real, and in our unskillful and ignorant actions go on sowing the seeds of our next birth. Our actions keep us bound to the continuous cycle of worldly existence, to the endless round of birth and death. So everything is at risk in how we live now at this very moment: How we live now can cost us our entire future. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Dudjom Rinpoche has said, "The point of patience is to train so that our altruistic attitude is immovable and irrepressible in the face of those who hurt us with their ingratitude and so forth. — Lodro Rinzler

I shall never forget when Dudjom Rinpoche, in a moment of intimacy, leaned toward me and said in his soft, hoarse, slightly high-pitched voice: "You know, don't you, that actually all these things around us go away, just go away ... " With — Sogyal Rinpoche

If we allow our thoughts to arise and dissolve by themselves,
they will pass through our mind as a bird flies through the sky,
without leaving a trace. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

If one does not remember death, one does not remember Dharma. — Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

Our problems, all come from nothing; they are all based on a misunderstanding that does not even exist. — Sogyal Rinpoche

I thought I heard a cow mooing in Seese's back yard. Later on, later down the road, as they say, I would learn that this was the sound of the Rinpoche chanting some ancient prayer. But, at that moment, it sounded to me very much like a mooing cow. — Roland Merullo

To wish happiness for others, even for those who want to do us harm, is the source of consummate happiness. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

When a rainbow appears vividly in the sky, you can see its beautiful colors, yet you could not wear as clothing or put it on as an ornament. It arises through the conjunction of various factors, but there is nothing about it that can be grasped. Likewise, thoughts that arise in the mind have no tangible existence or intrinsic solidity. There is no logical reason why thoughts, which have no substance, should have so much power over you, nor is there any reason why you should become their slave. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Once you have the View, although the delusory perceptions of samsara may arise in your mind, you will be like the sky; when a rainbow appears in front of it, it's not particularly flattered, and when the clouds appear, it's not particularly disappointed either. There is a deep sense of contentment. You chuckle from inside as you see the facade of samsara and nirvana; the View will keep you constantly amused, with a little inner smile bubbling away all the time. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

In Tibet there were practitioners in retreat who so strongly reflected on impermanence that they would not wash their dishes after supper. - PALTRUL RINPOCHE'S SACRED WORD — Dalai Lama XIV

When we look in the mirror, the one thing we don't want to see is an ordinary human being. — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

If you meditate in perfect peace and then flash someone an irritable look because they make noise or their child cries, you are entirely missing the point. — Khandro Rinpoche

If everything were permanent, singular, or independent, nothing would change. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

If you don't try to stop whatever is going on in your mind, but merely observe it, eventually you'll begin to feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, a vast sense of openness within your mind - which is in fact your natural mind, the naturally unperturbed background against which various thoughts come and go. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

A real miracle, he said, was if someone could liberate just one negative emotion. More — Sogyal Rinpoche

Don't let us take doubts with exaggerated seriousness nor let them grow out of proportion, or become black-and-white or fanatical about them. What we need to learn is how slowly to change our culturally conditioned and passionate involvement with doubt into a free, humorous, and compassionate one. This means giving doubts time, and giving ourselves time to find answers to our questions that are not merely intellectual or "philosophical," but living and real and genuine and workable. Doubts cannot resolve themselves immediately; but if we are patient a space can be created within us, in which doubts can be carefully and objectively examined, unraveled, dissolved, and healed. What we lack, especially in this culture, is the right undistracted and richly spacious environment of the mind, which can only be created through sustained meditation practice, and in which insights can be given the change slowly to mature and ripen. 129-130 — Sogyal Rinpoche

For arousing compassion, the nineteenth-century yogi Patrul Rinpoche suggested imagining beings in torment - an animal about to be slaughtered, a person awaiting execution. To make it more immediate, he recommended imagining ourselves in their place. Particularly painful is his image of a mother with no arms watching as a raging river sweeps her child away. To contact the suffering of another being fully and directly is as painful as being in the woman's shoes. — Pema Chodron

You cannot simply take a mala from someone else and start using it. When you buy a mala you have to make sure that it accords with the advice we have just discussed, and then before you use a mala - whether it is old or new - you should bless it. How do we bless the mala? There are different methods for blessing a mala, and some are more elaborate than others. In Buddhism there are two types of conduct: elaborate and simple. Elaborate conduct, for example, involves having many thangkas, statues, and lots of offerings, such as flowers and so forth. However, Buddhism is also very practical, and so there are more simple forms of practice where you utilize visualization. However, you should not use unelaborated versions of practice simply out of laziness. Making offerings are an important part of practice since these actions accumulate merit, and it is merit that brings about our happiness. People often refer to luck and fortune, but really — Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche

This world can seem marvelously convincing until death collapses the illusion and evicts us from our hiding place. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Our society promotes cleverness instead of wisdom, and celebrates the most superficial, harsh, and least useful aspects of our intelligence. — Sogyal Rinpoche

What is the mind? It is a phenomenon that is not body, not substantial, has no form, no shape, no color, but, like a mirror, can clearly reflect objects — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Being carefree, you can fit in anywhere. If you're not carefree you keep on bumping up against things. Your life becomes so narrow, so tight; it gets very claustrophobic. Carefree means being wide open from within, not constricted. Carefree doesn't mean careless. It is not that you don't care about others, not that you don't have compassion or are unfriendly. Carefree is being really simple, from the inside. Dignity is not conceit but rather what shines forth from this carefree confidence. — Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Anyen Rinpoche is a compassionate embodiment of wisdom. The skillful teachings in The Tibetan Yoga of Breath will be a source of peace and happiness for many in these troubled times, for which I am very grateful. — Garchen Rinpoche

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

Once an old woman came to Buddha and asked him how to meditate. He told her to remain aware of every movement of her hands as she drew the water from the well, knowing that if she did, she would soon find herself in that state of alert and spacious calm that is meditation. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Practicing discipline involves continually working to find space in our patterns, to find the gaps in the images we hold about ourselves. It also means finding the gaps in our ideas about others, releasing images that we hold about a manager, a coworker, a friend, or a partner. — Tsoknyi Rinpoche

We cannot be fearful all the time; we have to rise above our fear, whatever is to happen to us, however our conditions may challenge us. To be fearless is a decision that one must make. And this fearlessness becomes the fundamental ground of nonviolence. — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Even though the meditator may leave the meditation, the meditation will not leave the meditator. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha. — Sogyal Rinpoche

When you transform your mind, everything you experience is transformed. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Buddhist monk Sogyal Rinpoche put it this way: "Perhaps it is only those who understand just how fragile life is who know how precious it is. — Lionel Fisher

Meditation is really quite simple. All we have to do is embrace each experience with awareness and open our hearts fully to the present moment. When we are completely at ease with our own being, the ripples of awareness naturally spread out in all directions, touching the lives of everyone we meet. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

we are all each other's teacher. — Arjia Rinpoche

Attachment is the main thing that is blocking your path towards enlightenment. — Garchen Rinpoche

The only cause of happiness is love. The only cause of suffering is self grasping. — Garchen Rinpoche

More important than finding the teacher is finding and following the truth of the teaching ... — Sogyal Rinpoche

All experience and phenomena are understood to be a dream, this should not be just an intellectual understanding, but a vivid and lucid experience ... Genuine integration of this point produces a profound change in the individual's response to the world. Grasping and aversion is greatly diminished, and the emotional tangles that once seemed so compelling are experienced as the tug of dream stories, and no more. — Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

If you receive empowerment, it's about bodhicitta. If you receive teachings, it's about bodhicitta. If you practice teachings, it's about bodhicitta. Everything comes down to bodhicitta. The essence of practice is about bodhicitta. When you sit down to do your practice, what you practice is bodhicitta. — Garchen Rinpoche

MY teacher Trungpa Rinpoche encouraged us to lead our lives as an experiment, a suggestion that has been very important to me. — Pema Chodron

Every person whose heart is moved by love and compassion, who deeply and sincerely acts for the benefit of others without concern for fame, profit, social position, or recognition expresses the activity of Chenrezig. — Bokar Rinpoche

Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent. — Sogyal Rinpoche

The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live, and die, well; Meditation is the road to enlightenment. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Two aspects to the relative world: relaxation and time management. — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

True confidence comes from realizing the view. — Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

All that we are looking for in life - all the happiness, contentment, and peace of mind - is right here in the present moment. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

But, in fact, impermanence is like some of the people we meet in life - difficult and disturbing at first, but on deeper acquaintance far friendlier and less unnerving than we could have imagined. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Fear appears from a false vision of reality. — Bokar Rinpoche

Whatever state of mind we are in now, whatever kind of person we are now: that's what we will be like at the moment of death, — Sogyal Rinpoche

Once you overcome the hatred within your mind, you will discover that in the world outside, there is no longer any such thing as even a single enemy. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Whether a Buddha comes into the world or not, the nature of things is still the nature of things. The Buddha is someone who realizes what is true, what actually exists. If we want to become enlightened, we simply have to acknowledge or recognize what is. — Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Devotion is the essence of the path, and if we have in mind nothing but the guru and feel nothing but fervent devotion, whatever occurs is perceived as his blessing. If we simply practice with this constantly present devotion, this is prayer itself. When all thoughts are imbued with devotion to the guru, there is a natural confidence that this will take care of whatever may happen. All forms are the guru, all sounds are prayer, and all gross and subtle thoughts arise as devotion. Everything is spontaneously liberated in the absolute nature, like knots untied in the sky. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Each step may seem to take forever, but no matter how uninspired you feel, continue to follow your practice schedule precisely and consistently. This is how we can use our greatest enemy, habit, against itself. — Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

It is important to remember always that the principle of egolessness does not mean that there was an ego in the first place, and the Buddhists did away with it. On the contrary, it means there was never any ego at all to begin with. To realize that is called egolessness. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Planning for the future is like going fishing in a dry gulch; Nothing ever works out as you wanted, so give up all your schemes and ambitions. If you have got to think about something - Make it the uncertainty of the hour of your death . — Sogyal Rinpoche

You don't want to block your thoughts, emotions, and so on; nor do you want to chase after them. If you chase after them, if you let them lead you, they begin to define you, and you lose your ability to respond openly and spontaneously in the present moment. On the other hand, if you attempt to block your thoughts, your mind can become quite tight and small. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

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

Ideally the ultimate retreat is to retreat from the past and the future to always remain in the present. — Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

Any attempt to capture the direct experience of the nature of mind in words is impossible. The best that can be said is that it is immeasurably peaceful and, once stabilized through repeated experience, virtually unshakable. It's an experience of absolute well-being that radiates through all physical, emotional and mental states-even those that might ordinarily be labeled as unpleasant. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Chogyam is spinning, watching the spinning / samsara; If there is no samsara / spinning, there is no Chogyam.
- from the poem Cynical Letter by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche — Trungpa Chogyam

Like a robe wears out over time and turns to rags, life wears out from day to day, from second to second. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

There is a famous saying: "If the mind is not contrived, it is spontaneously blissful, just as water, when not agitated, is by nature transparent and clear". — Sogyal Rinpoche

Well there were other Maharajis, so Neem Karoli Baba was his technical name, like there are a thousand Lamas called Rinpoche. — Surya Das

In our own present world age, one thousand Buddhas will appear. Each one will be accompanied by an emanation of Guru Rinpoche to carry out the Buddha's activities. — Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche

When remaining in awareness itself, every thought movement, no matter what kind, is like a drawing in air. — Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

This dying forces you to look into yourself. And in this, compassion is the only way. Love is the only way. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Don't get too excited. In the end, it's neither good nor bad. — Sogyal Rinpoche

If we start worrying whether our nose is too big or too small, we should think, "What if I had no head? - now that would be a problem!" As long as we have life, we should rejoice. If everything doesn't go exactly as we'd like, we can accept it. If we contemplate impermanence deeply, patience and compassion will arise. We will hold less to the apparent truth of our experience, and the mind will become more flexible. Realizing that one day this body will be buried or burned, we will rejoice in every moment we have rather than make ourselves or others unhappy. — Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

Ultimately we want to use dream to liberate ourselves from all relative conditions, not simply to improve them.. — Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

When death finally comes you will welcome it like an old friend, being aware of how dreamlike and impermanent the pheneomenal world really is. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Like this cup, you are full of opinions and speculations. To see the light of wisdom... you first must empty your cup. — Lama Rinpoche

Humour allows us to see that ultimately things don't make sense. The only thing that truly makes sense is letting go of anything we continue to hold on to. Our ego-mind and emotions are a dramatic illusion. Of course, we all feel that they're real: my drama, your drama, our confrontations. We create these elaborate scenarios and then react to them. But there is nothing really happening outside our mind! This is karma's cosmic joke. You can laugh about the irony of this, or you can stick with your scenario. It's your choice. — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Look at your life. Look at the ways in which you define who you are and what you're capable of achieving. Look at your goals. Look at the pressures applied by the people around you and the culture in which you were raised. Look again. And again. Keep looking until you realize, within your own experience, that you're so much more than who you believe you are. Keep looking until you discover the wondrous heart, the marvelous mind, that is the very basis of your being. — Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Meditation is simply getting to know your mind. — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

To be a spiritual warrior means to develop a special kind of courage, one that is innately intelligent, gentle, and fearless. Spiritual warriors can still be frightened, but even so they are courageous enough to taste suffering, to relate clearly to their fundamental fear, and to draw out without evasion the lessons from difficulties. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Tomorrow or the next life - which comes first, we never know. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Why exactly are we so frightened of death that we avoid looking at it altogether? Somewhere, deep down, we know we cannot avoid facing death forever. We know, in Milarepa's words: "This thing called 'corpse' we dread so much is living with us here and now." — Sogyal Rinpoche

The blessings of stupas are such that they benefit all beings, regardless of their connection and motivation. If one participates in a stupa's construction and ritual activities, or honors the completed stupa with an altruistic resolve to benefit all beings, then the blessings are such that the Buddha himself could not describe them. — Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

To feel overflowing love and almost unbearable compassion for all living creatures is the best way to fulfil the wishes of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Even if for the moment you cannot actually help a sentient being in an external way, meditate on love and compassion constantly over the months and years until compassion is knit inseparably into the very fabric of your mind. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The act of meditation is being spacious. — Sogyal Rinpoche

It's never too early or too late to benefit beings. — Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Everything can be used as an invitation to meditation — Sogyal Rinpoche

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, Those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, Like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge. How pitiful they who cling strongly to concrete reality: Turn your attention within, my heart friends.5 — Sogyal Rinpoche

Dream, rather than let yourself be dreamt — Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Even if they don't know that you are practicing for them, you are helping them and in turn they are helping you. They are actively helping you to develop your compassion, and so to purify and heal yourself. For me, all dying people are teachers, giving to all those who help them a chance to transform themselves through developing their compassion. — Sogyal Rinpoche

The longing for happiness and freedom from suffering
expresses the great natural potential of mind. — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

The absolute truth cannot be realized within the domain of the ordinary mind, and the path beyond the ordinary mind is the path of the heart. — Sogyal Rinpoche

What good are thoughts and emotions-in fact all of our experiences-if not to increase our realization? — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

And when you talk about realization, accomplishment for that matter enlightenment is that when you realize the fundamental essence of your mind. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Ignorance, vulnerability, fear, anger, and desire are expressions of the infinite potential of your buddha nature. There's nothing inherently wrong or right with making such choices. The fruit of Buddhist practice is simply the recognition that these and other mental afflictions are nothing more or less than choices available to us because our real nature is infinite in scope. — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche