Let your heart go out in spontaneous and immeasurable compassion. Sogyal Rinpoche More Quotes by Sogyal Rinpoche More Quotes From Sogyal Rinpoche So often we want happiness, but the very way we pursue it is so clumsy and unskillful that it brings only more sorrow. Usually we assume we must grasp in order to have that something that will ensure our happiness. [...] Learning to live is learning to let go. Sogyal Rinpoche letting-goinspiringorder Ask yourself these two questions: Do I remember at every moment that I am dying, and that everyone and everything else is, and so treat all beings at all times with compassion? Has my understanding of death and impermanence become so keen and so urgent that I am devoting every second to the pursuit of enlightenment? If you can answer "yes" to both of these, then you really understand impermanence. Sogyal Rinpoche compassiontwodeath Our problems, all come from nothing; they are all based on a misunderstanding that does not even exist. Sogyal Rinpoche misunderstandingproblemdoe In meditation take care not to impose anything on the mind, or to tax it. When you meditate there should be no effort to control, and no attempt to be peaceful. Don't be overly solemn or feel that you are taking part in some special ritual; let go even of the idea that you are meditating. Let your body remain as it is, your breath as you find it, and remain in your natural condition of unchanging pure awareness. Sogyal Rinpoche effortletting-goideas Modern civilization is largely devoted to the pursuit of the cult of delusion. There is no general information about the nature of mind. It is hardly ever written about by writers or intellectuals; modern philosophers do not speak of it directly; the majority of scientists deny it could possibly be there at all. It plays no part in popular culture: no one sings about it, no one talks about it in plays, and it's not on TV. We are actually educated into believing that nothing is real beyond what we can perceive with our ordinary senses. Sogyal Rinpoche buddhismrealbelieve What we have to learn, in both meditation and in life, is to be free of attachment to the good experiences, and free of aversion to the negative ones. Sogyal Rinpoche learningattachmentlife It is compassion, then, that is the best protection; it is also, as the great masters of the past have always known, the source of all healing. Sogyal Rinpoche compassionhealingpast The whole of meditation practice can be essentialized into these 3 crucial points: Bring your mind home. Release. And relax! Sogyal Rinpoche meditationpracticehome Meditation is bringing the mind home. Sogyal Rinpoche meditationmindhome Perhaps the deepest reason we are afraid of death is that we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity; but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography", our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit card ... It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are? Sogyal Rinpoche spiritualjobsbelieve The purpose of meditation is to awaken in us the sky-like nature of mind, and to introduce us to that which we really are, our unchanging pure awareness, which underlies the whole of life and death Sogyal Rinpoche life-and-deathmeditationsky The point is not how long you meditate; the point is whether the practice actually brings you to a certain state of mindfulness and presence, where you are a little open and able to connect with your heart essence. And five minutes of wakeful sitting practice is of far greater value than twenty minutes of dozing! Sogyal Rinpoche essencepracticeheart Normally we do not like to think about death. We would rather think about life. Why reflect on death? When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life now... and come to face the truth of your self. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected. Sogyal Rinpoche mirrorsdeaththinking That goodness is what survives death, a fundamental goodness that is in each and every one of us. The whole of our life is a teaching of how to uncover that strong goodness, and a training toward realizing it. Sogyal Rinpoche trainingstrongteaching We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved. Sogyal Rinpoche habitmay Devote the mind to confusion and we know only too well, if we´re honest, that it will become a dark master of confusion, adept in its addictions, subtle and perversely supple in its slaveries. Devote it in meditation to the task of freeing itself from illusion, and we will find that, with time, patience, discipline, and the right training, our mind will begin to unknot itself and know its essential bliss and clarity. Sogyal Rinpoche meditation-practicedisciplinedark The spiritual journey is one of continuous learning and purification. When you know this, you become humble. Sogyal Rinpoche journeyspiritualhumble Without our familiar props, we are faced with just ourselves, a person we do not know, an unnerving stranger with whom we have been living all the time but we never really wanted to meet. Isn't that why we have tried to fill every moment of time with noise and activity, however boring or trivial, to ensure that we are never left in silence with this stranger on our own? Sogyal Rinpoche silencestrangernoise I can't say it strongly enough; to integrate meditation in action is the whole ground and point and purpose of meditation Sogyal Rinpoche purposemeditationaction Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth Sogyal Rinpoche unbrokendevotionreal
