People get very deep experiences and they think they're enlightened. That's not enlightenment, that's just some realization. Tenzin Palmo More Quotes by Tenzin Palmo More Quotes From Tenzin Palmo Of course, now as a woman you can do so much, without being necessarily a rinpoche. Tenzin Palmo courses can-do Why are we sitting? Why are we practicing? Why are we doing anything? It's not so I can be happy. It's so I can embody the dharma in order to benefit other beings. Tenzin Palmo benefits sitting order There are wars, there's pestilence, there are plagues, there is corruption in religious circles, corruption in the government, when was it not? Tenzin Palmo government religious war If you see young tulkus when they're with other little monks, it's like in a Broadway show or something where the main character is spotlighted and the others kind of fade into the background. And you think, who is that tulku? Because that's all you see, even though they're all dressed the same and they're all the same age, but it's like the tulku is illumined. They don't look like the other ones. Tenzin Palmo age character thinking I think we females have a lot of work to do for each other. Tenzin Palmo female thinking When I heard that our bodies change when we get a bit older, I thought, oh good, now I'll go back to being a boy again. But it didn't happen like that. Tenzin Palmo body heard boys I don't know why I got reborn as a female. Maybe in my past life I had some sympathy or something for women, but I certainly wasn't a female last time. Tenzin Palmo female lasts past We're not making up merit scores for ourselves. We're making up merit scores so that we can be reborn in a situation where we can really live to benefit ourselves and others. Tenzin Palmo score merit benefits I think the difference is that when we drink tea, we just drink tea. But if you're in the presence of a genuine master, they don't have to do anything but drink their tea, and yet it affects you at an incredibly profound level. Tenzin Palmo differences profound thinking The dharma is here. And the dharma is in your heart. Where else would it be? Tenzin Palmo dharma heart Western Tibetan Buddhists are always looking out there at the distant snow peaks and they lose the flowers along the path. Tenzin Palmo buddhist flower snow Actually we've got countless lifetimes, so relax. Tenzin Palmo relax lifetime Until you are open, you cannot receive. Tenzin Palmo To want not to want, you'll tie yourself in knots. So this is why the Tibetans always say, just relax the mind and open. Tenzin Palmo relax ties mind A dog, however nice he is, and sweet-tempered, doesn't have much of a range of options. A human being does. Tenzin Palmo nice dog sweet If you're born in the higher realms, then it's too pleasant, and you don't have any incentive to practice. If you're born in the lower realms, you don't have any opportunity to practice. Tenzin Palmo incentives practice opportunity If you lose interest in the dharma, then you might be reborn in a place where you are unlikely to meet with the dharma. And then you're completely off the path. Tenzin Palmo unlikely path might I remember asking my mother if she believed in reincarnation and she said that that sounded very sensible, and I thought, yes, it does to me too. So I always believed in it. I can't remember when I didn't. Tenzin Palmo asking mother doe You think you're enlightened. But as my lama said, when you realize the intrinsic nature of the mind, then you start to meditate. It's not the end, it's the beginning. Tenzin Palmo realizing mind thinking If you put a little pin in the middle and you make a little space, a little circle, then the nature of the mirror shines through. So now you know the mind is not dust, that behind that dust there is this mirror-like nature of the mind, and if it's a big enough hole, you might be so transfixed by the hole you don't notice the rest of the dust. Tenzin Palmo circles dust mirrors
