Dualistic grasping

Big Buddha near Hong Kong

For as long as there is the dualistic grasping of ‘self’ and ‘other’ it is impossible to get rid of all of the external problems that cause us to suffer. But when there is no more dualistic grasping, it’s as if they have disappeared. As the great master Shantideva said:

“Where would I find enough leather to cover the entire surface of the world? But with leather on my feet, it’s as if the whole world has been covered.”

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

Share your happiness

Whatever realization may come by way of silence, our happiness is never won that way. Happiness is not happiness unless it is shared. For happiness is the one thing in all the world that comes to us only at the moment we give it, and is likewise increased by being given away. ~  Clark Strand, “The Wisdom of Frogs.”

Where hatred…

Where hatred, pride, jealousy, desire and stupidity decrease, not only conflicts but also epidemics and natural calamities in the world will decrease as well, like smoke disappearing when a fire is extinguished. ~ Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

Only where perfect seeds

The practitioner who has the greatest yearning devotion receives the greatest blessing. Even though rain falls evenly over the land, it is only where perfect seeds are properly cultivated and ready to sprout that a plant grows. ~ Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

Things do exist

The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-existence of things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void of self-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that we are repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-existence ~ His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama,  Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists pages 31-32.