
“The great Dzogchen master Patrul Rinpoche said:
If you know one technique, that will be enough to reach enlightenment. But without this, no matter how many methods you know, you won’t have what you need to reach enlightenment. What is this one thing? It is bodhichitta. I pay homage to the true bodhichitta.
Even with hundreds of great techniques and very sophisticated methods and teachings, if we lack a deep experience of bodhichitta—the mind of awakening—then all those practices are powerless. If we don’t have bodhichitta, we don’t have the heart. We may have the body, but the heart is missing. This means we must always combine relative bodhichitta and absolute bodhichitta, all the time. Again, absolute bodhichitta is Dzogchen. Relative bodhichitta is wishing every good thing for others, and all the activities we do out of our love, compassion, and kindness for others. We should practice reflecting our relative bodhichitta outwardly as much as we can, and in every circumstance. This is so important and so special. Without this, we won’t reach enlightenment. Without this, we lose the heart of the practice.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Seven Nails: The Final Testament of the Great Dzogchen Master Shri Singha (pg 32)
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