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“Do your meditation with a relaxed mind; do not worry or force yourself to meditate. Do not be in a rush, but be concerned enough that you do not postpone it until tomorrow. If you put it off, there is always another tomorrow, and you can extend that for endless tomorrows without developing your practice. Once in a while it is good to watch your meditation and see how it is going, but do not do this all the time because that is spying too much. On the other hand, you should not be so relaxed that you are careless, since that will not bring good results either. There has to be a balance.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Buddhist Path
Happy Guru Rinpoche Day!
“As Dzogchen practitioners following in the footsteps of the Buddha and Guru Padmasambhava, we are always trying to return to our natural state of mind and be relaxed. Relax your mind and senses, and let your thoughts settle.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Discovering Infinite Freedom
“Giving up doubt, we look intently at each aspect of the preciousness of the individual human life we have obtained this time. We work to increase and sustain our joy and appreciation. These are the best fuels for our path. Now that we understand the inexorable nature of death, we realize that there is no more time to waste. We have made a plan for our spiritual lives moving forward, and we should aim the full power of our minds and hearts in that direction.
It is clear that our own actions, virtuous or non-virtuous, have gotten us where we are now. It’s also clear that our current actions are setting the course for our future travels. Therefore, we now start to pay close attention to which actions of body, speech, and mind we adopt. Mindfulness, alertness, and conscientiousness are the three powerful tools we need. All great practitioners strive, with every passing day, to increase their positive actions and decrease their negative actions.
Having been shown that there is no safe haven in samsara, let’s start being truly kind to ourselves. Let’s start working to leave samsaric existence behind. Now that we know how many other beings there are, and the depth and variety of their sufferings, let’s strive to develop compassion for all of them. We must form the aspiration of a bodhisattva, one who vows to work with equanimity for the complete liberation of every single sentient being.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind From Samsara (pg 36)
www.padmasambhava.org/chiso/books-by-khenpo-rinpoches/four-thoughts-that-turn-the-mind-from-samsara
“Guru Yoga is very profound, and is celebrated by all the great masters. In one voice they proclaim that even if you have high realization, you should still keep it as an integral part of your practice. The lineage instructions state that even if you have practiced Phowa without seeing any signs of accomplishment, if you do Guru Yoga five times a day you will have no difficulty when death comes—you will easily handle and merge with the last moment of your life. The great Kagyu master Gyalwa Gotsangpa in particular said that practicing Guru Yoga five times a day is the equivalent of Phowa. This means that sincerely practicing Guru Yoga will take care of all of your spiritual needs, in this life, in the next life, and in between.
The essence of Guru Yoga is devotion. If your devotion wanes, your Guru Yoga practice will become dry and your meditative stability will erode. Even if you have attained some realization, with weak or wavering devotion you won’t be able to handle obstacles well. The great masters always say, and Shigpo Dudtsi says it here, that swift and lasting realization completely depends on the strength of your devotion. Therefore reconnect again and again with your root teacher, who is the embodiment of all enlightened beings, in the form of Guru Padmasambhava. With folded hands and with great faith, visualize Guru Padmasambhava and chant supplication prayers, keeping your heart and mind on the meaning of the words. If you practice like this, awareness free from duality conceptions will burst forth from within you, and you will swiftly realize your buddha-nature.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Beauty of Awakened Mind (pg 65)
“It is important to understand that all the activities of Guru Rinpoche are designed to break through the rigidity of our dualistic concepts and conventions. He is beyond the limits of worldly views and traditions. In one sense, these conditioned forms are very important and special, but in another way, they are just conceptual systems developed to solve certain problems, none of which apply to the realization of the true nature. Our view of things is a creation or product of our conceptualization. Guru Padmasambhava’s activities transcend these definitions and indicate that in order to become enlightened we have to go beyond mundane approaches.
Guru Rinpoche has appeared in the world in the guise of kings and queens, royal ministers, peasants, children, and even as animals. He continues to appear in many different ways in order to help beings break down the walls of dualistic conceptions that restrict understanding, liberating them into the vastness of equanimity. That is the focus of Guru Rinpoche’s activity. As the embodiment of ultimate bodhichitta, he uses many different forms to communicate.
Bodhichitta is available to every sentient being all the time, throughout the day, from year to year, throughout all our lifetimes, and on into the future forever. It is something very special for every one of us. In developing bodhichitta, we don’t have to make any particular effort to remove negative qualities, such as anger and jealousy. The generation of bodhichitta naturally removes these obstacles, just as darkness naturally disappears the moment the sun rises in the eastern sky. Compassion is one of the primary roots of spiritual practice. Every spiritual discipline must be based on compassion, and for that reason Guru Padmasambhava taught that if you don’t have compassion, then the root of your spirituality is rotten. It might even start to smell.
Everybody needs love and compassion all the time. No one would refuse the gifts and benefits of love and compassion. These qualities are well symbolized by the lotus flower, or padma, which is always fresh and lovely. Everyone can appreciate its beauty. Sambhava means “essence” or “identity.” This means that the essence of all blessing and benefit for beings in samsara is bodhichitta. It is the essence of real spiritual practice and we should continually develop it in ourselves.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Liberating Duality with Wisdom Display: The Eight Emanations of Guru Padmasambhava (pgs 60-61)
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His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje was born in the early 20th century, and was a renowned body emanation of Drokben Khyechung Lotsawa, speech emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal, and mind emanation of Guru Padmasambhava. In particular, Khyechung Lotsawa emanated as many great tertons and scholar-masters throughout the centuries in Tibet. Guru Padmasambhava predicted the coming of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, including his exact birthplace, family, and personality.
