Sogyal Rinpoche Quotes

Light must come from inside. You cannot ask the darkness to leave; you must turn on the light.

We must never forget that it is through our actions, words, and thoughts that we have a choice.

The most essential thing in life is to establish an unafraid, heartfelt communication with others.

Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life reveals just the opposite: that letting go is the real path to freedom.

Western laziness consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time at all to confront the real issues.

The key to finding a happy balance in modern lives is simplicity.

Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow.

Just as the ocean has waves or the sun has rays, so the minds's own radiance is its thoughts and emotions.

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.

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.

The spiritual journey is one of continuous learning and purification. When you know this, you become humble.

The whole of meditation practice can be essentialized into these 3 crucial points: Bring your mind home. Release. And relax!

Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.

Samsara is the mind turned outwardly, lost in its projections. Nirvana is the mind turned inwardly, recognizing its true nature.

Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. Meditation is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being.

There is no armor like perseverance.

Meditation is bringing the mind home.

Learning to live is learning to let go.

We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved.

In this complex world, the best way to survive is to be genuine.

The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime.

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

The masters say if you create an auspicious condition in your body and your environment then meditation and realization will automatically arise.

Let your heart go out in spontaneous and immeasurable compassion.

Just because we go through a difficult situation, it doesn’t mean that the future is predetermined. The future is very much in our hands, in our actions.

I can't say it strongly enough; to integrate meditation in action is the whole ground and point and purpose of meditation

Our problems, all come from nothing; they are all based on a misunderstanding that does not even exist.

Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything, counts.

More important than finding the teacher is finding and following the truth of the teaching.

There is only one way of attaining liberation and of obtaining the omniscience of enlightenment: following an authentic spiritual master.

Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth

What the world needs more than anything are Bodhisattvas of peace, lawyers, politicians, teachers working tirelessly for the enlightenment of themselves and others.

Let the sky outside awake a sky inside your mind.

Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent.

Above all, be at ease, be as natural and spacious as possible. Slip quietly out of the noose of your habitual anxious self, release all grasping, and relax into your true nature.

The act of meditation is being spacious.

Living with the immediacy of death helps you sort out your priorities in life. It helps you to live a less trivial life.

Even though the meditator may leave the meditation, the meditation will not leave the meditator.

Sitting like a mountain let your mind rise and fly and soar.

The absolute truth cannot be realized within the domain of the ordinary mind, and the path beyond the ordinary mind is the path of the heart.

...we and all sentient beings fundamentally have the buddha nature as our innermost essence. . . .

The definition of mantra is "that which protects the mind." That which protects the mind from negativity, or that which protects you from your own mind, is called mantra.

Everything can be used as an invitation to meditation

If the mind is not contrived, it is spontaneously blissful, just as water, when not agitated, is by nature transparent and clear.

What is born will die, What has been gathered will be dispersed, What has been accumulated will be exhausted, What has been built up will collapse, And what has been high will be brought low.

And when you talk about realization, accomplishment for that matter enlightenment is that when you realize the fundamental essence of your mind.

The future is very much in our hands--in our actions.

What should we "do" with the mind in meditation? Nothing. Just leave it, simply, as it is.

Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha.

Our buddha nature is as good as any buddha’s buddha nature.