Great Throughts Treasury

"The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor’s edge. How pitiful they who cling strongly to concrete reality: turn your attention within, my heart friends."

"Rest in natural great peace This exhausted mind Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought, Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves In the infinite ocean of samsara."

"Homage to naturally arising, king-like mindfulness! I am the mirror of mindfulness, Clearly revealing carefulness and mindfulness. Look, my vajra friends! Seeing me, mindfulness is supported. Pray now to the Three Jewels, Inseparable from the Lama-Guru! Undistractedly, look into the essence of mind! Mindfulness is the root of the Dharma, Mindfulness is the path’s main practice, Mindfulness is a fortress for the mind, Mindfulness is an aid to the wisdom of self-knowing rigpa, Mindfulness is a support for Mahāmudrā, Dzogchen and Madhyamaka. Lacking mindfulness, we’re overcome by negative forces. Lacking mindfulness, we’re beset by laziness. Lacking mindfulness, we commit every wrong. Lacking mindfulness, we fail to accomplish our aims. Mindlessness—it’s like a pile of shit! Mindlessness—it’s like fishing on dry land! Mindlessness—it’s like a heartless corpse! Make your mindfulness secure, my friends! Through the heartfelt intentions of the precious teachers, May we come now to recognize our own true mindfulness! This request, a spur to remember mindfulness, Was offered to friends who possess the eyes of Dharma By the terrible monk called Jamyang Dorje, Who is really just a buck-toothed ox."

"Profound and tranquil, free from complexity, Uncompounded luminous clarity, Beyond the mind of conceptual ideas; This is the depth of the mind of the Victorious Ones. In this there is not a thing to be removed, Nor anything that needs to be added. It is merely the immaculate Looking naturally at itself."

"If you were to gather all the glory, enjoyment, pleasure and happiness of the world and put it all together, it would not approach one tiny fraction of the bliss that you experience upon realizing the nature of mind."

"Activities are endless, like ripples on a stream. They end only when you drop them. Human moods are like the changing highlights and shadows on a sunlit mountain range. All activities are like the games children play, like castles being made of sand. View them with delight and equanimity, like grandparents overseeing their grandchildren or a shepherd resting on a grassy knoll watching over his grazing flock."

"Profound and tranquil, free from complexity, Uncompounded luminous clarity, Beyond the mind of conceptual ideas; This is the depth of the mind of the Victorious Ones. In this there is not a thing to be removed, Nor anything that needs to be added. It is merely the immaculate Looking naturally at itself."

"Profound and tranquil, free from complexity, Uncompounded luminous clarity, Beyond the mind of conceptual ideas; This is the depth of the mind of the buddhas. In this, there is not a thing to be removed, Nor anything that needs to be added. It is merely the immaculate, Looking naturally at itself. "

"An effortless compassion can arise for all beings who have not realized their true nature. So limitless is it that if tears could express it, you would cry without end. Not only compassion, but tremendous skillful means can be born when you realize the nature of mind. Also you are naturally liberated from all suffering and fear, such as the fear of birth, death and the intermediate state. Then if you were to speak of the joy and bliss that arise from this realization, it is said by the buddhas that if you were to gather all the glory, enjoyment, pleasure and happiness of the world and put it all together, it would not approach one tiny fraction of the bliss that you experience upon realizing the nature of mind."

"Even in this world, and even now, there are said to be many hidden yogis or discreet yogis, called bepay naljor in Tibetan. It means those realized ones who are not generally recognized as great spiritual sages or saints, but have deeply tasted the fruit of enlightenment, and are living it. Perhaps they are anonymously doing their good works here among us right now!"

"Free of distraction, free of clinging, free of meditation. Beyond intellect: Remain in the state beyond intellect. Great Perfection. Selfless, unborn, free of extremes, inexpressible."

"The infinite vast expanse is one?s own inconceivable nature. Who can say who has realized it and who hasn?t? When we travel around the world or experience other dimensions, there are so many beings who have tasted it. We can see it in their behavior, in their countenance, and in stories that are told?not just in the Dzogchen tradition or the Buddhist tradition, but in any tradition, and in our Western world too."

"This true nature is so vast and inconceivable that even some birds and animals and beings in other unseen dimensions can be said to have realized it, as in some of the ancient Indian Jataka stories and other teaching tales. It is always said that everything is the self-radiant display of the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra. There are infinite numbers of Buddhas and infinite numbers of beings. Who can say who is excluded from it?"

"If you were to gather all the glory, enjoyment, pleasure and happiness of the world and put it all together, it would not approach one tiny fraction of the bliss that you experience upon realizing the nature of mind."

"When the root of duality ? dualistic clinging, dualistic perceptions, deluded perceptions ? is severed, all the leaves, the branches, and even the tree trunk of samsara and nirvana naturally wither on their own and topple in their own time. Then this great spreading tree of samsara and nirvana, of duality, of worldliness, of conditioned being, does not need to be chopped down: it is already as if dead. We can relax; done is what had to be done, as the Buddha sang. This is the whole point of the dharma, of spiritual awakening, of buddhahood; this is its ultimate evolution or unfolding. If we aspire to experience such an awakening, there is nothing else to do except recognize the true nature of our primordial awareness, our own essential being, our own birthright, which is within. This is the intrinsic nature of our own heart-mind, also known as bodhicitta or bodhi-mind. It is our own being, our own nature, this renowned buddha-nature. It is not a buddha anywhere else."