This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Tibetan Poet Saint and Yogi
"Neither monks nor laymen can discard moral discipline."
"Nine Hurdles: A free and resourceful and fully equipped human body that's freed of the eight unfree states is not easy to get. To get to the heart of this free and resourceful occasion and to get past the pleasures of life is not easy to do. To see what is wrong with the phenomenon of samsara and accomplish nirvana is not something easy to do. Although one might practice true dharma extensively the purest conductive conditions don't easily join. A lama who masters instructions and scriptures and logic and has a compassionate heart is not easy to find. A student with faith who does not get fed up or exhausted and is able to actually practice is not easy to find. A practice environment blessed with the proper conditions free of all hazard and fear is not easy to find. Friends with the same motivation and way to apply it whose thinking accords with your own are not easy to find a body that's able to work with its pain and illness and to do all you bid it is not something easy to find. Although you might get every one of these factors together to practice with one-pointed mind is not easy to do. These are nine things which are difficult to come by. They're difficult, but it's these difficult things you must do."
"Natural I live, I feel happy, joyful, always happy."
"Now I have done away with all distinctions of black or white."
"No one can tell where I go and stay . . . where no man comes, and lost to view."
"One cannot see in full the nature of mind pointed out by others."
"Old age is like a fire spreading through the fields - suddenly it is at your heels."
"One cannot see in full the nature of the mind without mindful meditation, boring deep inside."
"One lion is far more to be preferred than a hundred tigers."
"Painful it is to see one's body becoming frail and quite worn out."
"One works hard to gather riches which others will spend."
"One should utilize illness as an aid to progression on the Path."
"Practice concentration and contemplation inwardly with self-composure."
"One should not be over-anxious and hasty in setting out to serve others, but have the one resolve to attain Buddhahood."
"One may offer to a Lama loads of silk for many years, but when an ill-fortune descends, one's faith at once dissolves."
"Practice concentration and watch the nature of your mind within."
"Provision of Wisdom is most precious - will lead toward perfection step by step."
"Protect yourself with a faith and individual wisdom."
"Prefer the pleasure grounds of wisdom and skillful means."
"Realization does not arise out of words. Understanding does not come from mere suggestions. I urge all those who work for enlightenment To meditate with perseverance and effort. Endurance and effort overcome the greatest of difficulties. May there be no obstacles for those who seek enlightenment."
"Put away scholarship (panditia) and be like a child."
"Question your own thought and examine your mind. Did you dream that you would become an old nanny-goat?"
"Realizing the Truth [of no birth or death] is the best science."
"Renounce all and meet with me."
"Recognize as spontaneous the luminous self-awareness."
"Recognize all homelands as illusion."
"Repay the kindness of all sentient beings."
"Rest in a natural way like a small child. Rest like an ocean without waves. Rest within clarity like a candle flame. Rest without self-concerns like a human corpse. Rest unmoving like a mountain."
"Rich men are wretched creatures with their money, poor men are wretched creatures without money."
"Samsara and nirvana are experienced as one."
"Self-inspection is to take responsibility for Buddhist Dharma."
"Ride on the horse of diligence."
"Seeking fame and glory, trying to preserve them, fearing to lose them - it is far better to have neither fame nor glory."
"Skilled individuals get it at once. It comes more gradually for those of average and mediocre abilities. Some develop definitive realization, others don't, and others still get signs that look like realization, but aren't really."
"Seven Aryan riches - Arya means 'superior being'. The seven riches on the path to ultimate awakening are faith, discipline, generosity, learning, moral behavior, modesty, and knowledge."
"Shame's daughter is bought with wealth."
"Strange indeed are Samsaric phenomena."
"Stop all gossip by being indifferent."
"Slay the Sprite of Selfishness."
"The best seeing is the way of ?non-seeing? the radiance of the mind itself. The best prize is what cannot be looked for the priceless treasure of the mind itself."
"Talks of worldly things disturb my meditation."
"Sweetness cannot be experienced by merely hearing of the taste of sugar."
"Take the lowest place, and you shall reach the highest."
"The Devas of the five higher and twelve lower realms can only live till their merits are exhausted."
"The essence of Universal Usefulness is Compassion."
"The essence of the Sangsara (Universe) is Compassion."
"The frantic runs in nature, yet from nature it is not apart."
"The dearest treasure is Wisdom-Paramita."
"The fish queen is not afraid of drowning."
"The human form of a guru is merely his vehicle."