180 Quotes About Dharma

When receiving the teachings, it is important to have the correct attitude. It is not practicing the Dharma properly to listen with the intention of gaining material advantage or reputation. Neither should our goal be higher rebirth in the next life, nor should we be wishing only for our own liberation from samsara. These are all attitudes we should reject. Instead, let us listen to the teachings with the determined wish to attain the state of omniscience for the sake of all beings.

Associate with companions who are in harmony with the Dharma and who don't promote disturbing emotions. Keeping company with unwholesome friends, you cannot possibly avoid being influenced by their evil ways. That is the root of going astray...

Free from the impulse to avoid, cultivate or cling. all concepts of samsara and nirvana totally vanish into the expanse of nondual wakefulness, and you remain nakedly as nondual unity, the essence of great bliss. At that time, even if the Dharmaraja, the Lord of Death, puts his hook into you and takes you away, you will not feel fear or dread.

Do like this if you want to practice the true Dharma! Keep your master's oral instructions in mind. Don't conceptualize your experience, as it just makes you attached or angry. Day and night, look into your mind. If your stream of mind contains any nonvirtue, renounce it from the core of your heart and pursue virtue. (p. 29)

When you hear pleasant or unpleasant words, understand them to be an empty resounding, like an echo. When you encounter severe misfonune and misery, understand it to be a temporary occurrence, a deluded experience. Recognize that the innate nature is never apart from you.

When you hear pleasant or unpleasant words, understand them to be an empty resounding, like an echo. When you encounter severe misfortune and misery, understand it to be a temporary occurrence, a deluded experience. Recognize that the innate nature is never apart from you... (p. 29)

The guru said: If you want to genuinely practice the Dharma, do what is virtuous, even the most minute deed. Renounce what is evil, even the tiniest deed. The largest ocean is made from drops of water; even Mount Sumeru and the four continents are made of tiny atoms. (p. 30)

Do not waste a single moment, like a warrior who, pierced to the heart by an arrow, knows he has only few minutes to live. It is now, while we are in good health and in possession of all our physical and mental faculties, that we should practice dharma.

When some great teachers of the past reflected on the rarity of human existence, they did not even feel like sleeping; they could not bear to waste a single moment. They put all their energy into spiritual practice.