Sakyong Mipham Quotes

We suffer because we want life to be different from what it is. We suffer because we try to make pleasurable what is painful, to make solid what is fluid, to make permanent what is always changing.

This is bravery: using the challenge of daily life to sharpen our mind and open our heart.

Movement is good for the body. Stillness is good for the mind.

Our power comes not from suppressing others but from uplifting them.

Whatever we do lays a seed in our deepest consciousness, and one day that seed will grow.

Our only reliable source of strength is the goodness of our hearts. Our only foundation for coming to terms with the suffering of the times is our innate need to be decent human beings.

To protect this earth is to protect the very spirit of life

True happiness is always available to us, but first we have to create the environment for it to flourish.

The self-assured strength that grows from knowing that we already have what we need makes us gentle, because we are no longer desperate.

If we do not appreciate the sensitivity and subtlety of the human heart, how can we appreciate the sensitivity and subtlety of the natural world?

In a speedy and aggressive culture, we need different principles to live by-bravery and insight. The first moment of bravery is building trust in the mind, which we do in meditation. When we know how to create peace in our own mind, we can transform the world.

The most outrageous thing we can do in this world is to accept what happens and fly with it.

When we appreciate something, that means we have allowed ourselves to relax and take it in.

If the mind is flexible, the world is flexible.

We humans have come to a crossroads in our history: we can either destroy the world or create a good future.

Sometimes people feel disappointed when they hear about practicing compassion: "You mean I have to be nice?" It's kind of a letdown. We often overlook compassion, seeing it as merely a pit stop on the way to more advanced practices. We want something more; we don't even know what. But that's just a trick of our mind. One of the greatest teachings is to practice compassion.

Being fooled into trying to make things work out for 'me' is called samsara.

When we have gone beyond the boundaries of hope and fear, we are able to work with whatever comes our way.

When I was going into one of my first meditation retreats, I asked my father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, for some advice. He said, "How you act when you're alone affects the rest of your life." Even in solitude, the ruler engages in virtue.

It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don't we think about training our mind?

Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don't even notice it.

If you want to be miserable, think of yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others.

Even when we speak of selflessness, the mind goes to "me." We think, "I'm selfless," but everything is selfless.

We want to infuse our day with good habits so that we can turn seemingly mundane situations into a ceremony of goodness.

In meditation we are continuously discovering who and what we are.