I'd say look at the teacher's students. Do you want to be like them? If you see a good and harmonious sangha, and if they're practicing well and are good people with good hearts, then you have a cause for trust.
Our relative being is what rules our relative world.
Since I was a small child, I'd believed we were inherently perfect, and that we had to keep coming back again and again until we recognized our innate perfection.
For so many centuries women have been suppressed and regarded as inferior. And that of course is not right at all, that we all have buddha-nature - so what's the difference?
We do have the precious opportunity of this human life.
I've often said that the seventh paramita should be a sense of humor, so we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Most of the spiritual traditions were very theistic and the idea of an external god pulling the strings didn't resonate with me. I then discovered Buddhism and found the perfect path. I felt so grateful to the Buddha for having given the path, and not just explaining the end result, but showing so clearly how to get there.
When I look back I can think that of course I've been lazy and haven't practiced as much as I could have and have wasted time. Still though, I look back on my life and I think that really, I am very happy that I lived my life the way I have and I would never ever have wished it any other way - especially, the six years with my lama and then the 18 in Lahul.
A dog, however nice he is, and sweet-tempered, doesn't have much of a range of options. A human being does.
Western Tibetan Buddhists are always looking out there at the distant snow peaks and they lose the flowers along the path.
At the age of 21 I was so sensible and became a nun. I am very grateful to myself for that.
The dharma is here. And the dharma is in your heart. Where else would it be?
We try to be present when we are drinking our tea, which isn't as easy as it sounds. It's very easy to think, right now I'm going to be really present while I'm drinking my tea, here I am drinking my tea, and I'm so present, look this is easy, I am here drinking my tea and I know I'm drinking my tea blah blah blah blah... right? And the one place where the mind is not, is here. It's just thinking about being here.
Of course, now as a woman you can do so much, without being necessarily a rinpoche.
There are other ways of benefiting than by being a recognized tulku and sitting on a throne.
I really don't know what I could teach and don't really plan to teach.
At one time I thought that if I could really understand renunciation and bodhichitta from the depths of my heart, then, for this lifetime that would be enough.
If you lose interest in the dharma, then you might be reborn in a place where you are unlikely to meet with the dharma. And then you're completely off the path.
If you become a monk because it's an easy life, because you're going to be fed, and sheltered and people will respect you, then that is not a very meritorious motivation.
Yes, times are not good, but when were times good? This is samsara.
Many people are benefiting beings, but from a dharma point of view, if you are a dharma practitioner, then the first priority is to get yourself together.
The nature of the mind is completely incredible.
People should find what approach really speaks to them, and then do it. Obviously, better with a good teacher, who can help you on the path. But in any case, basic principles.
Learn not to be too ambitious; not to expect if you have a 9-to-5 job and three kids, that you're likely to get buddhahood in one lifetime.
There are wars, there's pestilence, there are plagues, there is corruption in religious circles, corruption in the government, when was it not?
