Thanksgiving Talk

I am in a waterless retreat cabin on a mountainside in Northern California with three statues to meditate with, four sadhanas to practice and a three books to study in between. While my mind is calm and my eyes are reading, certain sentences in those books jump off the page and stare me down. Since I've noticed lately that almost everything people post on Facebook and on simpleton sites like Beliefnet are quotes they think makes their life feel better, I thought I'd share my harvest of the last 48 hours.

"The concept and the reality are quite different. Often we mix these up. Concepts are in the head, and experience is in the heart.  That is why it is sometimes said that the longest journey we take is the journey from the head to the heart."   Ringu Tulku

"...we may occasionally not feel much devotion to what the guru looks like or how he behaves or talks. But the object of trust in ths relationship with our guru should actually be the teachings that he gives--the Dharma--that are no different from the teachings of the Buddha. The effectiveness of the teachings does not depend upon the guru's looks or what he does or how he speaks."  Thrangu Rinpoche

"By recognizing that we put ourselves through more unnecessary turmoil and suffering than anybody else could ever possibly inflict on us, we will respond to whatever other people subject us to in a more relaxed and effective way"   Traleg Rinpoche

"One important thing to remember about obstacles is that they are not permanent." Ringu Tulku

"The reality of our mind may seem very deep and difficult to understand; but it may also be something simple and easy because this mind is not somewhere else. It is not somebody else's mind, it is your own mind, it is right here; therefore it is something you can know." --Thrangu Rinpoche

"It is not true that we only develop when we feel loved, cared for, appreciated, respected and admired; we also grow when we are despised, belittled, held back and denigrated. If we use our own intelligence--the Dharma type of intelligence--we will find a way to grow through these situations."   --Traleg Rinpoche

"We need to go beyond our past, because otherwise it is all too much and we feel overwhelmed. We cannot resolve each and every thing that ever happened to us, even if we could remember them all. If we could see all the unconscious baggage we carry around with us, even a big garbage dump might not contain it all. We can't work on all these problems one by one. What we need is a total transformation."   Ringu Tulku