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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

If the mind is flexible, the world is flexible.

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

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

When the mind is totally present, it is relaxed, nimble, and sensitive. It feels lighter and clearer. It notices everything, but it is not distracted by anything. It is the feeling of knowing exactly where you are and what you are doing.

Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results.

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.

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

Meditation practice is relevant because in meditation our conceptual mind relaxes and we can feel who we are at heart.

Shambhala vision is universal. It has no bias towards one type of culture or group. It is not ethnocentric and does not encourage one specific kind of person, race, or religion. Shambhala vision promotes a universality in relationship to basic goodness. All human beings are basically good and an enlightened society, at various levels of manifestation, can occur in any culture.

Our root fantasy is that "I" am real and that it's possible for "me" to be happy.

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

As the conceptual, material world increases its hold on us, and inanimate objects become more lifelike, we humans must become more human. Open hearts, kindness and care-these are our most precious gifts.

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.

When I ask people to contemplate selflessness, the sometimes react as if I've asked them to put their house on the market or give away all their money. If there was a self that existed in the way we think, discovering selflessness would be like putting our house on the market. But in the Buddhist tradition, the discovery of selflessness is called "completely joyful." It's not called "the raw end of the deal," or "I'd rather go back to bed," or "This is scary and depressing."

If we can feel confident in our goodness, it will illuminate our life and society

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

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?

In looking for my mind, I discovered that it seems to be in many different places. Sometimes it is drinking a glass of water, remembering swimming in the summer, feeling the breeze. In this contemplation I observed that the self is more elusive than I thought.

It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor-the determining factor of success and happiness is contentment.

Our mind is always subject to being distracted by thoughts of what happened in the past and ideas of what could happen in the future, but the living experience is what is happening NOW.

When people say that meditation makes them calm, they are often referring to this stability of the mind. A stable mind creates the foundation for a happier and more contented person.

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

Being human is a precious situation, and we shouldn't waste time in useless activities.

There are no boundaries-only possibilities

Shambhala teachings say we all have the potential to accomplish our enlightened nature - our basic goodness.

If we cut speed and relax with what’s going on in our life right now, kindness and patience will naturally come about.

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

...This jewel is the wisdom and compassion that it takes to act not on behalf of ourselves but for all beings. This is where real confidence and competence come from. Once we possess this jewel, our life becomes blessed.

Enlightened Society is all about nurturing the human spirit - waking up to the goodness, kindness and strength that we already have.

What distinguishes Shambhala is its intention of trying to create a society based upon certain principles. So, Shambhala's focus is not just on the individual, but on society as a whole.

Running and meditation are very personal activities. Therefore they are lonely. This loneliness is one of their best qualities because it strengthens our incentive to motivate ourselves.

The first thing you have to do is acknowledge the basic and fundamental goodness of all beings. If you don't, then you are going to have conflict. That's at the core of Shambhala.

If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress. What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.

When stress is the basic state of mind, even good things stress us out. We have to learn to let go.

Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first.

If you rise with a positive attitude - because everything is possible, everything is doable - if you have that level of confidence, you exude it. It actually inspires the people around you.

Changing our decision sets up a bad habit. It reinforces decision-making as an expression of bewilderment and ignorance, instead of wisdom and freedom.