CTR Quote of the Week

Dharma is just simple truth. But truth can be diverted or challenged or relocated by all kinds of conceptual ideas. Truth can be cut into

As a result of accumulating merit, (see last week’s quote), because you have learned to block out hope and fear, you have developed a sense

Accumulating merit is not accumulating anything for our own ego trip, but from the point of view of relating with what is sacred. We are

Meditation tends to cut through unnecessary thought chatter, subconscious gossip, and mental duplicity. It’s not immediate, and because of that your approach is simple-minded: just

When we talk about spiritual advancement or development, we are not talking about expanding ourselves and becoming more professional. We are talking about unknowing and

You don’t have to nurse compassion. It is like making yogurt. You add the culture to milk, and then you keep the milk warm until

Without compassion, meditation cannot be transferred into action at all. We have a tendency, which almost feels automatic, to freeze up, to keep things frozen

Compassion is not logical. It’s basically spacious and generous. A compassionate person might not be sure whether they are being compassionate to you or whether

Practically speaking, how do we link our meditation with the everyday challenges that we face all the time? How do we build a bridge between

The world is filled with magical energy. We, on the other hand, are filled with unmagical properties. We do not understand who or what we

The most important point about magic is that it cannot happen in the realm of spiritual materialism. Magic can only take place when you begin

As students and teachers, we can cut down the fortress of spiritual materialism through how we work with situations. We don’t combat spiritual materialism through

In the beginning, a person uses the technique of meditation as a kind of game, because they are still imagining that they are meditating. But

The attitude one brings to meditation practice should be very simple, not based upon trying to collect pleasure or avoid pain. Rather meditation is a

The Buddhist view of freedom is misinterpreted a great deal. According to an encyclopedia from 1937, “nirvana” is freedom from all pain, all suffering, and

When a person is executing a work of art, there is a sense of contact, concentration, and a sense of mindlessness. At the time you

When you read poetry you shouldn’t try to understand the words, not even with the words of vajrayana disciplines. Don’t try to scrutinize and finger

Relating to the commentaries and treatises that great Buddhist scholars and saints have written: They weren’t thinking of which publisher they should go to, or

Karma provides clear, precise evidence that what we do is our own action, and what we get back is the result of our own state

Attaining enlightenment is related with giving up ego’s territory. When ego’s territory is completely surrendered–to no particular authority or present, but simply surrendered–to the point

If we don’t know who we are, where we are, or if we are at all–then we have no way of relating with the path.

The first step for you as a student is to sharpen your intellect and not buy anything that is presented without question. To wake yourself

As a human being you possess — or are supposed to possess—intelligence, and develop a critical attitude toward what you are doing. You are supposed

In order to present the teachings of spirituality properly, you have to have a very good understanding of basic sanity. You also have to have