There would be no chance at all of getting to know death if it happened only once. But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change.
SOGYAL RINPOCHEEven if we have accumulated a lot of negative karma, if we are able to make a real change of heart at the moment of death, it can decisively influence our future, and transform our karma, for the moment of death is an exceptionally powerful opportunity to purify karma.
More Sogyal Rinpoche Quotes
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The most essential thing in life is to establish an unafraid, heartfelt communication with others.
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For me, all dying people are teachers, giving to all those who help them a chance to transform themselves through developing their compassion.
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There would be no chance to get to know death at all …if it happened only once.
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When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us.
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When I came to the West, I realized there was much hunger for spiritual teachings, but no environment for spirituality.
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What should we “do” with the mind in meditation? Nothing. Just leave it, simply, as it is.
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Again and again we need to appreciate the subtle workings of the teachings and the practice, and even when there is no extraordinary, dramatic change, to persevere with calm and patience.
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In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life.
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If all we know of mind is the aspect of mind that dissolves when we die, we will be left with no idea of what continues, no knowledge of the new dimension of the deeper reality of the nature of mind.
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And when you talk about realization, accomplishment for that matter enlightenment is that when you realize the fundamental essence of your mind.
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There is no armor like perseverance.
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The purpose of meditation is to awaken in us the sky-like nature of mind, and to introduce us to that which we really are, our unchanging pure awareness, which underlies the whole of life and death
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Spiritual warriors can still be frightened, but even so they are courageous enough to taste suffering, to relate clearly to their fundamental fear, and to draw out without evasion the lessons from difficulties.
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And to think that all this springs from a civilization that claims to adore life, but actually starves it of any real meaning; that endlessly speaks of making people “happy”, but in fact blocks their way to the source of real joy.
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Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. Meditation is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE