For me, all dying people are teachers, giving to all those who help them a chance to transform themselves through developing their compassion.
SOGYAL RINPOCHEOur bodies can suddenly break down and go out of order, just like our cars. We can be quite well one day, then fall sick and die the next.
More Sogyal Rinpoche Quotes
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Normally we do not like to think about death. We would rather think about life. Why reflect on death?
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
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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At every moment in our lives we need compassion, but what more urgent moment could there be than when we are dying?
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Isn’t that why we have tried to fill every moment of time with noise and activity, however boring or trivial, to ensure that we are never left in silence with this stranger on our own?
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
Why exactly are we so frightened of death that we avoid looking at it altogether? Somewhere, deep down, we know we cannot avoid facing death forever.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
Samsara is the mind turned outwardly, lost in its projections. Nirvana is the mind turned inwardly, recognizing its true nature.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
What should we “do” with the mind in meditation? Nothing. Just leave it, simply, as it is.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
Theories are like patches on a coat, one day they just wear off.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
What more wonderful and consoling gift could you give to dying people than the knowledge that they are being prayed for, and that you are taking on their suffering and purifying their negative karma through your practice for them?
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
What we have to learn, in both meditation and in life, is to be free of attachment to the good experiences, and free of aversion to the negative ones.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
What will happen to us then if we have no clue of any deeper reality?
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
The future is very much in our hands–in our actions.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE -
How we live now can cost us our entire future.
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When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us.
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As you perfect meditation, thoughts become like the water in a deep, narrow gorge, then a great river slowly winding its way down to the sea; finally the mind becomes like a still and placid ocean, ruffled by only the occasional ripple or wave.
SOGYAL RINPOCHE







