We need to connect our own experience through the heart.
It doesn’t matter whether what you are feeling is positive or negative – just bring it close to your heart.
Once the heart feeling is there, it naturally opens up in positive ways.
It begins to expand, and the sense that you are separate from others becomes questionable, so that you can easily imagine sharing positive feelings with others.
You don’t have to work out in advance what you want to do or how you can be of benefit.
All that comes naturally. You can find ways to communicate that don’t depend on external conditions or holding the same values and ideas.
If individuals take responsibility for their own inner environment, and learn how to nourish the heart, human activity will grow less destructive to our own species and to the planet.
Compassion is a healthy psychological attitude, because it does not involve expectations or demands.
Even if we are not able to accomplish very much on a physical level, at least can have the desire to be a loving person with a compassionate heart—the wish to help others, spontaneously, with no reservations.
This attitude automatically opens our hearts and develops our compassion.
Then we can sincerely say to ourselves,
“If there is any way I can learn to increase my compassion or understanding of humanity, then I wish to receive that teaching—wherever it exists—and take the responsibility to use that knowledge to help others.”
Compassion is a healthy psychological attitude, because it does not involve expectations or demands.
Even if we are not able to accomplish very much on a physical level, at least can have the desire to be a loving person with a compassionate heart—the wish to help others, spontaneously, with no reservations.
This attitude automatically opens our hearts and develops our compassion.
Then we can sincerely say to ourselves,
“If there is any way I can learn to increase my compassion or understanding of humanity, then I wish to receive that teaching—whatever it exists—and take the responsibility to use that knowledge to help others.”
In 2018, in appreciation of Tarthang Tulku’s 50 years of teaching in America we published Quotes, a book of selected quotations from his writings.
As word spread, the quotations were shown in universities and colleges throughout the United States. A website began – Quotesofwisdom.org – with a blog where quotes are emailed to subscribers.
Now, Quotes has been translated into 12 languages: Dutch, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic and Hindi. Publication and distribution will begin in late June.
We invite you to join Quotes Conversations, a 3 session video series of 1 hour each on Sunday, June 7, 14, and 21 at 10:00 am. The sessions offer the opportunity to reflect and share the surprising impact that often occurs when a quote “strikes home”.
The presentations are free. For those wishing to make a donation, the proceeds will be placed in a fund for the benefit of the Odiyan Retreat Center.
Imagine the benefits of sharing Rinpoche’s compassion and wisdom throughout the world.
If you would like to join in conversations please use the Zoom link below. Please feel free to share with anyone you think would be interested.
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Quotes Conversations Sunday June 7, 2020 10:00 am Pacific Time
To understand who we are and what we are doing, we must understand the meaning of silence.
Within silence there is a balance – mind and body become transparent, and we discover who we really are.
When everything becomes simplified through silence all the tangles of our inner knots and problems gradually dissolve.
True silence comes from within. It is not merely the absence of speech: it is pure, naturalness – absolutely calm, without fixation, without preparation.
Take a moment to reflect on the people in your life who, one way or another, could not achieve their full potential.
Consider what their lives might have been like if they had been able to commit to their best selves and bring them into being.
Imagine the beauty and goodness they would have added to the world.
Now, make a list of your own inner aspirations, your dreams for yourself.
Look at them carefully, and consider whether they are worth a deep investment of your time and energy.
If you are convinced, make yourself a promise in the memory of all your friends and loved ones who couldn’t make their aspirations come true, you will do better: you will not give up on yourself.
