Three Doors: Pith Instructions

Problems in the World

“Many of the problems we are facing today in the world are of our own making due to greed, fear and so on. Therefore, we cannot neglect our inner mind - it is a key factor in both personal happiness and the well-being of the world.”

~ HH the Dalai Lama

Profound and Tranquil

Profound and tranquil, free from complexity,
Uncompounded luminous clarity,
Beyond the mind of conceptual ideas;
This is the depth of the mind of the Victorious Ones.

In this there is not a thing to be removed,
Nor anything that needs to be added.
It is merely the immaculate
Looking naturally at itself.

~ Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche

Dancing with Life

Activities are endless, like ripples on a stream
They end only when you drop them.
Human moods are like the changing highlights and shadows
on a sunlit mountain range.
All activities are like the games children play,
like castles being made of sand.
View them with delight and equanimity,
like grandparents overseeing their grandchildren
or a shepherd resting on a grassy knoll
watching over his grazing flock.

~ Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, from a spontaneous Vajra song

Strength & Accomplishment

"A short moment of experiencing natural wakefulness, once in
a while, is not enough to bring disturbing emotions and karma to a permanent end. We must develop its strength; that is accomplishment.”

~ Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Neither Tense nor Relaxed

To be neither tense nor relaxed is my advice from the heart.

~ Gyalwa Longchenpa, Thirty Pieces of Advice from the Heart

Heavy Chain

Involvement in thinking is like a heavy chain that weighs you down. Now it is time to be free from that chain. The moment you shatter the chain of thinking, you are free from the three realms of samsara.
In this entire world, there is nothing more superior to or more precious than knowing how to break this chain.

- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, As It Is

String of Precious Jewels

I'll tell you briefly the fine qualities
Of those on the path of compassion:
Giving, and ethics, patience, and effort,
Concentration, wisdom, compassion and such.
Giving is giving away what you have,
And ethics is doing good to others.
Patience is giving up feelings of anger,
And effort is joy that increases all good.
Concentration's one-pointed, free of bad thoughts,
And wisdom decides what truth really is.
Compassion's a kind of high intelligence
Mixed deep with a love for all living kind.
Giving brings wealth, a good world comes from ethics;
Patience brings beauty, eminence comes from effort.
Concentration brings peace, and from wisdom comes freedom;
Compassion achieves everything we all wish for.
A person who takes all seven of these
And perfects them together will reach
That place of inconceivable knowledge
No less than the world's protector.

~ Nagarjuna, String of Precious Jewels

The Expansive Mansion of Rigpa

Therefore, with the essential pith-instructions of a qualified Dzogchen master, crush the eggshell of the mind and unfold your wings in the open sky. Destroy the hut of duality and inhabit the expansive mansion of rigpa. There are no other enemies or obstacles to overcome and vanquish. Ignorance - dualistic thinking - is the great demon obstructing your path. Slay it right now and be free.

~ Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche (trans. Lama Surya Das), Natural Great Perfection

Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer

The nature of beings is ever enlightened,
yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
May intense compassion arise within me
for sentient beings, whose suffering knows no bounds.

In the moment of love, when the vibrant power of intense compassion
is uncontained, the empty essence shines forth nakedly.
May I never step off this supreme path of unity that never goes awry,
and practice it at all times, day and night.

~ from "The Eighth Situpa on the Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer", trans. by Lama Sherab Dorje (available from Snow Lion Publications)

Chained

You are chained, entangled in the barbed wire of hope and fear.
So give it up! Simply sustain present wakefulness, moment after moment.

~ Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche; View and Meditation of the Great Perfection.