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Sogyal Rinpoche

Sogyal Rinpoche Quotes

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Famous Sogyal Rinpoche Quotes

“We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don't know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.”

KnowsShouldBelieveDifferentFeelingsHomeFightingBeliefVoiceIdentityAspectLeavingBuddhistContradictoryInner LifeTibetanFragmented
Author:Sogyal Rinpoche
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“Devote the mind to confusion and we know only too well, if we´re honest, that it will become a dark master of confusion, adept in its addictions, subtle and perversely supple in its slaveries. Devote it in meditation to the task of freeing itself from illusion, and we will find that, with time, patience, discipline, and the right training, our mind will begin to unknot itself and know its essential bliss and clarity.”

IfsKnowsMindWellsDarkPracticeMeditationHonestMastersDisciplineEssentialsTrainingIllusionTasksSlaveryAddictionConfusionClarityBlissSubtleMeditation PracticeAdeptSuppleTime Patience
Book:Glimpse After Glimpse: Daily Reflections on Living and Dying
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“Perhaps the deepest reason we are afraid of death is that we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity; but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography", our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit card ... It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are?”

IfsKnowsBelieveIdeasReasonHomeJobsSpiritualNamesSupportTakenSecurityIdentityDependsUniqueDareCreditPartnersEndlessCardsRelyWho We AreCollectionsFragileBiographiesCredit CardPropsTransientAfraid Of DeathFamily Home
Book:The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller: Revised and Updated Edition
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“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. We know, in Milarepa's words: "This thing called 'corpse' we dread so much is living with us here and now."”

KnowsDeathForeverDyingFrightenedDreadCorpsesHere And NowDeep DownFacing Death
Book:The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller: Revised and Updated Edition
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“Switch on the television or glance at the newspaper: You will see death everywhere. Yet, did the victims of those plane crashes and car accidents expect to die? They took life for granted, as we do. How often do we hear stories of people whom we know, or even friends, who died unexpectedly? We don't even have to be ill to die: Our 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.”

PeopleKnowsWellsStoriesBodyDeathOrderDiesFallNextBreakDyingCarTelevisionOne DaySickDiedDown AndVictimIllAccidentsNewspapersGrantedPlanesCrashGlancesBreaking DownCar AccidentPlane CrashesLife For Granted
Author:Sogyal Rinpoche
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“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. Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore, or my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence. These changes, these small deaths, are our living links with death. They are death's pulses, death's heartbeat, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.”

IfsKnowsWould BeLife IsDeathSoundChanceMy OwnHappenedDyingBirthMountainLetting GoWaveStreamsLinksShoreContinuingReincarnationHeartbeatPulseImpermanenceBirth And DeathMountain StreamsBirth Life And Death
Author:Sogyal Rinpoche
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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. So it is vital for us all to familiarize ourselves with the nature of mind while we are still alive. Only then will we be prepared for the time when it reveals itself spontaneously and powerfully at the moment of death; be able to recognize it "as naturally," the teachings say, "as a child running into its mother's lap"; and by remaining in that state, finally be liberated.”

IfsKnowsMindChildrenStillsIdeasStatesMomentsRealityRunningAbleDeathMotherDiesLeftAliveTeachingDyingAspectPreparedDeeperNo IdeaDimensionsBe PreparedLapLiberated
Author:Sogyal Rinpoche
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“Without our familiar props, we are faced with just ourselves, a person we do not know, an unnerving stranger with whom we have been living all the time but we never really wanted to meet. 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?”

KnowsPersonsHas BeensMomentsWantedLeftSilenceActivityBoringStrangerFamiliarNoiseProps
Author:Sogyal Rinpoche
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