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Tenzin Palmo

Tenzin Palmo Quotes

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Tenzin Palmo, born in 1943, is a renowned Tibetan Buddhist nun and author. She is known for her cave retreat in the Himalayas of India, becoming the first female to receive formal recognition as a cave dweller. Palmo's works primarily focus on the role of women in Buddhism and her personal retreat experiences.

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All Ifs People Dharma Thinking Mind Practice Knows Way Helping Needs Problem Want World Buddhism Tibetan Benefits Buddhist Giving Important Lifetime

Famous Tenzin Palmo Quotes

“If you just follow your inner calling, then you just go ahead.”

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“I remember asking my mother if she believed in reincarnation and she said that that sounded very sensible, and I thought, yes, it does to me too. So I always believed in it. I can't remember when I didn't.”

Ifs Doe Said I Can Remember Mother Asking Sensible Reincarnation Remember When Always Believe

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you see young tulkus when they're with other little monks, it's like in a Broadway show or something where the main character is spotlighted and the others kind of fade into the background. And you think, who is that tulku? Because that's all you see, even though they're all dressed the same and they're all the same age, but it's like the tulku is illumined. They don't look like the other ones.”

Ifs Thinking Looks Kind Littles Character Shows Age Young Backgrounds Fades Broadway Monk Main Characters Broadway Shows

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“I think the difference is that when we drink tea, we just drink tea. But if you're in the presence of a genuine master, they don't have to do anything but drink their tea, and yet it affects you at an incredibly profound level.”

Ifs Thinking Differences Levels Masters Drink Profound Genuine Tea

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“When you learn an instrument, it takes an awful lot of time to just learn the scales, and then eventually when you have completely mastered the instrument, the music plays for you. But you still have to keep practicing. And it takes an awful lot of practice. Nonetheless, if you diligently practice, hours and hours and hours and hours, you probably won't get it. You'll probably just end up hurting your fingers.”

Ifs Stills Ends Play Hours Hurt Practice Instruments Fingers Scales Awful

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you're born in the higher realms, then it's too pleasant, and you don't have any incentive to practice. If you're born in the lower realms, you don't have any opportunity to practice.”

Ifs Opportunity Born Practice Higher Realms Pleasant Incentives

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you lose interest in the dharma, then you might be reborn in a place where you are unlikely to meet with the dharma. And then you're completely off the path.”

Ifs Might Interest Loses Path Where You Are Unlikely Dharma Reborn

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If we could turn around and stand back, then we would see the whole complete pattern. And therefore what we have to do in this lifetime is to perfect this pattern, so that it will continue a most beautiful pattern next time and next time and next time and next time because we vowed until samsara is empty! Now, that's going to be a long time, so you'd better get prepared for the long haul, and the best way to do that is to really prepare yourself as much as possible in this lifetime, and not waste your opportunities so that we can genuinely benefit beings, endlessly, endlessly, endlessly.”

Ifs Way Long Whole Beautiful Turns Next Opportunity Perfect Waste Benefits Long Time Empty Prepared Lifetime Patterns Best Way Next Time Haul Long Haul Samsara

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you become a monk because it's an easy life, because you're going to be fed, and sheltered and people will respect you, then that is not a very meritorious motivation.”

People Ifs Motivation Easy Feds Monk Easy Life

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you want to be a doctor, you may say, There are all these beings, they're sick, they're dying, I've got to go out and help them. And so you grab a bag full of scalpels and medicine and rush off. Even though your motivation is very pure, you end up harming beings because you don't know what you're doing.”

Ifs Knows Want May Ends Helping Motivation Dying Pure Doctors Sick Medicine Bags Scalpels

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you take the time to study how to be a doctor and how to use your scalpel and your medicine, then there are endless beings out there to help.”

Ifs Helping Use Study Doctors Medicine Endless Scalpels

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“Many people are benefiting beings, but from a dharma point of view, if you are a dharma practitioner, then the first priority is to get yourself together.”

People Ifs Firsts Together Views Point Of View Priorities Dharma

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you're meeting with the dharma, you have probably been a human being before.”

Ifs Humans Human Beings Meetings Dharma

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“It takes a tremendous amount of merit to meet with the dharma - especially if you have an interest in it.”

Ifs Interest Amount Merit Dharma

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you've made a lot of negative seeds, and not a lot of positive seeds, even though you meet with the dharma, you're going to have problems.”

Ifs Made Problem Negative Seeds Dharma

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you put a little pin in the middle and you make a little space, a little circle, then the nature of the mirror shines through. So now you know the mind is not dust, that behind that dust there is this mirror-like nature of the mind, and if it's a big enough hole, you might be so transfixed by the hole you don't notice the rest of the dust.”

Ifs Knows Mind Littles Enough Bigs Might Space Behinds Middle Mirrors Shining Circles Holes Dust Pins

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“Obviously the dharma is every breath we take, every thought we think, every word we speak, if we do it with awareness and an open, caring heart.”

Ifs Thinking Heart Speak Awareness Breaths Caring Dharma Words We Speak

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“The dharma is the most precious thing in the world and we should put it at the center of our hearts and transform our whole lives into dharma practice. Otherwise, at the time of death, we will look back and say, now what was all that about? If we truly want to benefit others and ourselves, we have to do it. No excuses.”

Ifs World Want Should Looks Heart Whole Practice Benefits Excuse Whole Life Dharma No Excuses Precious Things

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If we want to be musicians, dancers or sportspeople, we can download a certain amount and watch DVDs and read books, but in the end we need someone to assess us and give us personal instruction. The two go together.”

Ifs Want Needs Giving Two Book Ends Together Certain Watches Amount Musician Dancer Instruction Dvds Downloads

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“I'd say look at the teacher's students. Do you want to be like them? If you see a good and harmonious sangha, and if they're practicing well and are good people with good hearts, then you have a cause for trust.”

People Ifs Want Wells Looks Heart Causes Teacher Students Good People Harmonious Good Heart Sangha

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“Even if one isn't a committed Buddhist, it just helps us become better human beings.”

Ifs Humans Helping Human Beings Committed Buddhist

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“Buddhism is the most active one! The whole time, we're dealing with the mind and how to tame it, and how to transcend our ordinary conventional mind. This takes an enormous amount of determination and perseverance. It also requires an attitude of being relaxed and spacious, rather than tense and stressed. It's certainly not a matter of lying back and expecting it all to happen. If we don't make it happen, it won't!”

“If you go to any nunnery and ask them what the main obstacle is, they'll always say low self-esteem and lack of confidence. It will take time. But the difference between the first girls from Ladakh who became nuns, to the girls we have now, is very encouraging.”

Ifs Firsts Self Girl Asks Differences Self Esteem Lows Obstacles Esteem Take Time Low Self Esteem Nun Lack Of Confidence Ladakh

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If nuns begin getting more empowered, where does that leave us?”

Ifs Doe Empowered Nun

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“Learn not to be too ambitious; not to expect if you have a 9-to-5 job and three kids, that you're likely to get buddhahood in one lifetime.”

Ifs Kids Jobs Three Lifetime Ambitious

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“I think if you really start practicing, the energy comes. I was always very happy and grateful for the opportunity to have the time, solitude and good health to be able to do it.”

Ifs Thinking Able Opportunity Energy Solitude Grateful Very Happy Good Health Happy And Grateful

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“I think it would help if, when people are first ordained, they underwent a period of strict training, maybe for several years. During this time they would learn basic Buddhist philosophy in a monastic community where all the teaching and training was directed toward living a perfect monastic life and wasn't channeled out to fit into the lay life - which is what usually happens in Dharma centers where the teachings are directed toward how to live the Dharma in your everyday life.”

“In a monastic setting, if someone doesn't want to obey the rules and just wants to live the way they've always lived as a lay person, then why did they become ordained? They have no sense that they have to give something up to gain so much.”

Ifs Way Want Giving Persons Gains Lays Setting Settings

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“Even if the hermits do not appear to benefit other beings with their presence or teachings, still they are enormously inspiring to many. Perhaps, in this lifetime, they were meant to work on their own practice, to try to purify their own mindstream so that in future lifetimes (that will last a lot longer than this one), they will be fit vessels to give the teachings to others.”

Ifs Giving Trying Stills Lasts Practice Teaching Fit Benefits Lifetime Vessel Hermits

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“At one time I thought that if I could really understand renunciation and bodhichitta from the depths of my heart, then, for this lifetime that would be enough.”

Ifs Heart Enough Would Be My Heart Lifetime Depth If I Could One Time Renunciation

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If you don't find that people find you're easier to live with than you were before, if you don't find that your heart is feeling warmer toward others and if your negative emotions are not getting any better, then there's something wrong. That is always the touchstone of the Dharma practice.”

People Ifs Heart Feelings Emotion Practice Easier Negative Dharma Touchstones Negative Emotions

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“One of the advantages of being born in an affluent society is that if one has any intelligence at all, one will realize that having more and more won't solve the problem, and happiness does not lie in possessions, or even relationships: The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside.”

Ifs Doe Problem Lying Realizing Born Answers Society Advantage Simplicity Possession Solve Inner Peace Minimalism Finding Peace Peace And Happiness Affluent

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually create positive returns. If we respond with a negative attitude, negative things will eventually come our way.”

Ifs Way Attitude Situation Return Negative Optimistic Positive Attitude Negative Attitude

Author:Tenzin Palmo

“The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside.”

About the Author

Born: 1943
Known for: Author
Quotes: 240

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