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Tenzin Palmo

Tenzin Palmo Quotes

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Famous Tenzin Palmo Quotes

“My mother was superb. Even when I said to her, when I was nineteen, oh, I'm going to India. Her immediate reaction was, oh yes dear, and when are you leaving? She didn't say, oh how could you leave me, your mother? Or wait a bit dear until you get a bit older and you know your own mind. She just said, well, when are you going? And that was because she loved me, not because she didn't love me.”

KnowsMindWellsSaidMotherBitsWaitingIndiaLeavingDearReactionsLeaving MeNineteenSuperbYes Dear
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“We try to be present when we are drinking our tea, which isn't as easy as it sounds. It's very easy to think, right now I'm going to be really present while I'm drinking my tea, here I am drinking my tea, and I'm so present, look this is easy, I am here drinking my tea and I know I'm drinking my tea blah blah blah blah... right? And the one place where the mind is not, is here. It's just thinking about being here.”

ThinkingKnowsTryingMindLooksEasySoundRight NowDrinkingTeaHere I AmBlah
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“Let's consider: at the time of the Buddha, when he attained enlightenment, according to the old texts, in the first watch of the night, he went through all of his past lifetimes. Then in the second watch of the night, his mind opened still further and encompassed the coming into being and dying and re-coming into being of all beings, everywhere. The third watch of the night, he realized interdependent origination. He realized interdependent origination because he saw it. It wasn't some theory he thought up. He saw it. That was his enlightenment experience. That was why he was a Buddha.”

MindFirstsStillsPastNightWatchesSawsDyingTheoryEnlightenmentThirdsLifetimePast Life
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“We make the commitment to stop for a moment and look at what the mind is doing, what mind state we are dwelling in. We don't judge it, we just know it. Gradually we'll become more and more accustomed to being conscious of what we're thinking and our various positive and negative states. We'll become more and more the masters of our mind, rather than the slaves.”

ThinkingKnowsMindLooksStatesMomentsJudgingMastersConsciousCommitmentNegativeSlaveVariousAccustomedDwelling
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“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!”

IfsMindMatterWholeHappensLyingAttitudeBuddhismAmountOrdinaryDeterminationPerseveranceActiveEnormousExpectingConventionalRelaxedTenseStressedMake It HappenPerseverance And Determination
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“We're normally caught up in the current of our thinking, feelings and emotions. With awareness, we can observe it all without being swept away. This gives us access to something much vaster and deeper than our usual compressed minds. All of us can access this. It's not so difficult. With some instruction and practice, anybody can do it.”

ThinkingGivingMindFeelingsDifficultCan DoEmotionPracticeAwarenessCaughtCurrentsDeeperAccessUsualInstructionCaught UpFeelings And EmotionsSwept Away
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“It's not a matter of how much you know or can define, or how many millions of mantras or thousands of prostrations you have done, or how many months of wangs you've attended. The important thing is whether or not the mind is really changing, whether our negative emotions are really coming under control, whether we are really beginning to understand ourselves, whether our mind is really improving, and whether in our hearts there is genuine love and caring for other people.”

PeopleKnowsMindHeartImportantMatterDoneEmotionMillionsMonthsNegativeImportant ThingsCaringGenuineImprovingMantrasCaring For OthersNegative EmotionsGenuine LoveProstration
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“We have to cultivate contentment with what we have. We really don't need much. When you know this, the mind settles down. Cultivate generosity. Delight in giving. Learn to live lightly. In this way, we can begin to transform what is negative into what is positive. This is how we start to grow up.”

KnowsWayNeedsGivingMindGrowsGrowing UpEnvironmentNegativeEnvironmentalDelightGenerositySettlingContentmentSimple LivingSettling DownMind SetGreen Living
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