Traleg Kyabgon > Quotes

“He believed fully that whatever suffering we experience is due to our own doing, and not due to a divine hand. Therefore, the pacification of suffering is also in our own hands. This was his idea of karma.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters

“Buddha teaches that there are many causes and many conditions and always refers to causes and conditions in the plural, never just as cause and effect. We are presented with a very complex picture of how things work.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters

“When we begin to practice tranquillity meditation, it may be difficult to maintain this awareness. That’s why we focus on the exhalation and inhalation of the breath rather than on what is going on in the mind, because focusing on our thoughts and emotions is much more difficult. We can formalize this technique by counting the incoming and outgoing breaths, in whatever rhythm is natural for us. In the beginning, you count an exhalation and inhalation as one breath and continue counting until you reach seven breaths, before returning to the count of one again. When we breathe out, we should know that we are breathing out, and when we breathe in, we should know that we are breathing in. When you’re comfortable counting seven breaths, you increase the number to fifteen and then to twenty-one. When you can hold your attention on the breath for twenty-one cycles, you will have developed some proficiency in mindfulness.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

“Karmic Cause and Effect It is very important to contemplate the connection between our mental states and our actions. Our karmic patterns are formed and sustained by the intentional actions of the “three gates” of body, speech, and mind—everything we do, say, or think with volitional intention. Our actions and reactions form the cause and effect of action (Skt. karma; Tib. las) that in turn determines the kinds of experiences we have. As such, our mind has the potential to transport us to elevated states of existence or to plunge us into demeaning states of confusion and anguish. Our actions are not like footprints left on water; they leave imprints in our minds, the consequences of which will invariably manifest unless we can somehow nullify them. As the thirteenth Karmapa, Dudul Dorje (1733–97) states: In the empty dwelling place of confusion, Desire is unchanging, marked on the mind Like an etching on rock.13 The thoughts and emotions we experience and the attitudes and beliefs we hold all help to mold our character and dispositions and the kind of people we become. Conditioned existence is characterized by delusions, defilements, confusions, and disturbances of all kinds. We have to ask ourselves why we experience so much pain, while our pleasures are so ephemeral and transient. The answer is that these are the karmic fruits of our negative actions (Skt. papa-karma; Tib. sdig pa’i las). Jamgön Kongtrül says: The result of wholesome action is happiness; the result of unwholesome action is suffering, and nothing else. These results are not interchangeable: when you plant buckwheat, you get buckwheat; when you plant barley, you get barley.14 This cycle of cause and effect continues relentlessly, unless we embark on a virtuous spiritual path and learn to reverse this process by performing wholesome actions (Skt. kusala-karma; Tib. dge ba’i las). It is our intentions that determine whether an action is wholesome or unwholesome, and therefore it is our intentions that will dictate the quality of our future experiences. We have to think of karmic cause and effect in the following terms: “My current suffering is due to the negative actions, attitudes, thoughts, and emotions I performed in the past, and whatever I think, say, and do now will determine what I experience and become in the future. So from now on, I will contemplate the truth of karma, and pursue my spiritual practices with enthusiasm and positive intentions.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

“Knowing that our thoughts, concepts, and ideas are no different from our own natural state, we don’t need to meditate on dharmadhatu as somewhere else or something different. It is enough to know that the method of realizing the nature of thoughts is the very method that will lead to liberation. Thoughts and concepts embody our own authentic state, so using thoughts and concepts in this manner is the supreme path, because everything we experience internally and through the senses becomes sublime through this approach. We no longer pursue ideas of rejecting or abandoning concepts and thoughts because to think of experiences in life as our enemies means we have lost ourselves.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Longchenpa's Three Cycles of Natural Freedom: Oral Translation and Commentary

“Without curiosity and humility nothing can be retained or absorbed, because our minds are already too full of judgments and prejudices.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

“As for the ground of being, the text, Garland of Pearls, states:Dharmakaya is devoid of any form of corruption. It embodies the two qualities of emptiness and luminosity, and this natural condition is not subject to the influences of mental activities. It is unconditioned and all-pervasive, just like the space itself, therefore it cannot be represented as being this or that.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle Of The Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“Without curiosity and humility nothing can be retained or absorbed, because our minds are already too full of judgments and prejudices. As”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

“What we do as individuals in daily life will affect not just us but other people, the world at large, and even the universe. At”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters

“For this reason, the tantra, Dra Thalgyur, says:
Various perspectives on the ground of being have been put forward—it is spontaneously established, it is mutable, it is indeterminate, it is unchanging, it is determinate, it can manifest in varieties of forms, it is amenable to conceptual thoughtforms, and it is primordially pure. It is possible to adopt many different perspectives, such as these. However, they can never provide an allencompassing view of the ground of being because it is something that cannot be understood in its completeness from any perspective. In a similar vein, the tantra, The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra, has said: These perspectives are the creation of various thought-forms, but the ground of being is pure in its own nature. All these perspectives on the ground of being should be seen as just perspectives. They are intellectual ways of viewing the ground of being and cannot provide a direct experience of it.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle of the Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“From the Dzogchen point of view, that does not mean that one’s relative concept of ego is something to get rid of. The practitioner needs to understand it for what it is. The ego exists only on the relative level and does not have real inherent existence. After becoming enlightened, the aspect of the relative existence of ego is still there, not changed.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle of the Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“Again, overcoming ego does not mean getting rid of it, because that cannot be done practically, even if one wanted to. If a person was born Caucasian and is a particular age, then those things have relevance and one cannot deny or change that. In terms of one’s past history and memories, all of those things are relevant. Their coming together constitutes what one is and what one is is not one single factor. It is a group, a corporate entity; one needs to have that concept of the self or ego. That is why it is said that we can change ourselves, meaning that we can introduce various elements into the structure of the ego so that the ego becomes transformed, the self becomes transformed.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle of the Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“There are some additional cultural problems to be overcome in discussing karma in the modern context, as we have stopped talking about ethical issues altogether, not just specifically issues around karma, but ethics generally. There is an ever-increasing level of discussion around rights and justice, and who is entitled to what, and who deserves a share of such-and-such, but very little about how we should behave and treat each other, and how we should live together, and why.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters

“When the practitioner remains present with the prana and is not wavering, then they have realized the marriage of the authentic state of one’s being which is space, and wisdom: ying and yeshe. These two elements, which constitute the authentic state of one’s being, cannot be brought together, and because of that they cannot be separated—they function in the state of totality of one’s authentic condition where both elements are present.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle Of The Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“Gaining another job promotion or giving birth to a new baby or finding a new boyfriend or girlfriend will never give us genuine fulfillment. It is not that such events can’t be enriching at one level, it’s just that they are not intrinsically enriching. Our worldly experiences and achievements will always be a source of dissatisfaction because of our misplaced trust and hope. It is not hope and trust in general that is being referred to here, but rather the hope and trust that we might gain release from our samsaric malaise. Our underlying feelings of futility or entrapment only reflect the nature of conditioned existence, and nothing that we do in a worldly sense will ever really alleviate that.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

“From the Dzogchen point of view, this primordial awareness, innate within one’s being, is the source of spiritual realization, and is responsible for giving rise to various qualities and manifestations of the enlightened mind. But in itself, the primordial awareness cannot be said to be this or that. Nothing can be predicated on it, yet at the same time because of it, one has the power to overcome delusions and obscurations of the mind and the possibility of obtaining enlightenment. The reason the primordial awareness in itself cannot be predicated as having this or that quality or attribute is precisely because it is not a thing or entity, hence it goes beyond conceptualization. On the other hand, because of it, all the enlightened qualities of an awakened mind emerge.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle Of The Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“To attain enlightenment, according to Dzogchen, is not to go beyond the conditioned mind as much as knowing and understanding that the conditioned aspect is a manifestation of the unconditioned.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle Of The Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“The five poisons of desire, aggression, jealousy, pride, and ignorance are transformed, or transmuted, into their corresponding five wisdoms. Desire is transformed into discriminating wisdom, aggression into mirror-like wisdom, jealousy into all accomplishing wisdom, pride into wisdom of equanimity, and ignorance into wisdom of dharmadhatu, or reality.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle Of The Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“Intellectually, the ground of being has been described in various ways but the following six are quite common descriptions: Sometimes the ground of being is referred to as “spontaneously established.”Some describe the ground of being as “non-determinate.”Sometimes the ground of being is said to have determinate characteristics.The ground of being is sometimes presented as “mutable.”The ground of being is also said to be apprehensible in varieties of ways.And lastly, it is said that the ground of being manifests in diverse forms.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle of the Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“The prevalent idea that karma is a superstitious or archaic belief probably stems from the simplified versions of the idea that emerged from old-world Asia. In poor conditions, among uneducated people, the Buddha’s teachings were usually delivered very simply. People in such circumstances tend to express their wish to create good karma by making ritual offerings to ordained members of the sangha, or by worshipping Buddha images, or by doing circumambulations of Buddhist shrines and reliquaries, or by feeding the poor, and so on. In a modern context, karma tends to be associated predominantly with this type of generalization, again invoking the primitive, superstitious image.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters

“These three types of ignorance should be seen as different expressions of the same ignorance rather than as existing separately, independent of each other. These three expressions of ignorance are the actual causes for the continuation of samsaric existence. There are three conditions requiring discussion in regard to how confusion comes into being, and why it persists. The first is known as “causal condition,” and this refers to the condition of not recognizing the three aspects of the
ground of being and their interrelationship, namely essence, nature, and responsiveness. The second is called “object condition,” which refers to the expression of the nature in terms of manifesting as inseparable luminosity and emptiness—and thus, everything is expressed as spontaneous presence.
The third condition is “condition of fixation.” When ordinary beings do not understand the nature of spontaneous presence as indivisible luminosity and emptiness, then the dualistic concept of subject and object arrives on the scene.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, The Circle of the Sun: Heart Essence Of Dzogchen

“Nevertheless, critiques of karma often center on this notion of individual responsibility and suggest it produces an unsympathetic attitude toward others and leads to a dubious tendency to blame. The poor are blamed for being poor, and so on. Buddhism is said, falsely, to assign fault to individuals for all their circumstances and to deny agency. If we are poor, for instance, it might be thought, more or less automatically, that we will stay that way until our karmic debt runs out, and then, after we die, we may then be reborn in fortunate circumstances, becoming a wealthy entrepreneur perhaps. This type of thinking cannot be reconciled with Buddhism’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of all things though, which fully acknowledges the fertile complexity of influences on persons, including their environment.”
― Traleg Kyabgon, Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters