r0b’s Reviews > The Tantric Distinction: An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism > Status Update

‘Even in terms of direct perception, we do not have so much as a single moment of correct perception of the nature of phenomena.’

‘Words cannot describe anything-much less reality-exactly as experienced. This is a well known fact emphasized by both the upper and lower tenet systems [of Tibetan Buddhism].’

Interesting point while reading Wittgenstein...

‘One famous method of approaching emptiness is by analyzing the I and its relation with mind and body. You begin by observing your sense of mind and body- whether the I is amongst these or separate from them. It is enough to crack your head open just to think about this.

‘It is only due to our present craziness that we do not know each other and that we seem to have eternal enemies or to be unconnected with people around us.’

‘...most people are proud and only take interest in the higher teachings. The Dalai Lama emphasizes that sensible people will analyze carefully to see whether or not they are capable of engaging in a certain practice and will make an effort at what is suitable for them, regardless of what might be higher. But for many of us, just hearing that there is something beyond our own practice ruins it for us.’

‘...When a Bodhisattva hears the whizz of other beings’ cars his mind lights up, “Ah, a sentient being,” as if a little flower had bloomed there.’

‘[A Bodhisattva] feels a fondness for everyone on sight; a sentient being is always an object of delight. We, however, do not feel that way at all. When we hear sentient beings going by in cars at a time when we wish to sleep or meditate, we are annoyed, “Why do they go whizzing by night and day, why can’t they just settle down!”...

‘...We do not celebrate Buddha as a land surveyor or maker of external maps. Moreover, physical travel is not required in order to reach the hells; they can be experienced right here as one is dying. The Dalai Lama said that what matters is whether Buddha was right about the four noble truths, the two truths, and the like.’

‘It may be that Buddhism is wrong in some aspects but right in others that are more important...When the present Dalai Lama was lecturing on the hell realms in 1972 to a large audience of lay persons and clergy in India, he asked the younger among them, “Do you feel badly when you discover that Buddha did not measure correctly?” He said that such unease was out of place...

‘Even within a single galaxy, the types of beings and the suffering they encounter are extremely various; if the entire universe of cyclic existence is considered, the variety is inconceivable. Therefore, to teach six types of beings is, if anything, a simplification rather than an exaggeration. Nevertheless, the accuracy of this teaching is not the crucial element...