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You see people swimming, and you think, oh, how wonderful to swim. But most people stand on the edge swaying back and forth, afraid to jump. They don't think they can swim.

Tenzin Palmo

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Tenzin Palmo
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: January 1
Author
Bhikkhuni
Nun
Writer
Herts
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Stand
Swaying
Wonderful
Swimming
Back
Jump
Think
Swim
Thinking
Edge
People
Edges
Forth
Afraid

More quotes by Tenzin Palmo

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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.
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We are educated. We can think. We have the freedom to think.
Tenzin Palmo
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The new nuns don't know that they're 'supposed' to be meek and submissive, and so in many ways they believe they can do anything, because they've seen the earlier ones do it. In this way, there's nothing for them to doubt.
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Just entering into the dharma and taking refuge and bodhisattva vows is a tremendous amount of merit, but we need more and more and more.
Tenzin Palmo
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There are certain people who people think are enlightened. The problem with the word enlightenment is what you mean by it.
Tenzin Palmo
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Tibetans - at least traditionally - are so totally permeated with the dharma that they don't see any difference between dharma and everyday life, really. And therefore they enjoy it because they don't make a separation.
Tenzin Palmo
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Caves are beautiful things you know. They're thermostatically controlled - warm when it's cold out and cool when it's warm. Very quiet. Nobody there. Especially in the winter - it was perfect. Also, because it's a cave, you can't do much with it.
Tenzin Palmo
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To become effortless takes a lot of effort. It's good to compare it to learning an instrument or learning a sport.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo
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Until you are open, you cannot receive.
Tenzin Palmo
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Different people are different.
Tenzin Palmo
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If you just follow your inner calling, then you just go ahead.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo
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The first thing is to learn how to quiet the mind, relax the mind, and bring the awareness to the front so that we are conscious of what we're doing when we're doing it without all the commentary.
Tenzin Palmo
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In the texts, and as His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds us, we should check the person's behavior not when they're sitting on a big throne, but behind the scenes. How do they treat ordinary people - not the big sponsors - but just ordinary people who are of no particular importance to them.
Tenzin Palmo
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When I was in retreat I just did my meditation sessions and, in-between, reading and things I had to do.
Tenzin Palmo
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Joining the Sangha and renouncing worldly life is necessary in order to devote your whole life and all your energies toward the Dharma.
Tenzin Palmo
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All of us are playing roles, and there's nothing wrong with playing roles because we have to live in this world - the problem is only when we believe in those roles.
Tenzin Palmo
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I think we females have a lot of work to do for each other.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo