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Because we're trying, because we want, it's very hard to get.

Tenzin Palmo

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Tenzin Palmo
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: January 1
Author
Bhikkhuni
Nun
Writer
Herts
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Hard
Trying

More quotes by Tenzin Palmo

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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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In fact there are beautiful people in this world doing incredibly selfless acts over and over and over. Dedicating their lives completely for the welfare and happiness of others.
Tenzin Palmo
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The internet can be enormously helpful, just like books can, but I don't think it's the be all and end all for really practicing Buddhism. At a certain point, as with learning any skill, we need personal instruction from someone who is more advanced than us.
Tenzin Palmo
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We are educated. We can think. We have the freedom to think.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo
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We've been human countless times and done everything you can imagine. So we've been planting all these negative seeds, and they're going to come up.
Tenzin Palmo
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I think it's crucial to recognize that we are so fortunate to have this human birth where we can practice what we want, pick up and not just read books but actually understand them. This level of education is very rare throughout history, so we shouldn't take it for granted.
Tenzin Palmo
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The purpose of dharma is to help your mind to expand, to grow, to clarify. It should uphold us and create an inner sense of peace, joy, and clarity.
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.
Tenzin Palmo
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To be a nun is a very great blessing. It's a great inspiration to think that the Sangha goes all the way back to the Buddha and that so many fantastic, really truly-realized beings have been ordained. Thinking of all those members, such a wonderful, exalted and holy order - I love the Sangha.
Tenzin Palmo
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You can certainly learn how to rest in the nature of the mind.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo
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We need to be sincere in our practice, but at the same time we can't take ourselves too seriously.
Tenzin Palmo
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Perhaps one of the main antidotes to depression, lack of self-esteem, loneliness and so forth is the recognition that we really do have Buddha nature. All the other problems like anger, jealousy, ambitions, are merely habitual patterns that we've learned, but aren't inherent to who we are.
Tenzin Palmo
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We're always given the message that our potential is so limited, which is so sad. Actually, our potential is infinite.
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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I do think that someone who decides to devote themselves entirely to the spiritual life, that that is more meritorious.
Tenzin Palmo
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As a human being, we have everything we need. It's enough suffering to give us incentive to go on, but not so much that we don't know where to turn.
Tenzin Palmo
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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.
Tenzin Palmo