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I think the problem with Western students is they're very ambitious.

Tenzin Palmo

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Tenzin Palmo
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: January 1
Author
Bhikkhuni
Nun
Writer
Herts
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Thinking
Ambitious
Western
Students
Problem
Think

More quotes by Tenzin Palmo

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Doing retreats, getting personal teachings from time to time from inspiring teachers, all of this helps to recharge our batteries. Then we get inspired and can carry what we've gained into our daily life, which is very important.
Tenzin Palmo
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To really be of benefit to others as the Buddha always taught, we ourselves must first get out of the swamp. One of the quickest and most effective ways to do this is in isolation, with very few distractions, working very hard at it and spending all your time and efforts at changing your mind.
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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We should develop a deep appreciation for all the we have, and not waste it, otherwise we'll die with deep regrets.
Tenzin Palmo
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This precious life is our opportunity. We are not the millions and millions of other things that are not human.
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 Buddha himself said, I still use conceptual thinking, but I'm not formed by it. And that's the Buddha.
Tenzin Palmo
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First you have to help yourself.
Tenzin Palmo
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In the early '60s there was very little reliable information on Tibetan Buddhism. I was living in London and I had joined the Buddhist Society. For the most part, people there were either interested in Theravada or Zen Buddhism. There was almost no one into Tibetan Buddhism at that time.
Tenzin Palmo
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Distraction is the main problem for us all - what the Buddha called the monkey mind. We need to tame this monkey mind.
Tenzin Palmo
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The Buddha said that samsara by its nature is painful. He didn't say it was a joyride.
Tenzin Palmo
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When one has a decisive realization of the inherent nature of the mind, which has no ego, it has no sense of duality between oneself and the cup, and a deep sense of interpenetration of the whole dharma. Then whatever we do is spontaneously perfect Buddha activity. And anybody who is even slightly tuned in will get a very deep experience of that.
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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We don't always need to be sitting at the foot of the teacher, but from time to time we need someone who can overview us and give us direction.
Tenzin Palmo
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Our thinking can create liberation or it can create imprisonment. It depends on how we use our mind.
Tenzin Palmo
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When I heard that our bodies change when we get a bit older, I thought, oh good, now I'll go back to being a boy again. But it didn't happen like that.
Tenzin Palmo
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It's unlikely that you were a frog in a past life.
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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The thing to do in this lifetime is to create more merit.
Tenzin Palmo
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You can certainly learn how to rest in the nature of the mind.
Tenzin Palmo