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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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Tenzin Palmo
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: January 1
Author
Bhikkhuni
Nun
Writer
Herts
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Firsts
Changing
Swamps
Time
First
Spending
Distractions
Hard
Benefits
Buddha
Must
Taught
Distraction
Mind
Ways
Isolation
Effort
Efforts
Really
Working
Benefit
Swamp
Way
Others
Effective
Quickest
Always

More quotes by Tenzin Palmo

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I don't think I've changed anything, but I hope that by my talks I have encouraged people in their practice. That's as much as any of us can do.
Tenzin Palmo
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I never really wondered about getting from London to Lahaul. It all seemed such a natural progression. In London I felt I was in the wrong place and wanted to leave. I'd thought about going to Australia or New Zealand. It's nothing against England, but I knew I wasn't meant to be there.
Tenzin Palmo
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A lot of people with the purest motivation end up getting completely burned out. And that's because they lack the wisdom and the skill and the inner space.
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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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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When I was 18 I read a book about Buddhism and, before I was halfway through it I said to my mother, I'm a Buddhist! She said, That's great. Finish reading the book and then you can tell me all about it. From that moment on I knew I was a Buddhist.
Tenzin Palmo
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We're normally caught up in the current of our thinking, feelings and emotions. With awareness, we can observe it all without being swept away. This gives us access to something much vaster and deeper than our usual compressed minds. All of us can access this. It's not so difficult. With some instruction and practice, anybody can do it.
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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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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We all have our own karma and so different teachers will be meaningful to different students.
Tenzin Palmo
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I think, for East and West, the first thing we need is a good grounding in basic Buddhadharma.
Tenzin Palmo
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People get very deep experiences and they think they're enlightened. That's not enlightenment, that's just some realization.
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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Other people may tell us, Oh, you're so much nicer. Of course you can't hope that other people will tell you that you're so much nicer, but that's always a good sign. Perhaps people find that you're easier to live with.
Tenzin Palmo
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From the point of view of emptiness, there is neither being nor non-being, but we're not on the point of view of emptiness, we're on the point of view of our relative being.
Tenzin Palmo
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I'd say look at the teacher's students. Do you want to be like them? If you see a good and harmonious sangha, and if they're practicing well and are good people with good hearts, then you have a cause for trust.
Tenzin Palmo
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Everyone should not be ordained, but for those who really feel that the only thing that matters in this world is the Dharma, then it is a logical step to adopt a form of life that automatically precludes worldly distractions.
Tenzin Palmo
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We do look for inspiration amongst our own sex. Why not? You go into temples and they're full of all the lineage lamas who are male. What message does that give to a young girl, except that somehow she got trapped in the wrong body because of bad things she did in a past life?
Tenzin Palmo
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Different people are different.
Tenzin Palmo
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At one time I thought that if I could really understand renunciation and bodhichitta from the depths of my heart, then, for this lifetime that would be enough.
Tenzin Palmo