Worry

"Worry is the mind's attempt to stay safe"

p23, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Smile

"You simply allow 'smile' to happen. You smile rather than panicking"

p20, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

One has to change for the better

"… for practice to mean anything, one has to change for the better"

p19, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Remain with the taste of confusion

"We need to be willing to remain with the taste of our confusion as the texture of life and allow it to be the random pattern of our everyday lives"

p18, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Ambivalence

"...ambivalence is a desirable state for a practitioner"

p12, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Between wonderment and bewilderment

"This physical manifestation shimmers between wonderment and bewilderment"

p10, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

The wonderful efflorescence of the moment

"You just plunge into the entirely wonderful efflorescence of the moment with all its colours, sounds, smells, tastes and textures"

p10, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Sadness does not have to be permanent

"If there was no sadness in loss, there would have been no joy prior to it – but that sadness does not have to be permanent"

p9, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Relate with the initial display

"Relate with the initial display of what you see – the very first glimpse. After that glimpse, simply abandon the commentary"

p8, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Practise with whatever arises

"We practise and we work with whatever arises – without attempting to convert the disorderly nature of existence into something more regimented."

p7, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

The nature of mind is non-dual

"Glimpses of rigpa can arise spontaneously through the initial cessation of struggling to maintain the processes of samsara and relaxing into a more open view. We relax and discover with a jolt that the nature of mind is non-dual. We relax and discover in a flash that the nature of view is realised. We relax and discover with surprise that there is a flicker of harmonious natural congruence in activity and being."

p207, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4

Realise the potential of non-dual view

"The Four Thoughts teach us everything we need to know to be authentic practitioners. We can embrace the gentleness, kindness, and immaculacy of the warrior. We can embrace the dynamic energy, fierceness, and directness of the warrior. We can realise the potential of non-dual view on a moment by moment basis."

p179, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

We play with our life experience

"Death, impermanence, things that go wrong, laughter, colour, autumn leaves, light sparkling in puddles, cars breaking down, relationships ending, falling in love - all are the play of existence, the movement and change that is reality. It is only experienced as unsatisfactory when we try to stop movement and change, or see movement and change as painful. Once we have a real understanding of the cause of our experience of samsara as unsatisfactory, we can engage with it in a light-hearted manner. We play with our life experience, rather than feeling like a victim of our circumstances."

p157, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

Patterning becomes transparent

"Once we are able to dwell in the experience of emptiness between moments of movement in the mind, and even expand the scope of that emptiness, our patterning becomes transparent. It is revealed and laid bare. We can experience the naked empty nature of our perception, and joyfully play with the movement of intention and response."

p133, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

Impermanence is a cause for celebration

"Impermanence is a cause for celebration. Impermanence is our opportunity to discover presence. Present moments are infinite. They will never end. We will never cease to have opportunities to start again. We will never cease to have opportunities to experience presence."

p109, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

Honourably upholding the cause of kindness and awareness

"To activate our potential as human, we must live our lives as warriors: fearless, without need of reward or recognition, honourably upholding the cause of kindness and awareness. This is the scarcity and preciousness of human rebirth."

p75, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

Return to openness

"The most efficacious practice is always that which enables one to return to openness, and to the possibility of the direct experience of the non-duality of emptiness and form."

p51, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

The still potential of the-nature of-mind

"Cloud mind is the ebb and flow of conceptual mind, and Sky Mind is the still potential of the-nature of-mind. Clouds arise in the sky, flit across it and decorate it, but do not limit or define the vast empty blueness of the sky. Sky always has the potential for cloud to arise. Cloud is a natural aspect of sky, but sky is not limited by cloud. Sky exists irrespective of cloud, but cloud cannot exist irrespective of sky."

p19, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

Leap, without reservation

"Through the practice of philosophy one might expect to arrive at one's own conclusions about the nature of being - such investigations having been mostly self-referential. Through the practice of the religion of Dharma one discovers that the nature of being has already been understood by one's teachers, and that it can be discovered for ourselves through the methods of practice they reveal. Hence, to fully engage with Dharma, we eventually have to let go of the limitations of our own view - and leap ... without reservation, into Dharma-view"

p3, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

The chance to be real and vivid

"Vajrayana offers those with kindness, honesty, and courage the chance to be real and vivid, at a time when cultural horizons are shrinking. We cannot go forth like Lewis and Clark, in search of the passage west - there are no such new trails to blaze on behalf of others. The only compassionate trail left to seekers of such high adventure is the Vajrayana"

p67, Dangerous Friend, Rig'dzin Dorje, Shambhala, 2001, 1-57062-857-2