The mind

"The mind cannot be controlled and forced to behave. The mind will do what it does based on your individual patterning. The more you try to force a pattern out of the mind, the more prominence it will have to your life. Similarly you will not succeed in forcing a pattern into the mind even if it would seem preferable to your existing mind-state."

p.145Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nord'dzin and Ngakpa ö-Dzin

Inviting others in

"We cannot expect people to know we are in need just because we feel completely raw and think this must be obvious. Everybody is dealing with their own issues all the time. 'Not asking for help' may easily be interpreted as 'not needing help'. Everyone feels they are the centre of their own little universe. If you want people to become involved in your universe, you have to invite them in-and also be willing to accept invitations."

p.79, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nord'dzin and Ngakpa ö-Dzin

Intrinsic ethics and morality

"If a person is kind and seeks the happiness and well being of others as a natural response to being alive then ethics and morality will be intrinsic. You simply have to like people, animals, and the whole slew of limitless phenomena."

p15 Wisdom Eccentrics, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, Inc, 2011, 978-0965394864

State without thought

"The reason for continuing to practice in order to arrive at a state without thought is that it provides the space to unlearn our neurotic relationship with thought. If we return to the idea that meditation isn't getting used to is, we can see that the process, or space of unlearning, is getting used to the referenceless quality of being."

p93, Roaring Silence, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Shambhala, 2002, 1-57062-944-7

Singing power into being

"The sounds of the vulture’s flight are methods of practice. The great white vulture, glides effortlessly above the reach and range of concept. Through these movements, Mind finds itself in its own free Space. The vulture has no fear of terrible heights, because the sky is her natural home.”

retreats/singing-power-into-being, Khandro Déchen

Mechanistic rather than emotive

"Buddhism does not really deal with the concept of 'sin' it simply deals with the mechanisms of confusion, and the means of liberation. There is no guilt attached to being confused, and no sense of deliberative 'wickedness'. The terms 'attraction', 'aversion' and 'indifference' have been chosen because they are mechanistic rather than emotive-they describe the machinery of dualistic perception."

p45, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, 0-9653948-0-8

Measuring Devotion

"Devotion isn't measured in terms of empowerments or anything that can be added to your spiritual credit rating. Devotion is a direct understanding and that never has any need of being displayed."

p19 Wisdom Eccentrics, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, Inc, 2011, 978-0965394864

Courage to dance with the tension

"Vajrayana requires the courage to dance with the tension of the moment-of not knowing the who, what, why or how of that moment. You have to let go of always trying to control yourself and your situation, and leap into the present moment."

p.204, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nord'dzin and Ngakpa ö-Dzin

Spectrum of fluid

"It is important to experience our emotional energies simply and directly. Our emotions are a spectrum of fluid and fluent energies, and experiencing their energy fields is the purpose of our exploration."

p7, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, 0-9653948-0-8

Reflections

"One of the most enlivening, exciting, and fulfilling discoveries we can make as human beings is finding that our emotions are actually reflections of our awakened enlightened potentialities. The complete unexpurgated range of what we feel is a spectrum of ecstasy."

p7, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, 0-9653948-0-8

Awakened mind

"The awakened-mind warriors delight in unbounded wealth because their appreciation is unlimited. Appreciation generates generosity which knows no limits. It is unobstructed by the self-referencing territorialism which generates manipulative pusillanimity. Awakened-mind warriors need no territory. Their refuge is the security of insecurity. Their refuge is the territory of intrinsic space, which is self-validating without the requirement of reference points."

The Ten Paramitas, Khandro Déchen, Aro Encyclopaedia

Generosity

"The Paramitas ultimately are actions which are free from the crimp of duality-actions which arise spontaneously from the non-dual state. They are the actions of the bodhisattva the awakened mind-warrior who has gone beyond the confines of referentiality, and who dwells within the meaning of ocean and its ornamental waves."

The Ten Paramitas, Khandro Déchen, Aro Encyclopaedia

The Song of the Owl Headed Dakini

"Dharma never tires of explaining itself through those committed to teaching. To everyone who has questions or incomprehension, Dharma re-clothes itself in fresh terms. No book of truth can contain Dharma – because Dharma speaks to every style of confusion; and the styles of confusion are as variegated as the cultures, societies, and epochs in which we live. The Song of the Owl Headed Dakini is a stirring anthem to freedom and to the sheer glee evoked by direct insight into the nature of reality.”

the-song-of-the-owl-headed-dakini, Ngak'chang Rinpoche

Our view

"We see our circumstances, not simply as an open environment – but in terms of how we can manipulate them as the project managers of our lives. We want some things, reject others, and the rest merges into the wallpaper of comfortable oblivion. This causes us to scurry around in a constant attempt to make the world conform to the preferences prompted by our conditioning."

an-uncommon-perspective, Ngak'chang Rinpoche

Enlightenment

"The energy expended on worrying about the future, regretting the past, and judging the present is liberated – and we find tremendous resources of generosity, accuracy, vitality, creativity, and spaciousness – the natural freedom that is of benefit to all. Buddhism describes this as enlightenment."

an-uncommon-perspective, Ngak'chang Rinpoche

As it is

"When we allow our emotional realm to be as it is, we are freed to experience the texture of life directly. We can side-step the sour orthodoxy of preordained likes, dislikes, and habitual concepts. When we allow our perceptual life to be as it is, we are self-liberated to be as we are."

an-uncommon-perspective, Ngak'chang Rinpoche

The pleasure of existence