So we had better think again and use our common sense. 

If we let our mind mistreat us so that we spend our lives suffering and making others suffer around us, that’s a sign of a lack of common sense. The thoughts and words that come from a disturbed state of mind can be considered “negative.” 

Instead of complaining about our fate, if we cultivate altruism and compassion, so that those “positive” states of mind improve our well-being and that of others, that shows that we do have common sense.

JIGME KHYENTSE RINPOCHE (born 1964) 

Oral Advice translated by Matthieu Ricard

Sand Mandala by Tibetan Monks in Dothan, AL. March 2015

Please note that Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche does not say that thoughts and words coming from a disturbed state of mind are negative, but that they can be considered "negative." This is important !

 

Churning water.

I would like to share with you Matthieu Ricard's thought of the Week, directly from his Newsletter - suscribe to it !
 

Getting butter from milk is only possible because milk already contains cream. No one ever made butter by churning water. The prospector looks for gold in rocks and not in wood chips. Likewise, the quest for perfect enlightenment only makes sense because the buddha-nature is already present in every being. Without that nature, all efforts would be futile. 

JAMGÖN KONGTRUL LODRÖ THAYE (1813-1899)

 

 

Matthieu Ricard is a Tibetan Buddhist Monk, author and Photographer born in France in 1946. After completing his doctoral thesis in Molecular Genetics in 1972, he decided to forsake his scientific career and concentrate on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. He has been the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama since 1989.