The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most QUOTES

1 " Your present life is just one life; future lives are innumerable. Do not sacrifice so many lives just to pursue the illusory well-being of this present one. If you neglect to practice Dharma day after day, you will regret it bitterly – but too late, at the moment of death. Can a dying person begin to practice? Right now is the time to devote yourself to spiritual practice. The experience that practice will bring you is the only thing that will help you at the hour of death. (The Hundred Verses of Advice – Collected Works Vol II p 424, Shambhala) "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

2 " Just as worn-out clothes can never again be made as new,
It's no use seeing a doctor once you're terminally ill;
You'll have to go. We humans living on this earth
Are like streams and rivers flowing toward the ocean -
All living beings are heading for that single destination.
Now, like a small bird flying off from a treetop,
I, too, will not be here much longer; soon I must move on.
– Padampa Sangye "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

3 " It is always beneficial to be near a spiritual teacher. These masters are like gardens or medicinal plants, sanctuaries of wisdom. In the presence of a realized master, you will rapidly attain enlightenment. In the presence of an erudite scholar, you will acquire great knowledge. In the presence of a great meditator, spiritual experience will dawn in your mind. In the presence of a bodhisattva, your compassion will expand, just as an ordinary log placed next to a log of sandalwood becomes saturated, little by little, with its fragrance. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

4 " Frequenting evil friends is bound to make your own behavior evil;
People of Tingri, abandon any friendships that are negative.
– Padampa Sangye "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

5 " Do not encumber your mind with useless thoughts. What good is it to brood over the past and fret about the future? Dwell in the simplicity of the present moment. Live in harmony with the dharma. Make it the heart of your life and experience. Be the master of your own destiny. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

6 " Our lives have no outcome other than death, just as rivers have no end other than the ocean. At the moment of death, our only recourse is spiritual practice, and our only friends the virtuous actions we have accomplished during our lifetime. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

7 " Mindfulness should guide all your actions and your spiritual endeavors. Whatever you do, always apply three essential points: undertake the action with the intention of doing so for the good of all beings; execute it with perfect concentration, free of attachment to concepts of subject, object, and action; and, finally, dedicate the merit you have created to the enlightenment of all beings. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

8 " Seeing the world with all the unspoiled simplicity of a young child, you are free from concepts of beauty and ugliness, good and evil, and no longer fall prey to conflicting tendencies driven by desire or repulsion. Why trouble yourself about all the ups and downs of daily life, like a child who delights in building a sand castle but cries when it collapses? To get what they want and be rid of what they dislike, look how people throw themselves into torments, like moths plunging into the flame of a lamp! Would it not be better to put down your heavy burden of dreamlike obsessions once and for all? "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

9 " What a waste of time it is to take so much care of this body, feeding it the most succulent dishes, dressing it in the most fashionable clothes, and trying to make it look younger than it really is. The body has no other destination than the cemetery where it will be burned, buried, or fed to the birds. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

10 " The Brahmin Upagupta, who lived during the time of the Buddha, used to sharpen his vigilance and measure his progress by keeping a daily account. Every evening, he would make two heaps of stones, using a black pebble for each bad thought or action he had committed during the day and a white stone for each meritorious one. At first, the heap of black pebbles would be much higher, but little by little, the two heaps became equal. With great perseverance, he eventually reached a point where all the stones he piled up were white. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

11 " Someone who has managed to build up a great fortune may look back at his achievements with some satisfaction, reflecting proudly, “I am a rich man.” But he would do well to reflect, too, on the extent to which those riches are based on lies, deceit, and the overriding of others’ interests—negative actions that in the long run will only engender suffering. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

12 " Many of us lead family lives. At most, the members of a family stay together for the duration of a lifetime, often much less. While that fleeting moment of being together still lasts, we should try to remain in perfect harmony with each other, while observing the Dharma as much as possible. Night and day, let us turn our minds toward goodness, love, and compassion. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

13 " Padampa stayed for a long time in the high valley of Tingri, on the frontier between Tibet and Nepal. Among his innumerable disciples, four were particularly close to his heart. One day, one of these close students arrived in Tingri after a long absence and was so saddened to see how much the master had aged that he asked, “Sublime being, when you leave this world, you yourself, without doubt, will go from bliss to bliss; but what will become of us, the people of Tingri? In whom can we place our trust?” For Padampa, dying would indeed be no more than passing from one Buddha-field to another. But for his disciples, his death would mean never again seeing his face or hearing his voice. “In a year’s time,” he said, “here you will find the corpse of an old Indian hermit.” Their eyes filled with tears, and it was for them that Padampa taught these Hundred Verses of Advice. A year went by, and Padampa began to show signs of illness. When his disciples worried about his health, he told them laconically, “My mind is sick.” To their perplexity, he added, “My mind has blended with the phenomenal world.” He thus demonstrated that all dualistic perception had disappeared from his mind. “I do not know how to describe this type of disease,” he added with a serene sense of humor. “Bodily ills can be treated, but this is incurable.” He then fixed his gaze on the sky and passed away. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

14 " Dès l’instant de la naissance, la vie se précipite vers la mort en ignorant tout à fait quand la rencontre aura lieu. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

15 " How should you practice these instructions? Be like a hungry yak, browsing on one tuft of grass with its eyes already fixed on the next. Practice with joy and enthusiasm, and never fall into laziness or apathy. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

16 " si nous ne parvenons pas à nous dégager des besoins les plus futiles, nous en voudrons toujours plus que nécessaire "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

17 " nous avons de quoi nous vêtir et nous loger, mais nous aimerions tellement avoir des vêtements plus remarquables, "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

18 " nous avons de quoi nous vêtir et nous loger, mais nous aimerions tellement avoir des vêtements plus remarquables, une demeure plus vaste, plus confortable. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

19 " La futilité des préoccupations mondaines leur apparaissait dans toute son évidence. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

20 " Nous devrions moins nous inquiéter de notre apparence physique et chercher davantage à ne pas gaspiller notre vie. "

― Dilgo Khyentse , The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most