Tashi Paljor, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991) was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1988 to 1991, he is also considered an eminent proponent of the Rime tradition.

The Sage who Dispels Mind’s Anguish

Advice from the Guru, the Gentle Protector Mañjuśrī

On the Means of Accomplishing the Yogas of Śamatha and Vipaśyanā

by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Homage to the Guru Śākyamuni!

When training in the yogas of śamatha and vipaśyanā by focusing on the body of the Teacher, Buddha, infuse your mind with precious bodhicitta—the wish to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings—and think:

“At this time when I have obtained the support of the freedoms and riches and met the Tathāgata’s teachings, I will put aside all worldly activities which only bring about negative results. Although such practices as making offerings to the Tathāgata’s form and so on do generate immeasurable merit, these accumulations of merit based on material wealth are something that the Tathāgata advised mainly for householders. As something far superior, for renunciates, those following in his own footsteps, he praised discipline and genuine inward resting. In accordance with the Tathāgata’s words, therefore, I will practice these as much as I can.

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Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: “When we think that someone has done something to hurt us and anger arises, we should ask ourselves whether the anger is part of the enemy’s makeup or whether it is in ourselves”.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche on Training the Mind

Lay the blame for everything on one.

All suffering, all sickness, possession by spirits, loss of wealth, involvements with the law and so on, are without exception the result of clinging to the “I.” That is indeed where we should lay the blame for all our mishaps. All the suffering that comes to us arises simply through our holding on to our ego. We should not blame anything on others. Even if some enemy were to come and cut our heads off or beat us with a stick, all he does is to provide the momentary circumstance of injury. The real cause of our being harmed is our self clinging and is not the work of our enemy. As it is said:

All the harm with which this world is rife,
All the fear and suffering that there is:
Clinging to the ‘I’ has caused it!
What am I to do with this great demon?

When people believe that their house is haunted or that a particular object is cursed, they think that they have to have it exorcized. Ordinary people are often like that, aren’t they? But ghosts, devils and so on are only external enemies; they cannot really harm us. But as soon as the inner ghost of ego-clinging appears—that is when the real trouble starts. Continue reading »

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was the archetype of the spiritual teacher. His inner journey led him to an extraordinary depth of knowledge and enabled him to be, for all who met him, a fountain of loving kindness, wisdom, and compassion.

Heart Advice in Four Lines

by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

བླ་མ་མ་བརྗེད་རྟག་ཏུ་གསོལ་བ་ཐོབ།།

lama ma jé tak tu solwa tob

Do not forget the guru;
Pray to him1 at all times.

རང་སེམས་མ་ཡེངས་རང་ངོ་རང་གིས་ལྟོས།།

rang sem ma yeng rang ngo rang gi tö

Do not let your mind be distracted;
Look into its very essence.

འཆི་བ་མ་བརྗེད་ཆོས་ལ་བསྐུལ་མ་ཐོབ།།

chiwa ma je chö la kul ma thob

Do not forget death;
Let it spur you on to Dharma.

སེམས་ཅན་མ་བརྗེད་སྙིང་རྗེ་བསྔོ་སྨོན་གྱིས།།

semchen ma je nyingje ngo mön gyi

Do not forget sentient beings;
With compassion dedicate your merit to them and make prayers of aspiration. Continue reading »