Lama Yeshe and more…
Share your love, your wisdom, and your wealth and serve each other as much as possible. Live in harmony with one another and be an example of peace, love, compassion, and wisdom. Try to be happy in your practice, to be satisfied with your life. Be reasonable in the way you grow, and don’t ever think that it is too late. And don’t be afraid of death. Even if you are going to die tomorrow, at least for today keep yourself straight and clean-clear, and be a happy human being.
✿—-Lama Thubten Yeshe—-✿
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Wow…. truly great ,inspiring quotes for us to ponder . I love reading quotes , its full of meaningful worthy words , a guide line for me .These quotes by Lama Yeshe and Rinpoche will inspire all of us . It’s never too late to start, to learn, practice dharma and put it in action . Even if we were to start now and we were to die tomorrow, we will not regret , we have live a meaningful life .
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
I am a old student of Lama Yeshe and I wish to remain anonymous. I am older now. Lama Yeshe would do Dorje Shugden puja often. If he was alive, he would not have been browbeaten into giving up Dorje Shugden’s practice. After Lama Zopa and FPMT was forced to ‘give’ up this precious practice, I stopped going to FPMT. I never received any teachings from H.H. the Dalai Lama and he is not my guru. Lama Yeshe was my guru. We received this Dorje Shugden practice from Trijang Rinpoche at the urging of Lama Yeshe. FPMT should not have abandoned Dorje Shugden’s practice. How can they abandon the practice of Lama Yeshe who founded FPMT. Lama Yeshe relied on Dorje Shugden fully. It is rumored that Lama Yeshe’s incarnation (Lama Osel) cannot manifest being a successful teacher in this life as FPMT broke their commitment practice to Dorje Shugden as promised to Trijang Rinpoche. This heavy karma of breaking commitment becomes FPMT’s obstacle that Lama Yeshe’s incarnation cannot manifest as a teacher. Too bad. Dorje Shugden cannot punish anyone, but students promised Trijang Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe to do this practice, and the karma of breaking a promise of the guru is what counts and returns as obstacles. In all teachings we consider Trijang Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe as living Buddhas. When getting tantric practice/initiation from them, they are the living Buddhas of the mandala we are being initiated into so they cannot be seen as mistaken in giving Dorje Shugden’s practice. How can we view them as mistaken. If they can be mistaken in giving Dorje Shugden practice to students, then Dalai Lama can be mistaken in banning the practice. If one guru can make mistakes then all gurus including Dalai Lama can make mistakes. Just because Dalai Lama is high ranking does not mean he cannot make mistakes. Dalai Lama listens to Nechung via the oracle to ban the practice. Nechung told Dalai Lama to stop the practice. Nechung is a spirit. Dalai Lama should listen to his guru Trijang Rinpoche to practice Dorje Dorje Shugden and not to a spirit to give up the practice. How can a spirit override the instructions of one’s guru? Nechung never teaches dharma and Trijang Rinpoche taught dharma his whole life to Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama should listen to his teacher and not the spirit Nechung.
I have been following Tsem Rinpoche’s blog for a few years now. I have not read or heard (videos) anything Tsem Rinpoche says that criticizes the Dalai Lama or says anything negative against the Dalai Lama. This is amazing practice. He does his guru proud. Tsem Rinpoche is steadfast in his practice of Shugden because he is keeping his commitment to his guru just as we are taught. Just for this he is criticized and ostracized. That is too bad. Tsem Rinpoche is simply following the rules of Tantric Buddhist practice which is to keep his commitment to his guru and that is why I understand he is doing the Dorje Shugden practice. I commend Tsem Rinpoche for keeping his guru devotion so strong. Tsem Rinpoche is brave in the face of segregation, hatred and ostracizing against him to keep his commitment to his guru so steadfast. I admire this and respect Tsem Rinpoche very much for this. It’s rare to find a Buddhist practitioner who practices not for political correctness but for gaining enlightenment.
Tsem Rinpoche was very close to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. But he was not allowed to see Lama Zopa anymore simply because he did not give up his commitment to his guru Zong Rinpoche to practice Shugden. Tsem Rinpoche has been very respectful of Lama Zopa always and yet he is not allowed to see Lama Zopa only for this reason I was told by other ex-FPMT members. That is wrong. Lama Zopa would in the past call by telephone when he was in the Asia region to Tsem Rinpoche or email Tsem Rinpoche to contact him to meet up whenever Lama Zopa was in Singapore or Malaysia. Now Lama Zopa stopped seeing Tsem Rinpoche only because Tsem Rinpoche chooses to follow his guru’s instruction to practice Dorje Shugden. What is the world coming to? Lama Zopa should embrace Tsem Rinpoche and respect him very much. Tsem Rinpoche did nothing wrong.
The good thing is Tsem Rinpoche is peaceful, calm and patient. He never criticizes Dalai Lama or anyone else that attacks him for his practice. He continues his practice and he is brave to continue and openly. Very honest and admirable.
The many wonderful articles in this blogsite inspired me to speak up about FPMT and their unfair discrimination against Dorje Shugden. Many Dorje Shugden lamas and people made pujas, donations (molney/materials/time) and teachings in FPMT to get it to where it is today. All these things should be returned. Don’t reject Dorje Shugden people but keep their gifts and donations.
I hope Tsem Rinpoche lives very long,
Ex-member of FPMT
(Photos Lama Yeshe and Zong Rinpoche. Tsem Rinpoche with Lama Zopa in happier times prior to the ban against Dorje Shugden. I found these photos on the internet. I wanted to share these here as they are beautiful.)
Thank you Rinpoche for the wonderful and inspiring quotes as always. Just can never get enough!
I like Rinpoche’s quote about not blaming and creating a better tomorrow. And it is so true!
There is no point in holding on to the past and expect the future to be better. Even if we are unhappy now, it was because of what we did before.
Be the NEW creator now!
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
The reason why Rinpoche is able to teach/convey Dharma to us in the way that we can understand, it is because Rinpoche understand the Dharma thoroughly. To different people, Rinpoche able to use different way of explaining the Dharma. And this is why people always said, a real Guru can teach to anyone, no matter what level they are in their Dharma practice. This match with what Albert Einstein said. So it doesn’t only apply to the worldly matter, it also applies to Buddhism as well.
Everything we learn, we should be able to explain it simply, so the teachings go into us, and it is not wasted.
These quotes are uplifting, inspirational and they come just when we need them the most. I guess since we have not perfected our joyful perseverance in relations to our spiritual practice, we still need inspiration. These short quotes are just fantastic in the way it can perk us up and inspire us for the day.
For me, I found all of these quotes fantastic and relational but of course, I love Rinpoche’s quotes the most. I think the quote on surrounding ourselves with people who truly believe in us is really a good one. Just like Paris, I have a huge struggle to believe in myself and I do realize that for me, it is truly just an innate laziness. The Buddha said that not believing in ourselves capable is a form of laziness because we stop ourselves from achieving and becoming more. This is not an easy realization but one that all of us have to overcome in order to grow and mature.
Hahaha “I saw that. Karma.” I found that SO funny because it really is true. No matter what you do, you can never escape karma. And as sinister as that sounds, it’s actually really great in a few ways…
(1) you are in control of your karma. What you are today is a result of what you did yesterday and previously. So what you are tomorrow is what you do today
(2) if you’re the vengeful kind, you don’t need to worry about people getting their just desserts coz their karma will come back to them LOL okay I know that’s a little twisted BUT if you think of it that way, it does help to stop you from acting out your anger
(3) it’s a totally democratic, meritocratic and equal system. Rich or poor, young or old, it doesn’t matter. It’s a universal law like gravity that you simply cannot argue against
(4) once you understand karma and take refuge in it, you can totally manipulate it according to its laws so you end up happy
Thank you Rinpoche. These are truly great quotes that should penetrate deep into our mind and execute them everyday.
“Share your love, your wisdom, and your wealth and serve each other as much as possible. Live in harmony with one another and be an example of peace, love, compassion, and wisdom. Try to be happy in your practice, to be satisfied with your life. Be reasonable in the way you grow, and don’t ever think that it is too late. And don’t be afraid of death. Even if you are going to die tomorrow, at least for today keep yourself straight and clean-clear, and be a happy human being. ✿—-Lama Thubten Yeshe—-✿”
Love this quote! It is so profound and full of wisdom. The purpose of our lives is to live to benefit others. If we do that, there will be no regret at the moment of death because we have done what we should do. Karma is very fair. If we do good and practise and transform our mind, there is nothing to be afraid of at the moment of death.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing!
“I Saw That” – Karma. So brief yet so profound. We may run away and hide ourselves from other things. But we can never escape karma. We reap what we sow.
Thank you Rinpoche for the lovely and meaningful quotes.
I believe our happiness is not from taking and receiving from others which most of the people thought of but is how we give and share with others exactly like what lama Yeshe mentioned.
Nothing is too late because we would not know when it will last and it’s best to do it now because the last day could be anytime but at least we have done the best we could.
When facing death, when someone knows that they will be ‘dying’ soon, due to the great fear, they will not be able to live their life well, because they are fearing of the unknown place that they will be going.
Being attached to our belonging will also create such fear that makes us can’t let go. Because deep inside us, we know whatever we have, we can’t bring it with us. Hence, death will be very terrifying.
I like the first quote, where it says we have to unlearn whatever has programmed to us since birth. The software is no longer serve us. This is so so true, even the programme in our computer, we will need to upgrade it from time to time, so if we don’t upgrade our “software” which has been using for over 30, 40, 50 years already, how well can it still function?
I love the ‘I saw that’ Karma. We don’t get away with anything!
Dear Rinpoche,
* If I ever live to the fullest, give to the needed, do what I should be doing, then I won’t be afraid to die tomorrow. I still have the fear because I did not.
* Unlearn and learn. Like our mobile phone and computer, we have to update our software from time to time, delete the older version, replace with latest one, so the gadgets would be crashed or down.
* Thinkers and believers. There are many magicians who see our potential, believe in us even the whole world and ourself have gave up on us. Never abandon the magician and yourself.
* Happiness. It’s simple yet hard, because our mind with our action and speech not staying in the same “house”, they split with each others.
* Explain simply. Remind of my lecturer Dr Hamima who deducts student’s mark who writes assignment more than required pages. We twist and twist because we don’t understand and still want to bluff people and ourself.
Thank you, Rinpoche.
With folded hands,
Wah Ying
Thank you for these lovely thought provoking quotes, Rinpoche!
I like the quote by Rinpoche regarding us being the creator. It is very true we experience what we create! Many of us do not realise this though and often blame the world for the own problems we created.
We all have a choice to choose how we will be like. So make the right choice! =)
Thank you, Rinpoche, for all these wisdom quotes. It’s thought provoking and absolutely true. I particularly like these two quotes:
“Remember don’t blame others and don’t blame yourself; just create the new and better future you want NOW. You are the creator! You experience what you create.” – Tsem Rinpoche
“Share your love, your wisdom, and your wealth and serve each other as much as possible. Live in harmony with one another and be an example of peace, love, compassion, and wisdom. Try to be happy in your practice, to be satisfied with your life. Be reasonable in the way you grow, and don’t ever think that it is too late. And don’t be afraid of death. Even if you are going to die tomorrow, at least for today keep yourself straight and clean-clear, and be a happy human being.” – Lama Thubten Yeshe
We are the cause of our own happiness and sufferings. We are the creator of our own karma and results are dependent on our actions. In order for us to change and find happiness, we need to transform our mind so that we can cultivate new habits of love, peace, compassion and wisdom. It’s never too late to start. Even if we start now and we were die tomorrow at least we have a day to keep ourselves happy.
We are very fortunate to be around visionaries and thinkers like Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe to help us in our practice and we should appreciate it.
As Lama Thubten Yeshe once said, “Buddharma is the true source of Happiness for all sentient beings.’ This teaching actually shows us how to put into practice whatever we learned and integrate them into our dharmic life, whereby we can get the happiness we seek. It is through intense knowledge, wisdom, awareness , consciousness and understanding, that we can easily solve our problems, the great Lama said. Lama Thubten Yeshe had vast experiences in conducting annual teaching tours to the West. As a result of these intensed teaching-tours, more than a hundred of his main centre (FMPT) at Kopan, Kathmandu, Nepal have been established to more than 21 countries around the Globe,to share and spread Dharma. What a noble Boddhisattva Lama Thubten Yeshe really is!comp
我喜欢第二句名言。我们真的需要在重新为我们的脑袋安装不同的程式。生活到今天都不是那么如意的话,看来这个就软件是过时了,行不通的。
一些事,我们知道继续下去是不会有什么惊人的成绩,但是因为惯性和懒惰,选择不理会。想要有好看的身材,却不要运动,健身,继续躲在家里看电视。自己的选择吧?
My favourite is the quote “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, what you do are in harmony”. Our actions must match with our thinking and our speech. People will respect us if we do as we say.
Sharing is caring. We come to this world empty handed, whatever we possess throughout our lives is really not ours. Because when we die, we also leave empty handed. What a life!
Thank you Rinpoche for this wonderful beautiful sharing of inspiring words of wisdom quotes. I love all of it but I like the ones from Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe best. It is true, that even if you yourself don’t believe in your self but to be around those that see your potential can be liberating as they tend to bring out the best in you.
There are so many things to date that I can’t even begin to list, that I am doing, can do, that in the past I would not do, can’t do or rather think I cannot do. But because of Rinpoche genuine care for all of us, Rinpoche can see the potential in each and every one of us. Thus Rinpoche’s skilfully gives us assignments to push us to do some things that we never thought we could… for my case it was painting Buddha statues… yes I never thought I could although I like art. End up now I am able to teach others and well what can I can, Rinpoche always end up making us believe in ourselves and love ourselves the right way each time.
It is true, we now have a precious human life, we should treasure it and what more we have such an amazing affinity to be connected with Rinpoche and the Dharma… we should be so happy and spread this happiness… I like how Lama Yeshe ended his advice “Even if you are going to die tomorrow, at least for today keep yourself straight and clean-clear, and be a happy human being.” ….at least it for today, one more day, I was in Dharma… that puts a smile on my face and heart.
Thought provoking and the real truth. We are what we think we are and our actions create our future. So, better be a happy human being and not afraid to die like what Lama Yeshe said. We are fortunate enough to have a Dharma family to support us in our practice and should cherish it.
Thank you for these Rinpoche, especially for the ones from Rinpoche yourself! I especially like the one about surrounding ourselves with visionaries, believers, thinkers and doers and having trust the people who believe in our potential… even if (and this is the crux!) we don’t believe in ourselves. As someone who has long struggled with believing in myself – any part of myself! – I find this especially powerful and liberating to read.
It reminds me also of a teaching that Rinpoche gave us recently about WHY exactly we should have faith in others. He explained that, putting clairvoyance aside, we must have faith in and believe the potential that our teachers see in us simply because they have been trained and are equipped with more “tools” to be able to assess and see our potential. It is very simple – we would trust a TV producer like Miss Han of KIM to show us how to do video editing and have faith in her advice if she told us what to do, what method works or would give better results etc. We believe her simply because she has had experience in the field and is therefore equipped with the tools to know what works and what doesn’t. This case applies to something technical, but it also applies to every other aspect of our lives and the teachers have the most important “tools” to be able to gauge our qualities, hidden strengths and weaknesses and ultimately, our potential, abilities and limits.
In the first place, we go to a spiritual teacher BECAUSE we believe he knows better, has the wisdom and the “tools” to be able to help us. So why doubt when he actually exercises those tools to advice us further? It is very logical (and yes, I need to apply this belief to myself as much as anyone else! I have great doubt in my own potential…!)
Very true Paris. When I am in Kechara and meet Rinpoche, I learned about just follow what he said and asked us to do. I was told that even now we do not know how to do what he asked us to do, but we should say yes and find ways to work on it.
A Guru can see our potential and our button that he can push us towards a better person. I’m so grateful I have Rinpoche as a Guru.
Thank you for these words of wisdom. Lama Yeshe and the others, including Rinpoche, are thinkers and visionaries. What they say or do inspire people. Because what they say is the truth. I like especially the advice from Lama Yeshe because it is relevant to my situation. These sayings from all the wise people are to be meditated on and put into practice.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these quotes here. I first come across the quote written by you through FB and I like it. I like it simply because it was written by Rinpoche yourself, and not something that I have to read through blog, kind of lack of touch.
Being able to live and work in an environment where people have trust in ourselves is a fortunate thing, because it is through this environment that we are given opportunity to grow and to learn more. In some cultures, such conducive environment is hard to find, to have to live in such a negative environment is both suffocating and sad.
I also like the quote written by ‘Karma’. Very simple and yet powerful.
Thank you for sharing these quotes, Rinpoche.
I particularly liked Lama Yeshe’s quote, especially “Live in harmony with one another and be an example of peace, love, compassion, and wisdom. Try to be happy in your practice, to be satisfied with your life… Even if you are going to die tomorrow, at least for today keep yourself straight and clean-clear, and be a happy human being.”
Being happy looks simple but i think it is actually quite complicated because i think that we don’t really know what ‘happy’ means. We have had that emotion called ‘happy’ all our lives but it has been usually associated with selfish pursuits – when we receive a gift, when someone pays us attention or a compliment, when we are self-indulgent etc.
When Lama Yeshe says “try to be happy in your practice”, i think that is interesting because it implies that we are not usually happy in our practice or naturally so because we are not used to it. We need to reprogram our thinking so that we create new habits based on practising the 6 perfections of generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiastic perseverance, concentration and wisdom. When we reprogram ourselves through our Dharma practice, it will lead to true and real happiness which we are all looking for.