Many Doors
Looking for a non-existent door when you can enter from anywhere is the source of our barriers.
~ Tsem Rinpoche
I mean when we HAVE to do things this way, that way and only one way. No other way.. When we are narrow. When opportunities slip by because we are restricting our minds and how things can be approached from many ways…but we refuse to try …for any number of reasons..To let go of narrowness that creates tension for others and yourself. To be free and see it another way. To try it another way. That another way, many ways, different ways than what you are use to may be good too….good for others….to open our minds that there is not just one door but perhaps no doors and it’s wide open. We can enter any way we like from any place…Many doors…not just one. Make it no doors, easy for you mind…no fixed doors at least. TR
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
No Door – No Barrier.
Door is likened to a wall. Once erected, it will block certain view. Besides, it will made the mind hard and solid. Why build it in the first place? Put down our perceptions. Just let it go. Accept things as they are. Acknowledge it but don’t hold on to it. That’s how our mind will expand. Thankful having Rinpoche guiding us along, even up until now.
All problems are illusions of the mind. We have to keep our mind open and receptive to new ideas, to change, and to looking beyond our own assumptions. Keep our mind open to change all the time. In all walks of life, an open-mind that is receptive to new possibilities proves to be our best asset as forge ahead and redesign our life to meet our new needs. In order to achieve great things, we must stretch our beliefs, our efforts, and our tolerance. We have to accept new situations with an open mind and transform our mind. Choosing to learn Dharma and practicing Dharma is my best choice I have made.
Thank you Rinpoche with folded hands
Beautiful words of wisdom and inspiring quotes. I was once in a nut shell , but since coming to learning Dharma have opened my doors to see and accepts things differently. I have been able to let go the past history and looking forward to the future , spending my years ahead meaningfully as life is uncertain. We came to this world with nothing and goes with nothing afterall. Open our mind and transform our mind , to be happy and have a peaceful mind.
Thank you Rinpoche for this advice and teachings with folded hands.
Thank you Rinpoche for this short yet profound teaching. Do we control our mind or are we controlled by our mind? Most of the time we are controlled by our mind. We do things because our mind says so.
Sometimes things that our mind asks us to do are harmful to others and ourselves but we don’t realise it. When we learn Dharma, it is to study and observe our mind so instead of being controlled by our mind, we control our mind. This is important because all our suffering actually arises from our mind.
It is our mind that tells us what we can do and what we cannot and we become very narrow and miss a lot of possibilities and opportunities. If we want to be successful, we have to let go of the limitation set by our mind. If this method is not working, there are many other methods available for us to try. The rule of thumb is not to give up but find ways to solve the problems or to achieve our goal.
I agree with Rinpoche to have open minds. Not to have fixed views and be rigid. It’s better to be flexible and have an open mind like there is no door and not to be restricted. Like this it is also easier for us to improve ourselves and grow. Thank you very much Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this very profound teaching. ???
I guess everyone is afraid of doing something they are not used to. Like trying new things, different food, places, anything. We are so comfortable with our own ‘world’ that we often made restrictions for ourselves. Our pethatrceptions is so fixated that there is only one door we’re accustomed to.
It is very challenging to follow Rinpoche’s concept of no doors but I think it will benefit us in the long run.
‘No fixed doors’ is what I am trying to work on.
Thank you Rinpoche for this wisdom quotes.
People use to say “close this door and another door opens”. We should always not put a limit onto ourselves because of fixed views. Many opportunities will just slip us if we have a closed mind. People who are successful are always open to new ideas and opportunities. Thank you for those meaningful words Rinpoche.
We used to order the same food, stay in he same hotel, because we do not want to take risk. We believe in our past experience, we are afraid of changing because it might bring unnecessary troubles or problems to us.
Be creative, trying new things always bring more uncertainties than following the old ways. It needs courage to take the risk of trying new approach, trying new menu. And fixed mode of thinking/not jump out from our comfort zone is not without risk, the risk of losing the opportunity to taste a nicer menu, or an approach offers a better solution than the old one.
I like when Rinpoche put it as “many doors”, while we always close all other doors to life, but limit to a specific door, normally the fixed door we most used to it. Most interestingly, Rinpoche challenges us with the idea of “no door at all” to free us from trapping one self and not being able to see the reality of things.
Thank you for the wisdom words of Rinpoche, I could only able to figure out this far.
With folded hands,
Wah Ying
I have seen some people, being so rigid about their way of thinking that they end up being such a difficult person to work with… so difficult to the point that it is just so tiring, and no improvement can be done as they are never open to any new ideas or even want to try out ideas that were proposed just because ‘it’s not something done their way’.
After some time, people just stop giving advices… and people start to stay away from them. No one likes people who are so rigid, only thinking about how things should be done according to their way and brushes off other’s opinion like it meant nothing. I believe having such attitude shouts out how self centred we are. Only wanting things done according to our way, which is usually things that surrounds ‘benefiting ourself’. Some people call it ‘playing safe’ but it’s actually not wanting to get out of the comfort zone.
Truth to be told… I’ve just expressed my entire personality lol!!! Its no laughing matter, and the fact that I’m partially realizing this and acknowledging this limitations I’ve set on myself (and sometimes others) is very detrimental, has brought some confidence in me that I will be able to think out of the box. This quote means a lot to me.
to have a narrow mind is one of our selfish so that we no need to try otherway and can just sit down and complain about what was not wrong and that why we could not make it happen instead of looking for solution.
narrow mind always cause unhappiness as we have been strict with evrything surround us and we cant take it once there is a change of somehting therefore we will never improve or become better..
The more I think about this, the more sense it makes. When we see things as fixed, or as needing to be done in a certain way or ways only, then when things happen differently not to our expectations, we will be upset, hurt, react, show anger etc etc… which then causes more conflict, tension, disappointments …. and the cycle goes on, just because we are fixated on just that one door.
Thank you Rinpoche… I will work towards having no doors.
Being narrow minded is probably the worst “sickness” anyone can have. What Rinpoche said above is very true and we allow opportunities to slip by. Working in Dharma has allowed me to learned how to have much broader view as everything we do is for others and we cannot allow opportunities to slip in front of us. Rinpoche used to say that if we are narrow minded, we are selfish. Each time we are selfish, someone suffers. I’m still being trained to solve problems in my dharma career with a broader view and like what it says in the blog, make it NO DOOR, easier for our mind.
Many a times, we are so fixed with the concept.. that it is one way or no way. We do not realise that we cannot come up with ideas because we restrict our minds with only a one-concept/one result solution. When we come up with something, we are so hung up on finding the solution from ‘within the box’, that we always tell ourselves “cannot be, sure can”, and aim for that one-open door.
It is true, there are many ways and methods for us to utilize in any one situation. If there was only one way, technology wouldn’t have advanced so rapidly. Solving problems and getting results can arise from different solutions, if only we try to look beyond the limits and restrictions we set in our mind with the one way only attitude. There are endless solutions and possibility to solve one problem, as long as we have a mind and a brain, we can keep coming up with ideas, but that depends on whether we want to or not. Anything is possible, there are endless possibilities, things are not fixed and are constantly changing. We just have to keep trying.
Thank you Rinpoche for this powerful message. I do wonder why so many times I’ve failed – I realised it is because I never thought outside the box, and only restricted myself to one way or no way. Nothing is dead-ended, if there is a problem, there must be a solution.
Very very powerful message.
From the depths of my heart,
Thank you Rinpoche,
Carmen
Love this blessing… Big thanx!
Yes, Rinpoche, because we fear to open our minds up, we keep thinking in a fixed and narrow way about how to do things.In the end, we are just stuck and cannot move forward, and others don’t know how to work with us without becoming stressed up over our ‘narrowness’and inflexibility.
Thus whenever, we try to find solutions or make decisions, we should examine all possible avenues and ways. Let our mind stay open and receptive of all sorts of ideas and possibilities, toss these about and not be afraid to try them out.
As we keep our mind open in this way and let go of our fears of opening up, we will find that we are more flexible, pliable and adaptable and others will find it easier and less stressful to work with us.Solutions and decisions that are arrived at in this way will be more acceptable to all.
Thank you Rinpoche, for these beautiful words of wisdom . Even if we apply this in our wordly affairs it brings much benefit. I know of many people ( me included ! ) whom after working for many years gets stuck in a rut. Feelings of depression sets in when people feel trapped.
I must forward this to them !