Marpa
“Lord Marpa, on the verge of passing into nirvana, transformed his consort Dagmema into a sphere of light and dissolved her into his heart center. Straightening his body, he said, “Sons, if you do Phowa, do it like this!” Then a sphere of five-coloured light the size of an egg ascended into the sky from a crack at the crown of his head.”
- Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, Mirror of Mindfulness (Rangjung Yeshe, 1987)
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991)
“Of all practices, the one which, through its blessings, will fulfil our aims and aspirations most rapidly is Guru Yoga (or Lamé Naljor in Tibetan). Guru Yoga literally means “union with the nature of the guru” and is both the quintessence and the ground of all the preliminary and main practices. It is the ultimate teaching, yet one which can be accomplished equally by anyone, whatever their capacity – superior, medium, or ordinary. For dispelling obstacles, making progress in our practice, and receiving blessings, there is no better practice than Guru Yoga.
- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, in “Guru Yoga” (1999, Snow Lion)
Drubtop Urgyenpa (1230-1312)
“You need not make efforts to create non-conceptuality. You need not regard thoughts as a fault. And so that your practice does not succumb to famine, from the beginning have a bountiful crop. Not searching for a state that is calmly resting, vividly clear, and filled with bliss, bring into your experience whatever arises without taking it up or discarding it.”
- Drubtop Urgyenpa (1230-1312), Karma Kagyu lineage holder (between the 2nd and 3rd Karmapas)
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye
When you study, study everything under the sun.
When you reflect, keep an open mind.
When you practice, do one practice and go deep.
- Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, 1813-1899
Marpa
During his third and final visit to India to meet Naropa, his teacher, Marpa asked Naropa to prophesise the way the Kagyu lineage would expand and flourish:
Although in this life, your family lineage will be interrupted, your dharma lineage will flow on like a wide river as long as the teachings of the Buddha remain. In the view of some impure ordinary men, you will appear to gratify yourself in this life with sense pleasures. Your desires will seem unchanging, like a carving in rock, so solid and so great. On the other hand, since you yourself have seen dharmata, samsara will be self-liberated, like a snake uncoiling. All the future students of the lineage will be like the children of lions and garudas, and each generation will be better than the last.
- Naropa (1016-1100)
From “The Rain of Wisdom” by the Nalanda Translation Committee (Shambhala, 1980)
The mandala of the Second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi
“Although beyond samsara and nirvana, you accomplish the vast activities of the Buddhas of the three times. May the mandala of the Karmapa, who embodies the Three Roots, be fully established.” – Karma Pakshi Guru Yoga
This quote is from one of the final teachings by Kalu Rinpoche, who was one of the first teachers of Hannah and Lama Ole Nydahl.
Kalu Rinpoche, one of Hannah and Lama Ole Nydahl's first teachers
“What we call the Buddha, or the lama, is not material in the same way as iron, crystal, gold or silver are. You should never think of them with this sort of materialistic attitude. The essence of the Lama or Buddha is emptiness; their nature, clarity; their appearance, the play of unimpeded awareness. Apart from that, they have no real, material form, shape or color whatsoever-like the empty luminosity of space. When we know them to be like that, we can develop faith, merge our minds with theirs, and let our minds rest peacefully. This attitude and practice are most important.”
- Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989)
From “Dzogchen Essentials: The Path That Clarifies Confusion” Marcia Schmidt (Rangjung Yeshe, 2004)
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