When you understand mind,
You understand everything.
– Nagarjuna
“… there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”.
– Shakespeare, (Hamlet, Act II, Scene II).
These days if you tell the truth no one listens, and if anyone says something false everybody holds it to be true. That is why I have never said this to anyone before: I am not an ordinary being, I am a bodhisattva who took birth intentionally as a result of prayers of aspiration.
– Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912), Spoken to his attendant Lama Ösel and recorded in his biography
The cause is the buddha nature. The support is the most precious human body. The circumstance is the spiritual friend. The method consists of his instructions. The result consists of the kayas of perfect buddhahood. The activity is the spontaneous accomplishment of beings’ benefit.
Gampopa (1079–1153) – Jewel Ornament of Liberation
Shamar Rinpoche
From “A Change of Expression” (Editions Dzambhala, 1991)