Man is the picture or reflection of his imagination. He is as large as he thinks himself, as great as he thinks himself, as small as he thinks himself to be. If he thinks he is incapable, he remains incapable; if he thinks himself foolish, he will be foolish and will remain foolish; if he thinks himself wise, he will be wise and become wiser every moment; if he thinks himself mighty, he will be mighty. Those who have proved themselves to be the greatest warriors, where did their might come from? It was from their thought, their feeling; 'I am mighty.' The idea of might was impressed on their soul, and the soul became might. The poet had poetry impressed on his soul, and so the soul became a poet. Whatever is impressed on man's soul, with that the soul becomes endowed, and that the soul will become.

- Inayat Khan

“To soar high, dig deep.To have an effect, don’t try to. To get anything, give everything. And to win, don’t care if you lose.” — Marianne Williamson

But if, through fundamental misperception of reality, the individual enters into the confusion of dualism, primordial consciousness, which is in fact the source of all manifestation (even of dualistic consciousness and, in fact, of all phenomena), itself becomes obscured. The individual’s deluded mind then mistakes the manifestations of its own pure, innate primordial awareness for an external reality existing separately from itself, which it endlessly, and ultimately unsuccessfully, attempts to manipulate, trying in vain to bring an end to the continual underlying sense of dissatisfaction and unease which is the inevitable experience of the obscuration of pure awareness. The experience of underlying dissatisfaction (or ‘dukha’ in Sanskrit) that unavoidably arises with a deluded mind, continues, no matter how ‘successful’ the individual becomes in dealing with his or her world in materialistic terms, until the individual regains the experience of the primordial state.

Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Guidance for daily practice: In the morning your should reflect on the difficulty to obtain a precious human birth; in the evening you should reflect on death and impermanence, and throughout the day you should reflect on karma, cause and effect, and act according to the 37 Bodhisattva Practices. Meditate in shorter but more frequent sessions to ensure the good quality of your meditation. It is best to just observe the nature of mind, the ordinary bare mind, and preserve it. When thoughts appear neither reject nor accept them. Do not try to stop thoughts, allow them to arise, but recognize their arising and do not pursue them. The goal is not to have no thoughts but for thoughts to arise and yet be rendered powerless. You must habituate this. Then later when negative thoughts and emotions arise you will not fall under their power. The energy of these thoughts may arise but will not affect you in one or the other way. Sometimes in meditation, there will be a time when there are actually no thoughts. In that instant you will know that this is the true nature of your mind - the mind that abides like space, vivid and empty, open, not grasping at anything. This alert awareness must be upheld throughout all activities. So do not try to stop thoughts, just relax into the nature of awareness. Whenever you meditate, our minds will be together. If you understand this you will not feel tired of meditation.

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The first step to eliminate suffering is to give up clinging to this life. From the day we are born to our mothers, until the day we die, this entire life is like last night's dream. After we have died, we awaken in the Bardo—the intermediate state after death. Then this entire lifetime will seem just like a dream; the human world will become a fading memory. It is like waking up from a dream. At this point, if we have failed to eliminate self-grasping, frightening appearances will manifest— compared to which, this human world appears as a pure land. Milarepa knew what would happen if he failed to purify self-grasping, and thus he had the courage to dedicate his entire life to practice, undaunted by hardship. Thus, whenever you encounter difficulty,consider: "this life is like a dream, before too long it will come to an end, and when it comes to an end, I must be prepared."

Garchen Rinpoche.

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Do not have opinions in other people’s actions. When we see defects in others, people in general but particularly those who have entered the Dharma, who are the banner of the monastic robes, are the support for the offerings of gods and men alike, we should understand that it is the impurity of our perception which is at fault. When we look into a mirror, we see a dirty face because our own face is dirty. In the same way, the effects of others are nothing but our impure way of seeing them. By thinking this way, we should try to rid ourselves of this perception of the faults of other, and cultivate the attitude whereby the whole of existence, all appearances, are experienced as pure.

Dilgo Khyentse

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Feelings of suffering change into those of happiness. Feelings of happiness change into suffering. Both arise in dependence upon internal and external causes which change. For example, we see food as pleasurable, but if we eat too much, then it causes suffering. When we are young, we see our bodies as a source of pleasure. As we become older, the same body becomes a source of suffering. Just as a wave is always changing, so the nature of suffering is always to change. It may be experienced as pleasure or as suffering, but it arises from the same source. Pleasure arises from suffering. Seeing pleasure as happiness constitutes suffering. …Pain and pleasure are of the same nature. Although they look different at different times, they both arise from the same sea of delusion and karmic action. Pleasure or pain, one or the other, arises and then falls back into the ocean. Thus we can conclude that pleasure and pain within the ocean of samsara are basically suffering, and dissolve into suffering. This becomes evident in the wide variety of sudden changes of experience depicted in films. Love and hatred, happiness and family strife, peace and war, follow each other in rapid succession. The continuous change, although exaggerated in films, is characteristic of life in general.

Ven. Gen Lobsang Gyatso.

We are so addicted to looking outside ourselves that we have lost access to our inner being almost completely. We are terrified to look inward, because our culture has given us no idea of what we will find. We may even think that if we do, we will be in danger of madness. This is one of the last and most resourceful ploys of ego to prevent us from discovering our real nature. So we make our lives so hectic that we eliminate the slightest risk of looking into ourselves. Even the idea of meditation can scare people. When they hear the words egoless or emptiness, they think that experiencing those states will be like being thrown out the door of a spaceship to float forever in a dark, chilling void. Nothing could be further from the truth. But in a world dedicated to distraction, silence and stillness terrify us; we protect ourselves from them with noise and frantic busyness. Looking into the nature of our mind is the last thing we would dare to do.