What we believe to exist, according to our perception and according to our mind, actually doesn’t exist. So it’s completely the opposite to how it really is. So far, for me and for many of us, this is how it has been.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

In the West, millions of people suffer from depression, but if you dedicate your life in the morning to numberless sentient beings, you will have unbelievable joy and happiness the whole day. Cherishing the 'I' opens the door to all suffering, while cherishing others opens the door to all happiness. When you live your life every day for others, the door to depression, relationship problems and all such things is closed and instead there is incredible joy and excitement.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Since the I that exists is merely imputed, there is nothing to cherish, nothing to cling to. Good-bye to depression, worries and fears.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The sun of real happiness shines in your life when you start to cherish others.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Think, "I am going to bathe by transforming this action into the cause to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings."

By thinking in a new way, you can make your shower or bath a purification practice. One way to think is that the water is very blissful and you are offering it to the Buddha at your heart. Another way is to visualize whichever manifestation of the Buddha you feel a strong connection with (for example, Chenresig or Tara) above your head and think that the bathing water is flowing from his or her hand.

The water is the nature of wisdom and it is making your mind clear so you can practice the path for the benefit of sentient beings. While you are washing, think that all negative karmas, sicknesses and interfering forces are cleansed by the wisdom realizing emptiness and that you receive all the realizations and the qualities of the Buddha.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The most important thing in life to bring benefit to you and others, including one’s enemy, is to practice Dharma.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Welcome to the journey to enlightenment. The purpose of life is to benefit other sentient beings and the greatest benefit you can offer them is to liberate them from their suffering and its causes. Life is like last night’s dream. Don’t hold on to it as too solid or inherently existent.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Having buddha nature is what makes it possible to achieve enlightenment.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

We should then always attempt to have perseverance. The nature of the mental factor of perseverance is a mind that is happy to perform virtue. Perseverance in harming your enemies, in anger, attachment or ignorance, in meaningless activities of this life or in nonvirtuous actions is not the real; that's the wrong perseverance.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The dissatisfied mind of desire has created the problems of life, which clings first of all to this life, seeking only the temporary happiness of this life, and then to these eight objects: having comfort, not having discomfort, receiving materials (such as friends and so forth), not liking not to receive materials, having a good reputation, not having a reputation, receiving praise, not having criticism.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

If we have met the holy Dharma we should feel so fortunate.

Even though we might still create negative karma, we have the opportunity to purify it. With an understanding of karma and refuge, we have the opportunity to practice Dharma, and so we know there is a solution.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

"Let go" are just two very simple words but according to Buddhism, they have great meaning. Then, let go of the undesirable object of anger. Let go of the exaggerated beauty of the object of desire. Let go of the objects of other wrong concepts.. There are many things to let go of. Rather than keeping these wrong concepts in your heart, you let go of them. Let go of grasping and clinging frees you from stress.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Attachment always causes further attachment and this keeps us in suffering. Therefore, it is extremely important to renounce attachment as much as possible. Attachment is a thought that sinks into an object of beauty. The mind gets stuck or it sinks, and it becomes difficult to separate from the object. That is the nature of attachment.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Western psychology is all about one’s own happiness, doing what makes oneself happy; that is the main thing. Buddhism is not about one’s own happiness, it is about the happiness of others.

By practicing this way, thinking about the happiness of others, working for the happiness of others, you achieve two things: the happiness of enlightenment and temporal happiness—happiness in the future and happiness now.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

We listen to the teachings, but at the same time, we forget.

When we are there, we remember the teachings, but afterwards we don’t think about that subject anymore and we forget the teachings. That way, the teachings don't become useful.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

To really understand the mind, you need to meditate. Without the practice of meditation, I don't think you can really learn completely about the mind because you need the experience, not just the words, to really understand it.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Taming the mind or subduing the mind is not only in Buddhism, it should be the essence of all the religions. If this practice is not there, then no matter how much we chant prayers or rituals, if we do not subdue the mind, that brings problems to our life. If we do not subdue the mind it gives problems to ourselves and others—to the world, to other sentient beings.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The practice of religion, spirituality or dharma has to be a method that completely destroys all suffering, a method that brings about the complete cessation of suffering, and not just temporarily. That depends upon completely eradicating the root of all the billions of sufferings that exist — ignorance and all the other delusions that spring from the root of ignorance. True peace is received whenever we completely eradicate this root of suffering.

In other words, cessation of ignorance, attachment and anger is real freedom, true peace — the peace that never changes; the peace that once received can never change, is everlasting.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

How things appear to us is completely determined by our own level of mind.

In accordance with different levels of mind, there are different worlds, different views. We should be aware of this and not think that the view we have, what we see, is the only way the objects; we should not think that this is how the people, place, statues and so forth actually exist.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Offering one tiny flower to a statue or picture of Buddha receives immeasurable, limitless, merit. All the paths to happiness result from that. With just one grain of rice or one tiny flower, you can enter the path and achieve total enlightenment—the completion of all good qualities.

by Lama Zopa Rinpoche