Sakyong Mipham
Shambhala does have unique teachings, as do many Buddhist traditions. For example, certain teachings within Shambhala have to do with raising the personal windhorse, or the energy of the individual, so a person has good fortitude to be able to live a good life.Collection: Buddhist
I think there is a tendency for people to become more isolated as they move along a spiritual path. With more development, people get more isolated. Also, as they have more wealth, they get more isolated.Collection: Spiritual
As a leader, you have the choice to determine what you are going to do and how you are going to engage others. You can decide to act compassionately regardless of what the weather is - whether it is cloudy or sunny - or whether things are inspirational or not.Collection: Weather
As a leader, people push you. They really want to keep pushing you until you get aggressive. Then they say, "Oh, see, it doesn't work."Collection: People
My books definitely are ambassadors, as you called them. They express what the vision is, what the purpose is.Collection: Book
A lot of people do their practice. They meditate on compassion. Then they yell at people afterwards. That is not quite working. One of the things I try to emphasize is contemplative meditation - bringing your thought and intention into meditation.Collection: Compassion
I hope you will attain enlightenment. I am here to tell you that you already have! But you don't know... The difference between the Buddha and us is the confidence in knowing that he was enlightened.Collection: Differences
Part of the notion in Shambhala teachings is that everybody can live their lives so they get weaker and more stressed out as they go along, or so they get more fortitude and strength.Collection: Teaching
We live in a culture where information is becoming easier to access. Certain special practices have been kept very quiet and secret, and those traditions need to be respected. But there are a lot of teachings people can access that would benefit them greatly.Collection: Teaching
The principles of Buddhism have become more commonplace, which is a good thing.Collection: Buddhism
Initially, you have to live a period where you are developing your attitude. I would consider that a meditation: determining what you want to do. You have a period where you meditate and you get the strength.Collection: Attitude
The notion of auspiciousness is something positive, something with forward momentum, coming out of our actions.Collection: Our Actions
For a lot of us, the opposite of auspicious coincidence is obstacles. Life usually is a mixture of both, but as we begin to exhibit exertion, more and more auspiciousness happens.Collection: Opposites
I write about whatever is timely - whatever is happening at the time for me - with what the expressive feeling is.Collection: Writing
Shambhala teachings say we all have the potential to accomplish our enlightened nature - our basic goodness.Collection: Teaching
For me, language and how I use it are very important. I held back on doing a poetry book, walking the fine line between trying to be helpful and just putting more junk out there.Collection: Book
People can be trained in certain principles, but then they actually have to apply them and try them out.Collection: People
What is amazing is how stuck people are in their own habits. It is really hard to get people out of their habits. But once they shift, it also is amazing how rapid the progress can be.Collection: People
When the mind is totally present, it is relaxed, nimble, and sensitive. It feels lighter and clearer. It notices everything, but it is not distracted by anything. It is the feeling of knowing exactly where you are and what you are doing.Collection: Knowing
Even when we speak of selflessness, the mind goes to "me." We think, "I'm selfless," but everything is selfless.Collection: Thinking
We want to infuse our day with good habits so that we can turn seemingly mundane situations into a ceremony of goodness.Collection: Want
When we appreciate something, that means we have allowed ourselves to relax and take it in.Collection: Mean
When stress is the basic state of mind, even good things stress us out. We have to learn to let go.Collection: Letting Go
Our root fantasy is that "I" am real and that it's possible for "me" to be happy.Collection: Real
In meditation we are continuously discovering who and what we are.Collection: Meditation
If you see life as an opportunity, or if you see helping others as an opportunity, then all of a sudden you become joyous. You want to go forward.Collection: Opportunity
Being human is a precious situation, and we shouldn't waste time in useless activities.Collection: Time
It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor-the determining factor of success and happiness is contentment.Collection: Rich Or Poor
The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.Collection: Mind
When I ask people to contemplate selflessness, the sometimes react as if I've asked them to put their house on the market or give away all their money. If there was a self that existed in the way we think, discovering selflessness would be like putting our house on the market. But in the Buddhist tradition, the discovery of selflessness is called "completely joyful." It's not called "the raw end of the deal," or "I'd rather go back to bed," or "This is scary and depressing."Collection: Depressing
Every moment of our life is important.Collection: Important
Poetry is a language for when you can't quite write prose about something, you can't quite say it, but if you do a poem, it kind of gets to the point.Collection: Writing
If we can feel confident in our goodness, it will illuminate our life and societyCollection: Goodness
What is my great wish and intention, is to make a base of compassion and to encourage people to work to shift the energy.Collection: Compassion
...This jewel is the wisdom and compassion that it takes to act not on behalf of ourselves but for all beings. This is where real confidence and competence come from. Once we possess this jewel, our life becomes blessed.Collection: Wisdom
Shambhala vision is universal. It has no bias towards one type of culture or group. It is not ethnocentric and does not encourage one specific kind of person, race, or religion. Shambhala vision promotes a universality in relationship to basic goodness. All human beings are basically good and an enlightened society, at various levels of manifestation, can occur in any culture.Collection: Race
To shift the direction of our planet, we must now be willing to experiment with the theory that within the speed and stress, we are good.Collection: Stress
The wise are balanced, and the foolish are extreme.Collection: Wise
Enlightened Society is all about nurturing the human spirit - waking up to the goodness, kindness and strength that we already have.Collection: Kindness
When people say that meditation makes them calm, they are often referring to this stability of the mind. A stable mind creates the foundation for a happier and more contented person.Collection: People
Auspicious coincidence is the right thing happening at the right time.Collection: Coincidence
If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress. What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.Collection: Too Much
What distinguishes Shambhala is its intention of trying to create a society based upon certain principles. So, Shambhala's focus is not just on the individual, but on society as a whole.Collection: Focus
It's one thing to have the attitude of enlightenment and another thing to act in an enlightened way, which is conduct or activity.Collection: Attitude
Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results.Collection: Karma
Sometimes it seems like most people are being pulled into a negative energy, but then you meet strong individuals or strong leaders and they are free from it.Collection: Strong
What is really happening in meditation is that we are developing the ability to think when we want to, and to not think when we don’t want to.Collection: Thinking
Running and meditation are very personal activities. Therefore they are lonely. This loneliness is one of their best qualities because it strengthens our incentive to motivate ourselves.Collection: Running
Your life and your practice should not be separate. You bring your practice into experience. You bring it about.Collection: Practice