Although we use words such as achieving, wishing, and praying for enlightenment, ultimately we don’t acquire enlightenment from an external source. A more correct way to put it is discovering the enlightenment that has always been there. Enlightenment is part of our true nature. Our true nature is like a golden statue; however, it is still in its mold, which is like our defilements and ignorance. Because ignorance and emotion are not an inherent part of our nature, just as the mold is not part of the statue, there is such a thing as primordial purity. When the mold is broken, the statue emerges. When our defilements are removed, our true buddhanature is revealed.
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist
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Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:
- Emptiness
- Corrosion begins as soon as creation begins
- The real enemy
- Products and parts
- Acts of Generosity
- Today is the death of yesterday
- Clinging to our hopes and fears
- Where will they scatter my ashes
- A practicing Buddhist
- A simple, scientific fact
- Being a Buddhist
- Our true nature is like a wineglass
- What is in the mind of a Buddhist
- Buying into emotions
- Pride and pity
- Living fully
- Your own ignorance betrays you
- Shielding ourselves and others from the truth
- Not paranoid but prepared