Some people may have the idea that these teachings on compassion and exchanging self and others are part of the ‘gradual path’ teachings of the sutras, and are not nearly as effective as the more advanced ‘direct path’ teachings of the Great Perfection or the Great Seal. That is a complete misunderstanding. Only if you have developed the love and compassion of relative bodhichitta can absolute bodhichitta – the very essence of the Great Perfection and the Great Seal – ever take birth in your being.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva
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Further quotes from the book The Heart of Compassion:
- A practice based on your mind
- Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it
- Just projections of the mind
- The only thing that is really worth doing
- The three aspects of diligence
- Accepting short-term sufferings
- Cutting through subtler misconceptions
- I like suffering
- Practice day and night
- No greater obstacle to Dharma practice
- The magnifying glass of your faith and devotion
- No more than an empty echo
- Before it is too late
- Never stop thinking about how to gain liberation
- The children of the buddhas
- Giving and taking
- The best opportunity to put the teachings into practice
- Neither discouragement nor pride
- Powerful sources of help