Rev. Danny Fisher

Today’s quote is another from the Venerable Khenpo Karma Tharchin Rinpoche, whom I previously quoted and wrote a little biography for here.  This is it:

Purifying karma, abstaining from engaging in unvirtuous activity, and applying the practices is very much the individual’s responsibility. This brings to mind Buddha’s teaching in which he said to his student, “I cannot take away the suffering of sentient beings, like picking up an object with my hands. I cannot transfer the realization of enlightenment into the heart or mind of sentient beings.” What the Buddha can do comes in the next line: “What I can do is show you (instruct you in) the method of the practice–the means to purify obscurations–by introducing to you what brings freedom from pain and suffering and what brings happiness and liberation. There is the need to continue refraining from what is not virtuous. The rest depends on how quickly an individual achieves realization, which depends on his or her diligence, seriousness, and sense of responsibility.” In other words, realization is based on the individual’s consistency in the practice and on his or her consistency in avoiding unvirtuous actions.