Rev. Danny Fisher

Photo by the author.

Today’s quote is from the Sakyong Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, son of the Vidyādhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and the current head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and Shambhala International.  This is it:

We might think that helping others will drain us. But when we use prajna and compassion to extend our lives to others in this way, our own suffering actually becomes relieved. Just placing our mind on others is a kind of meditation. Mind is like a muscle that relaxes that way. When we begin to think about ourselves it tightens up, until we can’t even help ourselves properly. But working for the happiness of others brings lightness of mind. When we know this truth, extending love and compassion is all there is to do. Then everything we encounter becomes part of our journey as practitioners of meditation. We can look at each other, at our children and at the world, and see it all as an opportunity to experience the joy of the bodhisattva path. We see this joy in the faces of great spiritual teachers and other bodhisattvas. The most basic thing is having the open and curious mind of prajna, because that’s what shows us how to move forward. Bodhisattva activity is how we move forward into enlightenment.