Better to join in with humanity than to set ourselves apart. Aspiring bodhisattvas train by getting more involved, rather than more detached. In paintings of the six realms, there’s a Buddha standing in each realm, not just in a little bubble or looking down from above, but right in the middles of hell and the other realms.
No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, Pema Chödrön
The very last (lojong, "mind training") slogan is "Train wholeheartedly." You could say "Live wholeheartedly." Let everything stop your mind and let everything open your heart. And you could say, "Die wholeheartedly, moment after moment." Moment after moment, let yourself die wholeheartedly.
Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living
Even after many years, many of us continue to practice harshly. We practice with guilt, as if we're going to be excommunicated if we don't do it right. We practice so we won't be ashamed of ourselves and with fear that someone will discover what a "bad" meditator we really are. The old joke is that a Buddhist is someone who is either meditating or feeling guilty about not meditating. There's not much joy in that.
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe.
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
