More important than finding the teacher is finding and following the truth of the teaching.
Interpretation
Prioritizing the essence of teachings over the teacher themselves is essential for true understanding.
This quote emphasizes that the core value of any teaching lies in the truth it holds, rather than in the person who conveys it. It suggests that while teachers can guide us, it is ultimately our responsibility to seek and adhere to the underlying truths they present, fostering personal growth and genuine comprehension.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, one could say, 'Remember, more important than finding the right teacher is finding and following the truth of the teaching.'
Sit, then, as if you were a mountain, with all the unshakeable, steadfast majesty of a mountain. A mountain is completely natural and at ease with itself, however strong the winds that try to bother it, however thick the dark clouds that swirl around its peak. Sitting like a mountain, let your mind rise and fly and soar
Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent.
There would be no chance at all of getting to know death if it happened only once. But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change. Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore, or my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence. These changes, these small deaths, are our living links with death. They are death's pulses, death's heartbeat, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.
{While meditating} I sit quietly and rest in the nature of mind; I don't question or doubt whether I am in the "correct" state or not. There is no effort, only rich understanding, wakefulness, and unshakable certainty. When I am in the nature of mind, the ordinary mind is no longer there. There is no need to sustain or confirm a sense of being: I simply am.
We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved.
Death is a vast mystery, but there are two things we can say about it: It is absolutely certain that we will die, and it is uncertain when or how we will die. The only surety we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death, which we seize on as the excuse to postpone facing death directly. We are like children who cover their eyes in a game of hide and seek and think that no one can see them.
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
A person who has experienced something is almost always far more expert on it than are the experts.
Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.
Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life.
Only someone who is well prepared has the opportunity to improvise.
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