QuoteProject
The past is only an unreliable memory held in the present. The future is only a projection of our present conceptions. The present itself vanishes as soon as we try to grasp it. So why bother with attempting to establish an illusion of solid ground?
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the fleeting nature of time and the unreliability of our perceptions of the past and future.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche reflects on the transient nature of time and existence. He suggests that our memories of the past and ideas about the future are not solid or trustworthy; instead, they are mere constructs of the mind. The present moment is elusive, disappearing as we try to hold onto it. This invites us to reconsider our attachment to a stable, unchanging reality, urging us to embrace the impermanence of life.

Themes

TimePresentMemoryIllusionExistence

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a meditation class to encourage mindfulness.

More from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

When death finally comes you will welcome it like an old friend, being aware of how dreamlike and impermanent the pheneomenal world really is.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead
Sentient beings, self and others, enemies and dear ones-all are made by thoughts. It is like seeing a rope and mistaking it for a snake. When we think that the rope is a snake, we are scared, but once we see that we are looking at a rope, our fear dissipates. We have been deluded by our thoughts. Likewise, mentally fabricating self and others, we generate attachment and aversion.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead
We live under threat from painful emotions: anger, desire, pride, jealousy and so on. Therefore we should always be ready to counter these with the appropriate antidote. True practitioners may be recognized by their unfailing mindfulness.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead
To go beyond samsara and nirvana, we will need _x000D_ the two wings of emptiness and compassion. _x000D_ From now on, let us use these two wings _x000D_ to fly fearlessly into the sky of the life to come.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead
To feel overflowing love and almost unbearable compassion for all living creatures is the best way to fulfil the wishes of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Even if for the moment you cannot actually help a sentient being in an external way, meditate on love and compassion constantly over the months and years until compassion is knit inseparably into the very fabric of your mind.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead
Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead

Similar quotes

The fault with all religions like Christianity is that they have one set of rules for all. But Hindu religion is suited to all grades of religious aspiration and progress. It contains all the ideals in their perfect form. For example, the ideal of Shanta or blessedness is to be found in Vasishtha; that of love in Krishna; that of duty in Rama and Sita; and that of intellect in Shukadeva. Study the characters of these and of other ideal men. Adopt one which suits you best.
Swami VivekanandaRead
That we devote ourselves to God, is seen In living just as though no God there were.
Robert BrowningRead
History or custom or social utility or some compelling sense of justice or sometimes perhaps a semi-intuitive apprehension of the pervading spirit of our law must come to the rescue of the anxious judge and tell him where to go.
Benjamin N. CardozoRead
For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew— or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.
John F. KennedyRead
Food is a weapon in austerity Britain. Hunger, the threat of and the reality of, is used to coerce and control.
Jack MonroeRead
I though about what death is, what a loss is. A sharp pain that lessens with time, but can never quite heal over. A scar. The idea occurred to me there on the site. Take a knife and cut open the earth, and with time the grass would heal it. As if you cut open the rock and polished it.
Maya LinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.