The path to enlightenment is really very simple - all we need to do is stop cherishing ourself and learn to cherish others. All other spiritual realisations will naturally follow from this.
Interpretation
Enlightenment comes from focusing on others rather than oneself.
This quote emphasizes that the key to achieving enlightenment lies in selflessness and the act of cherishing others. By prioritizing the well-being and feelings of those around us, we can cultivate deeper spirituality and understanding, leading to various positive outcomes in our lives.
In practice
In a speech about community service, one might say, 'As Geshe Kelsang Gyatso reminds us, the path to enlightenment is really very simple - all we need to do is stop cherishing ourselves and learn to cherish others.'
Patience is a mind that is able to accept fully and happily, whatever occurs. It is much more than just gritting our teeth and putting up with things. Being patient means to welcome wholeheartedly whatever arises, having given up the idea that things should be other than what they are.
When a jealous person sees signs of other people's success and good fortune, his heart is pierced with envy. But someone who has learned to rejoice in the good fortune of others experiences only happiness. Seeing another person's beautiful house or attractive partner immediately makes him happy - the fact that they are not his own is irrelevant.
Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be acheived unless we first establish peace within our own minds. We can send so-called 'peacekeeping forces' into areas of conflict, but peace cannot be oppossed from the outside with guns. Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others to do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.
Happiness and suffering are states of mind, and so their main causes cannot be found outside the mind.
Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more, and when Rabbit went on to say that Kangas were only Fierce during the winter months, being at other times of an Affectionate Disposition, he could hardly sit still, he was so eager to begin being useful at once.
There's nothing you can do that's more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way, you will find, live, and become a realization of your own personal myth.
Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter.
When men ask me how I know so much about men, they get a simple answer: everything I know about men, I learned from me.
If the world is saved, it will not be saved by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all.
It's the journey that matters. Learning is more important than the test. Practice well, and the games will take care of themselves.
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