We try to be present when we are drinking our tea, which isn't as easy as it sounds. It's very easy to think, right now I'm going to be really present while I'm drinking my tea, here I am drinking my tea, and I'm so present, look this is easy, I am here drinking my tea and I know I'm drinking my tea blah blah blah blah... right? And the one place where the mind is not, is here. It's just thinking about being here.
Tenzin PalmoThe future of Dharma is in women's hands now because they have this energy which was never really tapped.
Tenzin PalmoThere is a basic problem that a lot of Western monks and nuns become ordained without really understanding or appreciating what the monastic life is all about.
Tenzin PalmoBuddha activity doesn't mean radiating light and elevating yourself up a thousand feet in the air. That's not the point. The point is, as Zen is always saying - and Tibetans understand this also very well - every activity becomes perfect Buddha activity.
Tenzin PalmoThere are other ways of benefiting than by being a recognized tulku and sitting on a throne.
Tenzin PalmoMy mother was superb. Even when I said to her, when I was nineteen, oh, I'm going to India. Her immediate reaction was, oh yes dear, and when are you leaving? She didn't say, oh how could you leave me, your mother? Or wait a bit dear until you get a bit older and you know your own mind. She just said, well, when are you going? And that was because she loved me, not because she didn't love me.
Tenzin Palmo