Speaker Series: Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö

Patti Smith - Philip Glass: Allen Ginsberg, On the Cremation of Chogyam ...

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from “What Makes You Not a Buddhist”

Pride and pity are closely related. Believing that your life is harder and sadder than everyone else’s is simply a manifestation of clinging to self. When the self develops self-pity, it eliminates any space that others have to feel compassionate.
— Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from “What Makes You Not a Buddhist”

Phakchok Rinpoche video July 28 2016 auspicious rainbowws

https://www.facebook.com/phakchokrinpoche/videos/1105684129506190/

Chögyam Trungpa, from “Padmasambhava and Spiritual Materialism”, in “CRAZY WISDOM SEMINAR I, Jackson Hole, 1972”

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=275551216153556&set=a.134330913608921.1073741828.100010960397350&type=3&theater



This should give us some understanding of spiritual materialism. The danger of spiritual materialism is that under its influence we make all kinds of assumptions. First, there are the domestic or personal-level assumptions, which we make because we want to be happy. Second, there are the spiritual assumptions that are made because that transcendental, gigantic, greater discovery is left mysterious. This brings further great assumptions: we do not know what we are actually going to achieve by achieving that unknown thing, but nevertheless, we give it some vague description, such as “being absorbed into the cosmos.” And since nobody has yet gone that far, if anybody questions this discovery of “absorption into the cosmos,” then we just make up further logic or look for reinforcement from the scriptures or other authorities. The result of all this is that we end up confirming ourselves and confirming that the experience we are proclaiming is a true experience. Nobody can question it. At some stage, there’s no room left for questioning at all. Our whole outlook becomes completely established with no room left at all for questioning. This is what we could call achieving egohood, as opposed to achieving enlightenment.
— Chögyam Trungpa, from “Padmasambhava and Spiritual Materialism”, in “CRAZY WISDOM SEMINAR I, Jackson Hole, 1972”

During this degenerate age via Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche

During this degenerate age in the outer world, there are many natural disasters due to the upsetting of the four elements. Also, demonic forces come with their many weapons to incite the fighting of wars. All of those forces have caused the world to come to ruin and led all to tremble - so terrified that their hair stands up on end. Still, the demonic forces find it necessary to come up with new types of weapons. If we were called on to confront them, there is no way we Dharma practitioners could defeat them. That is why we make supplication prayers to the three jewels, do the aspiration prayers, the offering prayers and the prayers of invocation. We are responsible for those activities. This is what I urge you to do.

Chatral Rinpoche

 https://www.facebook.com/Chatral.vn/photos/a.1485743028324219.1073741828.1485738531658002/1797552757143243/?type=3&theater

Nagarjuna

It is said that the life span of Nagarjuna was attached to the King Udayibhadra. This king had a son, Kumara Shaktiman and he wanted to be the king. The king's wife, Kumara's mother, had instructed Kumara that in order to become king, he would need to cut Nagarjuna's head off. The mother also said that since Nagarjuna is such a compassionate man that surely he would agree. Amazingly, Nagarjuna agreed. However Kumara couldn't cut off his head with a sword. Nagarjuna said that in a previous life he had killed an ant while cutting grass. Therefore, due to karma, only the blade of kusha grass could cut Nagarjuna. Kumara did this and was able to behead Nagarjuna. Strangely enough upon his supposed death, the blood coming from the severed head turned into milk and the head spoke, " Now, I will go to Sukhavati but I will enter this body once again." Sukhavati is the western pure land of the Buddha Amitabha. Sukhavati translates to mean, "Land of Bliss" Upon this revelation from the talking head, Kumara separated the head from the body as far as possible. However, legend states that every year the head and body become closer and closer to each other. When the head joins with the body, it is said that Nagarjuna will return to this world to walk again.
— Dennis Waller, in the introduction to “Nagarjuna's Tree of Wisdom”
There's another (similar) version of the story here: https://buddhiststories.wordpress.com/…/how-did-nagarjuna-…/