Forward from: Egbert Moray-Falls
"First, if you want to practice the teachings, but have not done so, you have not yet made a deep enough commitment. With the recklessness of a lunatic, you must make a radical decision: to listen to the advice of a qualified spiritual master and to no one else.
"Having made this deep commitment, begin the preliminary practices, using the “four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma” in order to tame your mind.
"Next, no matter what happens to you, good or bad, recognize that ordinary worldly preoccupations do not have the slightest meaning whatsoever, not even so much as a tiny seed of sesame.
"Until you are able to regard the ordinary affairs of samsara with a kind of natural revulsion—like someone sick with hepatitis served a pile of greasy food—you are likely to turn into a hyperactive renunciant, like an ox with its tail caught in a door.
"If you’re motivated to give up ordinary activities just from a fleeting impulse of renunciation, you’ll wind up a failed “realized yogi,” a jaded “great meditator,” like someone who wastes his time soaking hard, ruined boots in water, hoping someday they’ll soften again.
"Until you have completely come to understand the “four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma” and have created a real capacity to renounce ordinary life, don’t even bother mouthing mantras and giving up ordinary activities to do practice. This is important.
"Conversely, once you begin to experience an unwavering weariness with samsara, an authentic sense of renunciation, immutable devotion and strong sense of self-confidence, you have taken the first step: adamantine freedom from the opinions of others.
"This is the time to distance yourself from friends and from enemies, to give up plans, to ignore everything that you were supposed to get done, unswayed by the opinions of your friends or partners. This is the time to turn a deaf ear to both your superiors and your subordinates. This is the time to decide, on your own, to take up the reins of your destiny and make your escape, like a wild animal caught in a trap, working to set itself free...
"...Also, unless you are propelled along the path by the life force of constant diligence and relentless perseverance, even though you are knowledgeable about the scriptures of the nine vehicles, this will not result in attaining buddhahood in a single lifetime.
"However, take confidence in knowing that, one day, merely by having heard the words the Three Jewels, you will attain the enlightened state."
— Patrul Rinpoche, Enlightened Vagabond
"Having made this deep commitment, begin the preliminary practices, using the “four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma” in order to tame your mind.
"Next, no matter what happens to you, good or bad, recognize that ordinary worldly preoccupations do not have the slightest meaning whatsoever, not even so much as a tiny seed of sesame.
"Until you are able to regard the ordinary affairs of samsara with a kind of natural revulsion—like someone sick with hepatitis served a pile of greasy food—you are likely to turn into a hyperactive renunciant, like an ox with its tail caught in a door.
"If you’re motivated to give up ordinary activities just from a fleeting impulse of renunciation, you’ll wind up a failed “realized yogi,” a jaded “great meditator,” like someone who wastes his time soaking hard, ruined boots in water, hoping someday they’ll soften again.
"Until you have completely come to understand the “four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma” and have created a real capacity to renounce ordinary life, don’t even bother mouthing mantras and giving up ordinary activities to do practice. This is important.
"Conversely, once you begin to experience an unwavering weariness with samsara, an authentic sense of renunciation, immutable devotion and strong sense of self-confidence, you have taken the first step: adamantine freedom from the opinions of others.
"This is the time to distance yourself from friends and from enemies, to give up plans, to ignore everything that you were supposed to get done, unswayed by the opinions of your friends or partners. This is the time to turn a deaf ear to both your superiors and your subordinates. This is the time to decide, on your own, to take up the reins of your destiny and make your escape, like a wild animal caught in a trap, working to set itself free...
"...Also, unless you are propelled along the path by the life force of constant diligence and relentless perseverance, even though you are knowledgeable about the scriptures of the nine vehicles, this will not result in attaining buddhahood in a single lifetime.
"However, take confidence in knowing that, one day, merely by having heard the words the Three Jewels, you will attain the enlightened state."
— Patrul Rinpoche, Enlightened Vagabond