Top 120 Sakyong Mipham Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.”

— Sakyong Mipham

Featured in: Quotes About the Body

2. “There are no boundaries-only possibilities.”

— Sakyong Mipham

3. “If you want to be miserable, think of yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others.”

— Sakyong Mipham

4. “Every moment of our life is important.”

— Sakyong Mipham

5. “Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don’t even notice it.”

— Sakyong Mipham

6. “We suffer because we want life to be different from what it is. We suffer because we try to make pleasurable what is painful, to make solid what is fluid, to make permanent what is always changing.”

— Sakyong Mipham

7. “Movement is good for the body. Stillness is good for the mind.”

— Sakyong Mipham

8. “Our power comes not from suppressing others but from uplifting them.”

— Sakyong Mipham

9. “If you rise with a positive attitude – because everything is possible, everything is doable – if you have that level of confidence, you exude it. It actually inspires the people around you.”

— Sakyong Mipham

10. “Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results.”

— Sakyong Mipham

11. “Enlightened Society is all about nurturing the human spirit – waking up to the goodness, kindness and strength that we already have.”

— Sakyong Mipham

12. “If the mind is flexible, the world is flexible.”

— Sakyong Mipham

13. “If you see life as an opportunity, or if you see helping others as an opportunity, then all of a sudden you become joyous. You want to go forward.”

— Sakyong Mipham

14. “Running and meditation are very personal activities. Therefore they are lonely. This loneliness is one of their best qualities because it strengthens our incentive to motivate ourselves.”

— Sakyong Mipham

15. “Auspicious coincidence is the right thing happening at the right time.”

— Sakyong Mipham

16. “Our mind is always subject to being distracted by thoughts of what happened in the past and ideas of what could happen in the future, but the living experience is what is happening NOW.”

— Sakyong Mipham

17. “If we do not appreciate the sensitivity and subtlety of the human heart, how can we appreciate the sensitivity and subtlety of the natural world?”

— Sakyong Mipham

18. “Caring for others is the basis of worldly success.”

— Sakyong Mipham

19. “The bones and tendons of the mind are mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness is the mind’s strength, and awareness is its flexibility. Without these abilities, we cannot function. When we drink a glass of water, drive a car, or have a conversation, we are using mindfulness and awareness.”

— Sakyong Mipham

20. “Our only reliable source of strength is the goodness of our hearts. Our only foundation for coming to terms with the suffering of the times is our innate need to be decent human beings.”

— Sakyong Mipham

21. “After you run, there’s a sense of accomplishment; you feel like your life is meaningful. It’s a moment of clarity.”

— Sakyong Mipham

22. “It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor-the determining factor of success and happiness is contentment.”

— Sakyong Mipham

23. “Whatever we do lays a seed in our deepest consciousness, and one day that seed will grow.”

— Sakyong Mipham

24. “As a leader, people push you. They really want to keep pushing you until you get aggressive. Then they say, “Oh, see, it doesn’t work.””

— Sakyong Mipham

25. “What distinguishes Shambhala is its intention of trying to create a society based upon certain principles. So, Shambhala’s focus is not just on the individual, but on society as a whole.”

— Sakyong Mipham

26. “When we are using this term ‘basic goodness,’ we are talking about our inherent completeness.”

— Sakyong Mipham

27. “This is bravery: using the challenge of daily life to sharpen our mind and open our heart.”

— Sakyong Mipham

28. “When we have gone beyond the boundaries of hope and fear, we are able to work with whatever comes our way.”

— Sakyong Mipham

29. “We can’t hire out our own inner work, but we can do the manual labor with delight and decency.”

— Sakyong Mipham

30. “When the mind is totally present, it is relaxed, nimble, and sensitive. It feels lighter and clearer. It notices everything, but it is not distracted by anything. It is the feeling of knowing exactly where you are and what you are doing.”

— Sakyong Mipham

31. “Initially, you have to live a period where you are developing your attitude. I would consider that a meditation: determining what you want to do. You have a period where you meditate and you get the strength.”

— Sakyong Mipham

32. “If we are going to live in a society, there has to be an attitude where people really do care for others.”

— Sakyong Mipham

33. “Shambhala existed in Tibet and has been continued over the years, and now it is in the West. At its core, it is very much dedicated to the basic theme of benefiting others.”

— Sakyong Mipham

34. “We want to infuse our day with good habits so that we can turn seemingly mundane situations into a ceremony of goodness.”

— Sakyong Mipham

35. “Shambhala is a tradition where there were rulers, kings, and powerful people who actually were very benevolent and kind. They got things done, and they didn’t abandon their tradition.”

— Sakyong Mipham

36. “Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first.”

— Sakyong Mipham

37. “The notion of auspiciousness is something positive, something with forward momentum, coming out of our actions.”

— Sakyong Mipham

Featured in: Momentum Quotes

38. “True happiness is always available to us, but first we have to create the environment for it to flourish.”

— Sakyong Mipham

39. “When I was going into one of my first meditation retreats, I asked my father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, for some advice. He said, “How you act when you’re alone affects the rest of your life.” Even in solitude, the ruler engages in virtue.”

— Sakyong Mipham

40. “Your regular teachers will get mad at you. If you keep asking something again and again, they will get tired of saying the same thing. A book will not do that. A book always will be there for you. In whatever you want, the book will be there.”

— Sakyong Mipham

41. “For a lot of us, the opposite of auspicious coincidence is obstacles. Life usually is a mixture of both, but as we begin to exhibit exertion, more and more auspiciousness happens.”

— Sakyong Mipham

42. “If we cut speed and relax with what’s going on in our life right now, kindness and patience will naturally come about.”

— Sakyong Mipham

43. “Many people think spirituality has nothing to do with success or accomplishing – that it’s something you do with removal, with leaving the world.”

— Sakyong Mipham

44. “Your life and your practice should not be separate. You bring your practice into experience. You bring it about.”

— Sakyong Mipham

45. “The wise are balanced, and the foolish are extreme.”

— Sakyong Mipham

46. “In Tibetan, we say people who have good windhorse have the sense they can accomplish what they want to do.”

— Sakyong Mipham

47. “When stress is the basic state of mind, even good things stress us out. We have to learn to let go.”

— Sakyong Mipham

48. “I write about whatever is timely – whatever is happening at the time for me – with what the expressive feeling is.”

— Sakyong Mipham

49. “Meditation practice is relevant because in meditation our conceptual mind relaxes and we can feel who we are at heart.”

— Sakyong Mipham

50. “Changing our decision sets up a bad habit. It reinforces decision-making as an expression of bewilderment and ignorance, instead of wisdom and freedom.”

— Sakyong Mipham