Self-Immolation

About the lesser Nirvana, Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen says that: "The Hinayana arhats and bodhisattvas on the three pure grounds, are reborn due to uncontaminated karma that propels them to take birth and their body is a called a mental body."

"Believing mistaken views creates the cause to hear them again, in this or a future life, and so the chances of understanding the Dharma become even more remote." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

"What is the cessation of suffering? It is the complete and dispassionate cessation of craving that perpetuates existence, which is attended upon by the passion for enjoyment, and which finds pleasures here and there. This is the cessation of suffering." Lalitavistara Sutra

"In guru yoga, the essential point to understand is that all the buddhas are of one taste in the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya is the absolute guru, and this is all the buddhas. This is the very heart of guru yoga practice. Without understanding this, there’s no way to practice guru yoga comfortably. Even if we do the visualizations it won’t be completely satisfactory because we’ll be unclear as to how a buddha is the embodiment of the guru and the guru is the embodiment of a buddha. However, it will be extremely clear if we understand the very heart of guru yoga, that the guru is a buddha and a buddha is the guru. The dharmakaya is like the ocean in which many waters are mixed and our various gurus are like drops from the ocean. All our gurus are manifestations of the dharmakaya, the absolute guru, the holy mind of all the buddhas; the absolute guru manifests in an ordinary form in accordance with our karma. This ordinary form is the conventional guru, the essence of which is the absolute guru. When we actually see or visualize a deity or see statues or paintings of deities we should recognize that they are all the guru." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The mind is beyond expression, thought and conceptualization, because it’s empty. However, there are phenomena and appearance. The objects you cling to in this waking reality are like a dream, but if you don't investigate the nature of this dream, you remain drawn as if there is something here. Examining them, you discover that these objects have no true existence and are just like space. A practitioner who understands that phenomena have no inherent existence and are space-like must then examine himself to find out if he has an individual self. Then it will be discovered that there is not really an examiner either. Gyatrul Rinpoche.

"Many people think that to serve the guru we have to be with the guru. This is not so. It doesn’t matter whether we’re living in the guru’s house or on the other side of the world. We could be on the moon or the sun and still be serving the guru by keeping purely the vows we have been given: refuge vows, pratimoksha vows, like the five lay vows or the eight Mahayana precepts, and higher vows, such as those of monastic ordination or the bodhisattva or tantric vows. If we are keeping those vows we are following the guru’s advice, fulfilling their wishes; we are serving the guru. Also, meditating, studying such things as the lamrim, the commentaries and the philosophical teachings—learning the Dharma and integrating it into our practice—is what the guru wishes us to do, and doing all that is also serving the guru, fulfilling their advice. Doing whatever else the guru has advised us to do, such as going into retreat or teaching Dharma, is also service to the guru. In general, anything that benefits sentient beings and helps liberate them from suffering is service to the guru because that is exactly what they advise us to do." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

https://youtu.be/Xt7hliru6Gw

"Our gurus are the absolute guru, the dharmakaya; therefore, our present gurus are all the gurus from our beginningless past lives who have guided us to the point of our present perfect human body and they are the same ones who, in our future lives, will guide us to enlightenment. Each of our gurus has been kind to us during beginningless samsaric lifetimes, is kind to us in this life and will also be kind to us in the future, until we achieve enlightenment. Recognizing our guru’s past, present and future kindness deepens our appreciation of their kindness. All our gurus—those who gave us vows and teachings in all our past lives, the gurus we have now and those we will have in the future—are just one being: the unified primordial savior, the primordial dharmakaya. All our past, present and future gurus are just one, and they guide us through the conventional guru, who appears in accordance with our karma." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

"Once, on a high mountain in south India where Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was teaching, bodhisattva Amoghadarshi asked Buddha, “At the moment we can receive teachings from the Buddha, but what shall we do in the future when you have passed beyond sorrow? Who will guide us?” Guru Shakyamuni Buddha replied, “Amoghadarshi, in degenerate times in the future, I will manifest in the form of spiritual masters and abbots. In order to ripen the minds of sentient beings, I will also show birth, old age, sickness and death. Don’t worry that you will not meet me in the degenerate times. At that time I shall manifest as the abbot or as the teacher.”

"During our beginningless lifetimes until now, all the virtuous teachers we have met—those who gave us ordinations, initiations and teachings— are one being, the absolute guru, who has manifested in various aspects, with different names and forms. When the sun or moon rises, billions of reflections spontaneously arise in all the bodies of water on the earth—in oceans, rivers, ponds and even dew drops. Like this, effortlessly, spontaneously, buddhas work for sentient beings, by revealing the various means that suit them. All our virtuous teachers are the dharmakaya, the absolute guru, from where all the buddhas, Dharma and Sangha. If the buddhas manifested in purer forms than we now see, we wouldn’t have the karma to see them and receive teachings from them. Because our mind is obscured by impure karma, we can’t see a buddha’s holy body or hear a buddha’s holy speech. Therefore, in order to guide us, the buddhas have manifested in the ordinary forms of our virtuous friends, which exactly suit the level of our mind and our karma. In other words, our gurus are the ones who do the activities of all the buddhas, just as ambassadors act on behalf of their country." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

"Our practice of guru devotion is the source of all the progress and all the problems in this life and from life to life. From our practice in this life, we receive all the benefits from life to life, up to enlightenment. This is the source of the greatest loss and the greatest profit. If we don’t understand this point well or don’t concentrate on it, we experience the greatest loss. Each of us has the answer to achieving success in all our future lives. It is in our hands." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

“It is such a mistake to assume that practicing dharma will help us calm down and lead an untroubled life; nothing could be further from the truth. Dharma is not a therapy. Quite the opposite, in fact; dharma is tailored specifically to turn your life upside down—it’s what you sign up for. So when your life goes pear-shaped, why do you complain? If you practice and your life fails to capsize, it is a sign that what you are doing is not working. This is what distinguishes the dharma from New Age methods involving auras, relationships, communication, well-being, the Inner Child, being one with the universe, and tree hugging. From the point of view of dharma, such interests are the toys of samsaric beings—toys that quickly bore us senseless.” ― Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche