Words of Wisdom on the Brilliance of Our "Basic Goodness" from a Tibetan Buddhist Teacher

"Our minds are vast and profound. This innate wisdom is known as 'basic goodness.' It is the natural, clear, uncluttered state of our being. We are all appointed with heaven – great openness and brilliance. If you can develop certainty in the indestructible basic goodness that lies at the heart of everything, then you can rule your world.
"Basic goodness, the shimmering brilliance of our being, is as clear as a mountain lake. But we’re not certain about our own goodness. We begin to stray from it as soon as we wake up in the morning, because our mind is unstable and bewildered. The magnet of 'What about me?' makes our mind small. With this small-mindedness, We have no relationship with the unchanging ground of basic goodness. When we’re on the 'me' plan, what others say about us has great power . . . In reality, praise and criticism are like echoes – they have no substance, no duration.
"Virtue is practical, not moralistic. It consists of cultivating thoughts, words, and actions that will help move us out of the 'me' plan. We have more space in our mind, and our view gets bigger. We begin to see our inherent richness, the brilliance that’s been hiding behind the clouds of stress and anxiety . . . It is the idea of 'me”' which keeps us from seeing our own basic goodness. The disease of 'me' is the root of all disease."
Sakyong Mipham, Tibetan Buddhist teacher
Photo: Snow-bejeweled Engelmann Spruce and rock spires above Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 8, 2016

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