The Reason For Our Endless Sufferings

When we understand the evolution of our unsatisfactory experiences in cyclic existence, we will see that meditating on emptiness is their antidote. All knowable things--people and phenomena--appear to our minds to be inherently existent. We then grasp at them as existing inherently. Our inappropriate attention focuses on them, and that gives rise to the various disturbing attitudes of anger, attachment, and so on. These disturbing attitudes motivate our actions, which in turn leave karmic imprints on our mindstreams. When these imprints ripen, we meet with suffering.
--from Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas by Geshe Jampa Tegchok

Let us start practicing meditation

If you continue to practice meditation, then your experience will gradually increase and there will be greater and greater stability and greater and greater lucidity. However, the experiences that can arise in meditation can take various different forms. And in spite of the fact that the person has a real recognition of the mind's nature, there is still the possibility or probability of fluctuation in experience even after that.
Sometimes you may feel that you have amazing, tremendous meditation, and at other times you may feel that you have no meditation at all. This characterizes meditation experience, which fluctuates a great deal. Realization, which is distinct from experience, does not change, but experiences can fluctuate a great deal or alternate between good and bad. There will still be times when you will have what you regard as good experiences and, in contrast, what you regard as bad experiences. When that occurs, just keep on looking. Don't get distracted or sidetracked by the experience. Whatever meditation experience arises, you should recognize that it is transitory. As is said, "meditation experience is like mist, it will surely vanish."
Experiences are different from the actual fact of the recognition itself. Because they are ephemeral experiences, they aren't worth investing in. So if you have a bad meditation experience, do not be alarmed, because it too will vanish. If you have a good meditation experience, you need to continue; if you have a bad meditation experience, you need to continue. In either case, you simply need to continue to rest in this recognition of the mind's nature.
--from Pointing Out the Dharmakaya by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, foreword by the Dalai Lama

The Physical World & the World of Mental Phenomena

The essential point about this condition of potentiality is that, although there is a causal relationship between the physical world and the world of mental phenomena, in terms of their own continuum one cannot be said to be the cause of the other. A mental phenomenon, such as a thought or an emotion, must come from a preceding mental phenomenon; likewise, a particle of matter must come from a preceding particle of matter.
Of course, there is an intimate relationship between the two. We know that mental states can influence material phenomena, such as the body; and, similarly, that material phenomena can act as contributory factors for certain subjective experiences. This is something that we can observe in our lives. Much of our gross level of consciousness is very closely connected to our body, and in fact we often use terminology and conventions which reflect this.
For example, when we say 'human mind' or 'human consciousness' we are using the human body as the basis to define a particular mind state. Likewise, at the gross levels of mind such as our sensory experiences, it is very obvious that these are heavily dependent upon our body and some physiological states. When a part of our body is hurt or damaged, for instance, we immediately experience the impact on our mental state. Nevertheless, the principle remains that mental phenomena must come from preceding phenomena of the same kind, and so on.
If we trace mental phenomena back far enough, as in the case of an individual's life, we come to the first instant of consciousness in this life. Once we have traced its continuum to this point of beginning, we then have three options: we can either say that the first instant of consciousness in this life must come from a preceding instant of consciousness which existed in the previous life. Or we can say that this first instant of consciousness came from nowhere--it just sort of 'popped up'. Or we can say that it came from a material cause.
From the Buddhist point of view, the last two alternatives are deeply problematic. The Buddhist understanding is that, in terms of its continuum, consciousness or mind is beginningless. Mental phenomena are beginningless. Therefore, the person or the being--which is essentially a designation based on the continuum of the mind--is also devoid of beginning.
--from Lighting the Way by the Dalai Lama, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa

Anger Only Harm Us

People harm others only when they are unhappy. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I feel so great today! I think I'll go out and harm someone!" When we can allow ourselves to know the depth of the pain and confusion felt by those who have harmed us, compassion--the wish that they be free from such suffering--can easily arise. Thinking in this way does not mean whitewashing or denying harm that was done. Rather, we acknowledge it, but go beyond amassing resentment, because we know that grudges help neither ourselves nor others.
--from Working with Anger by Thubten Chodron

Kind Qualities of Our Chosen Guru

The reason why the qualities of a teacher are described at such length in the scriptures is because we should know what to look for when seeking a guru capable of opening up the Buddhist paths within us. To take up training under an unqualified teacher can be disastrous. It is said in the tantric scriptures that one is not unwise to examine a guru for twelve years before accepting that person as one's teacher. The choice of teachers is an important one and must be made carefully.
Not only does the guru perform the work of the Buddhas and thus equal them in activity, in terms of kindness the guru surpasses them. Of all Buddhas of the past who have manifested as universal teachers, it is said that Buddha Shakyamuni is kindest to us; for it is with his teachings that we have come into contact...even though Buddha Shakyamuni is most kind of the past Buddhas, still we are unable to receive teachings from him or witness his inspiring presence.
Were all the Buddhas and lineage masters of the past to manifest before us at this very moment, we would not be able to recognize them as enlightened beings. Due to our not having a sufficiently strong karmic connection with them, they would be unable to affect us. The guru performs the great kindness of coming to us in an ordinary form which we can perceive and to which we can relate, and carries out the work of the Buddhas in our lives. The fact that a donkey like us is brought into the family of spiritual beings is purely due to the kindness of the guru. The Buddhas can only come to us through him or her. Thus if we do not respect the guru and heed his or her teachings, what hope do we have? We should meditate upon the guru's unexcelled kindness and give birth to profound appreciation.
The reason why we have been wandering unceasingly in cyclic existence since time immemorial is because we have not met a spiritual master before; or even if we have met one we did not cultivate an effective relationship with him or her. We should determine to take the opportunities afforded by our present human situation and cultivate a spiritual practice under the guidance of a master.
--from The Path to Enlightenment by H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin,

You Can Tell Yourself Who You Are

We are all persons who have accumulated misdeeds in the past. This is indicated by the fact that at present bad thoughts constantly rise up in our minds, thereby showing that in the past for a long period we have become excessively used to these bad thoughts. In this way it is said that you can tell what you were doing in the past by examining your body now and that you can tell what will come in the future by looking at what you are doing with your mind now.
In any case, with regard to whatever misdeeds have been done in the past, you should engage in disclosure of them and in developing an intention to restrain from them in the future. For a Buddhist practitioner, the usual practices include prostration and recitation of certain mantras such as the one hundred syllable mantra. One of the best methods is to make gifts to poor and sick persons. The giving of donations for education as well as in the medical field is very great work, one of the best ways to gain merit.
--from The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace

Give Emphasis on Compassion, Clarity and Respect

"Although in every religion there is an emphasis on compassion and love, from the viewpoint of philosophy, of course there are differences, and that is all right. Philosophical teachings are not the end, not the aim, not what you serve. The aim is to help and benefit others, and philosophical teachings to support those ideas are valuable. If we go into the differences in philosophy and argue with and criticize each other, it is useless. There will be endless argument; the result will mainly be that we irritate each other- accomplishing nothing. Better to look at the purpose of the philosophies and to see what is shared- an emphasis on love, compassion, and respect for a higher force."— from Kindness, Clarity, and Insight

"I believe that Western science will develop towards a more synthetic view of its different branches...psychology, biology and physics. It will find a connecting link, a relation between these areas of experience. In the past the scientific and the spiritual or mental development have been regarded as separate from each other, as two different paths leading in opposite directions. But now, in the late twentieth century, this view is beginning to change."— from The Dalai Lama, a Policy of Kindness

"Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on."— from The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness

"If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry."— from The Path to Tranquility

"In order to encourage in such practices as taking refuge, living a way of life which accords with the law of karma, and living in an ethically disciplined way characterized by observance of the ten virtues, and so on, we require a tremendous sense of confidence that we can do it. To generate that, and also a kind of enthusiasm, we find in the Buddha's texts a discussion of the preciousness of the human body and human existence. At that stage, we never talk about how impure the body and bodily substances are, or how imperfect they are. In fact, we are talking about how good it is, how meaningful, how purposeful, how much potential lies within our body, what good purpose it can be used for, and so on. This is to instill a sense of confidence and courage."— from Healing Anger

"The basic fact is that all sentient beings, particularly human beings, want happiness and do not want pain and suffering. On those grounds, we have every right to be happy and to use different methods or means to overcome suffering and to achieve happier lives. It is worthwhile to think seriously about the positive and negative consequences of these methods. You should be aware that there are differences between short-term interest and long-term interest and consequences- and the long-term interest is more important. Buddhists usually say that there is no absolute and that everything is relative. So we must judge according to the circumstances."— from The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom

"When we are young and again when we are old, we depend heavily on the affection of others. Between these stages we usually feel that we can do everything without help from others and that other people's affection is simply not important. But at this stage I think it is very important to keep deep human affection."— from The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom

Anger and Hatred

"Anger and hatred cannot bring harmony. The noble task of arms control and disarmament cannot be accomplished by confrontation and condemnation. Hostile attitudes only serve to heat up the situation, whereas a true sense of respect gradually cools down what otherwise could become explosive. We must recognize the frequent contradictions between short-term benefit and long-term harm."— from The Path to Tranquility

Develop a Genuine Compassion

Actually genuine compassion and attachment are contradictory. According to Buddhist practice, to develop genuine compassion you must first practice the meditation of equalization and equanimity, detaching oneself from those people who are very close to you. Then, you must remove negative feelings towards your enemies. All sentient beings should be looked on as equal. On that basis, you can gradually develop genuine compassion for all of them.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent

Our Emotions

Naturally emotions can be positive and negative. However, when talking about anger, etc., we are dealing with negative emotions. Negative emotions are those which immediately create some kind of unhappiness or uneasiness and which, in the long run, create certain actions. Those actions ultimately lead to harm to others and this brings pain or suffering to oneself. This is what we mean by negative emotions.

Unbearable Compassion for Other Beings

Question: What if we feel an unbearable compassion for the suffering of other beings--especially animals, because it is often more obvious--yet we have not developed the wisdom to deal with it properly? 
HHDL: This is all the more reason why, now that you have developed that feeling of 'unbearable' compassion toward others, you should try to increase your wisdom, and intelligence, in order to deal with the actual situation. This is why practitioners on the bodhisattva path are encouraged not to be satisfied with just an idealistic idea of compassion, but to put that ideal into practice immediately. So I believe that when you follow the bodhisattva's way of life, it is possible to match your compassion, at whatever level it may be, with an active kind of interaction with others.

On The Stillness of the Mind

Try to remain in the natural state. This is a bit like a river which is flowing quite strongly, in which you cannot see the bed of the river clearly. If there was some way you could put an immediate stop to the flow from the direction the water is coming from and the direction the water is flowing to, then you could keep the water still, and that would allow you to see the bed quite clearly. 
      Similarly, when you are able to stop your mind from chasing after sensory objects and when you can free your mind from being totally "blanked out," then you will begin to see under this turbulence of the thought processes a kind of underlying stillness, an underlying clarity of mind. 
      ...At the initial stage, when you begin to experience the natural state of consciousness, it will be in the form of some sort of vacuity, absence, or emptiness. This is because we are so habituated to understanding our mind in terms of external objects that we tend to look at the world through our concepts, images, and so on. So when you withdraw your mind from external objects, it's almost as if you can't recognize your mind. There's a kind of absence, a kind of vacuity. However, as you slowly progress and get used to it, you will begin to see an underlying clarity, a sort of luminosity. That's when you begin to appreciate and realize the natural state of the mind. [Even though this is not a very profound meditative experience, it is the basis of stillness of mind.]

Understanding "Emptiness"

By understanding emptiness, by clearly perceiving the empty nature of all phenomena, including ourselves, we can liberate ourselves from negative emotions, and thus from the creation of unwholesome karma and the power of the internal enemy. Through this process, we can begin to undo the harm we've caused by our grasping, and the derivative strong emotions to which it gives rise. The moment we begin to develop insight into the empty nature of self and all reality, the process of releasing our deluded grasp begins. At the moment of our first insight into the empty nature of self and reality, we start to break free of the enslavement of ignorance and the attack of the internal enemy. By reducing our grasping, we start to undo the causal chain of unenlightened existence. By undermining self-grasping ignorance, the first link of dependent origination, you prevent the arising of the second link, and ultimately become free of the endless cycle of suffering lifetimes.
But what does all this mean exactly? If we arrive at the knowledge that the self at which we grasp is empty, we may imagine this means that we as individuals with personal identities do not exist. But of course this is not the case--our own personal experiences demonstrate that as subjects and agents of our own lives, we certainly exist. So how, then, do we understand the content of this insight into absence of self? What follows from this insight? We must be very clear that 'only the self that is being grasped as intrinsically real' needs to be negated. The self as a conventional phenomenon is not rejected. This is a crucial aspect of the Buddha's teachings on emptiness.