Tilopa Quotes
Tilopa was an eleventh-century Bengali Buddhist tantric master, traditionally regarded as the founder of the Indian lineage of the Mahamudra teachings that, through his pupil Naropa and Naropa's pupil Marpa, became the philosophical and meditative core of the Tibetan Kagyu school. His short Six Words of Advice to Naropa is one of the most concise statements in any tradition of the Mahamudra path, while his songs of realization, transmitted in colloquial Bengali and Sanskrit, have shaped Tibetan Buddhist song and practice for nearly a thousand years. The quotes below are attributed to Tilopa, organized by topic.
Tilopa on Freedom
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Attributed to Tilopa:
“The chain that binds is not desire; it is attachment to desire.”
Tilopa on Knowledge
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“Six Precepts" of Tilopa, quoted in Powell Zen and Reality (1975), p. 72”
No thought, no reflection, no analysis, No cultivation, no intention; Let it settle itself. -
“Six Precepts of Tilopa, quoted in A.S. Kline's Like Water or Clouds - The T’ang Dynasty and the Tao (1947)”
Without mind, without meditation, without analysis, without practice, without the will, let it all be so.
Tilopa on Mind
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Attributed to Tilopa:
“Do not recall, do not imagine, do not think, do not examine, do not control; rest.”
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Attributed to Tilopa:
“The mind in its natural state needs no improvement; recognize it, and the path is complete.”
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Attributed to Tilopa:
“What the rational mind cannot grasp, the realized mind has never lost.”
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Attributed to Tilopa:
“Awareness without an object is the secret of the great seal.”
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“No thought, no reflection, no analysis, No cultivation, no intention; Let it settle itself.”
Six Precepts" of Tilopa, quoted in Powell Zen and Reality (1975), p. 72 -
“Without mind, without meditation, without analysis, without practice, without the will, let it all be so.”
Six Precepts of Tilopa, quoted in A.S. Kline's Like Water or Clouds - The T’ang Dynasty and the Tao (1947)