“Let these three expressions: I do not have, I do not understand, I do not know, be repeated over and over again.” — Padmasambhava
One time, when I was rereading a massive Tibetan Buddhist text called the Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava, I was struck once again by the spiritual power of one particular quote: “Let these three expressions: I do not have, I do not understand, I do not know, be repeated over and over again. That is the heart of my advice.”
I quoted these words to a friend, and she was completely puzzled. “Isn’t your spiritual path all about knowing and understanding things?”
In a way it is. In a way it isn’t. I’ll say more about that in a minute. But first some background.
Padmasambhava was an Indian teacher who travelled to Tibet at …