O, Alas! Alas! Fortunate Child of Buddha Nature, Do not be oppressed by the forces of ignorance and delusion! But rise up now with resolve and courage! Entranced by ignorance, from beginningless time until now, You have had [more than] enough time to sleep, So do not slumber any longer, but strive after virtue with body, speech and mind!
Are you oblivious to the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death? There is no guarantee that you will survive, even past this very day! The time has come [for you] to develop perseverance in [your] practice. For, at this singular opportunity, you could attain the everlasting bliss [of nirvana]. So now is [certainly] not the time to sit idly, But, starting with [the reflection on] death, you should bring your practice to completion!
The moments of our life are not expendable, And the [possible] circumstances of death are beyond imagination. If you do not achieve an undaunted confident security now, What point is there in your being alive, O living creature?
All phenomena are [ultimately] selfless, empty, and free from conceptual elaboration. In their dynamic they resemble an illusion, mirage, dream, or reflected image, A celestial city, an echo, a reflection of the moon in water, a bubble, an optical illusion, or an intangible emanation. You should know that all things of cyclic existence and nirvana Accord [in nature] with these ten similes of illusory phenomena.
All phenomena are naturally uncreated. They neither abide nor cease, neither come or go. They are without objective referent, signless, ineffable, and free from thought. The time has come for this truth to be realized. Preliminary Practice - pages 8-9
Yet, from amongst all these many countless births, The actions committed in the course of just a single lifetime Could have been worthwhile if only I had trained well, Pursued the path of unsurpassed enlightenment, And thus attained the genuine final nirvana. Acts of Confesssion - page 141
This naturally originating inner radiance, uncreated from the very beginning, Is the parentless child of awareness-how amazing! It is the naturally originating pristine cognition, uncreated by anyone-how amazing! This radiant awareness has never been born and will never die-how amazing! Though manifestly radiant, it lacks an extraneous perceiver-how amazing! Though it has roamed throughout cyclic existence, it does not degenerate-how amazing! Though it has seen buddhahood itself, it does not improve-how amazing! Though it is present in everyone, it remains unrecognized-–how amazing! Still, one hopes for some attainment other than this-–how amazing! Though it is present within oneself, one continues to seek it elsewhere-–how amazing! Introduction to Awareness - page 46
[At this moment], the inner radiance of the ground dawns upon all sentient beings, And, in the case of a few yogins who have achieved realization, At this moment, the inner radiance of the path meets [the inner radiance of the ground] Like a [meeting of] a mother and child, And [thus, now] instantaneously, in an ascending and core-penetrating manner, These [yogins] will actualize the uncreated Buddha-body of Reality, And through the Buddha-bodies of Perfect Resource and Emanation, They will perform inestimable actions for the sake of all beings. [Thus], the three buddha-bodies will be spontaneously present, And buddhahood will have been attained.
Because of this, one should understand the significance of obtaining a human body, And cherish the experiential cultivation of the profound [sacred] teachings. For, even though the genuine inner radiance [of the ground] will [always] arise [at the moment of death], In the case of all beings who have not [already] realized the [inner radiance of the path], It will not be recognized. The [past] births that one has assumed and left behind are countless and infinite, And, although the inner radiance has indeed arisen an indescribable [number of times], It has been obscured [again and again] by the dense [fog of] coemergent ignorance, And [thereby], one has come to wander endlessly through cyclic existence. That is why it is important to achieve such a secure level [of realization in this life]. Signs of Death - pages 176-177